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Music Perspective: The Context of Wadada Leo Smith’s 12 String Quartets

January 30, 2023
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Wadada Leo Smith is among the most prolific composers of string quartets in the modern era, the only Black composer to have written so many, and one of the most adventurous writers of quartets in terms of his notation system and the distinctiveness of his musical language.

Jazz Album Review: Pianist Kenny Barron — Cherish “The Source”

January 30, 2023
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The last time Kenny Barron recorded solo was in 1981. That, besides the quality of the music, is a reason to treasure this album.

Coming Attractions: January 29 Through February 14 — What Will Light Your Fire

January 29, 2023
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As the age of Covid-19 more or less wanes, Arts Fuse critics supply a guide to film, dance, visual art, theater, author readings, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.

Theater Review: “The Art of Burning” — Bonfire of the Vanities

January 29, 2023
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The domestic demolition in Kate Snodgrass’s script is served au flambé.

Film Review: “Infinity Pool” — Consumers Consuming Themselves

January 28, 2023
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In Infinity Pool, people who are dead inside essentially play with their own corpses as shiny, new toys. The savagery of that idea is, simply, delicious.

Sundance Film Festival 2023 Dispatch #1 — Girls Just Wanna

January 28, 2023
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The three films I selected to start my 2023 Sundance journey were very different from one another, but they shared one common theme: girlhood.

Jazz Concert Review: The Laszlo Gardony Trio at Berklee College of Music

January 28, 2023
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The smallish Friend Recital Hall was an ideal setting for pianist Laszlo Gardony to impose his engaging personality, as well as his musical versatility and power.

Concert Review: Boston Symphony Orchestra Plays Shostakovich, Brahms, and Mackey

January 27, 2023
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Under the baton of Andris Nelsons, a listless Boston Symphony Orchestra delivered flat renditions of works by Shostakovich and Brahms.

Book Review: Two Powerful Books from Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa — A Liberal Citizen of the World

January 27, 2023
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Engagingly written by a limpid stylist, The Call of the Tribe marshals a corps of sparkling intellectuals who have in common first-hand experience of dictatorship, a commitment to individual freedom, a belief in reasonably regulated free-market economies, and a rejection of the political zealotry of religion or the doctrinaire left and right.

Album Review: The Rich Musical Legacy of Drummer Billy Conway

January 27, 2023
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The late Billy Conway didn’t so much work to make a song sound great as, through his adroit drumming, illuminate the qualities in the tunes that made them great.

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