Jörg Widmann's somber humor at Carnegie Hall

By Kurt Gottschalk, 30 January 2020

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“Widmann can create suspense in a heartbeat”

Reviewed at Carnegie Hall: Zankel, New York City on 28 January 2020

Widmann, Liebeslied for 8 instruments

Widmann, "Air" for solo French horn

Widmann, Etude no. 2, for solo violin

Widmann, Quintet for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano

Widmann, Drei Schattentänze für Klarinette solo (Three Shadow Dances for solo clarinet)

Widmann, Freie Stücke für Ensemble

International Contemporary Ensemble

Jörg Widmann, Clarinet

Julia Bullock in Meditations for Joséphine at Adelaide Festival

Sandra Bowdler, 3rd March

A challenging depiction of Joséphine Baker brilliantly performed by Julia Bullock under the direction of Peter Sellars at the Adelaide Festival.

****1

ICE plays Jennie C Jones at the Metropolitan Museum

Kurt Gottschalk, 5th October

The Met Museum is currently home to three large sculptures by multidisciplinary artist Jennie C Jones, whose graphic scores are performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble.

****1

ICE shows a new and exciting side of Dai Fujikura at Miller Theatre

Kurt Gottschalk, 5th March

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.

*****

Kopernikus revival finds inspiration – and cliché – in the afterlife

Kurt Gottschalk, 15th May

Composer Claude Vivier approaches the unknowable with a text delivered by a septet of vocalists in a language of his own invention. But the new production adds overly literal video, trading abstraction for the obvious.

***11

Steve Reich world premiere in New York

Stephen Pritchard, 6th April

London's new Centre for Music has much to learn from the Big Apple's mistakes.

****1

A noisy rendition of The Guilty Mother

Sacha Evans, 20th June

The opera can be summed up by a line sung by the Countess in Act 4: “You’re killing her with all this noise.”

*1111

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Kurt Gottschalk

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 produced and hosted the Miniature Minotaurs radio programme on WFMU and currently hosts Afternoon New Music on WKCR.