Night After Night

Playlist.

Pausal - Sky Margin (Own Records > Bandcamp)

G Sweems - Treasure Island (Noumenal Loom)

György Kurtág - Grabstein für Stefan; Stele; Karlheinz Stockhausen - Gruppen - Jürgen Ruck, Berlin Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado, Friedrich Goldmann, Marcus Creed (Deutsche Grammophon)

Luigi Nono - Como una ola de fuerza y luz - Slavka Taskova, Maurizio Pollini, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon)

Giacomo Manzoni - Masse: Omaggio a Edgard Varèse - Maurizio Pollini, Berlin Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon)

Wolfgang Rihm - Dèpart; György Ligeti - Atmosphères; Lontano; Luigi Nono - Liebeslied; Pierre Boulez - Notations for Orchestra Nos. 1-4 - Vienna Youth Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon)

Arnold Schoenberg - Concerto for Piano and Orchestra - Maurizio Pollini, Berlin Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon)

Giuseppe Verdi - Simon Boccanegra - Mirella Freni, José Carreras, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov, José van Dam, Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala Milan/Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon)

Joshua Rubin - There Never Is No Light (Tundra)

Toby Driver with Timb Harris and Ian Rosenbaum - Ichenumonidae (Ice Nine)

Golden Retriever - Seer (Thrill Jockey; due Mar 25)

Man Forever with So Percussion - Ryonen (Thrill Jockey; due Apr 8)

Mogard Wiggan Fricke - Lulled Glaciers (VCO Recordings)

Julian Anderson - Fantasias; The Crazed Moon - London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Jurowski; The Discovery of Heaven - London Philharmonic Orchestra/Ryan Wigglesworth (LPO Records)

John Knowles Paine - As You Like It; The Tempest; Symphony No. 1 - Ulster Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta (Naxos)

Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express (Parlophone)

Joshua Stamper - the skin, the sea, the sound (Bandcamp; due Apr 1)

Christopher Bono - Invocations (Our Silent Canvas)

Bryce Dessner - St. Carolyn by the Sea; Lachrimae; Raphael; Jonny Greenwood - Suite from There Will Be Blood - Copenhagen Phil/André de Ridder (Deutsche Grammophon; due Mar 3)

King Crimson - Kulturhaus, Dornbirn, Austria, May 1, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Teatro Smeraldo, Milan, Italy, May 2, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Teatro Tenda, Florence, Italy, May 3, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Teatro Toniola, Mestre Venice, Italy, May 4, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Volkshaus, Zurich, Switzerland, May 6, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Phillipshalle, Dusseldorf, Germany, May 7, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Tempodrom, Berlin, Germany, May 8, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Philharmonie, Munich, Germany, May 10, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Liederhall Beethoven, Stuttgart, Germany, May 11, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Zenith, Paris, France, May 13, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - La Luna, Brussels, Belgium, May 14, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Congresgebouw, Den Haag, Netherlands, May 15, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Royal Albert Hall, London, May 17, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Royal Albert Hall, London, May 18, 1995 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, TX, June 5, 1974 (The Road to Red) (DGM)

King Crimson - Stanley Warner Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA, Mar 6, 1972 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Le Krakatoa, Bordeaux, France, May 28, 1996 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Palacio de Congresos, Madrid, Spain, May 30, 1996 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Palacio de Congresos, Madrid, Spain, May 31, 1996 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Auditorio y Congresos, Murcia, Spain, June 1, 1996 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Auditorium Maurice Ravel, Lyon, France, June 3, 1996 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Rosengarten-Musansaal, Mannheim, Germany, June 4, 1996 (DGMLive)

Playlist.

