Alex Ross's Blog, page 111

Kanye West, Obama, Caroline Shaw

The hip-hop artist Kanye West has lately taken an interest in the music of Caroline Shaw. West was present for Roomful of Teeth's rendition of Shaw's Partita at Disney Hall last May and went backstage to meet the performers. In September, he invited Roomful of Teeth to join him at a show at the Hollywood Bowl, and, as the video above attests, on Saturday night Shaw appeared with West at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser attended by President Obama. All this raises the question: can contemporary classical music save hip-hop?

Previously: Classical music is tight yo.

Anderson at the Armory (2)

Monumental. The New Yorker, Oct. 19, 2015.

SONiC preview

Sonic Youth. The New Yorker, Oct. 19, 2015.

Now playing: Michael Pisaro

New from New World. A mist is a collection of points will be performed at Redcat in LA on Nov. 18.

Appearances

On Thursday and Friday, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, I will be conversing with the political-cultural polymath Paul Wells, in conjunction with the NAC's Roaring Twenties festival, which runs the gamut from Webern to Cole Porter.

Audience development

Halloween came a bit early in Los Angeles, as a group of people attired in the manner of Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange made their presence felt at a performance of Beethoven's Ninth in Disney Hall. Concertgoers stopped and gawked, but failed to be scandalized. An older gentleman called out, "Well done, droogies!" There was no audible ultraviolence during the performance itself, in which Gustavo Dudamel led the combined forces of the LA Phil and the Simon Bolivár Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. This is what happens when I bring Sasha Frere-Jones to a concert.

Bookshelf

New and recent publications of interest (at least to me).

Kevin C. Karnes, A Kingdom Not of This World: Wagner, the Arts, and Utopian Visions in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna (Oxford UP)

Adrian Daub and Charles Kronengold, The James Bond Songs: Pop Anthems of Late Capitalism (Oxford)

Robert C. Holub, Nietzsche's Jewish Problem: Between Anti-Semitism and Anti-Judaism (Princeton)

Norman Domeier, trans. Deborah Lucas Schneider, The Eulenburg Affair: A Cultural History of Politics in the German Empire (Camden House)

Ed Pavlić, Who Can Afford to Improvise?: James Baldwin and Black Music, the Lyric and the Listeners (Fordham)

Greil Marcus, Real Life Rock: The Complete Top Ten Columns, 1986-2014 (Yale)

Nightafternight playlist

— Feldman, Rothko Chapel, works of Cage and Satie; Kim Kashkashian, Sarah Rothenberg, Steven Schick, Houston Chamber Choir (ECM, out Oct. 23)

— Verdi, Aida; Anja Harteros, Jonas Kaufmann, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Ludovic Tézier, Erwin Schrott, Antonio Pappano conducting the Santa Cecilia Orchestra and Chorus (Warner)

— Laurie Anderson, Heart of a Dog (Nonesuch, out Oct. 23)

— Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique, Lélio; Riccardo Muti conducting the Chicago Symphony, with Mario Zeffiri, Kyle Ketelsen, and Gérard Depardieu (CSO Resound)

— Ornstein, Piano Quintet, String Quartet No. 2; Marc-André Hamelin, Pacifica Quartet (Hyperion)

— Berg, Lyric Suite, Wellesz, Sonnets of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Zeisl, Komm, süsser Tod; Renée Fleming, Emerson Quartet (DG)

— Julia Wolfe, Anthracite Fields; Bang on a Can All-Stars, Choir of Trinity Wall Street (Cantaloupe)

Italian retrenchment at the Met

Golden Oldies. The New Yorker, Oct. 13, 2015.

Laurie Anderson at the Armory