Razaz has a youngster’s voice and an ancient soul. She’s one of four artists-in-residence with Paola Prestini’s National Sawdust Read More
#MusicForWriters: Paola Prestini’s Songs From Another ‘Labyrinth’
‘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
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: Donnacha Dennehy’s New Chapbook
A Sonic Anthology: The Abstract Gone Narrative There’s a kind of single-composer album that’s a lot like a writer’s collection of short stories or poems. So much of this ilk is the composer Donnacha Dennehy’s new album for RTEthat it arrives without an over-arching title of its own. It’s simply Donnacha Dennehy: Crane/O/The Vandal/Hive. Those… Read More
Music For Writers: The Tidal Grace In Paola Prestini’s ‘Oceanic Verses’
Mapping Her Internal Geography This idea of disparate energies colliding is very much a part of everything I do. I’m interested in energies and styles that don’t necessarily go together and weaving them into a tapestry that to me makes sense. You can hear the singular beauty of Paola Prestini’s weave — and waves — in the newly… Read More
Music For Writers: Something Of Jeffrey Zeigler’s Life
‘A Scary Move, A Necessary Move’ “When it was announced that I was leaving Kronos,” says cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, “half the people I spoke to said, ‘Wow, you’re really brave.’ And the other half said, ‘Wow, you’re really crazy.’” If anything, Zeigler’s bravery arrives with a bravura that can make you crazy: Something of Life is… Read More
Music For Writers: Agata Zubel ‘On Both Sides’
‘The Most Beautiful Place Where The Two Professions Meet’ In earlier #MusicForWriters columns here, I’ve mentioned how many of our contemporary composers are also performers. Caleb Burhans, a composer and multi-instrumentalist, is one. His Excelsior is one of the works in our series. As the notes from Kairos Music on Agata Zubel’s new release, however, point out, the… Read More