Night After Night

Hear, now: Nina C. Young.

Going back to the Yeats poem… I would like the audience to think about Project 19 in that way: that they're going to hear 19 new pieces by people who sometimes don't feel like they can have a voice, who are being given an opportunity to have a voice—and for audiences, once again, to tread softly about this living art, and not to dismiss it, because these are our dreams, and if they're not tread upon, then they might live and blossom into other people's dreams.

The New York Philharmonic made a powerful commitment to contemporary music and to artistic equity this season with the announcement of Project 19, a multi-year initiative through which the Philharmonic has commissioned new works from 19 women composers, to commemorate the centenary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It's one of the boldest, most proactive, and frankly most appealing undertakings the institution has put forward recently—and, speaking personally, I very much hope to hear every piece performed.

This afternoon, the Philharmonic amplified that initiative with the first in a series of video profiles introducing the composers involved with Project 19—and these, too, are being created by women artists. In just under five minutes, the director Veena Rao introduces Nina C. Young, whose Tread Softly is included in Philharmonic concerts on Feb. 5, 6, 8, and 11, inaugurating the series. Young – who's quoted at the top of this post – talks about her earliest sonic memories, the Yeats poem that inspired her ("Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven"), and how she found the text complemented her thoughts about women's suffrage.

Should you wish to hear more of Young's music – and yes: yes, you should – there's plenty to see and hear on YouTube. I'd recommend her chamber-orchestra piece Vestigia Flammae, played in its local premiere by Ensemble Échappé, the new-music sinfonietta Young co-founded. The performance (which I was fortunate to attend) took place on April 20, 2018, at St. Peter's Church, Lexington Avenue.

And, if your travels will take you anywhere near Troy, NY, in March, Young has another fascinating performance ahead. On March 19, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute presents The Glow That Illuminates, the Glare That Obscures, a evening-length audiovisual performance-installation piece for brass quintet, overhead wave field synthesis, and projections, performed by Young and the American Brass Quintet. You'll find all the details you need here.

Happy Birthday, Philip Glass.

A warning, in advance, that what follows is a sentimental wallow.

I first came to know the music of Philip Glass in 1983, when – as an ambitious 17-year-old autodidact subscriber to the classical-music division of the RCA Music Club – I forgot to send back the "ship nothing" reply card one fateful month, and thus found myself in possession of the newest album by a living composer I'd never heard of. Truthfully, I doubt that I could have named another living composer then, let alone one whose idiom was so far afield of the Copland, Stravinsky, and Varèse I was devouring at the time.

Which is how I acquired my first Glass recording: The Photographer. On cassette.

I found the music instantly fascinating – the two longer pieces, Act II and Act III, especially – even if I lacked the technical acumen to explain how and why they worked. The response was visceral… it quite simply was.

But I can't say I fell deeply in love with Glass's music until a month or so later, when I ventured to acquire another tape…

Glassworks was a nakedly commercial venture: a set of appealing pieces, and succinct ones by Glass's standard, intended to introduce lay listeners to his language gently. It worked. And to this day, I pull Glassworks out (or, more likely, stream it somewhere) on a regular basis.

And then came the plunge into the Real Deal…

I still recall the pride I felt in using Christmas money from my grandparents to purchase a recording of A Complete Opera—and a weird contemporary one, to boot. (For some reason I was oddly certain they'd be impressed; I don't know that they were, actually.) This was the original Tomato version of Einstein on the Beach, re-pressed on four vinyl LPs by CBS Masterworks.

Truthfully, I'd had a taste of Einstein already: an absolutely roof-raising live recording of "Building" was included on The Nova Convention, a two-cassette release from Giorno Poetry Systems, which I'd acquired principally because it featured Frank Zappa (forgive me) and William S. Burroughs. This would have been one of my earliest encounters with Laurie Anderson, too.

Sadly, the Nova Convention "Building" hasn't been ripped and posted, near as I can tell. But the original one is fierce, too, and it paved my way toward Glass's more conventional subsequent operas.

