My review for I Care If You Listen.
Category: Postclassical
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Best of 2014
John Adams, The Gospel According to the Other Mary – Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Master Chorale, Gustavo Dudamel
John Luther Adams, Become Ocean – Seattle Symphony, Ludovic Morlot
D’Angelo and The Vanguard, Black Messiah
Morton Feldman, String Quartet No. 1 – FLUX Quartet
Flying Lotus, You’re Dead!
Philip Glass, The Complete Piano Etudes – Maki Namekawa
Meredith Monk, Piano Songs – Ursula Oppens, Bruce Brubaker
Laura Mvula, With Metropole Orkest Conducted by Jules Buckley at Abbey Road Studios
Steve Reich, Radio Rewrite – Jonny Greenwood, Vicky Chow, Alarm Will Sound, Alan Pierson
Ann Southam, Glass Houses Vol. 2 – Christina Petrowska Quilico
tuku, moonday sessions:the black
reissues
Herbie Hancock, The Complete Columbia Album Collection 1972-1988 (rel. late 2013)
Odyssey, Happy Together (Expanded Edition)
Sly Stone & various artists, I’m Just Like You: Sly’s Stone Flower 1969-1970
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Radio Rewrite Is ‘Everything’ and Then Some
An excerpt of my review of the Nonesuch album for I Care If You Listen; full version available with a subscription.
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I Care If You Listen – FLUX Quartet Records Feldman’s String Quartet No. 1
Here’s my review of FLUX Quartet’s recording of Morton Feldman’s String Quartet No. 1, Structures and Three Pieces, over at I Care If You Listen.
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I Care If You Listen – Hamelin performs Feldman
I’m delighted to share my debut piece for the excellent contemporary classical magazine I Care If You Listen.
It’s a review of Marc-André Hamelin’s performance of Morton Feldman’s For Bunita Marcus at the 21C Music Festival in May. Have a look and let me know what you think!
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Best of 2013
Eve Egoyan – 5
Philip Glass – Visitors
Kuniko Kato – Cantus
R. Andrew Lee – November
Laura Mvula – Sing to the Moon
Omar – The Man
Quadron – Avalanche
Thundercat – Apocalypse
Hans Zimmer – Man of Steel
Best archive/reissue:
Sly and the Family Stone – Higher!
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Not the Gospel According to John Adams
I’m not sure what art does. I know that it’s possible to imagine life without it. Anyone’s life would be horribly impoverished without art. Yet, it seems to me that if you really want to help people and improve their lives, the most efficient thing to do is to go right to the real issues, which are economic. And I think for artists to believe that their musical compositions, or their plays, or their poems or novels can have a really potent political effect is probably a bit overly optimistic.
– John Adams, interview for the Classical KUSC streaming broadcast of The Gospel According to the Other Mary performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, June 2013
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Steve Reich Keys, a Mixtape, Vol. 2
(Update: a Mixcloud Premium account is now required to stream this mix.) Steve Reich has often described the role of keys and chord cycles in his compositions. This retrospective treats Reich’s oeuvre as a meta-cycle of chords, using harmonic mixing to match tracks whose endpoints share a common key or subset of pitches.
Vol. 2 focuses on Reich’s earlier, longer pieces, and includes most of his major works not appearing in Vol. 1, with several being reprised. Vols. 1 and 2 are linked harmonically by the dyad F#-B, heard at the end of Proverb and the beginning of the second movement of Electric Counterpoint. Also, the dyad E-A at the end of Four Organs is found in the first chord of the third movement of Mallet Quartet. Thus, both volumes may be heard back-to-back as a 5 1/2 hour cycle.
Vol. 2 features several dominant-tonic transitions, a natural result given that Reich’s pieces often end on the dominant chord.
No alteration of the pitch of the original tracks was made.
