Of Note In 2020: Classical

Not to undersell it, but this has been one crazy year. I don't need to explain it either, because everyone is going through it simultaneously. I would like to clear the air a little about the status of AnEarful, however, as posts have been few and far between in 2020. This is due to a variety of factors, none of which have anything to do with the lack of engagement in all the wonderful music that's come out so far this year. Since I do much of my writing on the train to and from work (not to mention while traveling to concerts!) shifting to working from home each day has had an impact on my productivity.

There's also the fact that my full-time job is working in the Office of Development at the Mount Sinai Health System, which for the last many weeks has been solely focused on confronting the impact of the pandemic. This has meant longer hours - occasionally spilling over into the weekends - and intense days as we power through to write the documents our fundraisers need to meet the demand created by being at the epicenter of the epicenter. One result of this is that after a long day of all COVID all the time, often the last thing I want to do is sit in front of the computer some more and write about music. Sometimes I just need to zone out in front of the TV.

Then there was the looming project of my best of the decade list. While I knew I would never finish that in December, I had planned to get it done in January and the longer it hung out there, the more I felt I had to finish it before approaching new releases. As you likely already know, I GOT IT DONE, people! And I'm mightily satisfied with it, too.

Now is the time to move on and be firmly present in THIS decade, which has already produced an enormous amount of great music. As usual, my cup runneth over. To keep track, I'm maintaining my usual Spotify playlists, which gather the music I consider "of note," starting with a general one and then broken down by genre. I also have another secret playlist I've been building of the 40 records that have been continual companions since they came out, bearing repeat listens and revealing more glories each time. Starting now and over the next days and weeks I will be sharing what has risen to the top in each genre while also encouraging you to explore the full "of note" playlists. Here goes!

The Of Note In 2020 (Classical) playlist is now clocking over 30 albums. Eleven of my favorites are listed below. Subscribe now to the 40 For 2020 playlist for tracks from all these albums and to see what I add from other genres as I write about them in the coming weeks.




Ekmeles - A Howl, That Was Also A Prayer I think this was the first new album I received in 2020 and one listen in I knew we were going to be fine, musically speaking. I was aware of this ridiculously talented and adventurous vocal ensemble for a while but hearing their work on Zosah di Castri's insanely great Tachitipo (2019) brought them into sharp focus. This album should do the same for many more people. Even before I heard it I was psyched as not only did they record a new work by Christopher Trapani, but they have more from Taylor Brook's deeply eccentric response to David Ohle's deeply eccentric sci-fi novel Motorman, last heard in a stunning performance of Four Weather Reports by the Tak Ensemble on Ecstatic Music (2016). Just as there, we have the extraordinarily expressive voice of Charlotte Mundy to set the tone, and she somehow makes everything approachable. You won't soon grow tired of Brook's intricate scoring, which offers new crevices to explore each time. 

Trapani's piece, End Words, combines the six voices with electronics in seamless fashion to limn the words of three poets, Anis Mojgani, Clara Shuttleworth, and John Ashbery, all of whom employ sestina form. The harmonies are often close, giving it a jazzy spin slightly reminiscent of Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross. But this is no pastiche - merely Trapani serving notice of his preeminence as one of the most original composers of today. His intellectual questing is always grounded in deep humanism and not a little wit, all these factors combining marvelously here as they they did in Waterlines. Between Brook and Trapani is Erin Gee's wordless Three Scenes From Sleep, which uses extended techniques to explore with great creativity the murmurings of the unconscious mind in various stages of sleep. Ekmeles, under the sure direction of Jeffrey Gavett, toss it off with both precision and freedom, as they do on every track of this explosive debut album. 

Y Music - Ecstatic Science Putting a Missy Mazzoli piece on your album will always get my attention, and her title track (2016) has many of her trademark harmonic ambiguities and shifting dynamics. It's one of the more shaded pieces on the collection, which has an overall feeling of good cheer. The centerpiece is Caroline Shaw's three-part Draft Of A High Rise, a nearly pastoral soundscape that makes fine use of the warm tonalities to which these players seem drawn. Also featured are works by Gabriella Smith and Paul Wiancko, with the latter's Thous&ths (2015) boasting some exceptional trumpet scoring - and superb playing by CJ Camerieri.

Tak Ensemble - Scott L. Miller: Ghost Layers I always like to be in the know so I was racking my brain in the hopes that this isn't my first exposure to Miller. Now I just have to accept that I was behind the curve on this brilliant composer's work. How did I miss Raba from 2018?? Anyhoo, I'm here now and I couldn't wish for finer companions than the TAK Ensemble, who bring their usual commitment, technique, and passion to these seven mostly electro-acoustic chamber pieces. Eidolon may be my favorite, with its drones, sparkles, and theatrical creaks and clicks, but each one contains wonders. Let's all work together to make Miller a household name. Also, subscribe NOW to Tak's podcast - it's the bomb.

Quarterly - Pomegranate The duo of Kristen Drymala (cello) and Christopher DiPietro (guitar, hammered lap steel) have also been under my radar, with their first album coming out in 2016, but I'm glad to know them now as this EP is simply lovely. They combine folk and classical traditions in a way that Penguin Cafe Orchestra fans would recognize, but without that group's occasional over-reliance on puckishness and repetition. That's a long way of saying you will be absorbed and transported by their gentle and melodic string-weaving and, like me, will look forward to exploring their earlier albums.

