Managing Editor Grant Chu Covell works in the Boston area. He once worked for a global technology company that made hardware which Xenakis and Babbitt used to good effect. He was the publisher of the brilliant but forgotten The Periodic Journal of Bibliography (1990-95), and his music reviews have appeared in EAR Magazine and InMusic. His instrumental and electroacoustic music has been performed in the U.S. and abroad, and he has shared many CDs of his music with family and friends (one piece was recorded in a refrigerator). A short article about a composition he wrote for piano and tape can be found in the Csound Magazine. Two electroacoustic works have appeared in commercial compilations: Presence III and The Door Project. A recent CD can be found here, and another is in preparation. A long departed family dog’s name was taken from a character in Wagner’s Ring.
Grant Chu Covell
Mostly Symphonies 25.
Until recently, Cerha’s Spiegel was easier to see than to hear.
Mostly Symphonies 25.
Until recently, Cerha’s Spiegel was easier to see than to hear.
Concerto Concentrations 1.
Of course Bolcom’s Concerto Grosso for saxophone quartet and orchestra is going to be good.
Concerto Concentrations 1.
Of course Bolcom’s Concerto Grosso for saxophone quartet and orchestra is going to be good.
Armchair Operas and Amusements 9.
In Svoboda’s wide-ranging homage, original bits may be recostumed or might lurk beneath contemporaneous texts.
Armchair Operas and Amusements 9.
In Svoboda’s wide-ranging homage, original bits may be recostumed or might lurk beneath contemporaneous texts.
Falstaff Stands Tall
Falstaff is the bonus opera of Verdi’s long career, a comedy capping the final string of dramas.
Falstaff Stands Tall
Falstaff is the bonus opera of Verdi’s long career, a comedy capping the final string of dramas.
Piano Factory 11.
Finnissy’s huge and nigh impenetrable opus suggests that music may comment only upon itself.
Piano Factory 11.
Finnissy’s huge and nigh impenetrable opus suggests that music may comment only upon itself.
(Dis)Arrangements 2: Goldberg Fever
A recent check disclosed 228 available recordings of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Most are for a single keyboard as intended, but there are also arrangements and transcriptions. Here’s a random scattering of BWV 988 arrangements and digressions.
(Dis)Arrangements 2: Goldberg Fever
A recent check disclosed 228 available recordings of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Most are for a single keyboard as intended, but there are also arrangements and transcriptions. Here’s a random scattering of BWV 988 arrangements and digressions.
Piano Factory 10.
Alongside Zagny’s gently wandering preludes (there are 12 of them) we hear a gentle strumming much like a radiator in the room next door, altogether describing a fragile interior scene.
Piano Factory 10.
Alongside Zagny’s gently wandering preludes (there are 12 of them) we hear a gentle strumming much like a radiator in the room next door, altogether describing a fragile interior scene.
Danses, Pièces et Suites. Pièces de Clavecin 7b.
At the German court, violist and composer Hesse fashioned an arrangement of Rameau’s ballet-opera, Les Surprises de l’Amour, for two viols. The transcription might sacrifice lines; nevertheless, the effect, scored for two viols plus continuo with occasional soprano and baritone, convinces.
Danses, Pièces et Suites. Pièces de Clavecin 7b.
At the German court, violist and composer Hesse fashioned an arrangement of Rameau’s ballet-opera, Les Surprises de l’Amour, for two viols. The transcription might sacrifice lines; nevertheless, the effect, scored for two viols plus continuo with occasional soprano and baritone, convinces.
Italian Vacation 10: Recent Sciarrino on Kairos
Taking advantage of the quartet’s ability to execute microtones and glissandos, longer pitches quiver and slide like entreating vowels. These pleading lines are often prefixed or suffixed for pungency with a jumping interval.
Italian Vacation 10: Recent Sciarrino on Kairos
Taking advantage of the quartet’s ability to execute microtones and glissandos, longer pitches quiver and slide like entreating vowels. These pleading lines are often prefixed or suffixed for pungency with a jumping interval.
Boulez [In]Complete Work(s) in Progress
If audiences have warmed to Boulez’s Mahler, Ravel or Bartók, they ought to try something of the grand maître’s own.
Boulez [In]Complete Work(s) in Progress
If audiences have warmed to Boulez’s Mahler, Ravel or Bartók, they ought to try something of the grand maître’s own.
Mostly Symphonies 24: Schnittke’s Ten
BIS rebundles a most idiosyncratic and essential symphonic cycle.
Mostly Symphonies 24: Schnittke’s Ten
BIS rebundles a most idiosyncratic and essential symphonic cycle.
Chamber ramble with accordion, guitars and percussion
Breath and shape are crucial to these pieces’ projection and the results entrance. There are times when duo or trio fuses together so successfully it’s hard to tell whether the high note is a trombone, the low note a clarinet, or the reedy sound an accordion.
Chamber ramble with accordion, guitars and percussion
Breath and shape are crucial to these pieces’ projection and the results entrance. There are times when duo or trio fuses together so successfully it’s hard to tell whether the high note is a trombone, the low note a clarinet, or the reedy sound an accordion.