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
- Friday, November 13, 2020
While many of us can't go out to take in great live music, here are some events taking place online to enjoy while staying home this weekend: Jeremy Denk performs Schumann, Mazzoli, and Brahms for the University of Washington's Meany Center; Tigran Hamasyan performs from The Call Within for EFG London Jazz Festival online; Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi perform from there is no Other for UC Santa Barbara; Punch Brothers perform the first of two consecutive Sunday night concerts from Blackbird Studio in Nashville; and k.d. lang can be heard on BBC Radio 2's In Concert 50.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Weekend EventsThursday, November 12, 2020The Black Keys release Brothers (Deluxe Remastered Anniversary Edition), an expanded version of their watershed 2010 multi-platinum, Grammy-winning sixth studio album December 18, 2020, in the United States and Canada and on January 1, 2021, in all other territories, via Nonesuch Records, on which the record is newly available throughout the world. To celebrate its tenth anniversary, Brothers will be re-released with three added bonus songs: “Keep My Name Outta Your Mouth,” “Black Mud Part II,” and “Chop and Change.” It will be available in three formats: a 7” box set, a 2-LP set, and a CD. The band has also released a promotional video for the release, directed by Bryan Schlam, which you can watch here.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News, VideoWednesday, November 11, 2020Tigran Hamasyan, whose new album, The Call Within, was released on Nonesuch in August, has performed an NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert. The set includes solo piano takes on "Our Film," from the new album, which NPR Music's Suraya Mohamed calls Hamasyan's "most enterprising release,"and two earlier tunes. You can watch it here. Hamasyan performs for the virtual EFG London Jazz Festival this Saturday.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoWednesday, November 11, 2020Rob Mazurek, whose new Exploding Star Orchestra album, Dimensional Stardust, is due November 20 on International Anthem / Nonesuch Records, has released a new album track, "Parable 3000 (We All Come From Somewhere Else)." A visualizer for the song, featuring video by Mathieu Constans, can be seen here.
Journal Topics: Artist NewsMonday, November 9, 2020Punch Brothers present Live from Blackbird, a pair of livestreamed performances from Blackbird Studio in Nashville, TN, where they made their 2012 album Who’s Feeling Young Now? and where they are currently at work on their next record. The shows begin at 8pm ET the next two Sundays: November 15 and November 22. The band members reunited this week for the first time since before the pandemic began. Each Live from Blackbird concert will be unique, with no repeated songs. A VIP option is also available and includes a Q&A with the band at the end of the livestream, accompanied by cocktails; VIP ticket buyers will be sent a cocktail guide with recommended recipes.
Journal Topics: Artist News, On TourThursday, November 5, 2020Mountain Man has released its performance of the traditional English folk song "Greensleeves," the latest in the trio's series of cover singles. "'Greensleeves' is one of our favorite winter songs," says Mountain Man. "It occupies a strange melodic balance point between crystalline winter whimsy and the kind of grim determination required to embark into the emotional wilds of the holiday season."
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsSunday, November 1, 2020A 2020 update to Chris Thile's song "Thank You, New York," featuring Gaby Moreno, from his 2017 album Thanks for Listening, is the setting for choreographer Justin Peck's new piece, which the New York City Ballet premiered. The performance, choreographed and directed by Peck, with cinematography by Jody Lee Lipes, is the culmination of NYCB's five-week digital fall season. You can watch the piece, featuring dancers Christopher Grant, Sara Mearns, Georgina Pazcoguin, and Taylor Stanley filmed at several locations around NYC, along with an interview with Peck and Lipes, here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Dance, VideoSaturday, October 31, 2020Lake Street Dive continues its annual Halloween tradition of costumed cover-song videos with a performance of The Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down," which you can watch here. The video was filmed on the roof of a Brooklyn brownstone, à la Let It Be, by Johnny Frohman, with audio by Robin MacMillan, for the band's latest online Lounge Around Sounds Variety Hour episode, "Halloween Spooktacular!," from earlier this week. The next session, "ThanksForGiving," will take place on November 23.
Journal Topics:Friday, October 30, 2020Pat Metheny has released a video for "America Undefined," the opening track to his critically acclaimed album From This Place, which you can watch here. The new video, by Robert Edridge-Waks, follows a video for the album's title track, released earlier this week.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoThursday, October 29, 2020Natalie Merchant took part in the Hudson Valley Votes virtual concert and rally earlier this month to get out the vote in the US election. The event raised funds for Common Cause, which works to strengthen democracy in America. Merchant was joined by Simi Stone to perform her song "This House Is on Fire," which you can watch here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoThursday, October 29, 2020Country Music Hall of Fame member Emmylou Harris reunited with Rodney Crowell to perform "Love Hurts" for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s BIG NIGHT (At the Museum) benefit event, which aired last night. For the performance in the museum, which you can watch here, Harris plays the 1961 Martin New Yorker acoustic guitar of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who wrote the song. Harris famously recorded "Love Hurts" with the late Gram Parsons.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoWednesday, October 28, 2020David Byrne was on The Late Late Show with James Corden to discuss the new Spike Lee–directed HBO film of his American Utopia on Broadway and share some reasons to be cheerful he's found in a decidedly un-ghost-town-like New York City and on a trip to Staten Island in particular. You can watch the conversation here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Television, Video