Night After Night

Ken Thomson goes bang.

NightAfterNight — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:08:32 -0400

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, I've eagerly and admiringly followed Ken's exploits as the force-of-nature reedist who fronts avant-skronk jazz quartet Gutbucket; in the new-music all-star aggregate Signal; with the composerly chamber-jazz combo slow/fast; and in the riotous Bang on a Can street band Asphalt Orchestra – the last of which you'll see tearing up the pavement anew at Lincoln Center Out of Doors this summer.

All of which makes it a distinct pleasure, if hardly a surprise, to congratulate Ken on his new status as clarinetist for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, announced mere moments ago. No question, Evan Ziporyn is a tough act to follow…but if anyone can do it, Ken can.

Watch Ken in sax-dervish mode, fronting Gutbucket in his "dOg Help Us" at Le Poisson Rouge:

Kindest thanks.

NightAfterNight — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:29:01 -0400

To everyone who surfed into Night After Night yesterday after news of my winning an ASCAP Concert Music Award became public – including the many who came via a supremely kind citation on my brilliant colleague Alex Ross's blog, The Rest Is Noise – thanks very much for stopping by.

I'm thrilled by the recognition from my friends and colleagues at ASCAP and the vital constituency they represent; humbled to be cited alongside genuine heroes like Jon Deak and Tania León, as well as the numerous worthy winners of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards who will share the stage at a ceremony this Friday afternoon; and grateful beyond words about the response that flooded my social-media feeds yesterday.

Suffice it to say that I never knew you could win a prize simply for demonstrating an ongoing concern for the health and well-being of living composers and their work – the primary thing that has motivated this line of work I've been pursuing, on and off, since college in the late ’80s, and in earnest since taking jobs with Time Out New York and Billboard around 12 years ago. Whatever small part I've played in the rude health of contemporary music has been my privilege, my pleasure and, frankly, my obligation as a grateful listener whose life has been enriched and given focus by the work of so many others – many of whom I've been fortunate to meet, and most who I will not.

Of course, anyone who cruised in here yesterday might have wondered just what's going on – or isn't, as the case may be. Truth is, I've been in a bit of an unannounced hiatus here since mid-March, when I went into overdrive planning for a recent trip to London and Reykjavik. (Were I as gracious a host as Alex, I might simply have mentioned this…)

Believe me, it's time and other obligations, not a lack of interest, that have kept me from posting here more frequently. Hyperactive as I tend to be on the social-media front, and inundated as I clearly am with work from my two chief employers, I have never lost interest in blogging even for a moment, nor faith in the freedom and creative space blogs still represent. I'm never short on ideas I'd like to explore here; it's just that life and sleep get in the way. I'm working on it.

Thanks kindly, everyone. The Rest Best Is Still to Come.

Playlist.

NightAfterNight — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:24:49 -0400

King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic (DGM)

Travis & Fripp - Follow (Panegyric)

Ashley Paul - Line the Clouds (Rel)

Antoine Beuger - Méditations poétiques sur quelque chose d’autre; Lieux de passage; Jürg Frey - Canones incerti - Ensemble Dedalus (Potlatch)

Günter Schlienz - The Dalmation Tapes (self-released > download)

Günter Schlienz - The Sardinian Tapes (Earth Mantra > download)

Navel - lunokhod (Partycul System > Bandcamp)

Perspectives / Coyote Dream Exiles - split CS (Hooker Vision)

Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Eclipse Studies (Hooker Vision)

Sootskin Pearls - Highlark Again (Permanent Nostalgia)

Fallen Axe - As the Sun Reached Eternity (Permanent Nostalgia)

Reefer Tree - An Army of Some (Permanent Nostalgia)

Microflvrscnce - I (Patient Sounds)

Xiphiidae / Venn Rain / Digital Natives / Journey of Mind - split 2CS (Sunk Series)

Innercity / Tidal - split CS (Sunk Series)

Glass Smoke - Noctilucent (Sunk Series)

Hildur Guðnadóttir - Without Sinking (Touch)

Steindór Andersen and Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson - Stafnbúi (12 Tónar)

Keith Rowe/Graham Lambkin - Making A (Erstwhile)

Grant Evans - Dappled with Mock Orange (905 Tapes)

Bermuda Link - Passed Lives (Housecraft)

Digital Natives - Closest to the Rose Is a Thorn (Housecraft)

JD Emmanuel / Evan Caminiti - Contrasts (Preservation)

Loren Connors / Chris Forsyth - Contrasts (Preservation)

Pimmon / Deep Magic - Contrasts (Preservation)

Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning (Kscope)