I can't and won't claim to have heard every single note that Glass has composed or recorded—I mean, who has, apart from Glass himself? But I've heard a lot, and I continue to listen… and I still believe that "Hymn to the Aten" (or "Hymn to the Sun," if you prefer) from Akhnaten is the single most beautiful thing Glass has composed, to date.

Having waited for decades, I finally heard Akhnaten and the "Hymn" performed live on opening night of the Metropolitan Opera run last year. To be perfectly honest, I had serious reservations about aspects of the production; maybe you noticed I never reviewed it formally, or even posted much about it on social media. But the performance was magnificent, convincing me that Akhnaten actually is a better piece than I'd thought it was, these past 30-plus years… and time stood still when Anthony Roth Costanzo sang the "Hymn."

Glass turns 83 today, and he's still going strong: writing new music, touring the world, earning standing ovations in Big Cultural Institutions that once shunned him. (The ovation he received at Akhnaten was thunderous.) In the coming weeks here in New York City, the current manifestation of his long-running Philip Glass Ensemble will play the watershed composition Music in 12 Parts at Le Poisson Rouge – without Glass – spread across two nights and four sets on Feb. 16 and 17, while his newest music-theater project, Mud/Drowning, a collaboration with director JoAnne Akalaitis, opens on Feb. 21 at Mabou Mines, running through March 7.

But for the record, Glass remains worthy of more and better attention. His symphonies are solid pieces, deserving wider circulation; at least a few merit repertory status. And while it's been wonderful to experience Glass's great "Portrait Trilogy" operas among audibly appreciative sold-out crowds in New York over the last decade and change, I'd still love to see some of his stronger subsequent operas mounted here. I surmise that the revised Appomattox suits that description, to read my friend and colleague Anne Midgette's review, and I strongly believe that Waiting for the Barbarians – which I reviewed for The New York Times in its U.S. premiere at Austin Lyric Opera – also merits production—especially in the present political moment.

I'm grateful to have lived with Glass's music all these years, and glad as well to have had numerous professional intersections with him over the decades. Glass actually was one of my first-ever interviews, back when I was a undergraduate reporter writing for the campus newspaper. (Some day I'll locate that article and decide whether it's worth scanning or transcribing.) Twenty years later, I had the distinct pleasure – and challenge! – of tailing Glass, tape recorder in hand, while he chased his two youngest sons, then aged 5 and 3, around a Houston Street playground, and documenting his impressively composed train of thought for a New York Times feature about having old and new operas appearing on both coasts, more or less at once.

A decade after that, I shared the National Sawdust stage with Glass, John Zorn, and my present employer, Paola Prestini, leading a conversation about influence, lineage, and legacy. However calm and professional I might have appeared on that occasion, inner me was utter Wayne and Garth.

Happy birthday, Mr. Glass. And for all these decades of inspiration and joy: profound thanks.

Hear, now: counter)induction.

Counterinduction as a term is coined by philosopher and ‘scientific anarchist’ Paul Feyerabend; counterinduction is the opposite of induction, it is not doing something that is illogical; rather it is doing the opposite of what is logical. It is not an ill-advised choice, it is the choice that most strongly stands against all advisements.

Counterinduction articulates an idea that has been a foundational part of c)i’s approach since its inception. We work by small means for large effect; our pianos are forte, silences loud—by this focusing of our action, we will have an impact asymmetrical to its scale.

The new-music ensemble counter)induction was established in 1999, which means the group's existence predates my journalistic trek in New York City by a little more than a year. Thus, they've always been a fixture in the ecosystem I've worked to chronicle, a hardy band of composers and performers, whose labors I've admired individually and collectively.

The passage quoted above comes from a blog entry on the group's website; my best surmise from context is that it was written by Douglas Boyce, one of the group's foundational trio of member composers along with Kyle Bartlett and Ryan Streber. Now, 20 years on, there's a fourth: Jessica Meyer, the group's long-serving violist, has emerged as a composer to be reckoned with.

The version of counter)induction seen and heard in the video embedded above is an extra-large one, practically a chamber orchestra, surrounding the consistently extraordinary violinist Miranda Cuckson in Tethys, a gorgeous concerto-esque composition by Boyce. The performance was filmed in 2016 at Tenri Cultural Center in Manhattan, a regular home base for the ensemble.

