Grant Chu Covell

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.

Ramble with Gigantic Mythical Bird

It’s just a quartet (bass flute, violin, cello, piano), but this group unleashes mysterious fury.

Ramble with Gigantic Mythical Bird

It’s just a quartet (bass flute, violin, cello, piano), but this group unleashes mysterious fury.

Mostly Symphonies 35. / (Dis)Arrangements 11: The Finale of Bruckner’s Ninth

Anton Bruckner died having completed an orchestral draft of all four movements of his Ninth. There are plenty of sketches and autograph pages, and it has been possible to construct a satisfactory performing edition. Many passages deserve to be heard, perhaps some of Bruckner’s most inventive cascading string arpeggios and luminous brass chorales.

Mostly Symphonies 35. / (Dis)Arrangements 11: The Finale of Bruckner’s Ninth

Anton Bruckner died having completed an orchestral draft of all four movements of his Ninth. There are plenty of sketches and autograph pages, and it has been possible to construct a satisfactory performing edition. Many passages deserve to be heard, perhaps some of Bruckner’s most inventive cascading string arpeggios and luminous brass chorales.

Three Concerts

I’m startled to realize how well today’s pattern of Overture — Concerto — Symphony actually works.

Three Concerts

I’m startled to realize how well today’s pattern of Overture — Concerto — Symphony actually works.

Mostly Symphonies 34.

Every reviewer and annotator of these works cites Dvořák whose Ninth with its European form and American flavors established a stylistic precedent.

Mostly Symphonies 34.

Every reviewer and annotator of these works cites Dvořák whose Ninth with its European form and American flavors established a stylistic precedent.

(Dis)Arrangements 10: Miscellany

Step aside Süssmayr, Mozart’s Requiem sustains Cassol’s impassioned reinterpretation.

(Dis)Arrangements 10: Miscellany

Step aside Süssmayr, Mozart’s Requiem sustains Cassol’s impassioned reinterpretation.

Concerto Concentrations 4.

The soloist starts at one side of the stage, discovering a bow only at the end of the first movement which he flourishes like a sword.

Concerto Concentrations 4.

The soloist starts at one side of the stage, discovering a bow only at the end of the first movement which he flourishes like a sword.

String Theory 29.

Sauguet knows where consonance lies, but earnestly dallies among ambiguity before resolving.

String Theory 29.

Sauguet knows where consonance lies, but earnestly dallies among ambiguity before resolving.

Gone Fishing

Compared with the vastly superior Carmen, Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles has but one big tune. A highlight of the performance occurred during the overture, when behind the scrim, graceful dancers on wires simulated diving from the top of the stage to the bottom.

Gone Fishing

Compared with the vastly superior Carmen, Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles has but one big tune. A highlight of the performance occurred during the overture, when behind the scrim, graceful dancers on wires simulated diving from the top of the stage to the bottom.

Piano Factory 25.

Liberated from traditional scale passages and gestures, Aperghis’ particular brand of energetic filigree is unfurled across four piano works.

Piano Factory 25.

Liberated from traditional scale passages and gestures, Aperghis’ particular brand of energetic filigree is unfurled across four piano works.

EA Bucket 27.

Using synthesized tones recalling the electronic age’s dawn, Perpetuum Mobile, Zagny’s minimalist four-voice study on cadential figures with wrinkles, takes 24:30 to unspool when all four voices are superimposed.

EA Bucket 27.

Using synthesized tones recalling the electronic age’s dawn, Perpetuum Mobile, Zagny’s minimalist four-voice study on cadential figures with wrinkles, takes 24:30 to unspool when all four voices are superimposed.

String Theory 28.

Plucking introduces the nine plucked string instruments gradually, completing a grid governed by mathematical patterns.

String Theory 28.

Plucking introduces the nine plucked string instruments gradually, completing a grid governed by mathematical patterns.

Mostly Symphonies 33.

There are countless moments in Plötzlichkeit and La Terre est un Homme where I would not have been surprised if a page turn had transported us to Berg’s Reigen.

Mostly Symphonies 33.

There are countless moments in Plötzlichkeit and La Terre est un Homme where I would not have been surprised if a page turn had transported us to Berg’s Reigen.