Reinbert de Leeuw, the great Dutch pianist, conductor, and composer, died on Feb. 14, 2020, at age 81. I've been wracking my brain this evening, trying to recall when I first encountered this brilliant artist, who I sadly never had an opportunity to encounter in live performance. He was closely associated with the music of Erik Satie, of course, and also made numerous important recordings of Louis Andriessen's works. In 1974 he founded the celebrated Schönberg Ensemble, which in time merged with another significant Dutch group, the ASKO Ensemble, becoming ASKO|Schönberg in 2009.
One part of my mind wants to situate discovering de Leeuw somewhere in the vicinity of the other formidable figures of the Dutch avant-garde, including Andriessen, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, and Willem Breuker. Another part insists that I came upon de Leeuw via Messiaen, which is plausible but doesn't seem correct. Still another links him indelibly to Satie, which seems so likely that it surely couldn't be that simple. (I very badly regret missing an opportunity to hear him play Satie with Barbara Hannigan at the Park Avenue Armory a few seasons ago, but at least there's a beautiful documentation of their partnership and project.)
Thinking back on the recordings involving de Leeuw that have meant the most to me, I'm impressed with the sheer variety. His benchmark recording of Lonely Child and other works by Claude Vivier comes to mind immediately; so, too, does the sober eloquence in his account of Harrison Birtwistle's Pulse Shadows. De Leeuw was involved in several volumes of a landmark György Ligeti series on the Teldec label; Volume I (with Pierre-Laurent Aimard in the Piano Concerto) and Volume III (Siegfried Palm in the Cello Concerto, Frank Peter Zimmermann in the Violin Concerto) seem especially essential. And in 2017, De Leeuw was the driving force behind an extraordinary collection of György Kurtág's complete works for ensemble and choir, issued on ECM New Series.
What's clear is that de Leeuw contained multitudes, and touched the lives of countless music lovers. It feels curiously correct, then, to celebrate his memory by turning to one of the more steadfast among his personal passions, the late music of Franz Liszt, via a VPRO video posted to YouTube in 2013.
If you happen to be in the vicinity of Ramapo College in Mahwah, NJ, tonight (Feb. 13) at 8pm, you can see the premiere performance of Fantini Futuro, a new multimedia piece by the great experimental trumpeter and composer Ben Neill. Inspired by Girolamo Fantini, the Baroque composer credited with bringing the trumpet in from the hunt and the battlefield to the concert platform, Neill collaborates with two musicians well-known in New York's early-music community, countertenor Ryland Angel and harpsichordist Gwendolyn Toth. Neill will introduce the Mutantrumpet4.0 (pictured above), the newest iteration of his longtime hybrid electro-acoustic instrument… this one even controls interactive video. Here's a brief preview:
Neill has created Fantini Futuro with support from the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology program, and the show is directed by Bob McGrath of Ridge Theater. There's quite a bit more information about the piece on Neill's website, and you'll find more specifics about the Ramapo presentation (including directions) here.
And stay tuned… Neill is in hot pursuit of a New York City engagement for this new project.
My contributions to the Goings On About Town section in the February 17 & 24, 2020 double issue of The New Yorker, covering the dates February 12-25. (Links lead to detailed listings on the New Yorker website.)
Project 19, a Philharmonic initiative in which 19 prominent women composers received commissions in honor of the centenary of the 19th Amendment, presents premieres by Tania León (Feb. 13-18) and Ellen Reid (Feb. 20-22).
At LPR, the Philip Glass Ensemble plays Music in 12 Parts, sans its namesake member; meanwhile, two compact new music-theater pieces open for a run in the East Village.
Melaine Dalibert Areté Venue & Gallery, Greenpoint; Feb. 13 at 7:30 (Also: Daniel Goode's Loft, 167 Spring St.; Feb. 14 at 8pm)
The French composer and pianist plays his own music and works by others, include Anastassis Philippakopoulos, Sébastien Roux, and Michael Vincent Waller.