Morton Feldman - Violin and Orchestra - Carolin Widmann, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra/Emilio Pomàrico (ECM New Series; due Jun 18)

Jörg Widmann - Violin Concerto; Antiphon; Insel der Sirenen - Christian Tetzlaff, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Daniel Harding (Ondine)

Franz Joseph Haydn - Piano Sonatas, Vol. 5 - Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Chandos)

George Jones - The Definitive Collection 1955–1962 (Mercury Nashville > MOG)

Apparat Organ Quartet - Apparat Organ Quartet (12 Tónar)

Ghostigital - Division of Culture and Tourism (Smekkleysa)

Rökurró - Í Annan Heim (12 Tónar)

Trabant - Emotional (12 Tónar)

Yui Onodera - Substrate (Mystery Sea > Bandcamp)

Celer - Rags of Contentment (Dronarivm > Bandcamp)

Chubby Wolf - Envelope Petals (Bandcamp)

The League of Gentlemen - Thrang Thrang Gozinblux (DGM)

Robert Fripp - Let the Power Fall (Editions E.G.)

Joe Panzner/Greg Stuart - Dystonia Duos (ErstAEU)

Anne Guthrie/Richard Kamerman - Sinter (ErstAEU)

Graham Stephenson/Aaron Zarzutzki - Touching (ErstAEU)

David Tudor - The Art of David Tudor (New World)

King Crimson - Lizard (DGM)

King Crimson - Red (DGM)

Celer - Salvaged Violets (Bandcamp)

Thoughts on Air - January Man (Worn Habit)

Hemosis / Emuul - split CS (self-released)

We have been gone.

NightAfterNight — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:17:00 -0400

But we shall return, shortly. Stay tuned.

Playlist.

NightAfterNight — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:35:22 -0400

King Crimson - The Savoy, New York, NY, Nov. 7, 1981 (late show) (DGMLive)

Riccardo Zandonai - Francesca da Rimini - Magda Olivero, Mario Del Monaco, Giampiero Malaspino, Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala Milan/Gianandrea Gavazzeni (Hallmark > MOG)

Incantation - Vanquish in Vengeance (Listenable > MOG)

Dennis Johnson - November - R. Andrew Lee (Irritable Hedgehog)

Olivier Messiaen - Livre du Saint Sacrement; Prelude; Monodie; Verset pour la fête de la Dédicace; Offrande au Saint Sacrement; Diptyque - Gillian Weir (Priory > MOG)

Joseph Byrd - NYC 1960–1963 - Alan Zimmerman, American Contemporary Music Ensemble (New World)

Kris Davis - Capricorn Climber (Clean Feed)

Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House - Strong Place (Intakt)

Dave Douglas Quintet - Time Travel (Greenleaf Music; due Apr. 9)

King Crimson - Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, British Columbia, Dec. 1, 1981 (DGMLive)

Will Long - Rosy Reflections (Avant Archive > Bandcamp)

Aaron Dilloway - Siena (Hanson > Bandcamp)

Jason Lescalleet - This Is What I Do, Volume One (Glistening Examples > Bandcamp)

Kyle Landstra - New Light (Space Slave)

Courtly Illusion Limited - Courtly Illusion Limited (Space Slave)

Tuluum Shimmering - Raag Wichikapache/Lake of Mapang (Space Slave)

Demdike Stare - The Weight of Culture (self-released)

Cool Person - Cool Person (Hooker Vision)

Grant Evans - False Flag Loops (Hooker Vision)

Scott Cloud - Saffron Bay (self-released)

Butch Morris/Lê Quan Ninh/J.A. Deane - Burning Cloud (FMP/Destination: Out > Bandcamp)

Catherine Lamb - Periphery (Engraved Glass)

King Crimson - Park West, Chicago, IL, Aug. 7, 2008 (DGMLive)

Brian Green - Balance (Bandcamp)

Gasoline Gathers Hands, Gathers Friends - Gasoline Gathers Hands, Gathers Friends (No Shade > Bandcamp)

Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 4; Cantata BWV 199 "Meine Herze schwimmt im Blut" - Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (Yarlung)

Sasha Cooke - If You Love for Beauty - Colburn Orchestra/Yehuda Gilad (Yarlung)

Béla Bartók - Concerto for Viola and Orchestra - William Primrose, New Symphony Orchestra of London/Tibor Serly (MusiKazoo > MOG)

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Flos Campi - William Primrose, Philharmonia Orchestra/Adrian Boult (Broken Audio > MOG)

Hector Berlioz - Harold en Italie - William Lincer, New York Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein (Sony Classical > MOG)

György Ligeti - Sonata for Viola solo; György Kurtág - Signs, Games and Messages - Kim Kashkashian (ECM New Series)

