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. […]