Night After Night

American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, November 17, 2013

American Symphony Orchestra, by Hiroyuki Ito

American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, November 17, 2013
The 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 hung up on specifics of Leon Botstein's conducting technique is missing the point. I don't care to think about a world in which Botstein and his players aren't around to provide an alternative to the standard-issue orchestral program.

Seriously: solid performances of well-chosen works you're unlikely to hear anywhere else, plus terrific, charismatic soloists. What's not to admire?

Alarm Will Sound at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 16, 2013

John Orfe of Alarm Will Sound, by Hiroyuki Ito

Alarm Will Sound at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 16, 2013
The 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 concert came first, a week ago Saturday. It was part of a seasonlong residency that also included this previous program, as well as a flash-mob performance of "Cliffs" by Aphex Twin the following Monday afternoon. This concert also happened to be a particularly special event for a personal reason I'm keeping to myself. (If you saw me there, you can guess, I'm sure.)

Here are two videos showing portions of the aforementioned flash-mob performance, which happened on November 18 at noon.

Happy 'camper.

I've written about the music-sales website/service Bandcamp so often, here and on social-media channels, that I run the risk of sounding like a shill, I know. But I can't help it: I just love the browsing, streaming, shopping and sharing capabilities it delivers. Early on, my admiration was slightly mitigated by the idea that even after you started using Bandcamp, searching the site was not particularly efficient or intuitive.

Lately, though, the process has started to become easier and smarter, with more reliable results. And Bandcamp has taken some major steps to augment its user-friendliness. There's Bandcamp Weekly, a lively podcast that spotlights what's new on the site. As importantly, there are Bandcamp Collection pages, through which the acquisitions of fellow users are displayed for easy perusing and sampling. The collections aren't just for show; they're key to a social-media-style network for sharing tastes, and to a music feed page that provides a steady, addictive drip of new possibilities.

I balked for a while over the idea of making a public Bandcamp Collection page, reckoning that it was meant for fans and not professional music writers. Then I rethought that position – on Bandcamp I really am just one more fan – and launched the page.The photo is the same one I use on my blog and social media. The graphic along the top border is a snippet of Christian Wolff's For 1, 2 or 3 People.

The benefits go beyond putting your tastes on public display, fastidiously organized or otherwise. When you purchase something from an artist or label, you automatically begin "following" them, and are alerted about future releases via email: a great way to keep on top of what's new.

Further, you're directed toward other users whose collections contain the same recordings as yours, whom you can also choose to follow. If you do, every now and then you get an email indicating what those users have bought recently, prompting you to explore with gentle guidance in order to discover more music possibly to your liking.

And there's a satisfying payoff. When someone buys a recording through the link on your page, you get notified. The email header: Booyakasha! You just made something awesome happen. Here's an example of what's in the message (click to enlarge):

It's both entertaining and oddly gratifying for those of us who have proprietary feelings toward the artists and music we love.

And hey, whattya know? The warm fuzzies are mutual, evidently, because today my collection is featured on the Bandcamp home page.

Okay, I admit it… I knew this was going to happen today. (I'm not that fast a blogger!) Still, flattering and fun to have my appreciation appreciated in return.

New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, November 14, 2013

New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, November 14, 2013
The 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 when you realize just how remarkable the Philharmonic is, and you've got one more chance to catch the program live, on Tuesday night at 7:30pm.

Classical Playlist: András Schiff, Janine Jansen, Rebekah Heller and More

 

Marcos Balter, by Kat Keers

Classical Playlist: András Schiff, Janine Jansen, Rebekah Heller and More
The 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 print. Since at least one person I know has suggested that I prompted this innovation, I hasten to credit Anthony Tommasini with the notion and the urge behind its implementation, and Jeremy Egner with the format, design and actual labor.

These are the three recordings I picked for my first contribution, linked by Chicago ties and a piece by Marcos Balter on each:

‘100 NAMES’
Rebekah Heller, bassoon, percussion, narrator
(Tundra Records)

‘HOT’
Ryan Muncy, saxophone; with Nadia Sirota, viola; Ben Melsky, harp; Claire Chase, bass flute; and Ensemble Dal Niente, conducted by Michael Lewanski
(New Focus Recordings)

‘CHAMBERS’
Spektral Quartet
(Parlour Tapes+)

I sympathize with the wry suggestion that not titling this column "Bach, Beethoven and Balter" was a missed opportunity. To be totally honest, choosing a cluster of related releases resulted from my mistaken impression about the putative format of this new weekly feature during its planning. That being the case, I'm grateful to all concerned for preserving it in its original integrity. No slight was intended toward any of the other worthy composers whose works are included on these recordings, all of which urge investigation.

