by Nick Hallett The collection of musicians known across New York’s experimental music community as Ne(x)tworks (they resist the word “ensemble”) convened at SoHo’s Roulette for a performance of star member and preeminent vocalist Joan La Barbara’s new opera-in-progress, Angels, Demons, and other Muses, as part of Thomas Buckner’s Interpretations series. For me to attempt […]
Seen and Heard International Review: Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble
by George Grella Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble perform Somei Satoh, The Passion; Iannis Xenakis, Mikka, Mikka “S”; and Petr Kotik, There Is Singularly Nothing Concerts like this one defy the normal means and language of criticism, and I mean this in a positive sense. The music is either so new, like the Satoh world […]
Just Outside Review: Daan Vandevalle
by Brian Olewnick Solo Piano Works of Gordon Mumma, and Contemporary Belgian Composers Went to Roulette on Thursday for a set of solo piano works performed by the Belgian pianist, Daan Vandewalle. The program was in large part given over to pieces by Gordon Mumma but also included works by three lesser known (to US audiences, anyway) Belgian […]
The Big City Review: Teresa McCollough
by George Grella “A Little Night Music” Last Thursday, Roulette once again hosted another Interpretations concert, the penultimate one of the season, this one a recital by pianist Teresa McCollough, accurately subtitled “Playing, Plucking, Pounding: New Music for Piano & Percussion.” Redundant, perhaps, considering that the piano is essentially a percussion instrument, yet it gives a great idea of what […]
New York Times Review: Robert Ashley
by Steve Smith “Layered Dialogues on Effects of Old Age” (go to original link/article) Music history is filled with candles that burned bright and fast. Some composers lived too short a life: Mozartand Schubert, Berg and Webern. Others stopped creating after a productive prime, like Rossini and Sibelius. But longevity can have its benefits for those who […]
New York Times Review: Myra Melford Quartet + Henry Threadill’s Zooid + Talujon Percussion Quartet
by Nate Chinen “Burbuling Brook Crossing Rocky Ground” (go to original link/article) Henry Threadgill, an alto saxophonist and flutist, and Myra Melford, who plays piano and harmonium, both specialize in a music of passing frictions and artful striations. As composers, they use texture as a destabilizing agent: the center often holds, but not without a […]
New York Times Review: Robert Ashley’s “Concrete”
by Steve Smith “An Opera Full of Secrets From a Master of the Opaque” Robert Ashley’s Concrete The gambler’s game is one of steely nerves, patience and sometimes sleight of hand. Watch a gambler at the card table, and you might never notice anything out of the ordinary, apart from freakish runs of good fortune. […]