Two pianoless quartets + two restless leaders = some of the best music of the last few years.
Music
Classical CD Review: György Ligeti’s “Études” — Well Played and Clearly Lived In
Throughout these Études, Driver’s playing marries tonal warmth with textural precision.
April Short Fuses – Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Arts Reconsideration: The 1971 Project — Celebrating a Great Year in Music (April Entry)
Arts Fuse writers continue their countdown of great music celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and the list includes Marvin Gaye, Link Wray, David Bowie, Jean Knight, and The Rolling Stones.
Book Review: “The Search for John Lennon” — Going Down the Wrong Road
In her search for John Lennon, the author follows her fancy and picks and chooses which rocks she wants to look under, all the while giving herself the space to wax poetic on whatever theme moves her. It’s an appealing approach. Too bad then that the book is a let down.
Book Review: “Last Chance Texaco” — Rickie Lee Jones Remembers
Of all the biographies of female musicians I’ve read in the past year, Last Chance Texaco is the most transparent about the vagaries of fame.
Opera CD Review: Two Splendid World-Premiere Recordings Rediscover an Exotic Master of Song — Reynaldo Hahn
Attention is being paid today to talented composers who have been sidelined or disdained because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Reynaldo Hahn qualifies on several counts.
Author Interview: Talking to Miss Pat about her “Reggae Music Journey”
Miss Pat, reggae’s Chinese-Jamaican matriarch, reflects on a life in riddim.
Classical CD Review: Antoine Tamestit, Cédric Tiberghien, and Matthias Goerne play/sing Brahms
One might risk hyperbole by saying so, but in this instance such recklessness is worth it: this album sounds like Brahms as he ought to be played and sung.
Book Review: Alex Ross’s Dizzying, Engrossing, and Sometimes Overwhelming Exploration of Wagnerism
For Alex Ross, Wagnerism is as profound and far-reaching an aesthetic ideology – for good, ill, and all degrees in between – as any.