Barbora Kolářová - Imp In Impulse With a name like "Pascal Le Boeuf" it seems you would have to write a piece called Imp In Impulse, which receives its premiere recording here in a spectacular performance by violinist Kolářová. She's played everywhere with everyone but this is her solo debut and it should firmly put her on the map as an artist with as much personality as skill. Le Boeuf's piece, which was written for her, is not only impish but also at times approaches the gravity of Medieval plainchant to sublime effect. Other violinists should be flooding his inbox with commissions based on this recording. They can try to top Kolářová if they dare. Jean Françaix's Theme with 8 Variations for Solo Violin (1980) also has impish moments, especially when he goes for the pizzicato, but there are also shades of folk fiddle and knotty moments for a remarkable range of moods throughout. It's apparently rarely performed but the sheer delight Kolářová displays should change that. The album closes with Klement Slavický's Partita for Solo Violin, which takes Bach's model and updates it a bit, but not so much that the great man would find it unrecognizable. All those places and players used to working with Kolářová may find her datebook a little fuller than usual with solo performances once normal concert life resumes!

Richard Valitutto - Nocturnes & Lullabies Over the course of this album's eight premieres, Valitutto creates an almost entirely new landscape of piano music and sound. Mind you, the piano is unprepared and no electronics are involved - it's just the killer use of dynamics and attack along with pedal deployment of nearly unreal expertise. Notably, Valitutto also co-produced the record (with Nick Tipp) - clearly a man who knows what he wants! The pieces range from Rebecca Saunders' drama-laced Shadow (2013) and Wolfgang von Schweinitz's blocky but mellow Plainsound Lullaby (2014) to Linda Catlin Smiths chiming A Nocturne (1995), for a truly fascinating journey. 

Cenk Urgün - Sonare & Celare If Valitutto was waxing nocturnal, the first of these two single-movement string quartets by Urgün go him one further into dark night of the soul territory. Performed with frightening dedication by the JACK Quartet, who never seem to put a horsehair wrong, Sonare is a mostly ultra-rhythmic, skirling stringscape that may raise the hairs on the back of your neck. In his notes, Urgün somewhat clinically describes "building near-static sound fields made up of repeated patterns, sustained tones, and what can be called islands of sound: brief sound events surrounded by silence." Clearly he wants you to find your own way emotionally, but the power of Sonare is very real. Celare is calmer, even lyrical at times, but remains spartan enough that you never get too comfortable. Whether your introduction to Urgün's methods and sound world, or just another chapter in the JACK's ongoing pursuit of excellence, this is not a record you will easily forget.

The String Orchestra Of Brooklyn - Afterimage Christopher Cerrone's High Windows (2013) opens this debut from the SOB in glorious fashion, doing justice to the stained glass that inspired the piece. Also cleverly sampling a Paganini caprice, High Windows is further proof of Cerrone's multifarious talents, even if it's not  as momentous as what he presented on last year's The Pieces That Fall To Earth. Led by Eli Spindel, the SOB and guests the Argus Quartet play with wonderful delicacy, finding cohesion in the spare textures. Jacob Cooper's Stabat Mater Dolorosa (2009) includes Melissa Hughes (soprano) and Kate Maroney (mezzo-soprano) and is almost ambient as it traverses - for nearly 30 minutes - a "time-stretched" variation of Pergolesi’s first movement for his Stabat Mater (1736). Including bits of Paganini and Pergolesi to end the album makes sense only for a scholar, but that's a minor quibble.

Clarice Jensen - The Experience Of Repetition As Death If you want to keep Jacob Cooper's mood going, skip the old stuff on Afterimage and play this gorgeously meditative album. Jensen, the Artistic & Executive Director of ACME, further comes into her own as  creator of exquisite music for cello and electronics, looping and layering her instrument to come up with a string orchestra of her own. As the title hints, Jensen has some dark thoughts on her mind and any of these five pieces would not be out of place soundtracking images of peril and suspense. Find your story within.

Luis Ianes - Instrucciones De Uso Paying homage to the late Georges Perec and his monumental novel, La vie mode d’emploi (Life, A User's Manual), is not something that happens often enough, so kudos to Ianes for injecting him into the conversation. Beyond all that, Ianes is a marvelous guitarist on either acoustic or electric instruments, conjuring all kinds of woody plucks and strums and shimmering chords for a quirky, engaging listen.

Ted Hearne & Saul Willams - Place This big, bold, bombshell of an album builds on seeds Hearne and Williams planted on last year's remarkable Hazy Heart Pump, driving further into an intersection of chamber music, electronic, R&B, spoken word, jazz, hip hop, and progressive rock, only to arrive in a uniquely addictive spot. There are powerful ideas here, too, thoughts about gentrification, family, masculinity, social justice, and more, but they never outweigh the music. The collage-like blend of sounds and voices comes together through the blazing artistry of the singers and players, caught here in an incandescent performance that is at least partially live (the booklet is short on details). I could as easily write a haiku or a book about this rara avis of a record. It truly must be heard to be believed. 


You may also enjoy:
2019 First Quarter Report: The Albums
Record Roundup: One Day In 2018
How To Survive 2017

Best Of 2019: Classical

As far as music that I covered throughout 2019, this is the second largest category. At the top you will find links to previous posts to remind you of the best in composed music about which I’ve already written. Following that are a number of special items that I either missed along the way or that came out late in the year. Press play on the playlist so you can hear what I’m talking about!

First Quarter Report: The Albums
Melia Watras - Schumann Resonances
Sæunn Thorsteindottir - Vernacular
Unheard-Of Ensemble - Dialogues
Nicholas Phillips - Shift
Louis Karchin - Dark Mountains/Distant Lights
Greg Chudzik - Solo Works, Vol. 2

Record Review: Beauty... And Darkness
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė - In Search Of Lost Beauty...