Paul Hindemith - Sonata for Viola and Piano (Op. 11, No. 4); Sonata for Viola Only (Op. 25, No. 1); Sonata for Viola and Piano (1939); Capriccio for Cello and Piano (Op. 8, No. 1; arr. Gandelsman) - Yuri Gandelsman, Ralph Votapek (Blue Griffin)

Minna Keal - Ballade in F minor; Marcelle Soulage - Sonata for Solo Viola; Fernande Decruck - Sonata for Viola and Piano; Luise Adolpha Le Beau - Three Pieces for Viola and Piano; Pamela Harrison - Sonata for Viola and Piano; Lillian Fuchs - Sonata Pastorale; Rebecca Clarke - Sonata for Viola and Piano - Hillary Herndon, Wei-Chun Bernadette Lo (MSR Classics)

Steven Mackey - Groundswell - Hsin-Yun Huang, American Modern Ensemble; Poul Ruders - Romances - Hsin-Yun Huang, Sarah Rothenberg; George Benjamin - Viola, Viola - Hsin-Yun Huang, Misha Amory; Elliott Carter - Figment 4 - Hsin-Yun Huang; Shih-Hui Chen - Remembrance - Evergreen Symphony Orchestra/Gernot Schmalfuss (Bridge)

Paul Chihara - Concerto Piccolo - Paul Coletti, Ben Ullery, Gina Coletti, Zach Dellinger; Concerto for Viola - Paul Coletti, Colburn Orchestra/Yehuda Gilad; Redwood - Paul Coletti, Jack Van Geem; Sonata for Viola and Piano - Paul Coletti, Vivian Fan (Bridge)

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber - Passacaglia; Irish trad./arr. Cords - Pórt Na BPúcaí; Edmund Rubbra - Meditations on a Byzantine Hymn 'O Quando E Cruce'; Alan Hovhaness - Chahagir; Nicholas Cords - Five Migrations; Igor Stravinsky - Élégie; Paul Hindemith - Sonata for Solo Viola (Op. 11, No. 5) - Nicholas Cords (In a Circle)

Judd Greenstein - In Teaching Others We Teach Ourselves; Shara Worden - From the Invisible to the Visible; Missy Mazzoli - Tooth and Nail; Nico Muhly - Étude 3; Paul Corley - Tristan de Cunha; Daníel Bjarnason - Sleep Variations - Nadia Sirota, James McVinnie, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Frank Aarnink, Daníel Bjarnason (New Amsterdam/Bedroom Community)

Anthony Braxton - Trio (NYC) 2011 (New Braxton House)

Catherine Lamb - Cross/Collapse (Absence of Wax)

Barn Owl - V (Thrill Jockey; due Apr. 16)

Coyote Image Medicinals - Coyote Image Medicinals (Kimberly Dawn > Bandcamp)

Stygian Stride - Stygian Stride (Thrill Jockey)

Nova Scotian Arms - Cult Spectrum (Digitalis > Bandcamp)

Tom Johnson - Correct Music - Andrew Nathaniel McIntosh, Douglas Wadle, Brian Walsh (Populist)

Iva Bittová - Iva Bittová (ECM; due March 26)

Keiji Haino, Jim O'Rourke and Oren Ambarchi - Now While It's Still Warm Let Us Pour In All the Mystery (Black Truffle)

Alvin Lucier - Music for Piano with Magnetic Strings - Lois Svard; Theme - Sam Ashley, Thomas Buckner, Jacqueline Humbert, Joan La Barbara; Music for Gamelan Instruments Microphones, Amplifiers and Loudspeakers - Wesleyan University Gamelan Ensemble (Lovely Music)

Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Penchant Mode (No Kings)

Coupler - Sunless (No Kings)

Inez Lightfoot - Three Weaving at the Well (No Kings)

Woven Hare / Elder / Knit Prism - split CS (Worn Habit)

Toshiya Tsunoda - Scenery of Decalcomania (Naturestrip)

Giant Claw - Music for Film (Constellation Tatsu)

Forming - Variations of the One Essence (Worn Habit)

Thoughts on Air - LED Blues (Worn Habit)

Jon Gillock at the Church of the Ascension, March 5, 2013

NightAfterNight — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:52:35 -0400

Jon Gillock, by Kenneth Dickerman/The New York Times

Jon Gillock at the Church of the Ascension, March 5, 2013
The 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 project to record Messiaen's complete organ works on that instrument, the Manton Memorial Organ. Since no photograph accompanied this review, I've posted a photograph of Jon Gillock playing at the Church of the Ascension taken from Vivien Schweitzer's review of the organ's inaugural concert, on May 5, 2011.