My next clutch of capsules ought to arrive on Wednesday, Nov. 27 20 27, and should include a singing, ringing and chiming endorsement for one more Chicago group, plus a long, slow gaze toward Colorado and some well-deserved praise for a New York City foursome's debut disc. Stay tuned.

Playlist.

Rangefinder - Night Ride (Bun Tapes)

Son Lux - Lanterns (Joyful Noise)

Tim Hecker - Virgins (Kranky)

Jennifer Koh and Shai Wosner - signs, games + messages (Cedille)

Billy Gomberg - Waiting in Poor Lighting (Avant Archive > Bandcamp)

Juan Blanco - Nuestro Tiempo/Our Time (Innova)

GE Stinson - masters of the abstract (an homage) (Bandcamp)

Rhys Chatham - Harmonie du soir (Northern Spy)

Cenote Glow - Palmetto Rose (Worn Habit)

Noveller - No Dreams (Important)

Jaleel Shaw - The Soundtrack of Things to Come (Changu)

Cecil Taylor - 3 Phasis (New World)

King Crimson - The Road to Red (DGM)

Richard Strauss - Die Frau ohne Schatten - Leonie Rysanek, Christa Ludwig, Ruth Hesse, James King, Walter Berry, Vienna Philharmonic/Karl Böhm (Opera d'Oro)

Holly Herndon - Movement (RVNG Intl.)

Ted Nash Big Band - Chakra (Plastic Sax Records)

Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 4 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko (Naxos)

Lou Reed - Berlin (RCA)

Lou Reed - The Blue Mask (RCA)

Lou Reed - Ecstasy (Sire)

Abul Mogard - Drifted Heaven (VCO Recordings)

Swans - Not Here/Not Now (Young God)

Hollywood Dream Trip - Intuition (DOM Bartwuchs)

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7 - London Philharmonic Orchestra/Bernard Haitink (LPO)

Gustav Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde - Sarah Connolly, Toby Spence, London Philharmonic Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin (LPO)

Former Selves - In Passing (Hi Shadow)

Seziki Tetrasheaf - Sirocco's End (Rotifer)

Nag Dolly - Cote of Totes (Rotifer)

Kassel Jaeger - Endorheism (Antisolar)

Kyle Landstra - The Illusion of Becoming (Field Studies)

Safiyaa - Shareek Hayaat (Umor Rex)

Giant Claw - Max Mutant (Tranquility Tapes)

Seth Graham - Creaky Clumsy (Tranquility Tapes)

Loud & Sad - Whale Fail Volume Two (Tranquility Tapes)

Witchbeam - Shadow Musick Vol. 1 (Tranquility Tapes)

Katie Gately - Blue Eight (Blue Tapes)

Lorna Dune - Miamisphere (lo bit landscapes)

Toshimaru Nakamura - No-Input Mixing Board #8 (Oral)

Markus Reuter - Live in Bethlehem 2013 (Iapetus > Bandcamp)

The Fierce and the Dead - Spooky Action (Bad Elephant > Bandcamp)

Sima Kim & Saito Koji - Light and Gravity (Twice Removed > Bandcamp)

Erik Friedlander - Haunted (Bandcamp)

Cornelius Dufallo & Patrick Derivaz - Bass Violin (Spectropol > Bandcamp)

Mivos Quartet - Momentum (Carrier)

Phill Niblock - Touch Five (Touch)

Augusta Read Thomas - Resounding Earth - Third Coast Percussion (Third Coast Percussion)

Jeong Ga Ak Hoe - Thinking Being Irresistibly Burnt (AkdangEban)

Pain Killer - Guts of a Virgin/Buried Secrets (Earache)

Napalm Death - From Enslavement to Obliteration (Earache)

Carcass - Reek of Putrefaction (Earache)

Emptyset - Recur (Raster-Noton)

