Friday, April 26 2013
Emanuel Ax: Variations: Haydn, Beethoven, Schumann
Superstar pianist Emanuel Ax tears through three lofty sets of variations. If it's not done with the perfectionist's touch, it's at least done with the right touch.
Wednesday, April 3 2013
Ólafur Arnalds: For Now I Am Winter
Ólafur Arnalds walks his own path, one dreamy song after another.
Monday, August 20 2012
20 Questions: William Brittelle
With his daring electro-acoustic chamber classical album Loving the Chambered Nautilus still ringing fondly in our memory, PopMatters takes Brooklyn-based composer William Brittelle to task with our 20 Questions.
Monday, July 2 2012
Mike Patton & Ictus Ensemble: Laborintus II
Laborintus II might be really high-minded, and really challenging, but it's totally bizarre fun too. It may well be the most unsettling thing you listen to all year, but what else would you expect from Mike Patton?
Monday, February 6 2012
Nils Frahm: Felt
The felt itself is an additional instrument, a scrape of percussion as each key is played and released.
Tuesday, November 1 2011
Paul McCartney / London Classical Orchestra: Paul McCartney’s Ocean’s Kingdom
"Ocean's Kingdom" is Paul McCartney's first stab at scoring a ballet, but it glows with the same energy and suffers from the same shortcomings of his other classical works.
Tuesday, October 18 2011
Benjamin Thigpen: divide by zero
Five satisfying doses of atonal, arrhythmic racket. This is what your computer hears when it breaks.
Monday, October 3 2011
Adolf Wölfli: The Heavenly Ladder: Analysis of the Musical Cryptograms
In an impressive undertaking, Belgian composer Baudouin de Jaer tries to musically decode the disturbed drawings of Adolf Wölfli. Too bad the music isn't the most compelling part.
Wednesday, August 24 2011
Nathan Davis/International Contemporary Ensemble: The Bright and Hollow Sky
Composer Nathan Davis is at the mercy of his instruments and his players – and he's just fine with that.
