We've all got a lot on our minds tonight, it seems safe to guess, so I'll keep this brief: I'd been waiting a long time to hear Liebeslied, a delightfully mysterious, frequently sumptuous piece for amplified vocalist and orchestra by Alex Temple, so thank you, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, for making this something of a super Tuesday after all.
Captured on Feb. 1, 2020, the performance features mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard and conductor James Gaffigan. You can watch just the one piece in the clip embedded below, or view the entire concert – including pieces by Mozart, Ravel, and Robert Schumann – on DSO Replay, with a subscription. (The Ravel piece – the intoxicating Shéhérazade, also featuring Leonard – is on YouTube as well.)
(P.S. I would be wholly remiss were I not to add that there are two audio recordings of Liebeslied on Temple's official website, one of them the premiere, with Mellissa Hughes and the American Composers Orchestra.)
A weekly tally of memorable things Steve Smith has stuck in his ears. Published by National Sawdust Log.
Moniek Darge - Sounds of Sacred Places (Igloo/Kye; 1987/2011)
crys cole - Beside Myself (Students of Decay; 2020)
The Taj-Mahal Travelers - July 15, 1972 (CBS Sony/États-Unis; 1972/2019)
Steve Roach - The Sky Opens (Projekt; 2020)
Kevin Drumm - A Small Register of Motion (self-released; 2020)
Tomás Cabado - historia de la luz: cuaderno de guitarra - Tomás Cabado, Catriel Nievas (Edition Wandelweiser; 2019. Audio samples here.)
Giacomo Fiore and Larry Polansky - from pike (self-released; 2020) > Ruth Crawford Seeger - Folksong Arrangements; Nat Evans - branching streams flow in the dark; Larry Polansky - 34 (more) chords: Charles Dodge in Putney
Sivan Silver-Swartz - untitled 6 - Nigel Deane, Patrick Behnke, Tanner Pfeiffer, Tal Katz, Julius Tedaldi (Edition Wandelweiser; 2019. Audio sample here.)
Man Forever - Play What They Want (Thrill Jockey; 2017)
Oneida - Romance (Joyful Noise; 2018)
Company - 1983 (Honest Jon's; 2020. Audio samples here.)
The Alvaret Ensemble - ea (laaps; 2020)
Peter Zinofieff & Lucy Railton - RFG Inventions for Cello and Computer (PAN; 2020)
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - The Kid (Western Vinyl; 2017)
Liza Lim - The Heart’s Ear - Ensemble für Neue Musik Zurich (hat[now]ART; 2002) > Voodoo Child; Veil; Inguz; The Heart's Ear; Philtre; Diabolical Birds
Rose City Band - Rose City Band (Thrill Jockey; 2019)
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 6 in A minor - San Francisco Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas (SFS Media; 2002)
Shots - Can We Win (Regional Bears; 2018)
Arek Gulbenkoglu - A gift like a hollow vessel (Penultimate Press; 2018)
Samir Amarouch - Electronica 1; Daniel Apodaka - Suoni Notturni; Luis Quintana - Smudges Over Dripping Ink; Théo Méringeau - Hoquetus Mechanicus - Etudiants du Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, musiciens de l'Ensemble Intercontemporain/Simon Proust (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris/YouTube; 2019)
Mayhem - Daemon (Century Media; 2019)
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - EARS (Western Vinyl; 2016)
Riot Ensemble - Speak, Be Silent (Huddersfield Contemporary Records; 2019) > Chaya Czernowyn - Ayre: Towed through plumes, thicket, asphalt, sawdust and hazardous air I shall not forget the sound of; Anna Thorvaldsdóttir - Ró; Mirela Ivičević - Baby Magnify/Lilith's New Toy; Liza Lim - Speak, Be Silent; Rebecca Saunders - Stirrings Still II
Shots - Private Hate (Careful Catalog; 2019)
Gabi Lonsoncy - Judgement (caduc.; 2015)
Jürg Frey - ECHO.TRIO.FRAGILE.EYOT. (a new wave of jazz; due April 15, 2020) > Paysage d’échos - Jürg Frey; Streichtrio - Angharad Davies, Johnny Chang, Stefan Thut; Equilibre fragile - Jürg Frey; Eyot - Antonio Correa