Celer - Voyeur (Humming Conch)

Otomo Yoshihide/Sachiko M/Evan Parker/John Edwards/Tony Marsh/John Butcher - Quintet/Sextet (OTOroku)

Whitney George - Blue Nine (Blue Tapes)

Various artists -  v-p v-f is v-n, cs02 (winds measure recordings)

Tuluum Shimmering - Festival at the Shallow River (Noumenal Loom)

International Parallives Institute - Memoirs of Anomie Gray (Noumenal Loom)

Billy Gomberg - Give or Give In (Digitalis)

Noveller - ARTIFACT (Saffron Recordings)

Josh Mason - Dark Threads & Other Colors (SEM Label)

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Phantasy Quintet; String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 - Garfield Jackson, Maggini Quartet (Naxos)

Other Dimensions in Music - Now! (AUM Fidelity)

Stephan Mathieu - A Static Place (12k)

> Ronald Shannon Jackson in memoriam (Jan. 10):

Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society - Street Priest (Moers Music)

Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society - Mandance (Antilles)

Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society - Barbeque Dog (Antilles)

Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society - Live at Greenwich House (Knit Classics)

Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society with Twins Seven Seven - Beast in the Spider Bush: Live at the Caravan of Dreams (Knit Classics)

Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society - When Colors Play (Knit Classics)

Ronald Shannon Jackson - Talkeye (a.k.a. Texas) (Knit Classics)

Ronald Shannon Jackson - Red Warrior (Knit Classics)

Ronald Shannon Jackson - What Spirit Say (DIW)

Letha Rodman Melchior - Handbook for Mortals (Siltbreeze)

Steve Rothery Band - Live in Plovdiv (Bandcamp)

> Crimday observance (Jan. 13):

King Crimson - Zoom Club, Frankfurt, Germany, April 12, 1971 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Jazz Club, Chesterfield, England, September 7, 1969 (DGMLive)

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

Nathan Lincoln-DeCusatis - A Collection of Sand; Chopin Syndrome; Joseph Hallman - Three Poems of Jessica Hornik; imagined landscapes: six Lovecraftian elsewheres; Justin Boyer - Con slancio; Auguries - Inscape*/Richard Scerbo (Sono Luminus)

Xavier Montsalvatge - Folia daliniana; Madrigal sobre una tema popular; Concertino 1 + 13; Serenata a Lydia de Cadaques; 5 Invocaciones al Crucificado - Sasha Cooke, Tim Fain, Perspectives Ensemble/Angel Gil-Ordoñez (Naxos)

Thomas Meglioranza - The Good Song - Reiko Uchida (Thomas Meglioranza)

King Crimson - Shepherds Bush Empire, London, England, July 1, 1996 (DGMLive)

King Crimson - Palazzo dello Sport, Udine, Italy, March 19, 1974 (DGMLive)

Gian Carlo Menotti - Maria Golovin - Franca Duval, Richard Cross, Patricia Neway, Herbert Handt, orchestra and chorus/Peter Herman Adler; Violin Concerto - Tossy Spivakovsky, Boston Symphony Orchestra/Charles Munch (Naxos Historical)

Samuel Barber - Symphony No. 2; Cello Concerto; Medea Suite - Zara Nelsova, New Symphony Orchestra of London/Samuel Barber (Naxos Historical)

Jean Sibelius - Symphony No. 4 - Philadelphia Orchestra/Leopold Stokowski; Symphony No. 6 - Finnish National Orchestra/Georg Schneevoigt; Symphony No. 7 - BBC Symphony Orchestra/Serge Koussevitsky (Naxos Historical)

Scott Worthington - Even the Light Itself Falls - ensemble et cetera (Populist > Bandcamp)

Porcupine Tree - Atlanta (self-released download)

Peter Kerlin Octet - Salamander (Innova)

Lea Bertucci - Resonance Shapes (Obsolete Units)

Knit Prism - Pace (Scissor Tail > Bandcamp)

Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Ballade for a Wolf Moon (Hooker Vision > Bandcamp)

Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society - Live at the Kessler (Cymbata)

Chris Wild - Abhanden - Ensemble Dal Niente (Navona)

Michael Pisaro - black, white, red, green, blue (voyelles) - Barry Chabala, Michael Pisaro (winds measure recordings)

Playlist.

