elliott carter

My review of the new disc of late works by Elliott Carter is up at Burning Ambulance. As always, be sure to peruse the rest of the site while you're there.

beth levin

My review of Beth Levin's new disc of romantic piano music is up at Burning Ambulance. Please check out the rest of the site while you are there.

miranda cuckson

My review of Miranda Cuckson's new recording, Invisible Colors, is up at Burning Ambulance. As always, Phil Freeman does a great job of posting reviews/articles, including videos of some of the music on the album.

interview: jason eckardt

I talked (via email) with Jason Eckardt about the music on his new CD Subject and about his music in general. His answers to some pretty specific compositional questions are open and thought-provoking. The interview is up at BurningAmbulance.

jason eckardt - subject

Burning Ambulance has my review of Jason Eckardt's new CD, Subject, Since BA doesn't include disc details as a heading, here they are:

ECKARDT: Subject; Paths of Resistance; Trespass; Flux; Tongues. Tony Arnold, soprano; Alice Teyssier, Eric Lamb, flutes; Grace Hong, oboe; Andrew McCollum Campbell MacDonald, clarinets; Wendy Everett, bassoon; Danielle Bogacz, horn; Matthew Jenkins, Ross Karre, percussion; Marilyn Nonken, piano; Jordan Dodson, Daniel Lippel, guitar; Erin Ponto, harp; Christopher Otto, Ari Streisfeld, Yuncong Zhang, Jeffrey Young, violin; John Pickford Richards, Hanna Shaw, Wendy Richman, viola; Kevin McFarland, Jay Campbell, Gabrielle Athayde, cello; Laura Dykes, bass; Timothy Weiss, David Fulmer, conductors. TZADIK 9006. 70 minutes.

An interview with Mr. Eckardt will appear soon.

music for one musician

The redesigned Burning Ambulance launches today. One of the new offerings is my review of Rough Fields' recording of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians.

carter sessions eckardt

My review can be found at BurningAmbulance.

vijay iyer: mutations

My review of Vijay Iyer's Mutations is up at Burning Ambulance.

gilgamesh

Today I make a triumphal return to the pages of Burning Ambulance with my short review of Éva Polgár and Sándor Vály’s Gilgamesh. More to come soon.

darcy james argue

My review of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society's new disc, Brooklyn Babylon, is up at Burning Ambulance. (Photo above by James Matthew Daniel, from stereophile.com)

While we're on the subject of Burning Ambulance, a new issue is out, with a wealth of fine writing on jazz and metal. Please check it out.

hear the bang

Phil Freeman has posted the recording of the first performance of my Percussion Concerto at Burning Ambulance. Thanks, also and again to Omar Carmenates (pictures), Leslie Hicken, and the Furman University Wind Ensemble for their fine performance.

his life on the plains

Lee Hyla

My review of Lee Hyla's new disc of music for small ensemble, My Life on the Plains, is up at Burning Ambulance.

An interview I did with Mr. Hyla a few years ago can be found here.

More later.

facing a blank

A terrifying sight!

Phil Freeman has graciously posted an article, "Facing a Blank", that originally appeared in Burning Ambulance #3. The article chronicles the composition of my Percussion Concerto, which premiered last week. I'll be revisiting this article in light of the changes made in the piece in the run-up to the performance, and I imagine that I'll be giving myself a thorough fisking in the days ahead.

Thanks again to Phil Freeman for his attention and support. Please give the entire site a good look.

recording: intertwining geometries

Intertwining Geometries, m 115

Phil Freeman has posted (over at Burning Ambulance) a recording of the premiere performance of Intertwining Geometries (alto flute and bass clarinet, 2012), played last summer in London by Carla Rees (a fl) and Sarah Watts (b cl). My thanks to Phil for posting it and renewed thanks to Carla and Sarah for their committed and expressive performance of the piece.

nico muhly

and who doesn't?

Today in Burning Ambulance, I review Nico Muhly's Drones.

anton webern

Webern in repose

A recent article in the Guardian features brief statements from a variety of musicians about their favorite piece of 20th century concert music. Characteristically, Alex Ross, whose The Rest is Noise inspired the festival that prompted the article, names Anton Webern's Six Pieces for Large Orchestra, Op.6 (1909). Ross cites "the first great sonic maelstrom in musical history" at the end of the fourth piece. Read the whole thing.

And while you're thinking of Webern, read Phil Freeman's post on Webern in commemoration of the composer's birthday. One of Burning Ambulance's central concerns is with jazz, and Phil relates some comments a jazz musician made to him about Webern's influence. Again, please read the whole thing.

elliott carter, 1908-2012

Leonard Bernstein (l) and Elliott Carter at a rehearsal for the premiere of Carter's Concerto for Orchestra (1970)

As I'm sure most of you know, composer Elliott Carter passed away this past Monday at a very young 103. I've written more about Carter over the years than about any other subject, I can't begin to express what his music and his example have meant to me over the years, but I'm going to continue to try.

In the meantime, Phil Freeman has posted a lengthy excerpt from an article of mine that appeared in Burning Ambulance. Please give it and the rest of the site a read.

Xenakis 90

Phil Freeman asked me to write something for Burning Ambulance to commemorate the 90th birthday of composer Iannis Xenakis. I was more than happy to accommodate him. Phil added a video of an interview with Xenakis and a recording of Pithoprakta.

Bonus track: Akrata

American Song

Phil Freeman has generously posted a recording of John Mindeman's heroic performance of my American Song (trombone, 2008) from last year's New Music Festival at Western Illinois University.

While you are at Burning Ambulance I hope you'll read Phil's other postings on a wide range of cultural subjects.

Burning Ambulance 5

Just in time for Christmas!

Burning Ambulance 5 is out. In addition to the usual outstanding writing on music, film, and culture, the issue includes my "Everything at Once: A Love Story", a meditation on the experience of time in music. A taste:

In the beginning was Incident.

Incident was and is all. In the beginning, though, Incident was constricted. It had no way of playing out—no “nonspatial continuum” in which Incident could play out and have meaning. Everything was happening at once. Out of necessity, so that everything wouldn’t happen at once, as Albert Einstein would later say when there was a “later”, time was born.

Paper and e-copies of Burning Ambulance are available here.