Record Roundup: Electro-Humanism
Rand Steiger/International Contemporary Ensemble - Coalescence Cycle Volume 1: Music for Soloists and Electronics

Record Roundup: Contemporary Classical In Brief
Seattle Symphony Orchestra - John Luther Adams: Become Desert
Caleb Burhans - Past Lives
Alex Weiser - And All The Days Were Purple
Matt Frey - One-Eleven Heavy
Caroline Shaw - Orange
Siggi String Quartet - South Of The Circle
Duo Zuber - Blackbird Redux
Rupert Boyd - The Guitar
New Thread Quartet - Plastic Facts
Splinter Reeds - Hypothetical Islands

Record Roundup: Past Is Present
JACK Quartet - Filigree: The Music of Hannah Lash
Wild Up - Christopher Cerrone: The Pieces That Fall to Earth
Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti - in manus tuas

Record Roundup: String Theories
Ben Melsky/Ensemble Dal Niente
Ashley Bathgate - Sleeping Giant: Ash
andPlay - playlist
David Bowlin - Bird as Prophet
Kronos Quartet - Terry Riley: Sun Rings

Record Roundup: Contemporary Kaleidoscope 

Mario Diaz de Leon - Cycle And Reveal

Tak Ensemble - Oor
Jessica Meyer - Ring Out
Ted Hearne - Hazy Heart Pump
Daniel Lippel - Mirrored Spaces
Dither - Potential Differences

Sarah Hennies - Reservoir 1: Preservation

It’s almost embarrassing how much more familiar I am with Hennies’s Twitter presence than her music, but she is truly a virtuoso on the platform. That doesn’t explain why I wasn’t even aware of this album until December, when it showed up on someone else’s “Best of” list. But I’m glad I caught up with it as it a striking work, nearly an hour long, scored for percussion trio and piano. The piano, played by Phillip Bush, cycles through a meditative series of suspended chords that anchor the piece and provide equilibrium amongst the chatter, clatter, and general disruption of the percussion. Perhaps due to the inclusion of improvisation, which is a feature often included in performances by Meridian (Hennies, Tim Feeney, and Greg Stuart), there’s a sense of never stepping in the same river twice when listening to Preservation. Or that could simply be the interaction of my emotional state with the music, and the fact that sometimes time pressure dictates I start where I last left off and return to the beginning. This is one of those recordings that becomes a companion, defining a personal era, and I plan to keep it close. I’m also glad that I learned about Black Truffle, which released it, as they are definitely on the right track, including the packaging, which features an excellent photo by Abby Grace Drake, another artist whose work I plan to investigate further. P.S. This album is not on Spotify, but you can listen easily on Bandcamp. I have also included an excellent piece by Hennies from a compilation called Infinite Futures and highly recommend you clear 30 minutes of time to watch her performance of Falsetto, three years in the making. 

Hildur Guõnadóttir - Joker (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) The Golden Globes already got hip to this Icelandic cellist and composer’s achievement. But I didn’t need an awards show to be certain that her piercing, claustrophobic, and doom-laden sounds are at least as responsible for the film’s success as Joaquin Phoenix’s blistering performance in the title role. Also true is that if you just want some pitch-black modern music for cello, orchestra, and electronics, look no further whether or not you’ve seen the movie. 

Iceland Symphony Orchestra - Concurrence Of course, if we’re talking Icelandic music, the name Anna Thorvaldsdottir should not be far from your mind. Happily enough, this immaculately performed collection has a commanding new piece from her, Metacosmos, which has a cinematic sweep of its own. Also included is Haukur Tómasson’s Piano Concerto No. 2, alternately busy and pensive, with some of Shostakovich’s bite, María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir‘s Oceans, a glistening tone poem with surpassing mystery, and the same recording of Páll Ragnar Pálsson's Quake that appears on Sæunn Thorsteindottir’s wonderful Vernacular. Altogether, a wonderful follow up to Recurrence, the first entry in the ISO’s series under conductor Daniel Bjarnason. Volume 3 coming in 2021? I’ll be there!

Echo Collective - Jóhann Jóhansson: 12 Conversations with Thilo Heinzmann Released on what should have been Jóhannsson’s 50th birthday, you might think this 40-minute, 12-movement string quartet is appropriately elegiac for a final posthumous release. But elegy was basically Jóhannson’s metier - and who knows what else is in the vault? But whether or not you know who Heinzmann is (I didn’t), this an immersive and involving work, with a welcome austerity in place of the sentimentality Jóhannsson could sometimes fall into outside of his film scores. The recording is beautiful and the playing by Echo Collective essentially perfect. If this is indeed the final recording of Jóhannsson’s music, it is a more than fitting capstone to a remarkable career which ended far too soon. 

Kaija Saariaho - True Fire, Etc. and Circle Map, Etc. Moving on to Finland, here are two spine-tingling albums from a composer who manages to carry a through-line straight from Sibelius, Shostakovich, and Britten, while still remaining thoroughly herself and contemporary. Perhaps it’s her seeming belief in the ritual power of orchestral music and its ability to create a whole world where seconds before stood only silence. The performances, by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic, are crisp and committed, with special note given to baritone Gerald Finley’s commanding take on True Fire. Saariaho’s operas usually get the most attention, often via complaints that they aren’t often performed here. Between these two albums we have a half-dozen excellent opportunities to get her music in American concert halls - who will pick up the slack?

Meara O’Reilly - Hockets For Two Voices Like the mighty aglet, which ensures laces pass smoothly through the holes in your sneakers, hocketing, which is a technique of alternating notes, pitches, or chords between two instruments, is so familiar that you might not even know it has a special name. You’ll recognize its centuries-old provenance in O’Reilly’s work, which occasionally sounds Baroque or even Medieval. But neither Monteverdi or Bach was ever this drily witty - and it’s hard to imagine anyone in their day executing something with the perfection O’Reilly demonstrates here, singing both parts of her own piece. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with next! 