Jay Campbell & Conor Hanick 92nd Street Y; Feb. 14 at 9
Cellist Jay Campbell, most widely familiar for his adventures in the JACK Quartet, teams up with splendid pianist Conor Hanick for new works by John Zorn, Natacha Diels, and Marcos Balter.
Oscar Bettison Miller Theatre, Columbia University; Feb. 20 at 8
Instead of a rangy survey covering a broad span of musical works, Alarm Will Sound focuses this composer portrait program on two dazzling large-scale works that demonstrate Oscar Bettison's refined ferocity.
Pianist Kirill Gerstein mixes physicality, poetry, and abundant dazzle in a wide-ranging recital, including the New York premiere of a Thomas Adès piece based on his most recent opera, The Exterminating Angel.
Charles Curtis Issue Project Room, Brooklyn; Feb. 21-22 at 8
In December, cello iconoclast Charles Curtis anchored a coast-to-coast Éliane Radigue tour; in January, he issued a three-CD anthology. Now, he stars in an all-Alvin Lucier program, including a major new piece for cello, winds, and dancers.
Word has come that Lyle Mays – an extraordinary pianist, composer, bandleader, and a longtime member of the Pat Metheny Group – has died after a recurring illness. Nate Chinen, in an obituary written for WBGO, gets to the heart of Mays's creative persona:
Mays was a musician of clear, analytical temperament, but within the dimensions of his style — a personal amalgam of post-bop pianism, classical impressionism, Brazilian music, electronic music, rock ‘n’ roll and much else besides — there was always a core of emotional expression. The radiant, affirmative character of The Pat Metheny Group can only be understood as a byproduct of Mays’ distinctive chemistry with Metheny, his fellow Midwesterner, musical omnivore and tireless technophile.
Metheny, too, had words to share:
R.I.P. Lyle Mays (1953-2020) It is with great sadness that we have to report the passing of our friend and brother, Lyle Mays (1953-2020). He passed today in Los Angeles after a long battle with a recurring illness, surrounded by loved ones.https://t.co/goeTusSnpCpic.twitter.com/2SOYIXUw84
I consider myself fortunate to have seen Mays play a few times with Metheny: both in a "classic" PMG lineup with Steve Rodby, Paul Wertico, Pedro Aznar, and Armando Marcal, and later in the context of the large ensemble that toured Metheny's Secret Story album. By some strange fluke, I sat in the front row at both of those concerts, a proximity that offered unusual insight into the intensity, sympathy, and joy that went into these performances, and the deep, deep connection Metheny and Mays shared.
I've thought about Mays many times over the years, as Metheny has carried on with a wide variety of projects without Mays since their final collaboration in 2005. I hadn't heard about his illness, but am glad to hear that his suffering has ended. His music, without question, will live on.
Yesterday, the music publisher Edition Peters announced that it had signed an agreement with Ashley Fure, a composer of ferocious originality and power. Fure joins a roster already enriched by the signing last year of George Lewis and Sky Macklay. Fure's new association starts with four compositions: Bound to the Bow (2016), Shiver Lung (2016), Shiver Lung II (2017), and Therefore I Was (2012).
So to celebrate, how about we all listen to Bound to the Bow?
If the documentation provided on YouTube is accurate, the recording above captures the work's world premiere, presented by the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra under the direction of Christopher Rountree, at David Geffen Hall on June 5, 2016. The piece was commissioned for the 2016 New York Philharmonic Biennial, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. James R. Oestreich reviewed the piece and its performance, admiringly, for The New York Times.
I don't have a clue who gɹinblat might be, but this YouTuber's channel is richly stocked with live recordings of unrevealed provenance. You'll also find what appears to be the premiere performance of Therefore I Was, played by the Talea Ensemble on March 4, 2012 at Tenri Cultural Center (and reviewed by yrs trly for The New York Times), on another channel, presumably related, operated by one grinblat.
