Destination out.
Where you'll find my newest concert review, along with some recommended sites to find live-music event listings and tips in New York City.
I’ve got a new concert review up today on Musical America, covering the first-ever live performance of Music for Hard Times, a beautiful multimedia experience created by composer Danny Clay and experimental-music duo The Living Earth Show during pandemic lockdown. It happened at Merkin Hall last Thursday night, and included many fine student performers from the Special Music School at Kaufman Music Center, conducted by David Baker.
The review is behind a paywall, but here’s a taste:
As on the record, sounds of nature and wildlife connected Music for Hard Times to the wider world outside the solitary chambers of its gestation. Hand-cranked music boxes and crackling sampled sounds evoked quaint nostalgia. Details recalled from the record – the bass drum thwacks and sizzling cymbal, especially – were replicated faithfully, even as serendipitous new aspects emerged from moment to moment.
Throughout the performance of Book 1, video projected overhead and on both sides of the screen offered sweeping vistas of California coast lines and aerial shots of towering trees, as well as bug’s eye views of creeping caterpillars and salamanders. (Onscreen captions indicated which section was being played when, aiding comprehension if you were moved to pay close attention.)
The combination of striking images and soothing tones was inspiring. When did you last stop to marvel at the unlikely miracle that is an ant? What choreography compares to dust motes dancing in sunlight pouring through a household window? The cumulative effect was wonder and awe at the everyday magic we all take for granted.
You had to be there for Jon Fischer’s visuals, which truly heightened the experience. But you’ll be able to hear the concert on New Sounds sometime soon.
I’m overwhelmed with busyness this week, like last week, so there’s no time to write a proper newsletter—truly sorry. But even if I can’t get to the listings myself, I won’t leave you home alone. Here are four excellent sources to consult:
Dada Strain – If you’re a regular follower of this newsletter, then you’ve heard about Piotr Orlov’s expressly community-minded approach to curation and coverage via Substack many times already. If not, time to get acquainted.
Extended Techniques – Along with a podcast that focuses on contemporary composition and improvised musics, the site curated by Alex Minkin and Oksana Nesterenko includes a highly useful monthly calendar.
Lament for a Straight Line – No one writes a concert listing that mixes lapidary precision with evocative poetry like Jim Macnie. His blog is full of diverse entertainments, and his Wednesday jazz picks are essential.
New Music Calendar – Todd Tarantino maintains this vital spreadsheet-driven site, whose plainspoken name reflects its no-frills approach to listing pretty much everything in the contemporary-classical realm.
I encourage everyone to utilize these handmade, heartfelt resources, which I turn to myself for tips above and beyond the piles of data I sift through personally.
Last but not least, a shout-out to my longtime fellow traveler Hank Shteamer, who’s just brought his consistently illuminating blog, Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches, to Substack. Naturally, Hank’s hit the ground running with musings on spiritual jazz and math rock… sign up now, and then pull up a chair.
Photographs by Steve Smith, except where indicated.