Journal
- Friday, September 20, 2024
"On Hurray for the Riff Raff's latest album, The Past Is Still Alive, songwriter Alynda Segarra acts as a reanimator, casting the old American cowboy myth in a new light, crafting heroic legends for long-lost friends of theirs, and finding ways to commune with their father, who they lost right before recording the album," Raina Douris, host of NPR's World Cafe, says of her guest. "I love this record." You can hear their conversation here. Segarra was also on ABC Radio National's The Music Show ahead of their Australian tour next month.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Radio
- Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Christina Courtin, the New York City–based singer/songwriter/violinist, is due to make her Nonesuch album debut this year. She starts the year off with a performance in the city this Thursday night at Le Poisson Rouge, with singer/pianist/composer Gabriel Kahane opening. The New York Times says Courtin's voice "feels uniquely otherworldly, as if it couldn’t possibly be entirely human born." Time Out New York lists her among the people to watch in 2009, praising "her commanding, undulating voice" and finding in her songs "an exquisiteness that extends beyond any genre ghetto."
Journal Topics: On TourTuesday, January 6, 2009John Adams's memoir Hallelujah Junction was featured on 2008's final episode of NPR.org's Book Tour, which broadcast a reading from the book the composer gave in November. The show's host calls Adams "one of America's leading avant-garde composers, and as he proves in this compelling memoir, possibly one of the loveliest human beings you're likely to encounter between the covers of a book." She describes his compositions as "erudite, philosophical, but spun through with the play and polish of popular culture."
Journal Topics: RadioTuesday, January 6, 2009Betty Freeman, an ardent supporter of contemporary composers like John Adams, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, died at her home in Los Angeles this past Sunday, January 4, at the age of 87. Freeman will be remembered for her commitment to new music, commissioning such seminal works as Reich's Different Trains. She was also an accomplished photographer, deftly capturing the composers she supported, as in the cover photo of the Steve Reich's Works: 1965-1995, pictured here, taken during a 1976 rehearsal of Music for 18 Musicians.
Journal Topics: NewsMonday, January 5, 2009Since the last Nonesuch Journal entry of 2008, which laid out scores of year-end best-of lists featuring Nonesuch albums and artists, still more critical praise has come in placing this music among the year's best.