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music newsTo purchase any of the CDs mentioned in "Music News," email András Goldinger at books@politics-prose.com,
May 15, 2008
Messiaen & Tashi
Lyric tenor Juan Diego Flórez recently revived the solo encore tradition at the Metropolitan Opera—hitting nine high Cs all over again in the aria “Ah! Mes Amis” in Donizzetti’s LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT (Virgin Classics, DVD $24.98). Watch and listen to this production starring Natalie Dessay and Flórez filmed at its previous stop at London’s Royal Opera.
The US Postal Service issued a Frank Sinatra stamp this week. Ole Blue Eyes is depicted in mid-1950s form, with his signature hat. Listen to SINATRA: NOTHING BUT THE BEST (Reprise, $17.98)—22 essential classics from the Reprise years (1960s onward), with a collectable commemorative Sinatra stamp included. New
May 8, 2008 Special Ticket Offer and Drawing: John Adams’s EL NIÑO
Staff Pick GREY GARDENS, The Musical (PS Classics, $17.98)
[Studio Theatre will present Grey Gardens, starting this November.]
Elvis Costello & the Imposters, MOMOFUKU (Lost Highway, $14.98)
Concerts LINN BARNES & ALLISON HAMPTON, Saturday, May 10, St. Columba’s Church, 4201 Albemarle St., NW.—Linn and Allison play Celtic and Renaissance music on lute, guitar, and Celtic harp.
May 1, 2008
Dust-to-Digital in The New Yorker
To hear Burkhard Bilger talk about the history of field recordings, with music excerpts, click here (http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/04/28/080428on_audio_bilger ). To see Sylvia Plachy’s photographs taken on the field recording trip, click here (http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/04/28/slideshow_080428_bilger ). To learn more about Dust-to-Digital, click here for their website (www.dust-digital.com ).
Ellis Marsalis, AN OPEN LETTER TO THELONIOUS (Elm Records, $14.98)—The pianist and paterfamilias of the extraordinarily musical Marsalis family, Ellis Marsalis pays tribute to the music of Thelonious Monk.
Black Keys, ATTACK & RELEASE (Nonesuch, $17.98)—raw, stripped-down blues-rock. Voices: Magdalena Koźená, AH! MIO COR: HANDEL ARIAS (DG, $16.98) Rolando Villazón, CIELO E MAR (DG, $16.98)—A tribute to the lyric-dramatic repertoire, with arias by Ponchielli, Cilea, Boito, Verdi, Donizetti, and others.
Israel Cachao López, known universally as Cachao, died last month. He was a bass pioneer in Cuban music, and is credited, along with his brother, Orestes, for creating the mambo rhythm. Listen to the great bassist playing with the best Cuban musicians on his 1990 album, MASTER SESSIONS, VOLUME I (Epic, $9.98).
April 23, 2008
Washington Chorus Offer On Sunday, April 27, at 3 p.m., at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, the Washington Chorus, led by their newly appointed conductor Julian Wachner, will sing Fauré’s timeless Requiem. The program also includes the Washington premiere of Proud Music of the Storm by American composer Carlyle Sharpe (based on a famous poem by Walt Whitman of the same name), and Brahms’s Gesang der Parzen (Song of Fates). SPECIAL OFFER FOR P&P EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS! $20 Orchestra Seats (subject to availability). Phone calls only to 202-342-6221. Please mention P&P. New
Hilary Hahn, SCHOENBERG & SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTOS (DG, $16.98)—accompanied by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Hilary Hahn has played some recent dates with singer/songwriter Josh Ritter, and she will be playing the Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 with the NSO on May 8, 9, and 10. Billy Bragg, MR. LOVE & JUSTICE (Anti-, $17.98) Staff Pick
[This is Salima’s farewell review. She is on her way to Malawi as a Peace Corps volunteer. For Salima’s music reviews for Venus magazine, click here. ] Free Concert There’s a free outdoor jazz festival at Georgetown University this Saturday, from 12 noon to 6 p.m., on White Gravenor Lawn (rain site: McNeir Auditorium). The headliners (scheduled for 4 p.m.) will be the CHORO ENSEMBLE, featuring the outstanding clarinetist Anat Cohen. Pick up their latest CD, NOSSO TEMPO (Anzic, $16.98), and go hear them live.