Wendy Richman - Vox/Viola While I have heard string players vocalize along with their instruments, Richman’s debut solo album is the most sustained investigation of the practice I can recall. Richman, the founding violist for the International Contemporary Ensemble, commissioned all nine pieces, demonstrating not only superb taste in composers but an adventurous spirit that has her going all-in on whatever they dish out. It’s no surprise that her viola technique is beyond a compare, but her voice is equally controlled and flexible, whether as a honeyed mezzo on the British Isles folk of Christian Carey’s He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven (based on lines from Yeats), or gasping and ululating on demanding pieces by Lou Bunk and Everette Minchew. At some of the darker moments, the late work of Nico may come to mind, or even Diamanda Galas. The sequencing of the album is quite brilliant, too, giving you the feeling of being led through an experience, rather than being manhandled by the stylistic twists and turns. This is true right to the end, as the last track is Ken Ueno’s stately Song For Sendai, almost coming full circle to the mood of the Carey piece. On the whole, a triumph. Listen and hear a genre being born.

Polish National Radio Orchestra with Beth Gibbons - Henryk Gorecki: Symphony No. 3 I’m going to be honest here. I am a huge Dawn Upshaw fan but I sold my copy of her recording of this piece - and I had gotten the disc for free! But the idea of Gibbons pushing herself into this territory was too compelling to ignore. Mostly known as the vocalist for Portishead (although her album with Rustin Man is a lost classic), Gibbons is known for a wracked vulnerability married to an intonation and relation to pitch that is completely wonderful in that context - but how would her voice fare here? The good news starts before she enters, with Krystof Penderecki (himself!) conducting with a drier approach than David Zinman took in that earlier recording, which veered towards bathos. Gibbons follows Penderecki’s lead for her brief statement in the first movement, letting the music carry the emotion. She has more to do in the second movement and you start to feel her lose herself in the music, drawing the listener deeper in as well. No vibrato, either, which makes a huge difference. While I still have my quibbles with Górecki’s simplistic architecture, this version gives me new respect for his achievement and is the one I will return to when in need of “sorrowful songs.” Gibbons can write her own ticket now and I can’t wait to see where it takes her. 

Lise Davidsen - Strauss: Four Last Songs/Richard Wagner: Arias from Tannhaüser, etc. I have brilliant recordings of most of these pieces on my shelf (Gundula Janowitz, for one), not to mention what Spotify holds, I listened to this in spite of myself. I’m glad I did, however, as Davidsen is the real deal, a soprano who seems to immerse herself in the emotions and narratives of the songs and arias. The support from the Philharmonia Orchestra led by Esa-Pekka Salonen is sensitive fully engaged. It’s mind-blowing when you consider she heard her first full opera a mere five years ago. She was born to sing this music and apparently she can act, too. A friend’s father her saw her at the Met in The Queen Of Spades had this one-line review, “They should keep her.” I hope they do, and if we can hear her in some contemporary music that would be a nice bonus!

Michael Hersch - Carrion-Miles To Purgatory On this collection of three duos, Hersch is as unafraid as ever to look in the face of darkness. The first piece, ...das Rückgrat berstend, has violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and cellist Jay Campbell emerge from silence, intertwined like a vine on a leafless branch. Then Kopatchinskaja intones a text by Christopher Middleton, translated into German, and a sense of ceremony takes over. The blandly titled Music for Violin and Piano is an excerpt from an evening length medley of earlier works played at National Sawdust by violinist Miranda Cuckson with Hersch himself on piano. The section we get here is a highly dynamic, seamless piece that works entirely well on its own. Cuckson and Campbell join forces for the title work, an alternately anguished and solemn 13 movements based on poems from Robert Lowell's Lord Weary's Castle. It's not until the last, and longest, movement, that we feel some compassion start to creep in. Hersch is not an easy listen, but I am always fulfilled - and even cleansed - by time spent in his sound-world.

New York Philharmonic with The Crossing and the Young People's Chorus of New York City - Julia Wolfe: Fire In My Mouth A sense of righteous if controlled fury fuels this epic oratorio for chorus and orchestra based on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. This piece of history is ever-enraging, and even more unfortunately, ever-relevant. I can only imagine the impact of seeing this in the concert hall, with the huge forces amassed and the chorus snipping garment shears in the the second movement's coup de theatre. But the superbly recorded album will pin you back in your seat well enough! Kudos to Jaap Van Zweeden for conducting and the NY Phil for commissioning, and Donald Nally's leadership of The Crossing is as crisp and nuanced as we have come to expect from their long discography. This album bodes well for the Van Zweeden era, especially among us who were concerned about his commitment to the music of living composers. 

William Brittelle - Spiritual America I can't quite put my finger on my initial discomfort with this album. Was it the ultra-slick prog-rock guitar that laces through the massive composition? Was it the involvement of Wye Oak, a band I have always consigned to the ranks of the NPR-beloved and overrated? Or was it simply the discomfort Brittelle himself was struggling to interrogate as an "agnostic Buddhist" still living with the aftermath of a conservative Christian upbringing? Further listening has allowed me to sit within all the  varieties of discomfort engendered by the piece - and notice the influence of the similarly ambitious Scott Johnson (including his processed guitar tone) - and come to the perhaps inevitable conclusion: Spiritual America is a knockout. This is the kind of big, bold, sometimes even crazy symphonic work of which we could use a lot more, with orchestral brass and strings competing with fat synthesizers, rock drums, choral singing, and more. Even Wye Oak impress, with Jenn Wasner's gorgeous vocals soaring throughout. Ryan Streber, an engineer par excellence, deserves a pat on the back, a hug even, for blending all these disparate sounds in a way that sounds richly integrated and massively powerful. While a division in Brittelle's mind was the impetus for Spiritual America, this is the kind of music that could bring together people of many musical stripes, perhaps within sight of some amber waves of grain. Massive respect to all involved, not least to the leadership of both Nonesuch and New Amsterdam, who joined forces to bring this behemoth to life.