Hannah Hoch - Floeberg (Bandcamp)

Rapoon - Seeds in the Tide, Volume 2 (Zoharum > Bandcamp)

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

Clime - Paleochannels (S.I.N.K. CDs > Bandcamp)

King Crimson - The Town Hall, New York, NY, June 4, 1995 (DGMLive)

The Impressions - Complete A- and B-Sides 1961-1968 (Fontana)

Daron Hagen - Shining Brow - Robert Orth, Brenda Harris, Robert Frankenberry, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus/JoAnn Falletta (Naxos)

The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East (Deluxe Edition) (Mercury)

Yes - NYCB Theater at Westbury, Westbury, NY, July 31, 2013 (audience recording)

Antoine Beuger - calme étendue (spinoza) (Edition Wandelweiser)

Burkhard Schlothauer - abregistrierien - Eva-Maria Houben (Edition Wandelweiser)

Ben Owen - Birds and Water, 1 (Notice Recordings)

Anne Guthrie - so it's inverted, occupying the same position as always (Notice Recordings)

Coppice - Pied (Notice Recordings)

Seth Cluett - wound of this deep blue. (Notice Recordings)

Telecult Powers - Amazing Laws of Telecult Powers (Abandon Ship Records)

Jürg Frey - String Quartet; (Unbetitelt) II; Zwei allerletzte Sächelchen; String Quartet II - Quatuor Bozzini (Edition Wandelweiser)

New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players: Patience at Symphony Space, January 3, 2014

New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, by Richard Termine/The New York Times

New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players: Patience at Symphony Space, January 3, 2014
The New York Times, Jan. 6, 2014

Don't know that I would call Patience my favorite Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, as did a friend of mine on Facebook – I love Ruddigore and have a huge soft spot for The Sorcerer, which I played for many happy weeks with the Long Island Gilbert & Sullivan Society. And, of course, there's The Mikado, toward which I was spoiled by seeing it first in a Houston Grand Opera revival of Jonathan Miller's production, with Eric Idle as the Lord High Executioner.

Still, Patience is the first G&S show that I saw performed live… I can't recall positively, but most likely it was the Houston Gilbert & Sullivan Society, who presented it in 1980: exactly the right time for its satire to strike home, as I was hating the Aesthetic poets in my high-school English class just then. If I knew at some point that the show had its original premiere on my birthday, albeit 85 years earlier, I'd somehow forgotten that fact before returning to its charms last Friday night.

Albert Bergeret and his New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players did it full justice, as they always tend to do. I only wish there were further performances I could urge you to attend, but sadly the run ended on Sunday.

New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, January 2, 2014

Yefim Bronfman with the New York Philharmonic, by Hiroyuki Ito/The New York Times

New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, January 2, 2014
The New York Times, Jan. 4, 2014

My first concert review of 2014: a terrific program featuring the New York Philharmonic with its current artist in residence, pianist Yefim Bronfman, in a concerto by its former composer in residence, Magnus Lindberg; an opening piece by the current composer in residence, Christopher Rouse; and a rendition of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 that neatly sidestepped potential torpor and emerged as something fresh and vital.

None of it a small order, and all brilliantly achieved by Alan Gilbert and the ensemble. Nice to spot Erin Keefe, formerly a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and until recently the concertmaster of the tormented Minnesota Orchestra, now auditioning for the same role here as the orchestra prepares for Glenn Dicterow's departure at season's end. I admit that I have mixed feelings about that search – I would be perfectly glad to see Sheryl Staples, the Philharmonic's excellent principal associate concertmaster since 1998, slide over to the top chair permanently. But Keefe is a terrific musician that any ensemble would be fortunate to have as a leader.