In contrast, the complement counter)induction will field this Friday, January 31, for "Against Method," a 20th-anniversary celebration at ShapeShifter Lab in Brooklyn, will be comparatively compact. Bartlett, Boyce, Meyer, and Streber all have pieces on the program, which is completed with Mystic Fragments, by Mark Rimple.

The occasion is an auspicious one—and, whether you saw my New Yorker listing for the concert or not, it's very important to note that, due to last-minute venue issues, the concert will start at 9:30pm, not 7pm as billed.

You'll find further counter)induction performances of compositions by Bartlett and Streber on the group's YouTube channel, and brief, tantalizing snippets from pieces scheduled for this Friday's concert on its Instagram feed.

Goings On About Town, February 3, 2020.

My contributions to the Goings On About Town section in the February 3, 2020 issue of The New Yorker, covering the dates January 29-February 4. (Links lead to detailed listings on the New Yorker website.)

New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center; Jan. 30 at 7:30, Jan. 31 at 11am

Distinguished Australian conductor Simone Young conducts the New York City premiere of Brett Dean's Cello Concerto, with Alban Gerhardt as soloist, bookended with Britten and Elgar chestnuts.

counter)induction
ShapeShifter Lab, Brooklyn; Jan. 31 at 7

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the crafty ensemble with the offbeat name presents music by its four member composers – Kyle Bartlett, Douglas Boyce, Jessica Meyer, and Ryan Streber – and more.

Laurie Anderson
happylucky No. 1, Brooklyn; Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at 8

Appearing as part of John Zorn's newest Stone series, Anderson tells her trademark stories and plays duets: with electric-viola player Martha Mooke on Friday, and with percussionist Susie Ibarra on Saturday.

panSonus
St. John's in the Village; Feb. 1 at 7:30

Singer, conductor, and composer Amber Evans and percussionist-sound artist Jon Clancy present works featured on their recent tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Argento New Music Project
Areté Venue & Gallery, Brooklyn; Feb. 4 at 8
(Also: Austrian Cultural Forum; Feb. 5 at 7)

A program titled "Double Take" lives up to its name with an improvisation by Charmaine Lee and Carol McGonnell; Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht paired with a preliminary sketch; and Erin Gee's Mouthpiece 29 matched with a new spin-off.

Finally, don't forget that You Are Under Our Space Control, a "space opera" by Object Collection listed last week, continues through Feb. 2 at La MaMa E.T.C.

Playlist (Um, Listen).

A weekly tally of memorable things Steve Smith has stuck in his ears.
Published on National Sawdust Log.

Georges Lentz - Caeli inerrant… - Mysterium - VIII. Jerusalem (After Blake) - Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg/Duncan Ward (YouTube; 2015)

Georges Lentz - Caeli inerrant… - Mysterium - II. Ngangkar; IV. Guyuhmgan - Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Edo de Waart (ABC Classics; 2012)

Tristan Murail - Terre d’ombre - Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France/Peter Eötvös (Radio France; 2014)

Georges Lentz - Caeli inerrant… - Mysterium - II. Ngangkar; IV. Guyuhmgan; VI. Monh - Tabea Zimmermann, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg/Emilio Pomàrico (Timpani; 2013)

Morton Feldman - For John Cage - Darragh Morgan, John Tilbury (Diatribe; due Feb. 27, 2020. Details and audio here.)

Clara de Asís - Sans Nom Ni Forme (Pilgrim Talk; 2020)

Anthony Braxton - Compositions Nos. 356 and 357, from 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (Firehouse 12; 2007)

Eva-Maria Houben - haiku for 11; die himmelsmechanik for orchestra - University of California San Diego Chamber Orchestra/Matt Kline (Diafani; 2019. Audio samples here.)

Eva-Maria Houben - twin compositions: le jardin suspendu/tombeau (Diafani; 2019. Audio samples here.)

Eva-Maria Houben - one performer I & II - Denis Sorokin (Diafani; 2019. Audio samples here.)