April 16, 2008
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland is offering P&P customers a chance to win two pairs of tickets to the Friday, April 25 performance of Mozart’s COSÍ FAN TUTTE. The production is by the University of Maryland School of Music, and will be performed in the Kay Theatre (especially designed for opera) at Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Please enter by emailing your name and phone number to: agoldinger@politics-prose.com. For more information on Cosí Fan Tutte (including the program notes), please click here. New
Concerts EMERSON STRING QUARTET & WU MAN, Wednesday, April 16, Strathmore—in a program of Schubert, Schumann, and Janáček. FOLGER CONSORT, Friday-Sunday, April 18-20, Folger Shakespeare Library—a selection of Scottish music and Continental music associated with Scotland from the 13th to the late18th centuries. SONNY ROLLINS, Friday, April 18, Kennedy Center—the saxophone colossus in a rare appearance.
Posted April 9, Library of Congress Concerts
Next Friday, April 18, the PAVEL HAAS QUARTET will perform a quartet by the composer whose name they honor, Pavel Haas (killed at Auschwitz), as well as works by Smetana and Dvořák. The quartet has two wonderful recordings, JANAČEK & HAAS: STRING QUARTETS NO. 2 (Supraphon, $17.98) and JANAČEK: STRING QUARTET NO. 1 & HAAS: STRING QUARTETS NOS. 1 & 3 (Supraphon, $17.98). Try to catch both groups live.
Steve Reich’s newest work, from 2006, DANIEL VARIATIONS (Nonesuch, $15.98), is a piece in four movements for sopranos and tenors, clarinets, pianos, percussion, and a string quartet. Its four movements use texts from the biblical Book of Daniel (in the first and third movements) and words from Daniel Pearl (in the second and fourth movements). The CD also contains Reich’s 2005 composition, Variations for Vibes, Pianos & Strings. The Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prizes were announced this past Monday.
The prize for music was given to David Lang’s spare work for four voices and percussion, The Little Match Girl Passion. Critic Tim Page, who was on the Pulitzer jury, called it a “masterpiece.” The work was commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the Theatre of Voices, directed by Paul Hillier. It has not been recorded yet, but the premier can be heard on the Carnegie Hall website (click here).
Posted March 26, Voices The ECM label is widely regarded for its large catalog of jazz and classical titles, and for its championing of one-of-a-kind performers and projects. Two such projects have just appeared:
Tenor John Potter used to sing with the Hilliard Ensemble. Recently, he’s put together an interesting “consort” called THE DOWLAND PROJECT, consisting of baroque guitarist Stephen Stubbs, folk fiddler Milǒs Valent, and jazz player John Surman on soprano sax, bass clarinet, and tenor and bass recorders. On ROMARIA (ECM, $17.98) they play everything from Gregorian songs, Orlando di Lasso and Josquin, to group improvisations on traditional songs from the Iberian peninsula. Give both of these CDs a try. More Bach Two weeks ago, Pierre-Laurent Aimard released an insightful rendition of Bach’s Art of Fugue. In 2003, the EMERSON STRING QUARTET recorded their version of Art of Fugue. They have just released BACH: FUGUES (DG, $16.98), which contains versions of fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier. Pianist MURRAY PERAHIA is also a veteran when it comes to Bach’s works. His latest is BACH: PARTITAS 2, 3 & 4 (Sony Classical, $16.98).
