Steve Smith
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If you happen to be in the vicinity of Ramapo College in Mahwah, NJ, tonight (Feb. 13) at 8pm, you can see the premiere performance of Fantini Futuro, a new multimedia piece by the great experimental trumpeter and composer Ben Neill. Inspired by Girolamo Fantini, the Baroque composer credited with bringing the trumpet in from…
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My contributions to the Goings On About Town section in the February 17 & 24, 2020 double issue of The New Yorker, covering the dates February 12-25. (Links lead to detailed listings on the New Yorker website.) New York PhilharmonicDavid Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center; Feb. 13-18 and 20-22; times vary Project 19, a Philharmonic initiative…
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Word has come that Lyle Mays – an extraordinary pianist, composer, bandleader, and a longtime member of the Pat Metheny Group – has died after a recurring illness. Nate Chinen, in an obituary written for WBGO, gets to the heart of Mays's creative persona: Mays was a musician of clear, analytical temperament, but within the…
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A weekly tally of memorable things Steve Smith has stuck in his ears. Published on National Sawdust Log. Christopher Rouse – Iscariot; Clarinet Concerto; Symphony No. 1 – Martin Fröst, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra/Alan Gilbert (Bis; 2008. Audio samples here.) Christopher Rouse – Flute Concerto; Symphony No. 2 – Sharon Bezaly, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra/Alan…
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Yesterday, the music publisher Edition Peters announced that it had signed an agreement with Ashley Fure, a composer of ferocious originality and power. Fure joins a roster already enriched by the signing last year of George Lewis and Sky Macklay. Fure's new association starts with four compositions: Bound to the Bow (2016), Shiver Lung (2016),…
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My contributions to the Goings On About Town section in the February 10, 2020 issue of The New Yorker, covering the dates February 5-11. (Links lead to detailed listings on the New Yorker website.) "In C"Le Poisson Rouge; Feb. 5 at 7:30 The 16th annual performance of Terry Riley's minimalist milestone, as coordinated by Darmstadt:…
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A weekly tally of memorable things Steve Smith has stuck in his ears. Published on National Sawdust Log. Georg Friedrich Haas – Konzert für Klangwerk und Orchester – Christoph Sietzen, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg/Ilan Volkov (Live New Music Channel/YouTube; 2019) 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 by Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton – Composition No. 358, from 9…
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Going back to the Yeats poem… I would like the audience to think about Project 19 in that way: that they're going to hear 19 new pieces by people who sometimes don't feel like they can have a voice, who are being given an opportunity to have a voice—and for audiences, once again, to tread…
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My contributions to the Goings On About Town section in the February 3, 2020 issue of The New Yorker, covering the dates January 29-February 4. (Links lead to detailed listings on the New Yorker website.) New York PhilharmonicDavid Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center; Jan. 30 at 7:30, Jan. 31 at 11am Distinguished Australian conductor Simone Young…
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A weekly tally of memorable things Steve Smith has stuck in his ears. Published on National Sawdust Log. Georges Lentz – Caeli inerrant… – Mysterium – VIII. Jerusalem (After Blake) – Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg/Duncan Ward (YouTube; 2015) Georges Lentz – Caeli inerrant… – Mysterium – II. Ngangkar; IV. Guyuhmgan – Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Edo de…
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The extraordinary French composer Éliane Radigue was born on this day in 1932, and celebrated her 88th birthday today as an artist whose star very much appears to be in the ascendant. Her recordings are widely available now, in lovingly prepared editions with beautifully restored sound. Occam Ocean – the body of acoustic work Radigue…
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My contributions to the Goings On About Town section in the January 27, 2020 issue of The New Yorker, covering the dates January 22-28. (Links lead to detailed listings on the New Yorker website.) Scott Johnson with ContemporaneousRoulette, Brooklyn; Jan. 23 at 8 Guitarist and composer Johnson, innovator of a signature speech-based style, presents a…
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Congratulations to Sean Meehan, an improvising percussionist and sound artist with a shaman's knack for conjuring entire worlds out of meager base elements—the video above is a perfect example. As announced in an Artforum article published late this afternoon (and shared by Sarah Hennies on Twitter this evening), Meehan has been named one of five…
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A weekly tally of memorable things Steve Smith has stuck in his ears. Published on National Sawdust Log. Johann Sebastian Bach – Goldberg Variations – Simone Dinnerstein (Telarc; 2007) ascua by Anáhuac Anáhuac – ascua (Astral Spirits; 2020) Robert Fripp – The Kitchen, New York, NY, Feb. 5, 1978 (DGMLive; 2020. Audio samples here.) 9…
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Max Roach – "The Dream/It's Time," from Chattahoochie RedMax Roach, drums, composer; Odean Pope, tenor saxophone; Cecil Bridgewater, trumpet; Calvin Hill, bassColumbia; 1981 Joseph Schwantner – New Morning for the World ("Daybreak of Freedom")Willie Stargell, narrator; Eastman Philharmonia/David EffronMercury; 1983
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Jan. 20 update: As confirmed by a Juilliard representative, this concert is happening in the Juilliard School's Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, not at Alice Tully Hall. The Sharp Theatre is a smaller space, which means better proximity but less capacity. So if you're interested in tickets, don't delay… and you'll find them only at the…
Night After Night 