Alex Ross's Blog, page 94

Appearance

On November 5, at the Barbican in London, I will give a lecture on the West Coast origins of minimalism, in conjunction with the Barbican's weekend celebration of Steve Reich.

A Qasim Naqvi moment

Chronology by Qasim Naqvi

Qasim Naqvi's album Chronology is out next week from New Amsterdam.

Nightafternight playlist

— Chaya Czernowin, The Quiet: Works for Orchestra; various orchestras and conductors (Wergo)

— Meredith Monk, On Behalf of Nature (ECM)

— In War & Peace; Joyce DiDonato, with Il Pomo D'Oro (Erato)

— Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6, Borodin, Polovtsian Dances; Iván Fischer conducting the Budapest Festival Orchestra (Channel Classics) [I observed the making of this recording in my Fischer profile]

— Iván Fischer, Composer's Portrait; Fischer conducting the Budapest Festival Orchestra (Channel Classics)

— Anthony Cheung, Dystemporal and other works; Talea Ensemble, Susanna Mälkki conducting the Ensemble Intercontemporain (Wergo)

— Edmund Rubbra, Tenebrae Nocturns, Missa Cantuariensis, Three Motets, Five Motets; Harry Christophers leading The Sixteen (Coro)

— Ethel Smyth, The Boatswain's Mate; Nadine Benjamin, Edward Lee, Jeremy Huw Williams, Odaline de la Martinez conducting the Lontano Ensemble (Retrospect Opera)

— Paweł Szymański, Lux Aeterna, Miserere, In Paradisum Deducant Te Angeli..., Phylakterion; Anna Szostak leading the Camerata Silesia (Dux)

— ism: works of James Tenney, Erin Gee, David Reminick, Morgan Krauss, Evan Johnson, Lee Hyla; Ryan Muncy, saxophone (New Focus)

Saariaho at the Armory, Grisey at BAM

Sound Waves. The New Yorker, Oct. 31, 2016.

A Scott Cazan moment

Ingress by Scott Cazan

A Saariaho moment

Tristan at the Met, Rheingold in Chicago

Wagner Weekend. The New Yorker, Oct. 17, 2016.

Miscellany

The LA-based composer-violinist Andrew McIntosh will be the subject of one of Miller Theatre's Pop-Up Concerts tomorrow at 6pm. The fine folk of Yarn/Wire will present two world premieres — Five Songs and We See the Flying Bird — as well as the third movement of Hyenas in the Temple of Pleasure, alongside works of Marc Sabat / Stefan Bartling and Wolfgang von Schweinitz. Tickets are free.... Yarn/Wire will return to Miller in December for a Composer Portrait of Zosha Di Castri.... McIntosh's Yelling into the Wind will be featured on the LA Phil's Noon to Midnight marathon on Oct. 1; the program brings a raft of premieres (including Kate Soper's  Wallace Stevens-based The Ultimate Poem Is Abstract), a bevy of LA-based ensembles, and thirteen pianists playing Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux .... Approaching in Chicago: the massive Ear Taxi festival (Oct. 5-10), featuring such local luminaries as Ensemble Dal Niente, Spektral Quartet, and Third Coast Percussion. There will be no fewer than fifty-four world premières.... Nicholas Hopkins, at his Subtilior music-engraving site, has published two parts of a thoroughgoing analysis of Boulez's Tombeau, the final section of Pli selon pli. One awaits the third installment with interest.... On Oct. 1 the sonostream platform will host a live stream of the Theater Basel production of Stockhausen's Donnerstag aus Licht.... Worth a read: Daniel Brandes's essay “Composing Sabbath Spaces: Thoughts and Reflections on Making Quiet Music.”

YouTube comment of the day

From a video of Herreweghe's St. Matthew Passion.

At the brink

The ninety-six-year-old Roger Angell, whose first vote was for FDR in 1944, says that this election is the most important of his lifetime. There is no reason to doubt him.