New
Willie Colon presents Rubén Blades, METIENDO MANO! (Fania, $13.98)— from 1977, one of salsa’s greatest classics, newly remastered. Karin Allyson, IMAGINA: SONGS OF BRASIL (Concord, $18.98) Stile Antico, HEAVENLY HARMONIES: William Byrd & Thomas Tallis (Harmonia Mundi, $18.98)
•András Goldinger
Posted March 12,
A special invitation for Politics & Prose customers: Choral Arts is offering prime orchestra seats at just $30. Call 202.244.3669 (M-F, 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.) or order online at www.choralarts.org with ticket code DVORAK. (Limited availability; offer not valid on previously purchased tickets; regularly priced tickets $15-$65)
New Pierre-Laurent Aimard, BACH: ART OF THE FUGUE (Deutsche Grammophon, $16.98)—Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard played the most memorable concert I went to last year. He’s best known as the leading interpreter of the music of Messiaen (he’s directing the year-long Messiaen Festival in London) and Ligeti, not to mention Debussy, Beethoven, and Ravel. Now Aimard explores Bach’s Art of the Fugue; to quote Aimard, it is a “masterpiece of masterpieces…each movement constituting a world unto itself, with its own invention and style.” Aimard is performing excerpts of The Art of the Fugue, plus Schoenberg and Beethoven this Sunday, March 16, at Baltimore’s Shriver Hall. Charles Lloyd Quartet, RABO DE NUBE (ECM, $17.98)—Charles Lloyd’s last CD, Sangam, featured the drummer Eric Harland and the tabla player Zakir Hussein. He’s just released a live date from Basel in 2007—and it’s one of his best albums in a long career. Lloyd recruited one of jazz’s most inventive pianists, Jason Moran, to his quartet, with Eric Harland returning on drums and Reuben Rogers on bass. Lloyd is equally strong on tenor (with a sound reminiscent of the “spiritual” phase of Coltrane), alto flute, and the tárogató (a wooden soprano sax-like instrument). Highly recommended.
Posted March 5, Concerts
Opera Lafayette’s latest recording, RAMEAU: Operatic Arias (Naxos, $8.99), features haute-contre/tenor Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, the Opera Lafayette Orchestra and conductor Ryan Brown. For more information, visit www.operalafayette.org or call 202-546-9332.
The sweetest moment in the Oscar telecast was undoubtedly bringing back singer Marketa Irglova to say a few words of thanks—after being brusquely cut off by the impatient orchestra. She (and co-writer and co-star) Glen Hansard won for best song: “Falling Slowly” from the film, Once. If you haven’t picked up the
To purchase any of the CDs mentioned in “Music News,” email books@politics-prose.com, call (202) 364-1919, or stop by the store.
Posted February 29, Ticket Drawing
Sunday, March 2, TALLIS SCHOLARS—the vocal group sings a program of music from Spain and Portugal by such composers as Mendes, Cardoso, and Lobo, and concludes with Tomas Luis da Victoria’s six-voice Requiem. For more information and program notes, click here.
THE ASH GIRL (tickets for the Friday, March 7 performance; performances begin this Thursday, February 28, and run through March 8). The Ash Girl, by Timberlake Wertenbaker, directed by Leslie Felbain, takes the Cinderella tale “back to its Central European roots, with poetic language and compelling metaphors.” For more information and program notes, click here. Please indicate which performance you’re interested in, and email your name and phone number to agoldinger@politics-prose.com.
Concerts PINK MARTINI, February 28-March 1, Kennedy Center—The fun, lounge-y Pink Martini is playing three pops concerts with the National Symphony this weekend. The group’s charismatic lead singer, CHINA FORBES, has a brand new solo album out, 78 (Heinz Records, $15.98).
NIK BÄRTSCH’S RONIN, March 3, Blues Alley—The Swiss jazz pianist Nik Bärtsch’s quintet performs chamber jazz combining minimalism, odd meters, and shifting themes played on a percussive piano, bass clarinet, bass, drums, and percussion. Check out their first appearance in DC, and listen to their new album, HOLON (ECM, $17.98).
