classical music
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American Symphony Orchestra, by Hiroyuki Ito American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, November 17, 2013The New York Times, Nov. 19, 2013 The other of my two reviews that ran on November 19. Another satisfying outing with the A.S.O., and maybe the first review in which I came right out and said that anyone still getting…
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John Orfe of Alarm Will Sound, by Hiroyuki Ito Alarm Will Sound at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 16, 2013The New York Times, Nov. 19, 2013 Finally getting around to posting two reviews that ran in the Times last Tuesday. Both concerts were events I specifically requested, and neither disappointed. This Alarm Will Sound…
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New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, November 14, 2013The New York Times, Nov. 18, 2013 A brilliant local premiere for Christopher Rouse's gorgeous Oboe Concerto by Liang Wang, Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, bracketed by rock-solid renditions of Richard Strauss's Don Juan and Also sprach Zarathustra. This was the kind of night…
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Marcos Balter, by Kat Keers Classical Playlist: András Schiff, Janine Jansen, Rebekah Heller and MoreThe New York Times ArtsBeat, Nov. 13, 2013 A playlist of a different kind than the sort this blog is known for, and an attempt at solving the recent problem of too many worthy recordings and not enough space in…
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The New York Times building, by Richard Perry/The New York Times I've promised myself for quite some time now that I'd finally get around to catching up with posting my writing for the Times here with a couple of omnibus posts, and now I'm finally making the time for it. Here's the first, covering everything…
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<a href="http://recordings.irritablehedgehog.com/album/eva-maria-houben-piano-music" _mce_href="http://recordings.irritablehedgehog.com/album/eva-maria-houben-piano-music">Eva-Maria Houben: Piano Music by R. Andrew Lee</a> It's not all bad news today; it only seems that way. The world's a mess, but all is right with pianist R. Andrew Lee, who continues to blaze deep trails into the music of major minimalists past and present. New today on the Irritable…
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Conductor Bill Eddins, never one to mince words, weighed in yesterday on the ongoing dissolution of the Minnesota Orchestra, which has just lost two more key players: assistant concertmaster Stephanie Arado, who is taking a teaching position at Interlochen, and principal French horn player Michael Gast, who is coming to the New York Philharmonic during…
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Ken Thomson, by James Hirschfeld Ken Thomson and I first crossed paths back in 1997, when I was the publicist for the Knitting Factory and its first-annual [sic] Texaco Jazz Festival (formerly What Is Jazz?), and he was part of an intrepid team broadcasting multiple events for Columbia University's invaluable radio station, WKCR-FM. Since then,…
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Jon Gillock, by Kenneth Dickerman/The New York Times Jon Gillock at the Church of the Ascension, March 5, 2013The New York Times, March 7, 2013 A gripping account of Messiaen's awe-inspiring Méditations sur la Mystère de la Sainte Trinité, played by a Messiaen expert on an instrument made to order as part of an ongoing…
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Marcello Giordani, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Mark Delavan, by Ruby Washington/The New York Times Francesca da Rimini at the Metropolitan Opera House, March 4, 2013The New York Times, March 7, 2013 I don't often get much direct response to my Times reviews in the form of email; usually that's reserved for social-media channels and the occasional…
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Jennifer Koh, by Jennifer Taylor/The New York Times Jennifer Koh at the 92nd Street Y, March 2, 2013The New York Times, March 5, 2013 I specifically remember thinking, as Jennifer Koh managed to give each voice in Bach's fugues its own sound and personality, that the shadows playing on the wall behind her served as…
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Collegiate Chorale, by Richard Termine/The New York Times Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall, February 27, 2013The New York Times, March 2, 2013 Here we are at Night After Night post No. 1,000. Feels auspicious, even if it's just a link to the latest of my New York Times reviews. If this particular report comes off…
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Matoaka Little Eagle, Cleek Schrey, Mary MacKenzie and Jessica Schmitz, by Julieta Cervantes/The New York Times Avant Music Festival at the Wild Project, February 16, 2013The New York Times, Feb. 20, 2013 Last month I was lucky enough to get to hear a live performance of John Cage's Apartment House 1776 as part of the…
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Allison Cook and William Ferguson in Powder Her Face, by Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Powder Her Face at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, February 15, 2013The New York Times, Feb. 18, 2013 New York City Opera opened its latest season with a brash, intelligent and sexy staging of English composer Thomas Adès's notorious debut…
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Brentano String Quartet, by Karsten Moran/The New York Times Brentano String Quartet at Zankel Hall, February 12, 2013The New York Times, Feb. 15, 2013 The world premiere of Steven Mackey's thoughtful, engaging One Red Rose, a fascinating reflection on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, shared a program with cheery Haydn and grandiloquently…
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<a href="http://recordings.irritablehedgehog.com/album/dennis-johnson-november-2" _mce_href="http://recordings.irritablehedgehog.com/album/dennis-johnson-november-2">Dennis Johnson: November by R. Andrew Lee</a> Pianist R. Andrew Lee, whose previous recordings for the Irritable Hedgehog label have featured illuminating performances of works by Tom Johnson, Ann Southam, William Duckworth and Jürg Frey, has just released a new album that brings to light a long-lost milestone of early minimalism: November,…
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Trombonists of the Juilliard Orchestra, by Michael Nagle/The New York Times Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, February 9, 2013The New York Times, Feb. 11, 2013 Not many people know it, but we live in a golden age for contemporary concert-band music, with both well-established composers and inventive up-and-comers creating new pieces for (mostly) collegiate wind…
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Soloists and the Orchestra for the Next Century, by Tina Fineberg/The New York Times Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Concert Hall, February 6, 2013The New York Times, Feb. 11, 2013 Given that Penelope, a large-scale song cycle composed by Sarah Kirkland Snider and sung by Shara Worden and recorded for the New Amsterdam record label,…
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Lauren Worsham, by Kristin Hoebermann Interview with Lauren Worsham [link missing]Time Out New York, Feb. 21–27, 2013 An excruciatingly short snippet from a lengthy, wide-ranging and brilliantly fun conversation with Lauren Worsham (full name: Lauren Worsham Jarrow), who plays Flora in New York City Opera's stylishly spooky production of Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of…
Night After Night 