ALBUM REVIEW: ‘Teenages’ by Qasim Naqvi
The mellow buzzing of synthesizers and electric organs has been used in popular music for decades now, but some of the first people to experiment with these instruments were classical and avant-garde...
View ArticleSneak Peek Audio Leak: Donnacha Dennehy’s ‘The Hunger’
Donnacha Dennehy is an Irish composer who is intensely interested in the music and culture of his homeland. Whether it be setting Irish poets like William Butler Yeats or incorporating Irish folk...
View ArticleALBUM REVIEW: Nathalie Joachim’s ‘Fanm d’Ayiti’
While cooking, walking, tending the garden, or washing clothes, the women of Haiti sing songs. For Nathalie Joachim, a Haitian-American singer, flutist, and composer, her image of Haiti is one of love,...
View ArticleAugustin Hadelich Brings Brahms and Ligeti Together (at Last?)
What do Brahms and Ligeti have in common? More than you might think. Violinist Augustin Hadelich brings the two disparate composers together on his latest album, highlighting the unlikely similarities...
View ArticleJohn Lunn on Pop Music, Minimalism, and Composing for Downton Abbey
The long-awaited Downton Abbey movie has just been released, as has its fantastic score by John Lunn. Lunn is the Emmy Award-winning composer of the soundtrack for the Downton Abbey TV show as well. In...
View ArticleVIDEO PREMIERE: Derek Hunter Wilson’s ‘Catalogue of Trying’
Expansive panoramas of Willamette Falls form the basis of a new music video for Derek Hunter Wilson’s “Catalogue of Trying.” Shot by Portland photographer and filmmaker Chloé Jarnac, the images reflect...
View ArticleALBUM REVIEW: ‘Celesta’ by Michael Jon Fink
Even at their most outgoing, instruments like the celesta tend to hide in larger ensembles, coming out of the texture for little moments here and there. Perhaps this is because the celesta tends to be...
View ArticleVIDEO PREMIERE: Michael Gordon’s ‘To the West’
The vast landscapes and rich histories of Big Sky, Montana are the inspiration behind a new large-scale collaboration between composer Michael Gordon, filmmaker Bill Morrison, and the chamber choir The...
View ArticleALBUM REVIEW: Caroline Shaw’s ‘Orange’
It’s not often that we stop for a while to enjoy the simpler things in life: a juicy orange, for example, or a Haydn String Quartet. For composer, violinist, and vocalist Caroline Shaw, these moments...
View ArticleALBUM REVIEW: ‘a tangle of stars’ by Mary Halvorson and John Dieterich
Whether it be pop, rock, punk, or bossa nova, the guitar is a staple of many of the musical styles we know and love—and it has even carved out a unique niche in contemporary classical music as well....
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