Kurt Gottschalk is a journalist and author based in New York City. His writings on contemporary and classical music, jazz and improvisation have been published in outlets throughout Europe and America and he has two volumes of short fiction to his name. He is also the producer and host of the Miniature Minotaurs radio programme on WFMU.
Director James Farrah and writer Raúl Santos' realization of Glass’ Fall of the House of Usher is a work of unbridled creativity, an engrossing film which might have benefited from a bridle.
The production has everything going for it: strong material and smooth web design make for a seamless and enjoyable presentation. But the sum of the parts don’t quite make a whole.
Haigh took full advantage of the Miller-Scott organ’s capacity for extraordinary delicacy and lower registers that can be profound yet crystal clear. La Nativité du Seigneur provided plenty of opportunity for displays of subtlety.
The camera was in near constant motion, scanning Rothenberg’s hands, her face, and the objects in the room, hovering Platonic forms, bottles and bowls and human figures yet to come into being.
The live-streamed production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera sought to reinvent for online presentation but ended up uneven and overly busy.
The Americanism in the compositions on the program was culled from American hymns, gospel and pre-jazz social music, with a highlight being the recently rediscovered work of Florence Price.
The strings stabbed, the camera panned in quick spurts with jump cuts, but the performers were still. It was an anxious and enormously effective approach to Rzewski’s prison meditation.
Building on 15 years of collaboration with the ensemble, Gilded Wings (for two clarinets and strings) revealed a new maturity in Fujikura's always enjoyable music.
The revisions were minor, but the Requiem remained a fitting work for a modern metropolis: reverent, mysterious, a little bit distant but a powerful prayer for peace.
The Knee Plays was an unusual selection to kick off a Philip Glass celebration, but the engaging production spoke to a time and associations in the composer's career.
The Mother of Us All isn’t an easy work and it’s far from one of Stein’s best pieces of writing. But in this centenary of women’s suffrage, it’s an important one.
The concert paired strong new works by Joan La Barbara, Nicole Lizée and Paola Prestini with compositions by Luciano Berio and George Crumb for a satisfying evening of adventurous works for voice.
In fragments and miniatures, the ensemble pieces were most satisfying, allowing Widmann not to build arguments but define subjects by contrast, showing a quick wit and a flair for suspense.
![Ayene [Mirror] © Prototype Festival](/imagecache/1331/190496-0-m47-275-ayene--mirror----sahba-aminikia---pc-arya-ghavamian.png "Ayene [Mirror] © Prototype Festival")
