Talea Ensemble casts Berio’s Sequenze against recent works

By Kurt Gottschalk, 14 December 2025

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“in a barbed wire nest rather than among passing clouds”

Reviewed at Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew: St. Bartholemew Hall, Brooklyn on 9 December 2025

Houben, Romantische Streiflichter (Jean Paul)

Jõeleht, Chant Harmonique

Berio, Sequenza I, for flute

Berio, Sequenza VI, for viola

Talea Ensemble

Laura Cocks, Flute

Hannah Levinson, Viola

Maya Bennardo, Violin

NYC's Time Spans festival closes with rhythms from the north

Kurt Gottschalk, 21st August

For 2019, Time Spans doubled its number of concerts, culminating in an evening of works by composers born in or relocated to Canada, conjuring Banksy moods and inadvertent confusion.

Staatskapelle Dresden’s sonic alchemy at the Elbphilharmonie

Mengguang Huang, 2nd June

From the earthy joy of Meistersinger to the sublime textures of Debussy, Daniele Gatti channels the Dresdeners' legendary, layered warmth into an unforgettable evening of pure acoustic luxury.

****1

Jurowski marks Hans Werner Henze’s centenary at the Elbphilharmonie

Mengguang Huang, 31st May

Vladimir Jurowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin deliver a lean, razor-sharp exploration of captivity and survival, balancing Beethoven’s and Brahms’ structural clarity against the devastating, high-fidelity distortion of Henze’s Ninth Symphony.

****1

Kissin, Bell and Isserlis: remembrance and loss at Carnegie Hall

Edward Sava-Segal, 31st May

Solomon Rosowsky, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky form a matinee programme whose deeper connections gradually came into focus.

****1

Mischievous Pan at Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s French May

Christopher Halls, 30th May

French clarinettist Raphaël Sévère unearths beauty in Nielsen’s concerto and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta impress in two settings of Pan’s antics at the French May Festival.

****1

Alsop conducts a substitute Marsalis symphony at Carnegie Hall

David Wolfson, 29th May

The premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ Symphony no. 5 is postponed, substituted by selections from his Jungle Symphony, along with a disappointing Beethoven’s Seventh at Carnegie Hall.

***11

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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.

New York’s Talea Ensemble casts Berio’s Sequenze against challenging recent works