Quoting myself at length feels more than a little bit funny. But, on the other hand, what's on my mind right now is a byproduct of the National Sawdust Log newsletter that John Hong and I compile and send out each week, more or less at 6pm each Thursday evening. You can see the complete newsletter here, if you're so inclined, but these are the two entries I have in mind:
Shadle Gets Substacked
Journalist, academic, blogger, and public musicologist Will Robin, in a recent… post? entry? episode? of his excellent Substack newsletter, Industry, exhorted writers, particularly musicologists, to repopulate the once robust blogosphere. Some colleagues accepted Robin's challenge at face value – like, for instance, first-year grad student Destinee Siebe, whose Musicology and Meandering debuted literally today. (I've been doing my bit, too.)
But others are pursuing a different path: namely, Substack, the burgeoning newsletter empire that has us all starting to wonder whether Andy Warhol's prediction about future fame might need redefinition. The latest to enlist is Doug Shadle, the voraciously online chair of the musicology department at Vanderbilt University, and one of the foremost advocates for questioning, shaking up, and discarding entire portions of received classical-music history.
Honestly, Shadle's title – The Classical Alternative – seems almost conciliatory, given his appetite for confronting tired and worn-out conventions. (The headline on the first post – "Cancel the 19th Century" – sounds a more familiar pitch.) It's a welcome addition to a burgeoning inbox—you'll definitely want to sign up now. (SS)
Also Substacked: Soho the Dog
It's hard for me to be objective about Matthew Guerrieri, who was one of my very favorite writers about classical music long before I had the pleasure and privilege of collaborating with him during my stint at the Boston Globe, and then became a friend during that brief engagement.
Guerrieri – also a composer, an author, and a cartoonist – is a formidable intellect, but always manages to couch his erudition in a tone of easy-going authority. He's lately been working as a freelance stringer for the Washington Post, and his work there forms a portion of his nascent newsletter, Soho the Dog Weekly. See more and sign up, here. (SS)
Now, these two examples I just cited are the work of professionals whose daytime occupations involve writing—and yet, somehow, Doug and Matthew find time to do this. There are plenty of others from whence these two examples came. Substack is an explosive phenomenon right now, it feels safe to say. Look at the splash page on the company's website, and you'll spot newsletters that cover any topic you might care to imagine.
I'd like to investigate the subject of Substack's seemingly instantaneous ubiquity a bit more deeply some time soon. (I'd like to investigate almost anything a bit more deeply, to be perfectly honest.) But that can wait; right now, I'm taking stock. These are the Substack newsletters to which I'm presently subscribed, in chronological order of my signing on (as best as I can recall):
Luke O'Neill, Welcome to Hell World – Dispatches from dystopia, written by a saintly punk in his own blood. Luke was a music writer, first and foremost, when we collaborated in Boston, but music has very little to do with what's in this newsletter. There's a free tier and a paid one; I gladly contribute to Luke's humble crusade.
William Robin, Industry – Updates and ephemera related to a book-in-progress, and also dog photos.
Todd L. Burns, Music Journalism Insider – Precisely what the title says… interviews with writers, coverage of writing, and – if you're a paid subscriber – job listings and access to a "How to Pitch" database.
Joshua Minsoo Kim, Tone Glow – Formerly a conventional blog about unconventional music, Tone Glow provides an outstanding mix of interviews, impossible-to-find recordings in downloadable form, and albums reviewed by a wide panel of critics, Rashomon-style.
David Anthony, Former Clarity – A music writer based in Chicago, Anthony set out to create a self-determined platform for music writing… but quickly shifted toward a nightmarish journey through the U.S. medical-industrial complex.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, So It Goes – Authoritative pop-music coverage, from one of the best journalists in that sector of the business. There's a free tier open to everyone, and a paid tier that provides more substantial coverage.
Ryo Miyauchi, This Side of Japan – Recommended by Joshua Minsoo Kim, this newsletter covers old and new Japanese pop, from the perspective of a Japanese immigrant who's grown up in the U.S.
And, finally (for now), The Classical Alternative and Soho the Dog Weekly.
Is this blogging? Perhaps it is, in a sense. The list above definitely resembles an old-school blogroll, doesn't it? (Maybe I'll turn it into one.) Certainly most of these offerings present electively formal (or not) long-form (or not) writing, meant to distribute facts and opinions via a method outside the conventional mass media.