Lizz Wright, THE ORCHARD (Verve, $14.98)—Ms Wright has a deep and soulful voice. For her third album she’s co-written new tunes with Toshi Reagon, and sings them in acoustic, jazzy settings. She’s a P&P favorite. Toumani Diabate, THE MANDE VARIATIONS (Nonesuch, $17.98)—Simple, beautiful kora solos by the master of the instrument. Great listening. Punch Brothers, PUNCH (Nonesuch, $17.98)—Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile left Nickel Creek, and formed the Punch Brothers—a new generation “newgrass” group featuring fiddle, banjo, guitar, and bass. Their debut is one of the best albums so far this year, filled with great playing and songs, including a 40-minute, four-part suite, “The Blind Leaving the Blind.” Chick Corea & Gary Burton, THE NEW CRYSTAL SILENCE (Concord, 2-CD, $19.98)—The pianist and vibraphonist revisit their 1972 collaboration, Crystal Silence, in new live settings. On the first CD, backed by the Sydney Symphony, they play all Chick Corea tunes; the second features the duo on songs by Corea, Bill Evans, and George Gershwin.
To purchase any of the CDs mentioned in “Music News,” email books@politics-prose.com, call (202) 364-1919, or stop by the store.
Posted February 20th
Uri Caine Over the last decade, this jazz pianist has re-arranged the classical themes of Wagner, Bach, Mahler, and Mozart for a variety of instrumental settings: viol quartet, jazz quintet, piano and chamber ensemble, and occasionally larger groups including an electric guitar or turntable. A good introduction to his many approaches, THE CLASSICAL VARIATIONS (Winter & Winter, $16.98) has selections from all his classically-oriented albums, as well as many unreleased tunes, including variations on Bach. Some of jazz’s greatest young players are featured here, including Don Byron on clarinet, Drew Gress on bass, Ralph Alessi on trumpet, and Ralph Peterson on drums. Also check out Uri Caine on fortepiano with Concerto Köln on DIABELLI VARIATIONS (Winter & Winter, $16.98), and his collections, MAHLER: URLICHT/PRIMAL LIGHT (Winter & Winter, $16.98), and PLAYS MOZART (Winter & Winter, $16.98), all highly recommended. New Classical Titles Midori, BACH AND BARTÓK SONATAS (Sony Classical, $17.98)—Midori was in town last week, playing the music of Toru Takemitsu and Maurice Ravel at the Kennedy Center. Her newest CD brings together Bach’s Sonata No. 2 for Unaccompanied Violin in A minor and Bartók’s Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano, with Robert McDonald on piano. Richard Egarr, HANDEL: ORGAN CONERTOS OP. 4 TRADITIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS: SOUNDS OF SILK ROAD CHICAGO (CSO Resound, $19.98)—Yo-Yo Ma; Wu Man; the Silk Road Ensemble; the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Alan Gilbert, conductors. To purchase any of the CDs mentioned in “Music News,” email books@politics-prose.com, call (202) 364-1919, or stop by the store. •András Goldinger
Posted February 13th:
The Kronos Quartet is continuing their residency at the University of Maryland with three events this week: on Wednesday night, February 13, they will do an informal read-through of student compositions; on Thursday afternoon, February 14, there is a rare chance to witness how the quartet works with a composer on a new composition, in this case Aleksandra Vrebalov’s hold me, neighbor, in this storm.
All the performances are at Clarice Smith Center, University of Maryland. For more information (including program notes and Kronos violinist David Harrington’s recent playlist), click here.
VALENTINE’S NIGHT OF MUSIC Please come by at 7 p.m. on Thursday evening when P&P presents a performance by the lute and Celtic harp duo of Linn Barnes and Allison Hampton (see The Week Ahead, above). We’ll be selling all their CD titles—both their duet and solo projects, including their latest, ROSE WINDOW (Oak Leaf, $16.99). At 9 p.m., a few doors down from the store, at Comet Ping Pong, 5037 Connecticut Avenue, blues/jazz pianist and vocalist, Ian Walters, duets with singer/guitarist Maureen Andary in their “starry-eyed” showcase, I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.
There were a few surprises at the Grammys, notably the album-of-the-year win for Herbie Hancock’s RIVER: THE JONI LETTERS (Verve, $17.98). Also check out the multiple classical music winner, JOAN TOWER: MADE IN AMERICA (Naxos, $8.99), as well as LORRAINE HUNT LIEBERSON: NERUDA SONGS (Nonesuch, $16.98).
