Geek out.

Hilary Hahn and Cory Smythe at the Stone
The New York Times, October 13, 2011

The video embedded above shows the grand finale of Hilary Hahn's holy-rolling "Ives geek-out party" (her term) at the Stone, John Zorn's East Village new-music space, on Monday night. Hahn's disc of Ives's four sonatas, recorded with Valentina Lisitsa for Deutsche Grammophon, is something you need to have, or at least to hear. For me, the bonus in this event was finally getting a chance to tell Jan Swafford in person how his amazing Brahms biography permanently changed the way I think about Brahms. Swafford's Ives biography, I hasten to add, is equally authoritative and revealing. (He lamented that it doesn't sell well, a condition that deserves remedy.)

Speaking of embedded, have you heard Cory Smythe's terrific recent solo album, Pluripotent? If not, go listen to it here. Now.