Month: August 2012
Despite the high level of the players, there are things a professional quartet brings to a performance or recording—uniformity of sound and style—that cannot be matched by a group cobbled together and given limited rehearsal time.
Read MoreIt’s rather melancholy to think that this incarnation of the TMCO will never perform again as an ensemble. Such is the nature, though, of Tanglewood and many summer music festivals.
Read More“New York Times” Book Critic Dwight Garner makes salient points about the need for incisive criticism, claiming that too much happy talk denies common sense and undercuts credibility. But the ‘gonzo’ masterwork “Fire the Bastards!” hammers the point home much more memorably.
Read MoreTodd Solondz’s lack of commercial appeal as a filmmaker is understandable. His movies deal overtly with some of the most uncomfortable aspects of American life.
Read MoreA mural painted on the side of a Big Dig ventilation structure in the Boston’s Financial District has generated enormous controversy.
Read MoreActor Jack Koenig never flags in the Peterborough Players production of “Present Laughter,” and around him in his London studio-flat swirls a churning world of impertinent employees and past and present loves that would do Kaufman and Hart proud.
Read More“As an artist, you probably know when a project pulls at you, sometimes kicking and screaming. Shylock definitely has me by the back of the neck.”
Read MoreArts Remembrance: The Man Who Colored Outside the Lines — An Appreciation of Remy Charlip, 1929-2012
The late Remy Charlip always crossed from the visual to the kinetic and back again.
Read MoreA rare visit from trumpeter and composing improviser/improvising composer Arthur Brooks, a farewell evening of Ecuadorian fusion by ÑAWI, and trumpeter Brian Lynch’s “Unsung Heroes” project are the high points in a surprisingly full second half of August.
Read MoreBassist Michael Feinberg has done many things right in his richly varied tribute to the great percussionist Elvin Jones.
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Music Commentary: New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest versus French Quarter Fest