It's a form that comes complete with its own delivery method: a great way to work around the demise of Google Reader and the hyper-commercialized infinite flatlands of Twitter and Facebook. It's cleaner and more direct than Medium—whose apparent altruism I almost distrust instinctively, for some reason. As a platform, Substack looks and feels good the way Bandcamp does among e-commerce alternatives.
What Substack lacks, and what's probably gone forever, is the robust patterns of literal connection that formed so readily and rapidly within the blogosphere. I might link to Lisa Hirsch, and she might link to Alex Ross, and he might link to Micaela Baranello, and she might link to Will Robin, and you could just follow this long and winding road through endless riches and boundless quirks, and learn a lot in so doing.
I miss that part of the blogosphere a lot. I don't get the same feeling of conversational engagement, by and large, on Facebook (which I avoid, largely for political and ethical reasons) and Twitter (where I still spend rather too much time), where would-be bloggers have to hawk their wares among the mass media spigots and the shameless grifters. And the Substack newsletters, unless you're reading them primarily on their sites of origination rather than in your inbox, feel solitary, isolated from one another, except for the occasional crossover issue like Luke O'Neill and David Anthony just pulled off.
I don't disagree with Jeffrey Moro, whose cool assessment of why blogs can't make a comeback I discovered via Will Robin. But I feel like doing this right now, for a while at least, all the same—and Substack's eminent appeal hasn't changed my mind just yet.
My contributions to the Goings On About Town section in the February 10, 2020 issue of The New Yorker, covering the dates February 5-11. (Links lead to detailed listings on the New Yorker website.)
The 16th annual performance of Terry Riley's minimalist milestone, as coordinated by Darmstadt: Classics of the Avant-Garde, features an all-star ensemble.
A composer portrait surveying new and recent pieces by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Kanye West collaborator includes performances by So Percussion (with Shaw singing) and the Attacca Quartet.
This polished, personable British foursome presents the U.S. premiere of Brett Dean's String Quartet No. 3, alongside canonical Haydn and Schubert works.
The marvelous Danes present a complete, chronological Beethoven cycle, hosted by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and spread across six concerts.
"100 Years of Theremin" Bushwick United Methodist Church, Brooklyn; Feb. 8 at 8
Ambient Church mounts a tribute to the electronic implement behind the eerie wail, including a salute to Clara Rockmore, a U.S. premiere by Laurie Spiegel, and plenty more.
John McCowen Issue Project Room, Brooklyn; Feb. 8 at 8
Brooklyn clarinetist McCowen, who views his instrument as an "acoustic synthesizer," opens an Issue Project Room residency with an evening of music for unaccompanied contrabass clarinet.
A weekly tally of memorable things Steve Smith has stuck in his ears. Published on National Sawdust Log.
Georg Friedrich Haas - Konzert für Klangwerk und Orchester - Christoph Sietzen, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg/Ilan Volkov (Live New Music Channel/YouTube; 2019)
Anthony Braxton - Composition No. 358, from 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (Firehouse 12; 2007)
Anthony Braxton - 10+1tet (Knoxville) 2016 (New Braxton House; 2016)
Anthony Braxton - Trio (Knoxville) 2016 (New Braxton House; 2016)
Webber/Morris Big Band - Both Are True (Greenleaf Music; due April 3, 2020)
Matthew Shipp - The Piano Equation (Tao Forms; due May 1, 2020. More information here.)
Jennifer Curtis & Tyshawn Sorey - Invisible Ritual (New Focus; 2020)
Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons - Boston Symphony Commissions (Naxos; 2019) > Eric Nathan - The Space of a Door; George Tsontakis - Sonnets - Robert Sheena; Timo Andres - Everything Happens So Much; Sean Shepherd - Express Abstractionism
Christopher Cerrone - Concerto for Violin and Orchestra ("Breaks and Breaks") - Jennifer Koh, Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Peter Oundjian (Detroit Symphony Orchestra/YouTube; 2018)
Andrew Norman - Sustain - Los Angeles Philharmonic/Gustavo Dudamel (Deutsche Grammophon; 2019)
Brett Dean - Composer and Performer - Sydney Symphony/Simone Young, Hugh Wolff (Bis; 2008. Audio samples here.) > Viola Concerto; Twelve Angry Men; Intimate Decisions; Komarov's Fall
The Necks - Body (Northern Spy; 2018)
The Necks - Three (Northern Spy; due March 27, 2020. More information here.)
