Dan Albertson has written for La Folia since 2004. His pursuits involve languages, lexicography, music, musicology, poetry, and translation, and tend to veer away from mainstream artists. He has worked on the Living Composers Project since 2000, has written articles for MusikTexte, has contributed entries to the encyclopedia Komponisten der Gegenwart, and has edited multiple volumes of the British journal Contemporary Music Review, on the composers Helmut Lachenmann, Earle Brown and Aldo Clementi, plus two volumes on modernism and the string quartet and a co-edited volume on Spanish music beyond Spanish borders. He has been a member of its editorial board since 2014. He translates notes for Cybele Records in Düsseldorf and has contributed his own notes to a variety of international labels. His poems are generally short and static in nature. American by birth, he is now based abroad.
Dan Albertson
Not Out of Breath
A brief overview, in no order of ranking, in response to recent listening experiences that transcended the norm.
Not Out of Breath
A brief overview, in no order of ranking, in response to recent listening experiences that transcended the norm.
Out of Breath (Redux)
The shortest article yet, more an expression of puzzlement than anything else.
Out of Breath (Redux)
The shortest article yet, more an expression of puzzlement than anything else.
Of Coattails, Hangers-On and Human Zoos
Back in Chicago, back to the fabled yesteryear.
Of Coattails, Hangers-On and Human Zoos
Back in Chicago, back to the fabled yesteryear.
Counting the Vagaries
Currents headed eastward… An email from a librarian…
Partly Present
Festivals inevitably vary in content, purpose and reliability.
Constructing Absurdities and Monstrosities: Mikel Urquiza
Mikel Urquiza backs down from no challenge.
Constructing Absurdities and Monstrosities: Mikel Urquiza
Mikel Urquiza backs down from no challenge.
Chanting Iron: Volker Heyn
Among the German composers toiling away in the penumbra of the few mainstream names, Volker Heyn stands apart for his uncompromising streak, his independence from the Neue Muzak circle and his aesthetic positions.
Chanting Iron: Volker Heyn
Among the German composers toiling away in the penumbra of the few mainstream names, Volker Heyn stands apart for his uncompromising streak, his independence from the Neue Muzak circle and his aesthetic positions.
Chiaroscuro
Walt is gone. In his absence, and with me hearing him telling me to get on with it, I would rather spotlight some of what he treasured.
Chiaroscuro
Walt is gone. In his absence, and with me hearing him telling me to get on with it, I would rather spotlight some of what he treasured.
Collecting Is Forgetting
Is the zeal of a music collector, if one traces it to its roots, fundamentally any different in nature from the man who assembles his birds, books, coins, stamps, trains, or watches?
Collecting Is Forgetting
Is the zeal of a music collector, if one traces it to its roots, fundamentally any different in nature from the man who assembles his birds, books, coins, stamps, trains, or watches?
Of Infertile Soil
This essay is my reply to the various people over the years who have asked me to write about American composers and American music.
Of Infertile Soil
This essay is my reply to the various people over the years who have asked me to write about American composers and American music.