20
May
What, Like It’s Hard?
Everyone knows that fast, flashy pieces are hard. But what about all the other kinds of difficulty?
6 min read
brin solomon
Composer, playwright, liturgist, and critic brin solomon writes words and music in various genres and is doing its best to queer all of them.
18
May
Up All Night (to Get Jesus)
I’ve heard people say there isn’t much Rachmaninov in the Vigil; it may not have the pyrotechnics of his piano concerti, but the variety he pulls out of this slight palette testifies to his compositional skill.
5 min read
04
May
The Great Migration
In Review: Castle of our Skins
Anyone expecting to hear Jazz-inflected late-Romantic lushness at the Brattleboro Music Center on Saturday
6 min read
20
Apr
Marseille Memories
In a moment when our government seems to be doing all it can to sever ties of international solidarity, it’s reassuring to be reminded that there are many working to strengthen those ties.
6 min read
17
Apr
In Defense of Dissonance
I sometimes find it unbearable to listen to Mozart. If his works are beautiful, it is a beauty of stability, of order. As below, so above: The tonic brings order to the notes; G-d brings order to the world.
It seems like a comforting thing to believe. I wish that I could.
9 min read
06
Apr
To Fugue or Not to Fugue
The evening opened with a piquant rendition of Piazzolla’s 1956 Tango Ballet. With its snappy rhythms and wry melodies, it’s a piece with tremendous emotional range, and the Dalí members swung from one extreme to the other with palpable glee.
8 min read
23
Mar
The Story of a Book
A Medieval songbook brought to intimate life by a visiting early music ensemble. Also: a WWI smorgasbord and a raucous work for solo bassoon.
5 min read
18
Mar
The Arrangers United
The gesture that stuck with me the most was a very simple one: At the beginning of Jerod Impichchaachaaha'
12 min read
09
Mar
String Quartets and Saxophones
I was hoping to anchor this inaugural newsletter on an intriguing concert centered around music and poetry shaped by the
4 min read