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hellocanticle · 7 days

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Opus 961, Violist Noemi Chemali’s Auspicious Debut: New Music Activism From Emerging Lebanese Composers

There are many ways to debut on the world stage and there are many ways to represent political activism. Violist Noemi Chemali has chosen, as her important first impression in her recorded debut, a selection of music from young composers whose heritage includes political oppression. The albums profits are promised to MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders. These works are not directly…

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hellocanticle · 16 days

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Homage by Heresies, Maya Beiser’s Insightful Homage to the Urtext of Minimalism, Terry Riley’s “In C”

Islandia Music It is the duty of performers to infuse their performance with their nuances of interpretive skills until they (and, hopefully, composer and audience) are satisfied that they are doing justice to the music. When the music at hand challenges established norms and expectations that task becomes quite large. One need only look at the plethora of performances of Terry Riley’s seminal…

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hellocanticle · 3 months

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Putting Schoenberg in Context: Harvey Sachs’ “Schoenberg, Why He Matters”

There is an aptness that accompanies the publication of my first blog of the new year. Much as we aspire to review our past year and resolve improvements for the next, this book effectively plays a similar role. Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) was born into tumultuous times. His life intersected with political change, social changes, two world wars, and huge changes in the way music would be…

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#20th century #Arnold Schoenberg #avant garde #California #Cello #Chamber music #classical #Classical Music #Composers #contemporary music #experimental music #Harvey Sachs #Modern Music #Music #New Music #Piano #political music #Politics #violin

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hellocanticle · 5 months

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Not Just Another Black Composer Compilation: Kellen Gray Revives Neglected American Masterpieces

LINN CKD 731 For the humble listener, a musician’s technical and interpretive performance skills are one of the most compelling reasons to buy a concert ticket or a recording of said musician. But your humble reviewer has another, perhaps equally important reason for investing time and money in the work of a musician. And that skill is what I like to call “musical radar”. It is the (sometimes…

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#20th century #black composers #classical #Classical Music #Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson #Composers #contemporary music #Dean Dixon #Kellen Gray #Leopold Stokowski #Linn Records #Margaret Bonds #Modern Music #Music #New Music #Paul Freeman #political music #Royal Scottish National Orchestra #Ulysses Kay

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hellocanticle · 5 months

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Unintentional Elegies, (the late) Robert Black’s Gorgeous Survey of John Luther Adams’ Compositions for Double Bass (es)

Cold Blue When Bassist Robert Black (1956-2023) succumbed to colon cancer this past June, the music world lost one of its finest advocates, performers, and teachers. This posthumous release of composer John Luther Adams’ (1953- ) works for solo and multiple bassists receive definitively beautiful renditions here in this satisfying release in which Maestro Black plays all parts (two works are for…

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#avant garde #Bang on a Can #Chamber music #classical #Classical Music #Cold Blue #Composers #contemporary music #Double Bass #experimental music #Jim Fox #minimalism #Modern Music #Music #New Music

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hellocanticle · 5 months

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…if it dies at all: Guy Klucevsek’s “Hope Dies Last”, New Compositions for Accordion(s) and Friends

Starkland This is, by my count, the fifth Starkland release of Guy Klucevsek’s work. Klucevsek has happily been one of Starkland’s favorite artists. Though he officially retired from performing in 2018, he continues to compose, collaborate, and record. “Hope Dies Last” consists of several new compositions from this (hardly retired) man. And if you don’t know his work, this is a fine place to…

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hellocanticle · 5 months

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Almost Lost to History: The ARC Ensemble Plays Chamber Music of Robert Müller-Hartmann

There is most certainly an arbitrary factor in the determination of fame and of historical significance. Choose any figure at any historical moment and you can find other lesser known or forgotten figures who stood near, worked with, or were recognized in there time but whose presence has faded from history. Of course there are less arbitrary factors such as socioeconomic and political factors…

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#20th century #ARC Ensemble #Cello #Chamber music #Chandos #Classical Music #Composers #Erika Raum #Kevin Ahfat #Marie Berard #Modern Music #Music #Piano #Robert Müller-Hartmann #Steven Dann #Thomas Wiebe #violin

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hellocanticle · 6 months

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Joseph Luloff: New Stories for Saxophone and Piano

Blue Griffin Joseph Lulloff (1960- ) is an internationally known artist with at least 10 CDs currently available. He is on the woodwind faculty of Michigan State University. Lulloff reportedly started playing saxophone in part to deal with asthma (a useful adjunct to pharmaceutical treatment) and has made quite a career since. Lulloff is a new name to this writer but, after hearing this latest…

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#Carter Pann #Classical Music #Composers #contemporary music #Dorothy Chang #Joel Hastings #Joseph Lulloff #Modern Music #Music #New Music #Nick Zoulek #Piano #saxophone #Sergei Kvitko #Stacy Garrop #Yu-Lien The

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hellocanticle · 6 months

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Treemonisha Wasn’t the Only One, James P. Johnson’s Lost Operas.