Riot Ensemble - Speak, Be Silent On their third album, this London-based new music group comes into sharp focus with four world premiere recordings, including the title track, which they also commissioned. Kicking off with Chaya Czernowin’s Ayre throws down the gauntlet and puts their virtues on display with a fearless performance of a work that traverses from barbed wire knottiness to glassy sighs and moans. Baby Magnify/Lilith’s New Toy, by Mirela Ivičevič, is even more colorful, a crisp synthesis of percussion, piano, winds, and strings that keeps you alert and on the edge of your seat even through repeated plays. Liza Lim’s Speak, Be Silent is three movements of an almost theatrical bent, including a dialog for a muted trumpet and an anguished violin, with the bold and colorful suspense of a Lalo Schifrin score. The album ends with the tense quiescence of Rebecca Saunders’s Stirrings Still II, which has the effect of centering the listener after all that came before. Also included is Thorvaldsdottir’s Ró, first recorded by the Capital Ensemble on Aerial in 2014. The Riot’s version is a bit slower, making for an even more hypnotic experience. It’s always good to see new works get further established in the repertoire with additional recordings, but the full strength of this album is in the premieres, and they are very strong indeed, and meticulously performed. 

Piccola Accademia Degli Specchi - William Susman: Collision Point While the name of the title piece may imply drama or even violence, this album is instead an inviting collection that finds a middle-ground between the pure charm of those mid-70’s Claude Bolling albums and Reichian repetition. The culmination of a 10-year collaboration with “the little academy of mirrors,” the pieces reflect Susman’s deep engagement with their unusual instrumentation of flute, saxophone, violin, cello, and piano four-hands, and the players fulfill their briefs with an appropriately light touch. 

Colin Hinton - Simulacra The line between composed and improvised music blurs most wondrously on percussionist Hinton's latest dense slab of jazz-like chamber music. The players, all of whom are longtime collaborators, distinguish themselves by dispatching whatever Hinton tosses their way, with special note paid to Edward Gavitt's exquisite work on both electric and acoustic guitar. My beloved Jimmy Giuffre and Kenyon Hopkins records now have a new friend. 

Cassie Wieland/Erich Barganier - in a (once-) blossomed place This split EP is an exciting snapshot of two composers who may just be moving too fast to make an album right now. Each demonstrates loads of sonic personality in their two tracks, from the organic feel of Wieland's Weeds, performed by line upon line percussion ensemble, to the strangled stridulations of Barganier's The Veneer Melts for two violins and electronics.  Grab on now - next time you look they will be somewhere else. Plus, for ten bucks you can get a tote bag and the digital album!

yMusic - Marcos Balter: We Carry Our Homes Within Us, Which Enables Us To Fly Composed for a Bill T. Jones dance piece, Balter's 20-minute work is full of melody, rhythm, and life. You can watch a terrific documentary on the their process of working together here - or you can just listen and explore your own language of movement to these lively and lovely sounds.

Clarice Jensen - Drone Studies This two-track single doubles down on the mesmerism Jensen, a cellist, composer, and co-founder of ACME, put forth on her awesome solo debut in 2018. Which means you will be deeply fascinated and experience some sublime psycho-acoustical effects while listening. My sense is that calling these finely crafted soundscapes "studies" is doing them a disservice as they feel entirely complete within themselves. More please.

Believe it or not, this is not everything that caught my attention in the classical sphere in 2019. Dive in to this playlist to find additional listening.

You may also enjoy:
Best Of 2018: Classical
Best Of 2017: Classical
Best Of 2016: Classical
Best Of 2015: Classical & Composed

The Best Of 2018 (So Far)

Anyone who is not completely overwhelmed with musical choice in 2018 is either not paying attention, stuck in a rut, or phenomenally lazy. In my Of Note In 2018 playlist, for example, I’m tracking over 400 releases from all genres and the year is just at the halfway point. As a point of comparison, the same playlist in 2017 topped out at just over 500 entries. Unless we’re due for a sonic drought over the next six months, this should be a banner year. Of course music is not a numbers game and when it comes down to what is going to nourish your head, heart and body, there’s always going to be those few that demand compulsive listening and get you through your days. Here are the 25 new albums that are really doing it for me this year.

1. Holly Miranda - Mutual Horse Through the alchemy of her craft, Miranda transmutes difficulties in her life into glorious sonic adventures while never losing touch with the raw emotions behind it all. 

2. Jonathan Wilson - Rare Birds Despite a dodgy lyric or two, Wilson’s third album is a passionate masterpiece filled with intricate layers, novel textures, and less fealty to classic rock tropes and traditions. Need convincing? If you’re in NYC on July 29th, let him close the deal at a free concert at the Lincoln Center Out Of Doors festival. 

3. Pusha-T - Daytona Cutting through the noise of Kanye West’s “no apology tour,” this first in a string of spring releases from G.O.O.D. Music’s Wyoming sessions delivered ALL the goods. West’s production is both diamond-sharp and packed with grit, marrying rare soul samples with sleek beats to stunning effect. Even better, it is solely focused on showing off King Push’s precise and passionate flow, dripping with contempt for his inferiors and pride in all he’s accomplished. In addition to his trademark cocaine rap and salvos in an epic beef with Drake, Push takes time out in Santeria to remember his friend and road manager, De’von Pickett, expressing the pain and vulnerability he felt in the wake of his murder: “The Lord is my shepherd, I am not sheep/I am just a short stone's throw from the streets/I bring my offerin', I will not preach/Awaken my demons, you can hear that man screaming/I'm no different than the priest...” At just 27 minutes, Daytona is a heat-seeking missile that wastes no time and hits targets over and over again with devastating accuracy. On his third solo album, Pusha-T has finally matched the consistency and power of his best work with Clipse. The fact that Kanye, whose loyalty to the culture has been in serious question, crafted these perfect beats and bequeathed them to his colleague is a sign that there is still love in the man - and maybe hope for us all. In fact, West might have benefited from a few of the beats here and on Kids See Ghosts, his very good collaboration with Kid Cudi. His own album, despite having its moments, was the weakest of his career.