The last repeat of this program was on Tuesday night, so you'll have to reply on the eventual radio or Internet broadcast if you missed it. That said, you can hear Bronfman, Gilbert and the Phil play Lindberg's Piano Concerto No. 2 on a Grammy-nominated (and actually meritorious!) CD released by Da Capo. Bronfman will also be featured in the Phil's next Contact! concert, next Monday night (January 13) at SubCulture, playing a solo piece by Marc Neikrug, who'll be on hand to host, and a piano trio by Marc-André Dalbavie. Poul Ruders's String Quartet No. 4 completes a worthwhile program, if one that seems to confirm my suspicion that Contact! has abandoned its original mission of showcasing newly commissioned works by emerging composers.

Critics Weigh In on Standout Operas of Recent Decades

"Tomorrow's Valhalla: Critics Weigh in on Standout Operas of Recent Decades"
The New York Times, January 5, 2014

As longtime perusers of this blog already know, I always enjoy features in which all the classical-music reviewers for The New York Times are asked to mix it up on a single topic. I missed posting the recent Verdi roundup late last year and will eventually get around to resurfacing it. But I wanted to share this new piece – a speculative look at which operas composed since 1976 have grabbed a spot in the repertoire, and which ones ought to – promptly, for a handful of reasons.

Firstly, the more people who enter the fray, the better. A reasonably good number of smart comments have been attached to this article on the Times website, offering a number of alternative choices. I've read a smidgen of feedback on Twitter as well, though it's a bit harder to dig up. Naturally, there's a lot of great chatter on Facebook, much of it having to do with how much American and English music is included on the list; how unrealistic the idea of the Met championing Birtwistle is; and how outrageous it is that certain distinguished American composers – Dominick Argento, Conrad Susa and Daron Hagen foremost among them – are absent. (For the record, I agree with all three points to some extent.)

Second, my championing of Robert Ashley's Perfect Lives prompted one of its co-conspirators, Peter Gordon, to reveal that Vidas Perfectas, the Spanish-language adaptation of Ashley's collaborative magnum opus that Gordon and Alex Waterman have been working on for some time now, will be presented as part of the 2014 Whitney Biennial. I'd heard from an inside source that at least part of Vidas Perfectas was coming to the Whitney, but Gordon says that the plan is to present all seven sections. The dates, subject to confirmation, are April 18-20 and 25-27.

Finally, regarding Dog Days by David T. Little and Royce Vavrek… ah, but I've said too much already. (Stay tuned.)

Meanwhile, go see some new opera this week. There's so much to choose from! The second annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, which I briefed in today's Times, opens on Wednesday night. Everything looks promising, but reliable sources have convinced me that Thumbprint, by Kamala Sankaram and Susan Yankowitz, will be something truly extraordinary.

Elsewhere, the Bronx Opera Company is presenting the New York premiere of Kirke Mechem's The Rivals, which opened at Milwaukee's Skylight Music Theatre in 2011, on Saturday and Sunday in the Bronx, and on the following Saturday and Sunday in Manhattan. Also opening on Saturday night and repeating on Sunday afternoon is Here Be Sirens, by Wet Ink composer Kate Soper, staged by Morningside Opera at Dixon Place on the Lower East Side. I wrote about these shows here just a few days ago, and also penned a quick preview of Soper's opera for the coming week's issue of Time Out New York, but reckoned they merited one more plug amid today's heady context.

Playlist.

Michael Pisaro - Unter Eichen - Barry Chabala (Roeba)

Matt Davis, Phil Durrant, Mark Wastell - untitled (Confront Recordings)

Anne Guthrie & Barry Chabala - Preston Hollow (Roeba)

The Sealed Knot Live at Café Oto (Confront Recordings)

Anne Guthrie - Perhaps a Favorable Organic Moment (Copy for Your Records)

Rapoon - Vernal Crossing Revisited (Zoharum)

Steve Roach - Spiral Meditations (Timeroom Editions > Bandcamp)

Michael Pisaro - Mind Is Moving 1 (Edition Wandelweiser)

