The Goings On About Town section in The New Yorker remains suspended indefinitely in its conventional format, and album reviews linger. But with a marked uptick lately in the number of live online events planned and announced well in advance, the possibility of "events listings" has resumed. For the May 4 issue, I've written about two streaming events: a week-long replay of Angel's Bone, the arresting opera by Du Yun and Royce Vavrek, streamed as "Opera of the Week" on the Beth Morrison Projects website; and the first-ever wholly online Bang on a Can Marathon. (Click on the image to enlarge it, or hit the link to read the text on the New Yorker website.)
Joda Clément - A Sea Minded Man (AMPLIFY2020: isolation; 2020)
Byrnes/Shiroishi/Wyche - Long Day (Astral Editions; 2020)
Jana Winderen - 1. Surge (Touch: Isolation subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
Chris Watson - 2. Gobabeb (Touch: Isolation subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
Bana Haffar - 3. Conference of the Birds (Touch: Isolation subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
Mark Van Hoen - 4. Rewilding (Touch: Isolation subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
Richard Chartier - 5. Away (Touch: Isolation subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
Zachary Paul - 6. Aeolus (Touch: Isolation subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
fennesz sakamoto - 7. Kizuna (Touch: Isolation version) (Touch: Isolation subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
farmersmanual - 8. Unfortunately, voluntary self-isolation strategies may inconvenience individuals, lead to economic losses or even contribute to moral conflicts (part 1). (Touch: Isolation subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
ELEH - 9. Still, Not Waiting (Touch: Isolation subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
Anthony Moore - 10. Isoladrone2020 (Touch: Isolation subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
Daniel Menche - 11. Proverbs 18:1 (Touch: Isolation subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
Tuluum Shimmering - A Horse with No Name (Tuluum Shimmering; 2020)
A.F. Jones - A Jurist for Nothing (Gertrude Tapes; 2020)
Change is upon us once again, and with it a fresh start for Night After Night—elsewhere. As of Thursday, April 23, the primary focus of my work has shifted over to a newly launched Substack newsletter, also called Night After Night. That title has provided my online identity – my "brand" – for more than two decades; no reason I would change that now.
From the new site, my explanatory preamble:
As in all of my previous ventures – from blogging and freelancing through stints with Time Out New York, The New York Times, the Boston Globe, and National Sawdust Log – I’ll be covering music in its infinite richness and variety, emphasizing what’s happening here and now. I’ll interview composers and performers about their newest projects, as well as bigger, broader ideas. I’ll review current recordings… and concerts, too, when the opportunity returns. I’ll direct your attention toward pertinent news and reviews published elsewhere, too.
I plan to post twice a week, and some posts will be available to everyone. But paying subscribers will have access to premium content now in planning stages… stay tuned.
Following that preamble, the first real entry – a biographical prelude, an extensive interview with Quince Ensemble and composer David Lang, and a postlude to my New York Times obituary of Richard Teitelbaum – was sent out on April 23. You can read it now, for free.
You'll notice that subscriptions are available, and at some point soon I'll start to roll out features meant exclusively for those who subscribe. That said, I completely recognize that this is a difficult time, and I intend to keep a substantial portion of my work freely accessible to all.
As for this long-serving Typepad blog, well, it's staying right where it is, and shifting to serve, even more than it does already, as an archive for past writings—both my original posts and the work I make for others. The playlists will stay here, too, and I'll try to be diligent about them.
I'll continue to add more past content when I find time (ha!). But for now, the Substack newsletter is where I'll be moving forward.
The Goings On About Town section in The New Yorker remains suspended indefinitely in its conventional format, and album reviews linger. But with a marked uptick lately in the number of live online events planned and announced well in advance, the possibility of "events listings" has resumed. For the April 27 issue, I've written up a brief preview of subtracTTTTTTTTT, a new web-native opera by the music-theater performance-art troupe thingNY, which treats glitch, echo, connection issues, and so on not as a bug, but as a feature. (Click on the image to enlarge it, or hit the link to read the text on the New Yorker website.)
You can watch the world premiere performance on Friday evening, April 24 at 6pm (EDT), on the thingNY website. It will repeat in the same place at the same time on Saturday and Sunday.
The Goings On About Town section in The New Yorker remains suspended indefinitely in its conventional format, and album reviews prevail, mostly. But with a marked uptick lately in the number of live online events planned and announced well in advance of their occurrence, the possibility of "events listings" has resumed. This week, I've written up a brief preview of Alone Together, a characteristically impressive and thoughtful commissioning initiative undertaken by the violinist Jennifer Koh and her nonprofit organization, ARCO Collaborative. (Click on the image to enlarge it, or hit the link to read the text on the New Yorker website.)
You can watch Koh's performance live this Saturday, April 18, at 7pm EDT, on Instagram or Facebook. Of note: it now appears that this week's presentation will include pieces from still another pair of composers, Anthony Cheung and Tomás Gueglio Saccone, in addition to the two pairs cited in my preview.
Koh also posts supplemental material on those platforms, such as brief video statements from the composers. Following each live webcast, you can watch archived video, along with sessions from previous weeks, on her YouTube channel.
One thing more: A sentence from my original text ended up on the cutting-room floor this week, presumably for reasons of space, and another sentence was altered accordingly. But I liked the way the original draft indicated that this new project is not only Koh's response to current conditions, but also an undertaking very much in keeping with her consistent aims. So, just this once, here's the draft version of the passage to which I'm referring:
In past projects like “Bach and Beyond,” “Bridge to Beethoven,” and “Limitless,” Koh intertwined notions of aesthetic continuity and artistic community, to powerful ends. She explores similar concepts in “Alone Together,” her newest project, but the execution reflects conditions born of the present COVID-19 pandemic: specifically, forced isolation and economic hardship.
