Steve Smith
-
Regular visitors to this blog are familiar with my occasional lamentations regarding a workload that hasn't allowed me to do much writing here during the last several months — okay, let's be honest, the last year. I'm continually grateful for the generous platforms I'm afforded in my work at Time Out New York and The…
-
Rhys Chatham's Crimson Grail and Liquid Liquid at Damrosch ParkThe New York Times, August 10, 2009
-
On Wednesday evening at Lincoln Center, the Asphalt Orchestra, Bang on a Can's funky new street band, made its public debut with a rousing set of charts by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, Meshuggah, Charles Mingus, Tyondai Braxton and Goran Bregovic. Presented by Lincoln Center Out of Doors, choreographed by Susan Marshall and costumed by Elizabeth…
-
I was shocked and saddened to learn yesterday of the sudden, unexpected passing last weekend of Robert Hilferty—a keen arts journalist, astute critic, admired colleague, dazzling raconteur and gregarious bon vivant. Although he hadn't written for TONY in some time, Robert was an important contributor to this magazine's early success; among the other publications whose…
-
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, by Marco Borggreve Editor's note, 2016: The very first music-industry professional who ever talked to me about the conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin said, "Keep an eye on this guy, he's being groomed as Levine's successor at the Met." That was in early 2009, when he was chiefly known for his work with the Orchestre…
-
The New York Philharmonic in Central ParkThe New York Times, July 21, 2009
-
The Kronos Quartet at the Prospect Park BandshellThe New York Times, July 18, 2009 I'm dismayed to note, and bound to confess, that there is an outright error near the end of this review — one blatant enough that I spotted it immediately this morning. While I correctly recorded in my handwritten notes the name…
-
The Castleton Festival Orchestra, The Rape of Lucretia and The Beggar's Opera at the Castleton FestivalThe New York Times, July 14, 2009
-
Paul Potts with Neal E. Boyd and Diane di Stasio at the Beacon TheatreThe New York Times, July 11, 2009
-
Caramoor International Music Festival Opening-Night GalaThe New York Times, June 29, 2009
-
Just in from Avery Fisher Hall, where Lorin Maazel conducted his penultimate program: a rousing account of Mahler's Symphony No. 8. My companion and I enjoyed the performance rather more than did Allan Kozinn, who offered measured praise in his New York Times review, and a great deal more than did Martin Bernheimer, to judge…
-
Michael Jackson's passing put me in an evil state of mind. Not so much the fact of it, which was shocking and tragic, but hardly unimaginable given the downward spiral of his career during the last decade-plus. No, it was the mad rush to pronounce the man dead that bothered me. No sooner did we…
-
True confession: I did not care for R.E.M.'s Murmur when it appeared—which is the same as saying that if I'd attempted to realize my nascent rock-crit aspirations a year or so sooner than I did, I'd have been dead at the starting gate. At the time, the rock-crit rulebook looked something like this: 1: Murmur…
-
"You sort of have to get close in this place, whether you want it or not," Anna Ternheim said as she carefully swiveled around the edge of the tiny stage at Joe's Pub on Monday night, maneuvering herself behind the piano. "I really like that," she added. Ternheim, a Swedish singer-songwriter now based in the…
-
Sunday night's show by Van der Graaf Generator and Strawbs at the Nokia Theatre Times Square, recounted through my Twitter posts, and annotated and corrected as necessary. From one of the thickest crowds I've ever seen at Town Hall (Emerson Quartet) to the thinnest I've seen at Nokia (Van der Graaf Generator).7:44 PM Jun 21st…
-
Emerson String Quartet at Town HallThe New York Times, June 23, 2009 Fun fact: According to Midge Woolsey, who hosted this concert, Schubert is the most-played composer on WQXR-FM.
-
The New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher HallThe New York Times, June 19, 2009
-
Paula Matthusen at RouletteThe New York Times, June 15, 2009
-
Whenever and wherever she plays, I'm always eager to hear soprano saxophonist and composer Jane Ira Bloom, a favorite of mine from way, way back. Despite a near-complete exhaustion that saw me nearly nodding off on the R train, I went out to the Tea Lounge in Park Slope last night to hear Bloom play…
-
Young Symphonic Ensemble at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, June 6, 2009 This one does not appear to have been published in a print edition of the Times. Perhaps Monday? Meanwhile, you can enjoy the Yo-Yo Ma cameo online.
Night After Night 