Posted February 6th:
TICKET GIVEAWAYS
Lisner Auditorium is presenting its 8TH ANNNUAL FLAMENCO FESTIVAL from February 9th to the 15th.The concerts feature such singers and dancers as Carmen Linares, Miguel Poveda, Tomatito, Merche Esmeralda, Belén Maya, and Rocío Molina. Lisner is offering P&P customers a chance to win two pairs of tickets to see dancer and choreographer Eva Yerbabuena and her company of twelve dancers, Ballet Flamenco, on Thursday, February 14, at 8 p.m. For more information, go to www.lisner.org . Folger Consort The Folger Consort celebrates St. Valentine’s Day with love songs from the 13th century, in SEVEN SONGS OF LOVE, featuring soprano Johana Arnold. Treating love in all its guises, the songs of the troubadours and lively dances for fiddles, harps, citole, and percussion, celebrate the joy of love requited. There are chances to win pairs of tickets for performances on Friday, February 15; Saturday, February 16 (two performances); and Sunday, February 17, at the Folger Shakespeare Library Theatre. For more information, click here Please indicate which drawing you’d like to enter, and email your name and phone number to agoldinger@politics-prose.com, or enter to win at the information desk at the store. Winners will be picked next Monday.
NEW Pacifica Quartet, ELLIOTT CARTER: QUARTETS NOs. 1 & 5 (Naxos, $8.99)—Composer Elliott Carter will celebrate his 100th birthday in December, and is still creating new works. There are many concerts and new releases to celebrate his centenary; The Pacifica Quartet recently performed all five of his string quartets in New York, and has just released the first volume of the complete quartets. Vivaldi Opera Highlights: JUDITHA TRIUMPHANS (Naïve, $12.98); L’OLIMPIADE (Naïve, $12.98); LA VERITÀ IN CIMENTO (Naïve, $12.98)—In the last few years, the Vivaldi Edition project has sponsored recordings of Vivaldi’s operas (some for the very first time) with splendid casts and ensembles. Most were expensive two- and three-CD sets, but now the highlights from three of the operas have been issued at a budget price. The stellar casts include some of the best voices in baroque music: Sara Mingardo, Guillemette Laurens, Philppe Jarousky, and Magdalena Kožená. k.d. lang, WATERSHED (Nonesuch, $16.98) Blind Boys of Alabama, DOWN IN NEW ORLEANS (Time-Life, $17.98) Natalie Dessay, ITALIAN OPERA ARIAS (Virgin Classics, $18.98)
To purchase any of the CDs mentioned in “Music News,” email books@politics-prose.com, call (202) 364-1919, or stop by the store. •András Goldinger
posted January 29th:
New Pat Metheny, DAY TRIP (Nonesuch)—trio date with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Antonio Sanchez Willie Nelson, MOMENT OF FOREVER (Lost Highway)—reviews of both of these were in the New York Times this Monday
Shelby Lynn, JUST A LITTLE LOVIN’ (Lost Highway)—covers of Dusty Springfield; also check out Dusty’s original, DUSTY IN MEMPHIS (Atco/Shout Factory)—profile from the New York Times Magazine
Billie Holiday, RARE LIVE RECORDINGS, 1934-1959 (5 CDs, ESP-Disk)
Bjorkestra, ENJOY (Koch)—Travis Sullivan’s 18-piece jazz orchestra plays very hip arrangements of Bjork’s songs
Fernando Otero, PAGINA DE BUENOS AIRES (Nonesuch)—pianist and composer Otero’s album of new tango compositions
Art Tatum I reviewed a great new children’s book on the young Art Tatum (see above), written and illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker. One of Tatum’s first albums shares its title with the book. PIANO STARTS HERE (Columbia) combines recordings made in 1933 and 1949, and contains 13 of his brilliant solo performances. As Heard on NPR
PEOPLE TAKE WARNING!: Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs, 1913-1938 (Tompkins Square Records); listen to the interview here
To purchase any of the CDs mentioned in “Music News,” click on any title, call (202) 364-1919, or stop by the store. •András Goldinger
posted January 22nd:
Box Set Bargains The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recorded many recitals by Glenn Gould in the early stages of his career. They have now issued a budget-priced box set, GLENN GOULD: THE YOUNG MAVERICK (CBC Records, 6 CDs, $24.99). It features a 1954 recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations (a year before the famous Columbia recording) and Italian Concerto; plenty of Beethoven concertos, sonatas, and bagatelles; and works by Berg, Schoenberg, and Webern. Gould was also a pioneering producer of radio documentaries, mixing voices in Bach-like counterpoint. His Solitude Trilogy (The Idea of North; The Latecomers; The Quiet in the Land), as well as profiles of Casals and Stokowski are all included on GLENN GOULD: THE RADIO ARTIST (CBC Records, 5 CDs, $24.99). Naïve is a French label with a great roster of musicians, and it is especially strong in Baroque and modern repertoires. They have released some of their titles in budget boxes: BAROQUE (Naïve, 4 CDs, $16.99) features works by Handel, Vivaldi, Frescobaldi, Caccini, Corelli, and others. SACRED MUSIC (Naïve, 4 CDs, $16.99) features works by Hildegarde von Bingen, Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart. New Cat Power, JUKEBOX (Matador)—the second volume of cover songs by Chan Marshall, aka, Cat Power. Rhonda Vincent, GOOD THINGS GOING (Rounder)—the vocalist, mandolinist, and bandleader’s latest bluegrass breakdown. Buika, MI NIÑA LOLA (Warner Music Latina)—a new Afro-Spanish artist who mixes the raw-voiced style of flamenco with soul, jazz, and copla.
To purchase any of the CDs mentioned in “Music News,” email books@politics-prose.com, call (202) 364-1919, or stop by the store. •András Goldinger
Posted January 15th: Richard Thompson Ticket DrawingRecently, singer/songwriter and guitarist extraordinaire Richard Thompson put together an evening-length program called “1000 Years of Popular Music.” Starting with the round, “Sumer Is Icumen In” (c.1260), through “So Ben Mi Ca Bon Tempo” (a lively dance number from 16th-century Italy) and “Blackleg Miner” (early 19th century), all the way to “Oops!..I Did It Again” (2000), Thompson had great fun trying out these timeless tunes (assisted by singer Judith Owens and percussionist Debra Dobkin). Many are captured on the 2-CD/1-DVD concert set, 1000 YEARS OF POPULAR MUSIC (Cooking Vinyl). On Wednesday, January 23, Mr. Thompson, along with Ms. Owens and Ms. Dobkin, will be at Lisner Auditorium presenting “1000 Years.” The show is presented by the Birchmere, who are offering P&P customers a chance to win a pair of tickets. Two winners will be picked next Monday. If you’d like to enter the drawing, please email your name and phone number to agoldinger@politics-prose.com, or enter to win at the information desk at the store.
ConcertsSunday, January 20, Phillips Collection, Michelle Makarski—In 2006, violinist Michelle Makarski released one of my favorite CDs of that year, TO BE SUNG ON THE WATER (ECM). With great imagination, she juxtaposed three sonatas by the 18th-century composer Giussepi Tartini and two recent compositions by Donald Crockett. She will play a solo recital of works by Bach, Rochberg, Ysaye—and Crockett and Tartini (two selections that are on the CD).
NewJUNO Soundtrack (Rhino/Fox Music)
Enter to Win an Evening with WEEN!The alt-est of rockers are en-route to D.C., and concert promoters I.M.P. are giving P&P customers an opportunity to win a pair of tickets to see WEEN on Wednesday, January 23, at D.A.R. Constitution Hall in D.C. Founding members Gene and Dean continue to bend genres with their newest album, LA CUCARACHA, out on Rounder Records. To enter, email your name and phone number to bhodgdon@politics-prose.com, subject “Boognish”, or enter to win at the raffle box at our information desk. The winner will be drawn on Monday, January 21. Click here for a full listing of upcoming I.M.P. shows.
Posted January 8th: The WireIn its first four seasons, The Wire looked at the Baltimore community through the different lenses of detectives, drug gangs, longshoremen, politicos, teachers and students.
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