-
Meta
Editorial Staff
Cat Eldridge
Gary WhitehouseSearch
-
Recent Posts
- What’s New for the 25th of October: Some Autumnal Matters
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Contradances
- What’s New for 11th of October: Music reviews picked by Gary for you to consider, ‘Hotel California’ live by the Eagles for you to listen to, and a biography of the Eagles for you to read. So isn’t that enough for one edition here? I think so.
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Getting Ready for All Hallows Eve
- What’s New for the 27th of September: A tribute to Cape Breton music
- A Kinrowan Estate story: All The World’s A Stage
- What’s New for the 14th of September: books and music to see summer out
- What’s New for the 10th of September: It’s Definitely Late Summer!
- What’s New for the 30th of August: Dolly Pardon
- What’s New for the 16th of August: Deborah Grabien’s music criticism essays; new Americana and jazz, and some music for the Dog Days of Summer
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Midsomer Strangeness
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Contradances
- What’s New for the 26th of July: Witches in fiction, both books and film; an Americana reissue and some music on a smoky theme
- A Kinrowan Estate story: chicken pot pieces
- What’s New for the 19th of July: Charles de Lint’s Ottawa novels with a quote from Drink Down the Moon, Gary’s review of Nordic fiddle music, It’s Michele Walther and Irina Behrendt playing Aaron Copland’s ‘Hoe Down’ from his Rodeo album
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Midsomer Odd Things
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Library and Its Librarian
- What’s New for the Fifth of July: Remembering Jane Yolen; some new Americana and jazz music; Fishing Blues
- A Kinrowan Estate Story: Recursive Loops
- What’s New for June 21: Jennifer Stevenson’s ‘Solstice’
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Turkish Coffee
- What’s New for the 7th of June: Foxes in literature, live Balkan music, comforting jazz, Americana jazz, and wonderfully weird fusion jazz; and John Fogerty live
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Bloodied Kings
- What’s New for the 24th of May: Gary’s Review of Elizabeth Bear’s White Space novels, iain’s review of the Lonely Signal Burns novellas by her, she reading her own story, ‘The Chains That You Refuse’, and I see Gary has some tasty music reviews fir us as well
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Our Greensward
- What’s New for the 10th of May: books reviewed by Jennifer Stevenson, music by Teddy Thompson, Americana music from all over, and some live music from John Fogerty
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Walk
- What’s New for the 26th of April: the nature of Stories; some new and newish SF, plus new world, jazz, folk and Americana music
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Spring Day
- What’s New for the 12th of April: Some new and recent SF; new Americana, Norwegian folk rock and jazz; and thoughts on War For The Oaks
Category Archives: Music
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, Op. 47, Chamber Symphony for String Orchestra, Op. 110a
When I was first making my acquaintance with the range of the twentieth-century “classical” canon, the Shostakovich Fifth was the penultimate achievement of Soviet music. Shostakovich, although a loyal Soviet citizen, was also an artist, which is a breed not … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged contemporary music, modernism
Comments Off on Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, Op. 47, Chamber Symphony for String Orchestra, Op. 110a
Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem
The music of Arvo Pärt, one of the best known contemporary composers, is something I’ve always found attractive. From my first recording of Passio, which was, believe it or not, my beach music for a whole summer way back when, … Continue reading
Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Canto di speranza
West German composer Bernd Alois Zimmerman is one of those unclassifiable artists whose style progressed through what seems to be the normal twentieth-century pattern: neoclassicism, atonality and the twelve-tone row of Schoenberg, serialism, and finally a kind of polyglot style … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged contemporary music
Comments Off on Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Canto di speranza
Terry Riley’s Requiem for Adam
Terry Riley’s Requiem for Adam was written as a memorial to Adam Harrington, son of David Harrington, first violinist of Kronos Quartet. Adam died suddenly at the age of 16 while walking with his family on Mt. Diablo, near San … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged American music, contemporary music
Comments Off on Terry Riley’s Requiem for Adam
Leon Fleisher’s American Album: Aaron Copland, Piano Sonata; Roger Sessions, From My Diary; Leon Kirchner, Piano Sonata; Ned Rorem, Three Barcarolles
American music of the twentieth century, at least that variety that styles itself “serious” music, is inhabited by a range of highly independent composers. One of its most notable aspects, in fact, is its resistance to “schools” outside of the … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged American music, classical music, modernism
Comments Off on Leon Fleisher’s American Album: Aaron Copland, Piano Sonata; Roger Sessions, From My Diary; Leon Kirchner, Piano Sonata; Ned Rorem, Three Barcarolles
Richard Strauss’ Don Quixote, Sonata for Cello and Piano; Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 18; George Enescu’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 25
Richard Strauss, to me, is one of those protean composers who developed in the artistic ferment of Europe that stretched from the 1890s to the years encompassing World War I. He was, at least as much as any of his … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged classical music, modernism
Comments Off on Richard Strauss’ Don Quixote, Sonata for Cello and Piano; Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 18; George Enescu’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 25
Martti Vesala Soundpost Quintet’s Helsinki Soundpost
Finnish trumpeter Martti Vesala attempted to capture the sounds and flavors of his home base Helsinki with a classic jazz quintet. The aural picture that emerges on Helsinki Soundpost is a delightful tour. This talented young horn player fronts the … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Jazz music, Nordic music
Comments Off on Martti Vesala Soundpost Quintet’s Helsinki Soundpost
Richard Thompson’s Acoustic Classics Vol. II
Richard Thompson follows up his popular Acoustic Classics release from 2014 with a second volume, aptly titled Acoustic Classics Vol. II. It’s a handpicked selection of some of his currently most popular songs from his solo acoustic performances, hitting all … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged English folk rock, Richard Thompson
Comments Off on Richard Thompson’s Acoustic Classics Vol. II
Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings: Orchestral and Chamber Works
Samuel Barber is one of those composers I haven’t paid enough attention to, except for the Adagio for Strings, which at its best is an overwhelming piece of music — but more on that later. Barber was born into comfortable … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged American music, modernism
Comments Off on Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings: Orchestral and Chamber Works
Thomas Barth’s Beyond Black & White
It is sometimes very difficult to get past the packaging of recordings to the substance (if there is substance, which is not always the case), particularly when dealing with new age music (“new age” being one of those categories we … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged contemporary music, new age
Comments Off on Thomas Barth’s Beyond Black & White