Eva-Maria Houben - le silence de l'orgue (Diafani; 2019. Audio sample here.)

Bruno Duplant - là où nos rêves... (Diafani; 2013. More information here.)

Jakob Ullmann – Müntzers stern; solo II – Dafne Vicente-Sandoval (Edition RZ; 2018. Audio samples here)

Scott Johnson - John Somebody (Nonesuch/Tzadik; 1986/2004. Audio samples here.)

Scott Johnson - Patty Hearst (original motion picture soundtrack) (Nonesuch/Tzadik; 1988/2007. Audio samples here.)

Scott Johnson - Rock Paper Scissors (Point Music; 1997)

Scott Johnson - Americans (Tzadik; 2010. Audio samples here.)

Scott Johnson - Mind Out of Matter - Daniel C. Dennett, Alarm Will Sound/Alan Pierson (Tzadik; 2018. Audio samples here.)

Kevin Drumm - Slow Night (self-released; 2020)

Charles Curtis - Performances & Recordings 1998-2018 (Saltern; 2020)

Anthony Burr/Charles Curtis - Alvin Lucier (Antiopic; 2005. Out of print; details here.)

Philip Glass - Waiting for the Barbarians - Kelly God, Elvira Soukop, Eugene Perry, Richard Salter, Michael Tews, Opernchor des Theaters Erfurt, Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt/Dennis Russell Davies (Orange Mountain Music; 2008. Audio samples here.)

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Sinfonia Antartica; The Wasps: Aristophanic Suite - Norma Burrowes, London Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra/Adrian Boult (EMI/Warner Classics; 1970/1987)

Anthony Braxton - Creative Orchestra Music 1976 (Arista; 1976)

Anthony Braxton with the Northwest Creative Orchestra - Eugene (1989) (Black Saint; 1991. Audio samples here.)

Andrew Norman - Sustain - Los Angeles Philharmonic/Gustavo Dudamel (Deutsche Grammophon; 2019)

Happy Birthday, Éliane Radigue.

The extraordinary French composer Éliane Radigue was born on this day in 1932, and celebrated her 88th birthday today as an artist whose star very much appears to be in the ascendant. Her recordings are widely available now, in lovingly prepared editions with beautifully restored sound. Occam Ocean – the body of acoustic work Radigue has busied herself producing since 2011, after a lifetime of creating tape and electronic music – has swollen to more than 50 pieces now, and counting. Last year, the independent curatorial concern Blank Forms mounted a nationwide tour devoted to some of these works, as well as a series of New York playback concerts featuring newly restored analog-tape recordings. To the best of my knowledge, every event sold out.

More opportunities to hear Radigue's music, as played by expert interpreters and collaborators, loom ahead. Frequency Festival, happening in Chicago in February, includes two Radigue programs: one on Feb. 26 featuring violist Julia Eckhardt and trumpeter Nate Wooley, and one on Feb. 27 featuring cellist Charles Curtis, linchpin of last year's Blank Forms tour.

Should you happen to be in Paris come March, Ensemble Dedalus will be playing an all-Radigue program at the Philharmonie de Paris on March 20—though it appears to be sold out already. And on May 2, Brooklyn location TBA, Nate Wooley shares a bill with composer-guitarist Michael Pisaro (presenting a version of Radigue's electronic piece L'Île Re-Sonante) under the big banner of Long Play, a new three-day festival presented by Bang on a Can.

There surely are more concerts. (If you know about one, tell me and I'll add it.)

Interested in getting to know more about Éliane Radigue? This 15-minute IMA Portrait documentary is a lovely place to start. It's in French, but includes subtitles.

I strongly recommend highly Intermediary spaces/Espaces itnermédiares, published in paperback last October by les presses du réel. The book, printed in both French and English, features a lengthy, substantial interview of Radigue conducted by Julia Eckhardt, the aforementioned violist. Also included are an authoritative timeline detailing events in Radigue's life, and an annotated guide to her complete works. The book is available at a handful of online retailers, but I ordered my copy directly from the publisher, inexpensively and with no fuss.