Sir Richard Bishop - Oneiric Formulary (Drag City; due April 17, 2020)
Douglas Boyce - Some Consequences of Four Incapacities (New Focus; 2018) > 102nd & Amsterdam - Aeolus Quartet; Piano Quartet No. 1 - counter)induction; Fortuitous Variations - Trio Cavatina
Ryan Streber - Concentric (New Focus; 2014) > String Quartet - counter)induction; Cold Pastoral - Line C3 Percussion Quartet; Shadow Etudes - counter)induction; Descent - Daniel Lippel; Compassinges - Sam Solomon, Kristi Errera-Solomon, David Fulmer, Keats Dieffenbach, Nadia Sirota, Clarice Jensen; Trio for Flute, Viola, and Cello - Alex Sopp, Nadia Sirota, Clarice Jensen
Daniel Lippel - Mirrored Spaces (New Focus; 2019) > compositions by Karin Wetzel, Kyle Bartlett, Orianna Webb, Daniel Lippel, Ryan Streber, Dalia Raudonikytė With, John Link, Sergio Kafejian, Sidney Corbett, Douglas Boyce, Ethan Wickman, and Christopher Bailey
Jessica Meyer - Ring Out - Miranda Cuckson, Jessica Meyer, Caleb van der Swaagh, Andrew Yee, Nicholas Tamagna, Adam Marks, Roomful of Teeth (Bright Shiny Things; 2019) > But Not Until; I Only Speak of the Sun; Released; Seasons of Basho; Only a Beginning; Ring Out, Wild Bell
Tilman Robinson - Deer Heart (Hobbledehoy Record Co; 2016)
Dead & Company - Ruoff Home Mortgage Center, Noblesville, IN 6/6/18 (Los Muertos/Rhino; 2019)
Dire Wolves - Dig Where You Stand (Feathered Coyote; 2019)
Evan Johnson - Forms of Complaint (Kairos; due March 6, 2020) > hyphen - Peter Neville; Apostrophe 1 (All communication is a form of complaint) - ELISION; clutch - Graeme Jennings; Colophons ("That other that ich not whenne"), reflecting pool / monument - Mieko Kanno, EXAUDI/James Weeks; Positioning in Radiography - Mabel Kwan
Alex Hills - OutsideIn (Carrier; 2020) > OutsideIn - Aisha Orazbayeva, 12 Ensemble/James Weeks; Flatland - EXAUDI/James Weeks; Short Long Shrink Stretch - Jacob Brown, 4|12 Collective/Adam Hickox
Philip Glass - Two Pages; Contrary Motion; Music in Fifths; Music in Similar Motion - Philip Glass Ensemble (Orange Mountain Music; 2013. Audio samples here.)
Philip Glass - The Photographer - Paul Zukofsky, Philip Glass Ensemble/Michael Riesman (CBS Masterworks; 1983)
The Iditarod - Göteborg and Oslo (Bandcamp subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
Gang of Four - Happy Now (Gill Music Ltd.; 2019)
Gang of Four - Live… In the Moment (Gill Music Ltd.; 2016)
Gang of Four - What Happens Next (Metropolis; 2015)
Gang of Four - Content (Yep Roc; 2011)
Gang of Four - Shrinkwrapped (Castle; 1995)
Gang of Four - Mall (Polydor; 1990)
Gang of Four - Hard (EMI; 1983)
Gang of Four - Songs of the Free (EMI/Infinite Zero; 1982/1996)
Gang of Four - Solid Gold/Another Day/Another Dollar (EMI/Infinite Zero; 1981/1995)
Gang of Four - Entertainment/Gang of Four (EMI/Infinite Zero; 1980/1995)