‘You Can Free Yourself’ I wanted to write these two large-scale, deeply virtuosic pieces for these two muses, but I hadn’t had a chance to create a large-scale work like that yet. That comment may surprise regular #MusicForWriters readers who rememberour December article on the composer Paola Prestini and her Oceanic Verses. A complex work of… Read More
#MusicForWriters: Brad Lubman — An ‘Explosion Of Compositional Languages’
A ‘Gateway Drug’ In Contemporary Music Daniel Stephen Johnson is right when, in his write-up for Q2 Music’s Album of the Week, he refers to Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians as a “gateway drug for a lifelong addiction to Reich’s aesthetic.” I’ve turned people on to this piece more than than to any other,… Read More
Music For Writers: Q2 Music And Nadia Sirota On a Roll — ‘Meet The Composer’, Season 2
Accelerando Toward A Major Stretch Goal As of this moment, only a very small subset of the world listens to it. But if Nadia Sirota and her friends listening to her in 70 countries have anything to do with it, that will change and keep changing. t Sirota is talking about “contemporary classical music,” the most nearly… Read More
Music For Writers: A Royal Welcome For Two Composers
‘I Could Talk About It For Hours’ Even if the Royal String Quartet’s performances of these works of Paweł Szymański and Paweł Mykietyn weren’t exemplary, the sheer enthusiasm of cellist Michal Pepol alone might put these performances right over the top. When New York Public Radio’s free 24/7 streaming service Q2 Music chose the quartet’s new… Read More
Music For Writers: Martin Fröst’s Modern Moves
Dancing To ‘Peacock Tales’ Among books that many of us try to avoid writing — and reading — one of the most familiar offenders is the novel with a crazy ending. Comes out of nowhere. Nothing to do with the story. Sometimes it’s a deluge of magical realism. Or a fortuitous cataclysm arrives to get the protagonist out of trouble.… Read More
Music For Writers: Kronos On The Tundra With Tagaq
‘Deep And Tactile’ As if you’re hearing the Earth itself breathe, the Kronos Quartet’s new release, Tundra Songs from the Canadian Music Centre can give you the most warming chills you’ll feel today. As Album of the Week at New York Public Radio’s 24-hour contemporary-classical stream, Q2 Music, is giving listeners a chance to hear a coming together… Read More
Music For Writers: A Quartet Named ETHEL And A Guitarist Named Kaki
Did You Say ETHEL? There’s only one question you can start with, when you interview the violist of a string quartet called ETHEL (yes, all caps). Ralph Farris: The name “ETHEL” comes from the film, Shakespeare in Love. The Bard was struggling to complete a play called, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter. Hilarity ensued. Thank… Read More
Music For Writers: Benjamin Hochman, Translator — And ‘A Bit Of A Shaman, Too’
‘At The Piano…Even Dreams’ The very first notes of the album arrive like an abrupt, sonic question mark: “What can we do with this little perplexed phrase?” The burly Scottish composer Oliver Knussen certainly knew what to do with his exquisitely moody 1989 Variations on just six notes. And happily, it’s Israeli-born pianist Benjamin Hochman at the… Read More
Music For Writers: Ville Matvejeff’s ‘Resurrections’
‘Each Composition’s Own DNA’ Of course, I would come calling with questions just as the man is trying to put Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex on its feet at Croatia’s Rijecka Opera House — opening Friday if you’re in the area. But composer Ville Matvejeff, among the busiest conductors and composers today, was gracious to a fault in… Read More
Music For Writers: Michael Gordon’s Wild Ride Called ‘Dystopia’
No Brakes Feeling a little sluggish on that work in progress? Struggling to get from the current chapter of your six-year marathon manuscript to something nearer, my God, to “The End”? You’re in luck. Composer Michael Gordon’s new album Dystopia from Cantaloupe Music is here to shove you right to the last punctuation point. And thanks… Read More