Beyond that: just listen. Do whatever it takes to get your hands on Œuvres Électroniques, the extraordinary 14-CD box set of Radigue's complete electronic output, issued in Nov. 2018 by INA-GRM. The box has gone into a second printing after the first one sold out faster than anyone could have anticipated.

Then, get to know Radigue's acoustic music, in which players of extraordinary focus and patience fashion the same kinds of acoustic phenomena the composer long pursued with feedback, tape, and her ARP synthesizer. Occam Ocean 1, a 2-CD collection of solos, a duo, and a trio, and Occam Ocean 2, a spectacular performance by an orchestra of improvisers, are available on the French label Shiiin—and, thanks to U.S. distribution by Naxos, those recordings also are on YouTube, Spotify, and other major streaming platforms.

Dive in…

Goings On About Town, January 27, 2020.

My contributions to the Goings On About Town section in the January 27, 2020 issue of The New Yorker, covering the dates January 22-28. (Links lead to detailed listings on the New Yorker website.)

Scott Johnson with Contemporaneous
Roulette, Brooklyn; Jan. 23 at 8

Guitarist and composer Johnson, innovator of a signature speech-based style, presents a major recent work and a brand-new companion piece.

Object Collection
La MaMa E.T.C.; Jan. 23-25 at 8, Jan. 26 at 5; through Feb. 2

A musical performance-art troupe with Robert Ashley and Richard Foreman running through its veins introduces its newest opera, You Are Under Our Space Control.

FOCUS 2020
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre and Alice Tully Hall; Jan. 24-31 at 7:30

Jointly curated by Joel Sachs and Odaline de la Martinez to mark the centenary of women's suffrage, this year's free Juilliard festival offers music by 32 women representing 15 countries.

Protestival
Spectrum, Brooklyn; Jan. 24 at 7 and 8:30; Jan. 25 at 7 and 8; Jan. 26 at 3 and 5

Music inspired by, or meant to inspire, social and political activism is the focus of this series, which ranges from a new-music trumpet recital and an Eisenstein screening with free-jazz accompaniment to a set by singer-songwriter Tom Chapin.

Kronos Quartet
Zankel Hall; Jan. 25 at 9

Kronos, equipped with a substitute cellist, presents minimalist canon, a Bryce Dessner premiere, and more. And then on Jan. 28, the International Contemporary Ensemble teams up with clarinetist-composer Jörg Widmann.

Bang on a Can
Merkin Hall; Jan. 28 at 7:30

This year's People's Commissioning Fund concert, presented under the Ecstatic Music banner, includes new music by Hildur Guðnadóttir, Amanda Berlind, Alvin Curran, and Qasim Naqvi

"Voices and Piano"
Austrian Cultural Forum; Jan. 28 at 7

Composer Peter Ablinger and composer-pianist Eric Wubbels present selections from this growing body of inventively chatty piano works, including a new piece inspired by Diamanda Galás.

Hear, now: Sean Meehan.

Congratulations to Sean Meehan, an improvising percussionist and sound artist with a shaman's knack for conjuring entire worlds out of meager base elements—the video above is a perfect example. As announced in an Artforum article published late this afternoon (and shared by Sarah Hennies on Twitter this evening), Meehan has been named one of five new recipients of a 2020 Grants to Artists award, presented by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), an organization founded by John Cage and Jasper Johns in 1963.

From the biography of Meehan posted on the FCA website:

Sean Meehan is a drummer who most notably plays a pared-down kit often consisting of a single snare drum and cymbal, creating sounds that range from the subtle friction of a fork rubbing against a drum to tones that seem electronically-generated. These complex, sometimes subtle sonorities require a great deal of concentration for the performer and listener, foregrounding the act of listening just as much as the production of sound, and bringing the audience’s attention to both spatial acoustics and social interactions within a space.

Further recipients in the category of Music/Sound include another artist whose work I've admired, the Los Angeles-based Mexican "extreme vocalist," intermedia artist, and ensemble founder Carmina Escobar, plus three more whose work I'm excited to explore: Ngọc Đại, Julianne Swartz, and Marshall Trammell.