Tracklist & Artists
(keys and/or harmonies at endpoints)0:00:00-0:03:01
Electric Counterpoint, II. Slow (1987)
Pat Metheny
(F#-B dyad, A Lydian or B11/A in C# minor)0:02:55-0:09:02
The Four Sections, IV. Full orchestra (♩ = 180) (1987)
The London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas
(A Lydian or B11/A in C# minor; C# dominant, C#-F# dyad in F# major)0:09:02-0:18:48
Drumming, Part IV (1970-71)
Ictus, Synergy Vocals
(C#-F# dyad in G# Dorian or C# dominant)0:18:45-0:21:13
Sextet, III. (1984)
Steve Reich and Musicians with members of Nexus and the Manhattan Marimba Quartet
(C# altered dominant)0:21:10-0:30:31
Three Tales: Dolly, VI. Robots/Cyborgs/Immortality (1998-2002)
The Steve Reich Ensemble, Synergy Vocals, Bradley Lubman
(C# altered dominant; Gsus7 in C minor)0:30:07-0:36:42
Three Movements, I. ♩ = c. 176-184 (1986)
Chorus sine nomine, Tonkünstler-Orchester, Kristjan Järvi
(E altered dominant, includes Gsus7; Csus7 in A-flat)0:36:38-0:52:04
Music for a Large Ensemble (1978)
Steve Reich and Musicians
(F minor; A-flat major)0:52:02-1:07:13
Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ (1973)
Alarm Will Sound
(F minor; A-flat dominant in D-flat)1:07:12-1:24:32
Eight Lines (Octet) (1979/1983)
Bang on a Can/Bradley Lubman
(C# Dorian; A-flat dominant in D-flat)1:24:32-1:40:54
Six Marimbas Counterpoint (1973/1986)
Kuniko Kato
(D-flat; B-flat Aeolian)1:40:54-1:46:56
Dance Patterns (2002)
James Preiss, Thad Wheeler, Frank Cassara, Garry Kvistad, Edmund Niemann, Nurit Tilles
(B-flat dominant; C minor)1:46:53-1:58:20
Cello Counterpoint (2003)
Maya Beiser
(G Phrygian dominant, C minor)1:58:21-2:19:55
Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards (1979)
San Francisco Symphony, Edo de Waart
(C minor, C Dorian)2:19:55-2:24:35
The Cave, Act 3: New York City/Austin (April-May 1992), III. Who Is Hagar? (1990-93)
The Steve Reich Ensemble, Paul Hillier
(F dominant in G minor; D minor)2:24:35-2:31:03
Tehillim, Part IV (1981)
Steve Reich and Musicians, George Manahan
(C dominant in D minor, A dominant in D)2:30:42-2:38:28
It’s Gonna Rain, Part I (1965)
Steve Reich
(D major)2:38:15-2:58:40
Piano Phase (1967)
Double Edge
(B minor; Esus7)2:58:37-3:14:23
Four Organs (1970)
Bang on a Can
(E dominant; E-A dyad)Compiled and mixed April 2013
Creative Consultant: Ashil Mistry
As it is intended for the study and analysis of the music of Steve Reich, this post falls under fair use. The copyrights for these recordings are owned by record companies Chandos, Cyprès, Denon, ECM, Linn, Nonesuch, Sweetspot and UMG. The copyrights for the music are owned by Boosey & Hawkes and Universal Edition. Please contact me directly regarding any copyright claim.
If you enjoy this music, please purchase the original recordings.
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Best of 2011/2012
The past 24 months have been full of wonderful blessings and have witnessed the happiest period of my life so far. Alhamdulillah, for all that has been given.
It thus seems fitting to me, in doing a best of list, to look at the last two years as a whole. Here’s what has brought (re)new(ed)ness to the personal soundtrack, in no particular order (other than stream of consciousness)…
Returnings: Music of Ann Southam – Eve Egoyan, piano (Centrediscs, 2011)
Glass Houses Revisited – music of Ann Southam; Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano (Centrediscs, 2011)
Soundings for a New Piano – music of Ann Southam; R. Andrew Lee, piano (Irritable Hedgehog, 2011)
Jürg Frey: Piano Music – R. Andrew Lee, piano (Irritable Hedgehog, 2012)
The Northern Shore – music of Barbara Monk Feldman; Sabat/Clarke and Aki Takahashi (Mode, 2012)
Undercurrents: CONTACT Performs the Music of Jordan Nobles – CONTACT Contemporary Music (Redshift, 2011)
Until the Quiet Comes – Flying Lotus (Warp, 2012)
Seeds – Georgia Anne Muldrow (Someothaship CONNECT, 2012)
Radio Music Society – Esperanza Spalding (Heads Up International, 2012)
Black Radio – Robert Glasper Experiment (Blue Note, 2012)
Brand New Wayo: Funk, Fast Times & Nigerian Boogie Madness 1979-1983 – Various Artists (Comb & Razor, 2011)
Music of Vladimir Martynov – Kronos Quartet (Nonesuch, 2012)
WTC 9/11, Mallet Quartet, Dance Patterns – music of Steve Reich; Kronos Quartet, Sō Percussion, Steve Reich & Musicians (Nonesuch, 2011)
Symphony No. 9 – music of Philip Glass; Bruckner Orchester Linz, Dennis Russell Davies, conductor (Orange Mountain, 2012)
Seeing is Believing – music of Nico Muhly, William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons; Thomas Gould, violin; Aurora Orchestra, Nicholas Collon, conductor (Decca, 2011)
Adam’s Lament – music of Arvo Pärt; Latvian Radio Choir, Vox Clamantis, Sinfonietta Riga, Tõnu Kaljuste, conductor (ECM, 2012)
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima / Popcorn Superhet Receiver / Polymorphia / 48 Responses to Polymorphia – music of Krzysztof Penderecki and Jonny Greenwood; AUKSO Orchestra, Krzysztof Penderecki and Marek Moś, conductors (Nonesuch, 2012)
Son of Chamber Symphony / String Quartet – music of John Adams; International Contemporary Ensemble, John Adams, conductor and St. Lawrence String Quartet (Nonesuch, 2011)
January edits:
Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons – Daniel Hope, violin; Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin, André de Ridder, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon, 2012)
Pour une âme souveraine – a Dedication to Nina Simone – Meshell Ndegeocello (naïve, 2012)
Pink – Four Tet (Text, 2012)
Happy New Year to all the readers and followers of El Mahboob, and all my best to you for 2013.
EL MAHBOOB 