Éliane Radigue - Naldjorlak I II III - Carol Robinson, Bruno Martinez & Charles Curtis (Shiiin)

Michael Pisaro - Transparent City (Volumes 1 and 2) (Edition Wandelweiser)

Isis - Celestial (Escape Artist/Hydra Head)

Olivia Block - Karren (Sedimental)

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

Mathew Rosenblum - Sharpshooter; Möbius Loop (quartet version); Double Concerto; Möbius Loop (quartet and orchestra version) - Kenneth Coon, Lisa Pegher, Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose (BMOP/Sound)

Oh, Yoko - I Love You… (Normal Cookie > Bandcamp)

Stefan Thut - drei, 1-21 - Johnny Chang, Sam Sfirri, Jürg Frey (Edition Wandelweiser)

Peter Streiff - Vokal/Instrumental - Anne Schmid, Katharina Suske, Elisabeth Grimm, Klavierduo Kordzaia-Blum and others (Edition Wandelweiser)

Christian Wolff - 11 Microexercises - Beat Keller, Reza Khota (Edition Wandelweiser)

Craig Shepard - On Foot - Antoine Beuger, Katie Porter, Christian Wolff, Jürg Frey, Tobias Liebezeit, Marcus Kaiser (Edition Wandelweiser)

King Crimson - The Road to Red: Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, TX, June 8, 1973 (DGM)

Anne Guthrie - standing, sitting (Engraved Glass)

Bruno Duplant - one hour north (Engraved Glass)

Salman Bakht - Twentysecond, Swift (Bandcamp)

Phil Durrant/Thomas Lehn/Radu Malfatti - dach (Erstwhile)

Radu Malfatti/Klaus Filip - imaoto (Erstwhile)

Radu Malfatti/Keith Rowe - Φ (Erstwhile)

King Crimson - Stadthalle, Offenbach, Germany, June 7, 2000 (DGMLive)

Steve Moore - Pangaea Ultima (Spectrum Spools > Bandcamp preview)

Santiago Astaburuaga - Pieza de Escucha I - Cristián Alvear Montecino, Edén Carrasco (Bandcamp)

Kate Soper - Voices from the Killing Jar - Wet Ink Ensemble (Carrier)

New year, new opera: Kate Soper and Kirke Mechem.

Kate Soper and Gelsey Bell, by Kobi Davis

Welcome to 2014—and what a crazy weekend for contemporary American opera in NYC January 11-12 is turning out to be. Not only will the second PROTOTYPE Festival be in full swing (about which more to come), but Morningside Opera will present Here Be Sirens, a new chamber opera by composer-vocalist Kate Soper, at Dixon Place on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

Soper, a member of the Wet Ink composers' collective, is a fascinating artist in both of her principal disciplines, and has a highly anticipated new album due soon on Carrier Records. In her opera, she's part of a strong cast that also includes Gelsey Bell and Brett Umlauf; director Rick Burkhardt (Three Pianos) handles the staging.

Meanwhile, at very nearly the same time(s) way uptown at Lehman College, the Bronx Opera Company presents the NYC premiere of The Rivals by Kirke Mechem, a comic work introduced at Milwaukee's Skylight Music Theatre in 2011. The Bronx company is an overlooked New York institution that does important and offbeat work regularly; in 2012 I covered their very fine production of Ralph Vaughan Williams's The Poisoned Kiss. As in that endeavor, Benjamin Spierman is the director for The Rivals, and his father, BOC artistic director Michael Spierman, conducts all performances except for opening night, when Eric Kramer is in charge.

I'll be attending The Rivals on Saturday night, and Here Be Sirens on Sunday afternoon. (Yes, saying so in advance is a minor's New Year's resolution, meant to cast aside an old and pointless superstition.) But anyone with plans to attend PROTOTYPE needn't miss out: Here Be Sirens will repeat at Dixon Place Jan. 30–Feb. 2, while The Rivals moves to the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College in Manhattan for two performances on Jan. 18 and 19.