In addition, the sublime composer, performer, and choreographer Meredith Monk was named the recipient of this year's John Cage Award. As explained in the Artforum article, all of the grant recipients were chosen through an anonymous two-part nomination and selection process, and each is provided with $40,000 in unrestricted funding.

Congratulations all around!

Playlist (Interstellar Our Escape).

A weekly tally of memorable things Steve Smith has stuck in his ears.
Published on National Sawdust Log.

Johann Sebastian Bach - Goldberg Variations - Simone Dinnerstein (Telarc; 2007)

Anáhuac - ascua (Astral Spirits; 2020)

Robert Fripp - The Kitchen, New York, NY, Feb. 5, 1978 (DGMLive; 2020. Audio samples here.)

Anthony Braxton - Compositions Nos. 354 and 355, from 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (Firehouse 12; 2007)

Anáhuac - Anáhuac (Astral Spirits; 2020)

Steve Roach - Deep Sky Immersion (Bandcamp subscriber exclusive; 2020. Details here.)

Jean Sibelius - Symphony No. 2 in D - Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra/Susanna Mälkki (YouTube; 2019)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Die Zauberflöte: Overture; Hans Abrahamsen - Let me tell you - Barbara Hannigan; Piotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4 in F minor; Sleeping Beauty: The Diamond Fairy & Coda from Act III - City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (YouTube; 2019)

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Live in Adelaide '19 (Flightless; 2020)

Ka Baird & Muyassar Kurdi - Voice Games (Astral Editions; due Feb. 28, 2020)

Philip White - angels (iv) (Anticausal Systems; 2020)

Alice Coltrane - World Sprituality Classics 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda (Avatar Book Institute/Luaka Bop; 1982-95/2017)

John Luther Adams - Become Desert - Seattle Symphony Chorus, Seattle Symphony/Ludovic Morlot (Cantaloupe Music; 2019)

The Giving Shapes - Earth Leaps Up (Elsewhere; due Feb. 24, 2020)

Gavin Bryars with Philip Jeck and Alter Ego - The Sinking of the Titanic (Touch; 2008)

Christian Wolff - Kompositionen 1950-1972 - performances by David Tudor, Cornelius Cardew, Frederic Rzewski, Keith Rowe, Biliana Voutchkova, and others (Edition RZ; 1956-2011/2011. Audio samples here.)

Jakob Ullmann - Fremde Zeit - Addendum (Edition RZ; 2012. Audio samples here.)
> Disappearing Musics; Solo I + II + III; Komposition für Streichquartett 2 - Pellegrini Quartett; Praha: Celetná - Karlova - Maiselova

Jakob Ullmann - Fremde Zeit Addendum 4 (Edition RZ; 2013. Audio sample here.)
> Solo III für orgel - Hans-Peter Schultz

John Luther Adams - Become Ocean - Seattle Symphony/Ludovic Morlot (Cantaloupe Music; 2014)

Arnold Schoenberg - Violin Concerto - Isabelle Faust, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Daniel Harding; Verklärte Nacht - Isabelle Faust, Anne Katharina Schreiber, Antoine Tamestit, Danusha Waskiewicz, Christian Poltéra, Jean-Guihen Queyras (Harmonia Mundi; due Feb. 28, 2020)

Meara O'Reilly - Hockets for Two Voices (Cantaloupe Music; 2019)

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Live in Paris '19 (Flightless; 2020)

SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg - In memoriam: Michael Gielen (SWR Classic; 2019)
> Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 6 in A minor (two recordings, 1971 & 2013)

Víkingur Ólafsson - Johann Sebastian Bach (Deutsche Grammophon; 2018)

Two Views of a King.

Max Roach - "The Dream/It's Time," from Chattahoochie Red
Max Roach, drums, composer; Odean Pope, tenor saxophone; Cecil Bridgewater, trumpet; Calvin Hill, bass
Columbia; 1981

Joseph Schwantner - New Morning for the World ("Daybreak of Freedom")
Willie Stargell, narrator; Eastman Philharmonia/David Effron
Mercury; 1983