4. Olivia De Prato - Streya Like Michael Nicolas's cello album Transitions from 2016, De Prato's solo debut is as perfect an exemplar of a modern single-instrument album as you're going to hear. Flawlessly played and curated, Streya is an unforgettable journey through the sonic possibilities of the violin.

5. Hollie Cook - Vessel Of Love Third time and continuing to charm, Cook's delicious update on rocksteady reggae comes with a bittersweet sting that just makes it more addictive. 

6. Natalie Prass - The Future And The Past When I saw Prass back in 2015, she used a customized mix of 90's R&B and hip hop to warm up the crowd before her set. So I was not entirely surprised to find her second album full of intricate and slyly funky grooves. Not only is her versatility on full display here, but so is that of Matthew E. White, once again in the producer's chair, and his stellar band of Richmond, VA musos. While there are still plenty of the intimate relationship songs Prass is known for, like Lost ("I get lost, I get lost, when I'm with you/But at what cost, at what cost, do I let you do what you do"), there are also politically acute numbers like Sisters ("One time for our girls at school/Who can’t get ahead no matter what they do/And when they grow up and they try to work/Oh no, but they ain’t nothing but the shorter skirt, hey") and Ship Goes Down ("And I will never kneel when/Power is in fear/And aimed upon me/Oh no, no, I am never drowning"). One model here is the world-beating songwriting of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers of Chic, who always tried to have "big idea" on which to hang their gossamer but deep dance tracks. Part of the disco movement was about solidarity among outsiders, literally expressed on the dance floor. So invite your friends and neighbors over for a Prass party and when the sun comes up call your elected officials and remind them who they work for.

7. Father John Misty - God’s Favorite Customer Mr. Tillman shows no sign of slowing down, following up 2017’s epic Pure Comedy with this relatively stripped-down collection of songs. Featuring both his trademark dark humor and a new sense of vulnerability, even if occasionally cloaked in 70’s soft-rock bathos, Tillman knocks a few new holes in his wheelhouse on his fourth release as FJM. Jonathan Rado’s smart production can also have a rocked-out edge, something that’s been MIA since Fear Fun in 2012. 

8. Jonny Greenwood - Phantom Thread and You Were Never Really Here OK, I know I'm cheating here, but maybe by the end of 2018 I'll figure out which side of Greenwood I like better: the Bernard Herrmann-esque romantic of Phantom Thread or the chilly dealer in dread of YWNRH. Both are tours de force of cinematic music-making that intrigue and delight whether you've seen the films or not.

9. Palm - Rock Island Shimmering blasts of knotty repetition define the sound of this Philly-based art-rock band, combining the brittle funk of Talking Heads with sunshine-drenched melodies in a single-minded pursuit of cerebral ecstasy. See them live if you can!

10. Scott Johnson and Alarm Will Sound - Mind Out Of Matter Johnson is the master of notating speech and composing musical accompaniment, a technique he’s been perfecting since the 1970’s. These settings of the philosophical, theological and scientific musings of Prof. Daniel C. Dennett (based on his book Breaking the Spell (Religion as a Natural Phenomenon)) show a new subtlety in Johnson’s approach to language. And the music is so full of sparkle and interest that you will keep listening long after you’ve absorbed all the text. Naturally, the playing by Alarm Will Sound is virtuosic and full of verve, a fitting reminder of the extraordinary legacy of their founder, Matt Marks, who died suddenly earlier this year. Come out to Roulette on Thursday, August 16th as the new music community gathers to remember him with performances and conversation.

11. Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel Smart songwriting, gritty guitars and a tough rhythm section honed from two years of touring add up to Barnett’s most confident album yet, even if one song is called Crippling Self-Doubt And A General Lack Confidence. If we can name our fears, we can conquer them.

12. Andy Jenkins - Sweet Bunch The other great Spacebomb release in 2018, this is a sweet bunch of songs indeed, long on sticky melodies and hooks and full of heartfelt singing and expert playing. At this point Matthew E. White could start his own festival with just the artists he’s produced and it would instantly be one of the best in the land. 

13. Shame - Songs Of Praise Not the second coming, just a damned good rock album steeped in the verities of classic post-punk and filled with energy and invention. Still trying to see them live, hopefully I'll have a chance in the fall. 

14. Seabuckthorn - A House With Too Much Fire Andy Cartwright uses the organic textures of various guitars layered hypnotically with loops and electronics to create immersive mood exercises perfect for soundtracking your next walking meditation. 

15. Kali Uchis - Isolation After The Storm, one of the singles from this debut showed up in my Discover Weekly playlist (it can work!) and I was immediately in the groove. Having Bootsy Collins guest on bass and vocals didn’t hurt and somehow Tyler The Creator was restrained enough to not overshadow Uchis’s voice, which is both airy and earthy. That doesn’t mean I expected the album to be this strong, however, especially when I got a glimpse of the cheesy cover. But, lo and behold, Uchis has assembled one of the most compelling R&B albums of recent years, with catchy melodies, slinky beats and just enough wit and contemporary edge to keep it from being retro. Get some of these tracks on your BBQ playlist STAT. 

16. Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet - Landfall This elegy for NYC after Hurricane Sandy finds these old school avant gardists meshing seamlessly and producing one of the most soulful albums of their lengthy careers. 

17. Black Milk - FEVER Mainly known for his skills behind the boards, the Detroit-based producer-rapper fully comes into his own as a double threat on this album. Most importantly, his finesse on the mic has freed him up to make the most personal record of his career, full of relatable thoughts and feelings. He’s been on tour with a live band - show up and cheer him on. 

18. Maya Baiser - David Lang: The Day Made up of two lengthy works for cello, electronics and voice, this album sets in stone some of Lang’s finest music, World To Come (2003) and The Day (2016). Seeing Baiser perform them only confirmed how deeply involved she is in this music, playing their commemoration of the post-9/11 landscape with compassionate virtuosity. 