Lucio Capece - Raum als Zeit (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Mike Bullock - Waking version of the hidden room dream (for nodding off) (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Manja Ristić - Out of Thin Air (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Michael Foster - Sense of Touch (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Don Slepian - New Dawn (Plumeria Productions/Numero Group; 1980/2017)
Marilyn Crispell/Tanya Kalmanovitch/Richard Teitelbaum - Dream Libretto (Leo; 2018)
Andrew Cyrille Quartet - The Declaration of Musical Independence (ECM; 2016. Audio samples here.)
Richard Teitelbaum - Concerto Grosso (hat ART; 1988)
Richard Teitelbaum with Anthony Braxton - Time Zones (Arista Freedom; 1977)
George Lewis - Homage to Charles Parker (Black Saint; 1979)
Derek Bailey & Richard Teitelbaum - Live at Roulette, October 11, 1987 (Roulette; 2020. Available to stream here.)
Tuluum Shimmering - Bird Song (self-released; 2020)
Burkhard Beins - Outside In (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Keith Rowe - an assemblage / construct for 45 voices (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Andrew Cyrille/Richard Teitelbaum Duo - Double Clutch (Silkheart; 1981/1997)
MP Hopkins - Kick the Watchwords (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Marillion - Clutching at Straws (deluxe edition) (EMI/Parlophone; 1987/2018)
Anthony Vine - Music for an Apartment on Coles St. - Karl Larson (Facebook Live; 2020. Available to stream here.)
MV & EE - BONE (it’s old but it’s CBD good) (Heroine Celestial Agriculture; 2010/2020)
Matt Krefting - Wiping Down Bottles of Alcohol with Alcohol So You Can Drink the Alcohol (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Romain Perrot - Razne (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Graham Lambkin - Snails in Clay (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Red Desert - *5*597 (Love Records; 2020) > Lucie Vítková - Five; Johanna Beyer - Suite for Clarinet I, mvt. 2; Pauline Oliveros - Single Stroke Roll Meditation; Susanna Gartmayer - AOUIE (A and E); Tim Parkinson - Drum Piece
Herbie Hancock - Headhunters (Columbia; 1973)
Herbie Hancock - Future Shock (Columbia; 1983)
Herbie Hancock - Sextant (Columbia; 1973)
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage (Blue Note; 1965/1999)
Kyle Bruckmann - Triptych (tautological) (Carrier; due June 1, 2020)
thingNY - ADDDDDDDDD: an opera by thingNY (self-released; 2010)
The Goings On About Town section in The New Yorker remains suspended indefinitely in its conventional format, and album reviews prevail, mostly. Here's my latest, from the April 13 issue, covering The experience of repetition as death, the second full-length album by cellist Clarice Jensen. The third release overall in her swiftly ascendant career as a formidable composer of solo works for cello and electronics (also including last year's EP, Drone Studies), the album came out last Friday on 130701, the new-music imprint of British indie label FatCat Records. (Click on the image to enlarge it, or hit the link to read the text on the New Yorker website.)
Richard Kamerman - Midway through this recording, my dad called to make sure i knew the NY Philharmonic had cancelled their performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection” symphony that we had a pair of tickets to attend a few weeks from now (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Daniel Jones - Sickness surrounded by avenues of silence (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Andrea Pensado - 29III2020 (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Fergus Kelly - A Salt-Set Seal (for Carole Chant) (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson - in the 90s people made music like this and released it on CD (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Pacific Range - High Upon the Mountain (Curation; 2020)
TENGGER - Nomad (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond; due June 12, 2020)
Garcia Peoples - One Step Behind (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond; 2019)
Steve Roach - The Heart of Distant Horizons (Bandcamp subscriber exclusive; 2020. More information here.)
Marillion - Script for a Jester's Tear (Deluxe Edition) (EMI/Parlophone; 1983/2020)
Haptic - uncollected works (2005-2010) (self-released; 2020)
Henning Christiansen - Op. 209 6 Opinions (Penultimate Press; 1994/2018. More information here.)
Sean McCann - Prelusion (Recital; 2011)
Theresa Smith - I Am Sitting in a Room (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
Michael Rosenstein - Outer Cape Sojourn (AMPLIFY2020: quarantine; 2020)
The Goings On About Town section in The New Yorker remains suspended indefinitely in its conventional format, and album reviews prevail, for now. Here's mine from the April 6 issue: a quick take on Healing Modes, the latest offering from the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, presenting a program that has grown much more pertinent in the present moment than anyone might have imagined—or hoped. The album is newly issued on In a Circle, the label operated by Brooklyn Rider violinist Johnny Gandelsman, whose own recent collection of Bach's complete Cello Suites, transcribed for violin, is warmly recommended. (Click on the image to enlarge it, or hit the link to read the text on the New Yorker website.)
If we're connected on social media, then most likely you saw the major announcement I made there yesterday. If not, this is no April Fool's Day gag: National Sawdust Log ceased operation on March 31, a victim of perilous times.
Whether this will prove to be a temporary hiatus for the publication or a new permanent reality is anyone's guess; what's certain is that my full-time position with the institution has ended, and I am without employment for the first time since July 1997, when I parted ways with the Knitting Factory—another scrappy, visionary, and underfunded incubator for musical creation, I've just realized as I typed this.
Employment prospects are not especially promising right this minute, to say the least, and we all have more important matters on our minds right now, anyway. But I'm not going to give in to panic or despair. I've got plenty left to say and do, and I'll find the ways to say and do them, one way or another. Right now it might feel as thought we're living in some low-budget 1970s science fiction/horror movie, but one day we'll be together again, and when the time comes, the mission of documenting the music we make in public places will resume.