Journal
- Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Composer Donnacha Dennehy, whose piece Land of Winter, performed by Alarm Will Sound and conductor Alan Pierson, was released earlier this month on Nonesuch, shares some insight on the work, which explores the subtleties of Ireland’s seasons via twelve connected sections representing the months of the year, in a new essay. "It is the varying quality of light that truly demarcates the seasons," he says, "from the shorter days of grey or piercing light in the winter to the warmer but mercurial light of summer days that at solstice stretch almost to midnight. I like this play between light and time, and it is the major inspiration behind the piece."
Journal Topics: Artist Essays, Artist News
- Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Devendra Banhart filmed a Son & Lumière session for Télérama while on tour in Paris earlier this year. He performed what Télérama calls "two pieces full of feeling that flow like honey," the songs "October 12" and "Carolina," from his new album, Ma, at the famed Parisian photography studios Studio Harcourt. You can watch the set here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoWednesday, March 25, 2020More than 100 artists, arts leaders, and professors in the field have announced the New Music Solidarity Fund, an initiative that aims to grant emergency funding to musicians impacted by COVID-19. At the time of the announcement, more than $130,000 has been pledged. The fund will be administered through New Music USA, and all donations are fully tax-deductible through New Music USA’s 501c3 status. The fund will run until April 30.
Journal Topics: Artist NewsTuesday, March 24, 2020The members of the original Joshua Redman Quartet—Redman (saxophone), Brad Mehldau (piano), Christian McBride (bass), and Brian Blade (drums)—reunite with the July 10, 2020, release of RoundAgain, the group’s first recording since 1994’s MoodSwing. The album features seven newly composed songs: three from Redman, two from Mehldau, and one each from McBride and Blade. A live version of Redman’s “Right Back Round Again” may be seen here, in a video directed by Matthew Beighley; the album version is available now. The band tours internationally this summer and fall.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News, VideoMonday, March 23, 2020Chris Thile performed on CBS This Morning: Saturday in a special socially distanced Saturday Sessions set. Thile performed two songs for not far from home, in The Bridge Studio in Brooklyn: a cover of Radiohead's "True Love Waits," his own "Laysong," and a piece by Bach. You can watch all three here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoMonday, March 23, 2020Yola helped launch the Grammy Museum's new Museum at Home digital programming initiative when her October 2019 Q&A at the Los Angeles museum was released for the first time on Saturday. She talks about her life and music and the making of her debut album, Walk Through Fire. You can watch the conversation here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoSunday, March 22, 2020Reasons to celebrate may be hard to come by these days, but the 90th birthday of Stephen Sondheim is certainly one of them. To mark the occasion, we've assembled all of the Sondheim songs and cast albums on Nonesuch recordings in one place, featuring Mandy Patinkin, Audra McDonald, Dawn Upshaw, Jonny Depp, Angela Lansbury, Patti LuPone, Michael Cerveris, Raúl Esparza, Laura Benanti, Nathan Lane, Neil Patrick Harris, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Vanessa WIlliams, Alexander Gemignani, and more. "When his words go through my system," Patinkin tells the Guardian, "they rejuvenate my mind and soul to a point of reminding me what it is I am trying to be alive for."
Journal Topics: Artist NewsFriday, March 20, 2020We hope for the health and safety of communities across the globe impacted by Covid-19. We also recognize the emotional toll and significant financial hardships faced by so many, not least the community of recording and performing artists we know and love. Many musicians have lost a key source of revenue as live performances are canceled; here are some ways you can support them. Artists and arts institutions are finding new ways to bring people together to share live music even as we're kept apart; here are some ways they're doing that. Stay tuned for additional ways to help and keep connected as they develop. And please reach out to let us know of ways you've found music can help during these difficult times. Thank you for your ongoing support of Nonesuch artists and the music they make.
Journal Topics: NewsFriday, March 20, 2020Timo Andres was the first guest on a special Pirate Radio Edition of Living Music with Nadia Sirota, which took place from various homes via the show's Facebook page live. He performed "Wise Words," a piece he wrote for Nonesuch's own Bob Hurwitz, and Robin Holcomb's "Wherein Lies the Good," which she recorded on her 1996 Nonesuch album, Little Three. Both pieces were meant to be part of his Carnegie Hall recital debut in April, which was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. You can watch the episode here, and donate to support the show and its guests on Facebook.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoThursday, March 19, 2020Long before social distancing began, Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi brought their world tour to The Royal Conservatory's Koernal Hall in Toronto last October. They were joined by bassist Jason Sypher to perform songs from their 2019 Nonesuch album there is no Other and more. The concert was captured via Livestream and can be seen in full here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoThursday, March 19, 2020If there's a ray of sunlight to be found today, perhaps it's that it's that the vernal equinox has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. To mark the first day of spring, we've updated our Ring in Spring playlist of Nonesuch recordings as a soundtrack to the melting snows, blossoming trees, and hopefully healthier days soon to come. Here are some seasonally appropriate songs from David Byrne, Dave Malloy, Devendra Banhart, Jeff Parker, Pat Metheny, Caroline Shaw, Daughter of Swords, Early James, Yola, Mountain Man, Fleet Foxes, Conor Oberst, The Magnetic Fields, Kronos Quartet, Brad Mehldau, The Black Keys, Robert Plant, k.d. lang, Emmylou Harris, Chris Thile, Allen Toussaint, Randy Newman, Caetano Veloso, Tigran Hamasyan, Mandy Patinkin, and more.
Journal Topics: Artist NewsWednesday, March 18, 2020Well before we were all social distancing, Vagabon stopped by KEXP in Seattle on December 12, 2019, to perform a few songs live in the studio with her band. She spoke with host Troy Nelson and performed three songs from her self-titled Nonesuch debut album—"Secret Medicine," "Water Me Down," and "In A Bind"—as well as "Cold Apartment," from her previous album, Infinite Worlds. While her spring tour has been postponed, you can watch the KEXP live session here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Radio, VideoMonday, March 16, 2020Sam Gendel released his Nonesuch debut album to critical acclaim last week, with the Los Angeles Times calling it "a woozy, blissfully twisted album," and the Guardian saying: "The avant-garde trailblazer pushes the boat out to glorious extremes ... a searing new language for sax." The album is a sonic construction / deconstruction of jazz standards, including songs by Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and Duke Ellington. Gendel has shared a track-by-track breakdown of all the songs on the album, which you can read here while you listen.
Journal Topics: Artist News