I'll add, somewhat sheepishly, that this review initially disappointed me on reflection; I think I might have included too much background and atmosphere at the cost of musical and performative considerations. But from out of the blue came a welcome email from a good friend, who said that this passage in my review…

In thunderous climaxes the sanctuary shook. Eerie intimations hung tremulous in the air. And Messiaen’s bountiful birds — joyful reminders, to him at least, of God’s omnipresent hand in the mundane — warbled high and clear.

…took her right back to her own earlier experience of hearing Gillock play Messiaen on the Manton instrument. That made me feel better – yet I wonder how much of her response was predicated on being able to fill in details I omitted.

Writing remains a continual challenge.

Francesca da Rimini at the Metropolitan Opera House, March 4, 2013

NightAfterNight — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:25:44 -0400

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, 2013
The 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 comment here on the blog. In this case, though, two notes I received after this review came out – one on my home address and one via the Times – left me disappointed that I'd failed to clearly convey the real motivation behind the question with which I closed the review: "Still – why?"

So, to be perfectly clear, I wasn't actually questioning why the Met would devote its considerable resources to an also-ran of the operatic repertoire. Fact is, I think the Met could stand to explore such byways more frequently. A diet of nothing but consensus masterpieces, however well done, could grow deadly dull in time, and the Met does tend to trot out its greatest hits and recent reimaginings rather frequently.

The music in Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini is inventive and ravishing, no two ways about it, and I also meant what I wrote about the clever economy of its dramatic pacing. The production is an old-school eye-popper of the sort we see infrequently now, apart from Zeffirelli revivals, and the directing is basically agreeable, though I absolutely agree with John Yohallem's observation regarding one particular scene, well-stated in his astute review on Parterre Box:

David Kneuss, who restaged the production, has the Malatesta army in Act II stand at attention staring up at Francesca and Paolo as they confess their immoral love to each other, which can’t be the ideal way to keep it secret from Gianciotto. At least turn the soldiers around, hey?

The question at the end had everything to do with the two principal performers, both of them honorable artists. Eva-Maria Westbroek's sound could be impressive, but lacked a certain floating quality that her character warranted; more importantly, her enunciation lacked clarity and incisiveness entirely.

As for Marcello Giordani – who, as I've revealed before, was my ur-tenor ages ago at Houston Grand Opera, where he made an indelible impression as my first-ever Duke of Mantua in a Rigoletto that literally changed my life – I wonder if it was his recent troubles in Les Troyens that made him seem so cautious and troubled here? I have immense respect for Giordani, but this was not a comfortable evening for him.

So, to complete the thought I tried to telegraph in that final, lingering question, why did the Met devote such evident resources to this revival without the proper principal artists to bring out what's best about the opera itself?

Jennifer Koh at the 92nd Street Y, March 2, 2013

NightAfterNight — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 10:57:59 -0400

Jennifer Koh, by Jennifer Taylor/The New York Times

Jennifer Koh at the 92nd Street Y, March 2, 2013
The 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 perfect illustrations for the sensation I was experiencing. I thought about mentioning this unique shadowplay in my concert review, but ultimately decided against it. Had I known that this particular gorgeous photo by Jennifer Taylor would accompany the review, I certainly would have chosen differently.

Simply put, Koh, who I profiled for the Times earlier this year, is a supremely gifted, extraordinarily focused and motivated artist, and this was a very special concert. If it doesn't end up on some year-end list I'll be compelled to create, it will have been a remarkable year indeed; right now, it's a lock.

Playlist.

NightAfterNight — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 22:21:06 -0500

Quartz Safari - Quartz Safari (Fadeaway Tapes)

Jean Sibelius - Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4 - Minnesota Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä (Bis)

Philip Glass - Symphony No. 7 "Toltec" - Linz Opera Chorus, Bruckner Orchestra Linz/Dennis Russell Davies (Orange Mountain Music)

Osvaldo Golijov - Oceana - Luciana Souza, Gwinnett Young Singers, Atlanta Symphony Chorus and Orchestra/Robert Spano; Tenebrae - Kronos Quartet; Three Songs - Dawn Upshaw, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra/Robert Spano; etc. (Deutsche Grammophon)

Nicolas Flagello - Passion of Martin Luther King - Ezio Flagello, Ambrosian Singers, London Philharmonic Orchestra/Nicolas Flagello; L'Infinito; The Land - Ezio Flagello, I Musici di Firenze/Nicolas Flagello (Naxos Historical)

Suffocation - Pinnacle of Bedlam (Nuclear Blast > MOG)

