Steve Smith
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Courtenay Budd, David Del Tredici, and Gil Rose with BMOP, by Kathy Wittman "Rose, BMOP wax ecstatic in glorious, unsettling 'Alice'"Boston Globe, February 27, 2016 There are times, and they are not infrequent, when I worry that I've lost my knack for doing the things I used to do regularly at The New York Times,…
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Grant Evans – Repose (Adversary) Skylark – Crossing Over (Sono Luminus; due March 25)> Daniel Elder – Elegy; John Tavener – Butterfly Dreams; Nicolai Kedrov – Otche Nash; Jón Leifs – Requiem; Robert Vuichard – Heliocentric Meditation; William Schuman – Carols of Death; Anna Thorvaldsdottir – Heyr þú oss himnum á; John Tavener – Funeral…
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David Del Tredici, among the bravest composers I've come to know over the years — and among the most personable, too, as this candid and chatty 2012 interview with Seth Colter Walls shows — celebrates his 79th birthday today, March 16. Next year, with luck, will bring a plethora of round-anniversary-year performances, but right now…
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Peter Maxwell Davies – Symphony No. 1; Mavis in Las Vegas – BBC Philharmonic/Peter Maxwell Davies (Naxos) Peter Maxwell Davies – Miss Donnithorne's Maggot; Eight Songs for a Mad King – Mary Thomas, Julius Eastman, The Fires of London/Peter Maxwell Davies (Unicorn) Peter Maxwell Davies – Violin Concerto – Isaac Stern, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/André Previn…
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Sarah Hennies – Gather & Release (Category of Manifestation; due April 5) Will by Julianna Barwick Julianna Barwick – "Nebula" (from Will) (Dead Oceans < Bandcamp; due May 6) Pitkin County Morning EP by Sam Moss Sam Moss – Pitkin County Morning EP (Bandcamp) Absence by Compilation of Iranian experimental music Various artists – Absence:…
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Duke Ellington – And His Mother Called Him Bill (RCA Bluebird) Dennis Johnson: November by R. Andrew Lee Dennis Johnson – November – R. Andrew Lee (Irritable Hedgehog) Grateful Dead – 30 Trips Around the Sun: 28. Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, NY, March 27, 1993 (Grateful Dead/Rhino) King Crimson – Lizard (DGM) Kansas – HSBC Brasil,…
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Allston Pudding Localz Only Late Winter Mix MMXVI by Allston Pudding Various artists – Allston Pudding Localz Only Late Winter Mix MMXVI (Allston Pudding < Bandcamp) Steve Reich – Music for 18 Musicians – Synergy Vocals, Ensemble Ictus/Georges-Elie Octors (BelAir DVD: Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker – Rain – Ballet de l'Opèra National de Paris) Francis…
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Coheed & Cambria, by Ben Stas for the Boston Globe "Coheed & Cambria, unmasked but still heroic at House of Blues"Boston Globe, February 24, 2016 Long months after I spoke with Claudio Sanchez about The Color Before the Sun, the revealing newest album from prog-punk quartet Coheed & Cambria, for the Rolling Stone website last…
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Anthony Davis, the estimable American composer, pianist, and bandleader born in Paterson, NJ, on February 20, 1951, celebrates his 65th birthday today. Having declined an invitation to join the Grateful Dead as a 20-year-old Yale student in 1971 (an incident reported in 2011 by George Varga in the San Diego Union-Tribune), Davis initially came to…
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self | space by brian archinal Brian Archinal – self | space (self-released < Bandcamp)> Trevor Bača – Poème récursif; Jordan Munson – How Long Is the Coast of France?; Edmund Campion – A Different Kind of Measure; Peter Ablinger – Regenstück 1-6; Trevor Bača – Poème récursif (mix 2) ProjeKct Three – The Birchmere,…
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The eminent Hungarian composer György Kurtág turns 90 today, and — it's reported by his publisher, Editio Musica Budapest — remains hard at work on a magnum opus, the Beckett-based opera Fin de partie. In wishing him robust health, I offer in tribute a small handful of useful links, including an outstanding Jeremy Eichler profile…
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Ben Ratliff; photo by Kate Fox Reynolds Last night I had the welcome and happy opportunity to interview Ben Ratliff, the New York Times music critic and a longtime friend and colleague, for an attentive audience at the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge. The subject was Ben's new book, Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to…
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George Frideric Handel – Imeneo – Magnis Staveland, Ann Hallenberg, Monica Piccinini, Fabrizio Beggi, Cristiana Arcari, Europa Galante/Fabio Biondi (Glossa) Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Trout Mask Replica (Straight) Robert Fripp – ND Ateneo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 10, 2007 (DGMLive) Robert Rich – Filaments (Soundscape) Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra – All My…
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Franz Joseph Haydn – Symphonies Nos. 92 ("Oxford"), 94 ("Surprise") & 97 – Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra/Jaap van Zweden (Exton) Robin de Raaff – Violin Concerto – Tasmin Little, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra/Jaap van Zweden (YouTube) Samuel Barber – Violin Concerto; Leonard Bernstein – Candide – Overture; Serenade after Plato's "Symposium"; On the Town –…
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Bohuslav Martinů – Symphony No. 6 ("Fantaisies symphoniques") – Czech Philharmonic/Jiří Bělohlávek (Supraphon) King Crimson – Supper Club, New York, NY, Nov. 12, 2000 (DGMLive) Bent Knee – selections from Say So (Cuneiform; due May 2016) International Contemporary Ensemble – On the Nature of Thingness (Starkland; due Feb. 26)> Nathan Davis – Ghostlight; Phyllis Chen…
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Black Uhuru – Red (Island) Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade (SST) Tangerine Dream – Rockface (TDI Music) Tangerine Dream – Quantum Key (Eastgate) Tangerine Dream – Zeitgeist Concert (Eastgate) Magnus Granberg – would fall from the sky, would wither and die – Skuggorna och Ljuset (Another Timbre) Morton Feldman – String Quartet No. 2 –…
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Christian Wolff, Earle Brown, John Cage, David Tudor, and Morton Feldman in 1962; photo credit: Earle Brown Music Foundation On Wednesday, January 20, Bostonians will have what appears to be a unique opportunity to hear three significant pieces by three major composers from the so-called New York School, crammed into 210 eventful minutes at two…
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Untitled (for Po Chu-i) by Gil Sansón Johannes Brahms – Piano Trios Nos. 1-3 – Christian Tetzlaff, Tanja Tetzlaff & Lars Vogt (Ondine) Camille Saint-Saëns – Symphony No. 3 in C minor ("Organ") – Olivier Latry; Samy Moussa – A Globe Itself Infolding – Jean-Willy Kunz; Kaija Saariaho – Maan varjot – Olivier Latry; Orchestre…
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Joseph Clayton Mills – The Letter (Suppedaneum; No. 19 of 100) Sunn O))) – Kannon (Southern Lord) Gentle Giant – The Power and the Glory (Alucard) Opeth – Damnation (Music for Nations) Opeth – Deliverance & Damnation (The End) Kevin Drumm – January (Bandcamp) Tortoise – The Catastrophist (Thrill Jockey; due Jan. 22) Gil Sansón…
Night After Night 