19. David Garland - Verdancy In which the New York radio legend moves to the country, borrows a guitar modified by his son for Sean Lennon, and uses it to explore previously unmapped terrain between folk and contemporary classical music. There’s only one track I don’t care for over four hours of music, so this is definitely verdant territory. 

20. Wang Lu - Urban Inventory This portrait recording features six of Lu's compositions performed by a starry array of ensembles including Third Sound, ICE, Alarm Will Sound and the Ensemble Intercontemporain. Their involvement is a tribute to Lu's dazzling music, which shows a complete  mastery of orchestration and dynamics as well as a polyglot style based on a broad field of influences. Listening is like being in the hands of a great storyteller as each piece pulls you through its narrative in a series of musical page turners. The vignettes of the title piece may be based on Lu's formative experiences in Beijing but her sonic translations are universal enough that any city dweller will feel a burst of recognition. Urban Inventory announces the arrival of an incredible talent whose gifts will likely only continue to grow.

21. Clarice Jensen - From This That Will Be Filled This solo debut from ACME's Artistic Director includes one of the last works by the late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson alongside a piece by Michael Harrison and a two-part composition by Jensen herself. Jensen's ideas about what the cello can do in various enhanced environments are never less than fascinating and the playing and recording are always sublime.

22. Eddie Dixon - Coinstar On his first album in four years, this master of gnarled and tangled Americana strips down his sound, letting his guitar dole out rock & roll wisdom in between lyrics that limn the realms of the have-nots (“Everything’s a brass ring, everything's a sweepstakes car,” he sings in Coinstar, “If I get to heaven, can I finally see a doctor, please?”) and point out just how much American exceptionalism is based on oppression. This is the perfect companion to Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickeled And Dimed or Howard Zinn’s A People’s History Of The United States, but it’s got a beat and you can dance to it. If you feel scarred by Dixon’s scabrous wit, that’s just because we’re all implicated in one way or another.

23. Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino We can all debate whether this is an Alex Turner solo project or a great, lost Last Shadow Puppets album, or we can just listen, floating off in a woozy fantasia of retro sci fi musings that take place in a future that seems strangely familiar. Turner slows down his usually motor-mouthed vocals to a Lennon-esque drawl that weaves its way through spacious arrangements of burbling bass, chamber-pop keyboards and witty drums. The guitars, so central to the Monkeys sound in the past, serve mainly as punctuation, a reflection of the fact that Turner did much of the songwriting on piano, which also expanded his melodic horizons. Kudos also to Turner's compatriots Jamie Cook (guitar, keys), Nick O'Malley (bass) and Matt Helders (drums) for strapping in for this unusual mission. I admire any band that can make a complete u-turn when following up their most successful album, potentially sloughing off legions of fans in the process (check out the Arctics Facebook page - not a comfortable place these days!), but the fact is I would book a long stay at Tranquility Base under any name.

24. Jane Church - Calimocho Molotov! I picked this up on cassette (download code included!) at one of their many gigs and, trust me, it's more fun than a vintage convertible on a sunny day. In wake of their recent signing to Greenway Records it seems the rest of you will have to wait for a more official release in the fall. Matt Stevenson writes and sings songs that stick and the backing by Ali Awan (lead guitar), Turner Stough (bass), and Peter Hilton Jr. (drums) could not be more engaging. Hilton especially deserves credit for the murderous swing of the sound. Pure joy - get on board.

25.  Elsa Hewitt - Quilt Jams Hewitt released three albums of her warm, fuzzy electronic compositions last year so I would not have looked askance if she had taken the year off. Apparently, that's just not in her nature. Not only has she just released this collection of minimalist sketches for guitar and electronics but there's another, livelier album promised for the fall. Quilt Jams does just what it says on the tin, enveloping the listener in a comforting wash of sounds. If you have a tape deck, you can buy it on cassette, which adds to the density of the sound. It also comes with a handmade sleeve - but act fast, there are only three left!

Listen to a sample of most of these albums with this handy playlist:


Keep up with everything I'm tracking with these Of Note In 2018 playlists:
Of Note In 2018 - Includes all the tracks in the genre-specific lists
Of Note In 2018 (Classical)
Of Note In 2018 (Electronic)
Of Note In 2018 (Hip Hop, R&B & Reggae)
Of Note In 2018 (Rock, Folk, Etc.)
Of Note In 2018 (Reissues)

Record Roundup: Electro-Acoustic Explorations

Here are three tantalizing albums that include compositions combining acoustic instruments with electronics, two of which are also solo debuts by a couple of the finest musicians on the new music scene.

Streya - Olivia De Prato I’ve seen Olivia De Prato perform with Missy Mazzoli and she’s the kind of player that stands out in a crowd, dazzling with her utter command of even the most demanding techniques and the sheer expressive verve she puts into the music. Her work with the adventurous Mivos Quartet, which she founded, has also been exemplary. So, I was delighted when word of this solo debut came over the transom and even happier when I saw it was mostly world-premiere recordings of works written in the last decade. 

The opening piece, Ageha.Tokyo, written by Samson Young, could hardly be more spectacular if fireworks shot out of my earbuds while it played. Starting with some tactile, serrated sounds, De Prato enters with defiant notes which gain momentum and then start to soar as the electronics begin rounding out and growing more melodic. The verse of My Favorite Things threatens to burst out but Young keeps it at bay and things are soon back on the aggressive side. Young named the work after one of the largest gay nightclubs in Tokyo and it doesn’t take much of a leap to imagine a beat-driven remix lighting up their dance floor. Young, based in Hong Kong, has a number of intriguing irons in the fire of electronic music and performance art and I’m grateful for this introduction to his world. 

Streya by Victor Lowrie, who plays viola in the Mivos, finds us in more familiar terrain, with De Prato in an angular duet with herself. Circular phrases spin into the ether, replaced by harmonic whistles or sharp strums, as the piece moves toward the anguished romanticism of early Schoenberg. Percorso Insolito is described by Ned Rothenberg as “an adventure in rhythm, space and color,” and it also has a nice meandering, interior quality, like a train of thought that never quite resolves. I know Rothenberg’s work mainly via his earthy sax playing so this was a valuable glimpse of his other interests. 