Josh Mason - Timecode Beach (Digitalis > Bandcamp)

Quiet Evenings / Sundrips - split CS (Fadeaway Tapes)

Trabajo - Gamelan to the Love God (Bandcamp)

Gerald Clayton - A Life Forum (Concord Jazz; due April 2)

Elliott Sharp - Errata (Neos)

Elliott Sharp - Rheo-Umbra - Orchestra Carbon (Neos)

David Bowie - The Next Day (ISO/Columbia; due March 12)

Depeche Mode - Delta Machine (Columbia; due March 26)

birds of passage / Je Suis le Petit Chevalier / Motion Sickness of Time Travel / Aloonaluna - Taxidermy of Unicorns (Watery Starve)

Thoughts on Air / Fallen Axe / Knit Prism / Trailing - split 2CS (Fadeaway Tapes)

Brian Green - Milltown (A Giant Fern)

Nodolby - Inception/Aftermath (Field Hymns)

The Cats' Orchestra / Regular Music - split CS (Field Hymns)

Pierrot Lunaire - This Love of Mine (SicSic)

Digital Natives - The Old Truce (SicSic)

Fluorescent Heights - Vendetta in Paradise (SicSic)

Glass House - Savage Times (SicSic)

Je Suis le Petit Chevalier - Dark Morse (Shelter Press)

Brian Green - learning how to read the map to get there (Bandcamp)

Richard Wagner - Die Walküre - Linda Watson, Edith Haller, Mihoko Fujiamura, Johan Botha, Kwangchul Youn, Albert Dohmen, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra/Christian Thielemann (Opus Arte)

Kyle Landstra - Sage (Cosmic Winnetou)

Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall, February 27, 2013

NightAfterNight — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 18:36:34 -0500

Collegiate Chorale, by Richard Termine/The New York Times

Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall, February 27, 2013
The 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 as a bit dismissive toward a pair of today's most prominent composers, it's only because I know a lot of music by Philip Glass and Osvaldo Golijov, and compared the two works at hand strictly to their own stronger pieces.

Curious, given the accusations of plagiarism – or at least inopportune borrowing, inappropriately explained – on Golijov's part in recent years, that more wasn't made of it when Glass responded to a major commission with a symphony one-third recycled from his own film score to Powaqqatsi – and really, in my view, recycled to no great effect. Tim Page's Washington Post advance feature contained no mention of the self-borrowing, nor did Jens F. Laurson's customarily keen Ionarts review. Only the Washington Times reviewer noted the reused music with bewilderment.

(An aside: The Washington Times review has no byline on the paper's website. The online journalism archive HighBeam Research credits the article, rightly or not, to Julia Duin, a veteran religion reporter fired in 2010, purportedly for speaking ill of Times management.)

Presumably reporters and reviewers ignored Glass's recycling because the program note provided, written by Richard Freed, didn't acknowledge it. Neither does the liner note included with the CD recording of the symphony issued by Glass's Orange Mountain Music record label. But Richard Guérin, who edits the Glass Note blog, cited Glass's reuse of the film music openly in a 2011 post, and the point was also noted in the Collegiate Chorale's program notes at Carnegie Hall.

To be perfectly clear, "The Unutterable" is very good Glass music. And I don't personally take any issue with a composer reusing his own music; where would Copland's Symphony No. 3 (1946) be without its incorporation of his Fanfare for the Common Man (1942)? But the lack of transparency about it feels shifty.

More important, in the context of the symphony's two previous, very effective movements, a sudden shift to an earlier, starker style seems jarring. And the music, meant as a film cue, ends without any sense of concluding – saddling a heretofore dramatic symphony with a wan, anticlimactic ending that left the Carnegie Hall audience confused and hesitant to respond.

At the Kennedy Center premiere, the symphony's final movement featured more extensive choral parts and a brief, contrasting coda – which included the work's only instance of the archetypal Glass arpeggio. I've heard the complete original version of the symphony in an uncirculated reference recording. I wonder now if the removal of these elements wasn't a mistake, given my impressions of the revised version in this Carnegie Hall performance. (You can hear the original coda in the Richard Guérin blog post I mentioned above.)

Golijov's Oceana, on the other hand, is a fine piece on its own merits, with some positively thrilling choral writing and exciting episodes for its featured jazz singer. (One of the best moments found the Carnegie Hall soloist, Biella Da Costa, with harp, three flutes and percussion.) It's really only in comparison to Golijov's later, extraordinary Pasión según San Marcos, that Oceana falls short.

You can read a detailed alternate take the Collegiate Chorale concert on Oberon's Grove, and still another perspective on Superconductor. Vive les blogs!