Naxos 8.669041 Regular readers of this blog are doubtless aware of my “underdog” interests. Whether suppressed by fascist regime, (as in London Records “Entartete Musik” series and Chandos “ARC”ensemble recordings), or just somehow eclipsed by more “spectacular” (by which I mean, “producing a spectacle” like Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring) but, as exemplified by Cedille Records’ “Avant L’ Orage”,…

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hellocanticle · 7 months

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Fandango! Diversity Within Identities

Avie AV 2386 The primary importance of this new release is, of course, the presentation of these two major works but it also an exposition of the diversity (or do you prefer, “heterogeneity”?) that can become obscured by well intended terms like, “Latino” and “Hispanic”, or even conductor Gustavo Dudamel’s “Pan American”. All are well intended but racial, nationalist, and other categories are…

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#Anne Akiko-Meyers #Argentina #cowboy #folk music #gaucho #Gustavo Dudamel #Jose Hernandez #Mexico #Prokofiev #Romeo and Juliet #Shakespearean

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hellocanticle · 7 months

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Ofra Harnoy, Waiting for Lalo and Elgar

Sony Masterworks There is a theme of “waiting” in this release. These two major Cello Concerti by Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo (27 January 1823 – 22 April 1892) and Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet (1857-1934) are now established as major works and the soloist, Ofra Harnoy, is an established musician. So what do I mean by “waiting”? Well, first is the fact that the Elgar recording was made…

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#Cello #Edouard Lalo #Edward Elgar #Jacqueline Du Pre #Ofra Harnoy

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hellocanticle · 7 months

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Howard Hersh in Isolation

The COVID epidemic imposed unanticipated stresses on pretty much everyone. These stresses resulted in much pain and suffering but also prompted a variety of creative responses. This one, by the composer/producer/broadcaster Howard Hersh, consists of four pieces for solo instruments (flute, marimba, piccolo, and violin). The first piece, “Solo” (2006) for flute (Tod Brody) and the second,…

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hellocanticle · 7 months

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The Metallurgy of Sadness: Rachel Barton Pine’s “Dependent Arising”

Dependent Arising Rachel Barton Pine (1974- ) appears to have an incredibly wide range of musical interests and has managed to successfully integrate those into her musical career. Ranging from early, frequently little known, baroque composers to an expanded appreciation of grand romantic works, an intelligent selection of post 1900 composers (many little known) and some remarkable works…

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#Dmitri Shostakovich #Earl Maneein #Metal music #Rachel Barton Pine #Royal Scottish National Orchestra #Tino Munoz

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hellocanticle · 7 months

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Andrew Rathbun's "The Speed of Time"

SteepleChase Records 391950 I rarely write about jazz, mostly because it is a genre with which I am less familiar. I confess to a lack of knowledge (though I’m working on it) of jazz, especially of the last twenty years or so. And as a result I have some reluctance to write about jazz but when I first listened to this disc I found that the music spoke to this listener’s ears immediately and…

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#Andrew Rathbun #Bebop #Canadian composers #Gary Versace #John Coltraine #John Hebert #Manhattan School of Music #Post Bop #SteepleChase Records #Tom Rainey #Western Michigan Universsity

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hellocanticle · 7 months

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Andrew Rathbun's "The Speed of Time"

SteepleChase Records 391950 I rarely write about jazz, mostly because it is a genre with which I am less familiar. I confess to a lack of knowledge (though I’m working on it) of jazz, especially of the last twenty years or so. And as a result I have some reluctance to write about jazz but when I first listened to this disc I found that the music spoke to this listener’s ears immediately and…

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#Andrew Rathbun #Bebop #Canadian composers #Gary Versace #John Coltraine #John Hebert #Manhattan School of Music #Post Bop #SteepleChase Records #Tom Rainey #Western Michigan Universsity

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hellocanticle · 7 months

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Two Sono Luminus Discs of New Music by Icelandic Composers (mostly)

DSL- 92267 There are, by my count, at least 8 discs on this fine audiophile label dedicated to music by composers from Iceland. That country’s musical prowess deserves to be better known as does their world class orchestra. I’m reviewing these back to back releases together because they are both Iceland Symphony recordings presenting new music by (mostly) Icelandic composers. And they have a…

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hellocanticle · 7 months

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When in Rome…an Alvin Curran Retrospective Installation in Rome

Alvin Curran, Rome, 1980. Adriano Mordenti Just had to post this for all my readers and friends but especially those living near or able to get to Rome. Curran’s wife, Dr. Susan Levenstein, graciously sent this announcement to me. She is an American physician (and webmaster).Her very entertaining memoir, “Dottoresa” is her accounting of moving her practice to Italy. Alvin Curran, (1938- ) is…

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