Taylor Brook’s Wane takes a smart idea - five multi-tracked violins, each in a slightly different tuning - and uses it to spin a kaleidoscopic tale in sound that has as many twists and turns as a good mystery. Rather than a bang-up finish where all is revealed, Brook prefers to leave questions unanswered with a woozy ending that shuffles uncertainly into silence. For more Brook check out the last Mivos album or the TAK Ensemble's Ecstatic Music, which focuses solely on his work. Tanz. Tanz by Reiko Füting is also based on an intellectual construct, in this case a study of the Chaconne from Bach’s D Minor Partita, but maybe only a musicologist would know that from listening. I hear a tightly constricted approach, both in the palette of notes and in the length of the lines, that intrigues due to all it leaves out. The premiere recording of Tanz. Tanz was by Miranda Cuckson on an album of Füting's work released in 2015 called namesErased, which I'm looking forward to investigating.

Missy Mazzoli’s Vespers For Violin closes the album and will undoubtedly leave you wanting more. A distant cousin of her stunning Vespers For A New Dark Age, it has Mazzoli’s characteristically assured electronic textures combined with an incantatory violin part that De Prato brings to life with, as everything here, her wondrous playing and total commitment to the visions of her collaborators. Streya is not only a fantastic debut for De Prato but also an object lesson in how to put together a solo violin record in 2018, from the selection of pieces, to the recording, and even to the artwork - kudos!

For This From That Will Be Filled - Clarice Jensen Like De Prato, cellist Clarice Jensen is known for her role in a group, in her case the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, of which she is also Artistic Director. Somehow in the midst of all the ACME activity, Jensen has managed to assemble this meditative collection, which was originally conceived as an audio-visual performance with artist Jonathan Turner. The album features three works for cello enhanced by effects pedals, other electronics and production, and Turner-produced videos are on the way to add back the visual elements. 

The first piece, bc, was a collaboration with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, one of the finest film composers of our time who died suddenly last month at the age of 48. Slow, mysterious, almost in the realm of ambient music, bc is a deeply immersive piece that now provides a fitting receptacle for thinking about Jóhannsson's life and work, so unceremoniously cut short. Michael Harrison, whose last works for cello were written for Maya Beiser, contributes Cello Constellations here, a creation for solo cello, 14 pre-recorded cellos and sine tones. There's a lot of math, science and technology behind the 15-minute composition, but as a listening experience it is captivating, with the background of cellos a lush bed for the sparkling sine tones, which light up the mind like the artificial stars in a planetarium show. While there is no reason to make "use" of this music, it is hard to imagine close listening not leading to a sense of calm, at least until the last three minutes, when Harrison allows tension to mount before a slow fade.

The album ends with the title track, composed by Jensen and taking place over two parts. The first is short and darkly elegant, with multiple droning lines and swirling ostinato phrases. It has a structural thread, almost a narrative thrust that pulls you though. The second part is much longer, over 18 minutes, and has a glacial drama to it, with deep organ-like tones and a gradual sense of opening up. By the last third we are adjacent to Romantic and even Baroque territory, with burnished melodies for solo cello. A tape loop of what may be found sound appears in the background, once again lending a sense of story to the sounds. It seems to end in mid-sentence, only adding to the intrigue. But there is nothing unfinished about Jensen's album, which will be released on April 6th. For This From That Will Be Filled is a clear statement of purpose of what the cello can do in several enhanced environments, with a conception that is never less than fascinating and playing and recording that are always sublime.  

John Cage: Electronic Music For Piano - Tania Chen It's hard to imagine a more Cage-ian approach to this monumental half-century-old work. In typical fashion, Cage's "score" leaves a lot up to the performers but it's still rare for musicians to really take the ball and run with it as Chen and her collaborators have done here. Chen, a pianist and improviser, has made Cage a specialty of hers and has assembled the ideal group of collaborators in guitarist Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth), multi-instrumentalist and author David Toop (known for being in the Flying Lizards and working with Brian Eno, etc.), and electronic musician Jon Leidecker (Negativeland, among other things). But all of these people never worked together. Instead, Chen recorded three versions of the piece as duos with each of them and then, working with producer Gino Robair, "played the duos simultaneously and, using a chance-based system, selected which sound sources were heard over time." Or not heard: this being Cage, leaving silences - sometimes as long as three minutes - is also part of the landscape.

And how does this all add up for the listener in the final result, which is over an hour long? Like a funhouse, but somehow serious, with tones and textures leaping up out of nowhere, sometimes just raw piano, more often heavily treated or combined instruments, guitar feedback or oscilloscope-derived notes. The stop-start-stop arrangement means that it's never an entirely comfortable experience, even after several listens, but who says art should make you comfortable? Occasionally, there will be a section (from 53:15 - 53:47, for example) that is so satisfying on its own that you will wish it went on for longer. Anyone for a remix album? Or should I fire up Garageband and try some cutting and pasting? I have a feeling that Cage, not to mention Chen and her posse, would actually enjoy the idea of this groundbreaking recording becoming further fodder for yet another creative process. Thanks to Chen, we have one more reminder of what a fertile field Cage's mind was and how its fruits can continue instructing us on what music is and how it can be made. For this, if nothing else, we owe Chen a large debt of gratitude.

For more electro-acoustic experiences, check out this nifty playlist put together by New Sounds.

You may also enjoy:
Record Roundup: On The Cutting Edge
Cage Tudor Rauschenberg MoMA
Collapsing Into Nordic Affect's Raindamage
Record Roundup: Composed, Commemorated And Beyond
Cello For All, Part 2: Michael Nicolas
Missy Mazzoli: Lush Rigor