Sounds Heard: Elodie Lauten—Piano Works Revisited
Overall this collection of Lauten's piano works is a wonderful portal back into an era when the Downtown New York scene promulgated a music that combined so-called compositional rigor with the energy of the nascent punk rock and new wave scenes. Wait a minute…isn't this kind of beyond-genre cross-fertilization something that the spin doctors claim has only just started recently with the rise of performance entities called "bandsembles" who play gigs in venues like Le Poisson Rouge? Perhaps this is why even though I personally feel a sense of nostalgia listening to these recordings, they still sound completely new. read more
By Frank J. Oteri
Published: 3/8/2010

How to Succeed in the New Music Business (You Will Need to Try)
How will composers and musicians build careers to support their artistry in the coming decades? It's clear it's going to take a lot more than upping time spent in the practice room, but the standard guidebooks to "success in the music business" don't often look at the issues facing those seeking to take their graduate degrees and make a name for themselves in genres like new music and jazz. In The Savvy Musician: Building a Career, Earning a Living, & Making a Difference, composer and pianist David Cutler collects strategies and success stories from 165 composers and musicians working in these musical arenas and sprinkles them throughout this slickly designed A-to-Z guide covering everything from building up a career to planning for retirement. read more
By Molly Sheridan
Published: 3/3/2010

Sounds Heard: itsnotyouitsme—Fallen Monuments
Fallen Monuments succeeds in being spellbindingly lovely and sonically substantive at the same time. Lush, gleaming sounds combined with infusions of grit that prove mesmerizing without being sleep-inducing. For those with a taste for ambient music and/or minimalism, this is a highly satisfying recording that employs the duo’s self-stated mission to "make you cry in a good way." read more
By Alexandra Gardner
Published: 3/1/2010

Sounds Heard: Mario Diaz de León—Enter Houses Of
Critically speaking, I realize I will only be adding my voice to a chorus in support of the music Diaz de León is showcasing here, but this disc has especially stood out for me in the way it fires my imagination and how frequently I replay it. There is something elusive in the "man and machine" conversation inside this music that digs its claws deep into the ear and invites repeat visits. read more
By Molly Sheridan
Published: 2/22/2010

Sounds Heard: Carl Schimmel—Serving Size 4 Bunnies
I hesitate to say that there is anything listeners should be mindful of—but I would like to think that Serving Size 4 Bunnies offers a largifical listening experience. There are one-off effects, as well as more in-depth explorations of the sound possibilities of unusual instruments and found objects—and a wide variety of marimba textures. Its dramatic pacing is chiefly informed by Stalling, Kagel, Janacek, Svankmajer, and rodent mannerisms. read more
By Molly Sheridan
Published: 2/16/2010

Sounds Heard: Phyllis Chen—UnCaged Toy Piano
Phyllis Chen's debut CD, Uncaged Toy Piano, mixes old and new solo pieces and works featuring toy piano in combination with a CD player, a toy boombox (cute), a music box, a frying pan, and bowls. Not quite the kitchen sink, but close enough. This brand new disc on the recently-launched CD label of the Concert Artist Guild, a nearly 60 year old organization devoted to discovering, nurturing and promoting upcoming young virtuosos is further proof that he toy piano has finally arrived! read more
By Frank J. Oteri
Published: 2/8/2010

Sounds Heard: Tyshawn Sorey—Koan
As a drummer, Tyshawn Sorey is beguiling to an extreme: in his work with Iyer, Lehman, and others, his tight, complex, shuffling beats are accomplished not only at hypersonic speeds, but with an incredible musicality as well. Compositionally, however, Sorey's own music seems to exist on a whole other planet from what he plays as a sideman. read more
By Trevor Hunter
Published: 2/2/2010

Sounds Heard: Collage New Music Performs Donald Sur
Albany Records has finally released an entire CD devoted to Donald Sur (1936-1999) and hopefully this long overdue recording will begin to redress his music's many decades of neglect. read more
By Frank J. Oteri
Published: 1/26/2010

Terry Riley's In C
When confronted with Terry Riley's In C, it's not unreasonable to ask, "Is this a joke?" The work seems to stand the whole idea of musical "progress" on its head. At precisely the same moment of its composition, Elliott Carter was working on his Concerto for Piano, a work Stravinsky was to hail as a masterpiece. Luciano Berio had almost completed Laborinthus II and would soon start the Sinfonia. Karlheinz Stockhausen had just finished Momente. All these works fairly scream their authority, their mastery of overwhelming complexity, mirroring a complex age. They bespeak the composer as an expert in sound, a highly trained professional who is able to harness chaos and force it into a rigorous architecture. Surely, these are the true masterpieces. Riley's little scrap of score can't pretend to compete with these modernist monuments, can it? read more
By Robert Carl
Published: 1/14/2010

A Conversation with Robert Carl, author of Terry Riley's In C
Robert Carl, author of Terry Riley's In C, describes how the adaptability of Terry Riley's In C to performance among musicians of a wide variety of stylistic backgrounds provides an excellent road map for the future of music. It is clear that in addition to being one of the most significant pieces of American music created thus far, In C also continues to shape and inform the music of today and tomorrow. read more
By Frank J. Oteri
Published: 1/14/2010

Sounds Heard: Ingram Marshall—September Canons
Spanning 1972-2002, each included work on September Canons showcases facets of what has earned Ingram Marshall a reputation for creating impressionistic music that, whether capitalizing on modern technology or taking off from more traditional musical forms, is sonically unique in a way that nudges open rather than aggressively pokes at the ear. read more
By Molly Sheridan
Published: 1/11/2010

Sounds Heard: Miguel Del Aguila—Salón Buenos Aires
I have to admit that even I was a bit taken aback at first by the kitschiness of the musicians humming along in the "Samba" movement, which opens Salón Buenos Aires, a work for Pierrot quintet plus viola which also lends its title to the disc. Weird, it's as if Del Aguila knew he was losing me—he opens the next movement, "Tango to Dream," with inside the piano shenanigans followed by some intriguingly unstable harmonic movement before eventually showcasing another drop-dead gorgeous melody. read more
By Frank J. Oteri
Published: 1/4/2010

Sounds Heard: Andrew Byrne—White Bone Country
Even though much of the music on this CD is metered, the sound world is expansive. It's as though the music progresses like water in a river: sometimes rushing forward at a steady pace, sometimes swirling in eddies, circling around itself, but always moving and always changing. It could seem ironic that water is the image that came to mind in a desert landscape, but perhaps the oasis metaphor is apt: this is an attractive CD that listeners who enjoy rhythmic interplay, bright sounds, and pattern music played well will find refreshing. read more
By Caroline Mallonée
Published: 12/14/2009

Sounds Heard: Peter Evans—Nature/Culture
Peter Evans's new double-disc release on Evan Parker's Psi label offers some surprises: in addition to the expected jaw-dropping technique, Evans proves to be an electronic musician of uncommon vision and restraint, and a first-rate composer. read more
By Eric Wubbels
Published: 12/7/2009

Sounds Heard: Julia Wolfe—Dark Full Ride: Music in Multiples
No sonic wallflower, Julia Wolfe really goes for the jugular (or the ear canal equivalent) with her new collection Dark Full Ride: Music in Multiples, and whether you come away having loved or hated the results (I don't think there is a middle line to walk in this case), you will almost guaranteedly have been gobsmacked. read more
By Molly Sheridan
Published: 11/23/2009