Reformed Faction - Until… (Greytone)

Richard Wagner - Die Walküre - Jennifer Wilson, Petra Maria Schnitzer, Anna Larsson, Peter Seiffert, Matti Salminen, Juha Uusitalo, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana/Zubin Mehta (Unitel Classica)

Celer - Sendai 08/24/13 (Bandcamp)

John Tavener - The Protecting Veil - Steven Isserlis, London Symphony Orchestra/Gennady Rozhdestvensky (Virgin Classics)

Caspian - Tertia (The Mylene Sheath)

Caspian - Hymn for the Greatest Generation (Make My Day Records)

Ben Allison - The Stars Look Very Different Today (Sonic Camera Records)

King Crimson - Palace Theater, New Haven, CT, Dec. 9, 2001 (DGMLive)

Rangefinder - Harmony State (A Guide to Saints)

Slobber Pup - Black Aces (RareNoise)

Alvin Lucier - Diamonds for 1, 2 or 3 Orchestras - Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra/Christian Arming, Petr Kotik and Zsolt Nagy; Slices - Charles Curtis, members of the San Diego Symphony; Exploration of the House - Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra/Petr Kotik (New World)

Ted Byrnes/Nicholas Deyoe - 1 (Khalija > Bandcamp)

Ken Thomson - Perpetual; Thaw - Ken Thomson, JACK Quartet (Cantaloupe)

Robert Beatty - Soundtracks for Takeshi Murata (Glistening Examples > Bandcamp)

Toshimaru Nakamura, Ken Ikeda & Tomoyoshi Date - Green Heights (Baskaru > Bandcamp)

Rapoon - Psi-Transient/Live at L.A.C.E. (Aquarellist)

Giuseppe Verdi - La Traviata - Rosa Ponselle, Frederick Jagel, Lawrence Tibbett, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Ettore Panizza (Sony Classical)

Giuseppe Verdi - Otello - Elisabeth Rethberg, Giovanni Martinelli, Lawrence Tibbett, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Ettore Panizza (Sony Classical)

Giuseppe Verdi - Un Ballo in Maschera - Zinka Milanov, Stella Andreva, Bruna Castagna, Jussi Björling, Alexander Sved, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Ettore Panizza (Sony Classical)

Giuseppe Verdi - Rigoletto - Bidú Sayão, Jussi Björling, Leonard Warren, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Cesare Sodero (Sony Classical)

New audio: Toshimaru Nakamura, Ken Ikeda and Tomoyoshi Date, Green Heights

There's no reason why I should be surprised to find anything on Bandcamp nowadays… and anyone who knows me even a little, in person or online, also knows what an avid ’camper I am. Still, I admit that I was pleasantly taken aback to find a respectable representation of a favorite artist whose work I'd never sought out on Bandcamp previously: Toshimaru Nakamura, sublime master of the no-input mixing board – seriously, Google "no-input mixing board" and his name is the top result.

What it means is that Nakamura connects a mixing board's output line to its input, then manipulates the feedback that results. He's one of the purest musical minds I've ever encountered, and a performer who has interacted fruitfully with Keith Rowe and David Sylvian. If those names don't mean anything to you, substitute "a really, really wide span of artistic temperaments."

Bandcamp doesn't have an overwhelming selection: many of Nakamura's essential recordings are absent because they're on labels that don't do downloads. Still, it's a decent fistful, ranging from early albums (No-Input Mixing Board [3] is a pretty good starting point) to his latest solo disc (No-Input Mixing Board #8, evidently issued in both April and September 2013), plus collaborative projects like his endearing, enduring duo with guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama.

Green Heights, an October release on the Baskaru label and apparently the newest Nakamura recording available through Bandcamp, finds him working alongside Ken Ikeda, whose work I'm aware of but don't know especially well, and Tomoyoshi Date, who's completely new to me. The first two tracks are tranquil and spacy, like alien lullabies. Things get itchier and more tactile during the next two tracks – "Balcony II" might be my favorite for the gentle, complementary unfolding of its constituent parts – before returning to the tranquility of the initial cuts for the end. Just lovely.

Here's a nice little video produced by Sylvian's Samadhisound label, in which Nakamura talks about his work and motivations, and you can see his grandmaster concentration in action.