For the Record: July 24, 2020
Keeping tabs on new recordings of interest to the new-music community, on CD, vinyl LP, cassette, and digital-only formats—including an Album of the Week featuring music by Christopher Rouse.
For the Record is a weekly round-up of new and pending recordings of interest to the new-music community: contemporary classical music and jazz, electronic and electroacoustic music, and idioms for which no clever genre name has been coined, on CD, vinyl LP, cassette, digital-only formats… you name it.
This list of release dates is culled from press releases, Amazon, Bandcamp, and other internet stores and sources, social-media posts, and online resources such as Discogs. Dates cited correspond to U.S. release of physical recordings, for the most part, and are subject to change. (Links to Amazon, where used, do not imply endorsement.)
After publication, these new listings will be incorporated into On the Record: The Master List, a continuously compiled and updated resource exclusively accessible to paid Night After Night subscribers, found here.
These listings are not comprehensive—nor could they be! To submit a forthcoming recording for consideration, email information to nightafternight@icloud.com.
Extended Benefits from Bandcamp
The government continues to show no actual sign of wanting to sustain support for U.S. taxpayers during the present pandemic. But thankfully, the conscientious music-sales platform Bandcamp has shown that it still cares about the artists and indie labels who make use of its services—and who have benefited from a series of fees-waived Friday sales designed to put more profit into their pockets.
[I]n the past few months the music community has come together in a huge way: in just four days, fans put more than $20 million directly into the pockets of artists and labels.
That’s incredible, but just as amazing is that since the pandemic hit in March, fans have bought more than $75 million worth of music and merch directly from artists and labels, and to date, fans have paid artists over half a billion(!) dollars on Bandcamp.
Turns out it’s not just altruism; it’s smart business, too. No surprise, then, that today, Bandcamp announced that Bandcamp Friday sales will continue through the end of 2020. So on August 7, September 4, October 2, November 6, and December 4, fill up those carts and shop to the best of your ability, knowing that you’re helping the artists and labels you love.
Recording of the Week
Christopher Rouse
Symphony No. 5; Supplica; Concerto for Orchestra
Nashville Symphony/Giancarlo Guerrero
(Naxos)
I’m not going to lie to you, folks… I didn’t have an opportunity to spend any serious advance time with this week’s big records – whether to you that means Taylor Swift, the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, or Anthony Gatto – and whipping up insta-takes isn’t my strong suit. But I did get to spend some long, enjoyable weeks with the new album of orchestral works by the late, lamented Christopher Rouse that the Nashville Symphony released today on Naxos, and wrote a brief appreciation for The New Yorker.
Here’s a taste:
In the piece, which was introduced in 2017 by Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony, Rouse translates childhood memories of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony into his own muscular, fantastical idiom. Also included here are “Supplica,” a rapturous meditation from 2013, and Concerto for Orchestra, a kaleidoscopic showpiece from 2008.
If you want to read the rest, the review is on The New Yorker website now, and it’ll be in print next week. It’s a beautiful album, and I reckon you’ll find all three pieces on your favorite download or streaming site today. The Rouse release is the second of an all-American trilogy by the orchestra; an Aaron Jay Kernis album came out in June, and a Tobias Picker release is coming in August.
Then, while your ears are engaged, go listen to excellent new albums from Philip Corner, Nick Dunston, Jon Hassell, Thumbscrew, Toshiya Tsunoda & Taku Unami, and John Zorn. You’ll find them all listed immediately below.
New This Week
Philip Corner with Carles Santos - Chord/Gong! (Unseen Worlds)
Nick Dunston - Atlantic Extraction: Live at Threes (Out of Your Head)
Anthony Gatto - Wise Blood (New Focus)
Jon Hassell - Seeing Through Sound (Pentimento Vol. 2) (Ndeya)
Timothy McAllister - Notturno - compositions by Augusta Read Thomas, William Albright, Bruno Mantovani, Edison Denisov, Steven Stucky, and David Biedenbender (XAS Records)
Christopher Rouse - Symphony No. 5; Supplica; Concerto for Orchestra - Nashville Symphony/Giancarlo Guerrero (Naxos)
Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra - Data Lords (ArtistShare)
Thumbscrew - The Anthony Braxton Project (Cuneiform)
John Zorn - Les Maudits - performances by John Zorn, Simon Hanes, Ikue Mori, Ches Smith, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (Tzadik)
Newly Announced
July 31
Miyamoto Is Black Enough - Burn/Build (National Sawdust Tracks)
August 7
Hierophant (Alex Van Gils, Alec Goldfarb, Carrie Frey) - Hierophant (self-released)
August 14
Lisa Bielawa - Blueprints I - performances by Lisa Bielawa, Molly Morkoski, Sarah Carrier, Rebecca Fischer, Ashleé Miller, Michael Atkinson, Oriana Hawley, Gregory Purnhagen, and Alex Sopp (self-released)
John Hollenbeck - Songs You Like a Lot (Flexatonic)
Davy Mooney and the Hope of Home Band - Live at National Sawdust (Sunnyside)
August 21
Grossman Ensemble - Fountain of Time - compositions by Shulamit Ran, Anthony Cheung, David Dzubay, Tonia Ko, and David Clay Mettens (CCCC Records)
August 28
Sarah Frisof - Beauty Crying Forth: Flute Music by Women Across Time - compositions by Tania León, Clara Schumann, Amy Williams, Lili Boulanger, Kaija Saariaho, and Shulamit Ran (New Focus)
Catherine Christer Hennix - Unbegrenzt (Blank Forms)
Tobias Picker - Opera Without Words; The Encantadas - Nashville Symphony/Giancarlo Guerrero (Naxos)
Manuel Valera New Cuban Express Big Band - José Martí en Nueva York (Greenleaf Music)
September 4
TEST and Roy Campbell - TEST and Roy Campbell (577 Records)
September 18
Matthew Shipp Trio - The Unidentifiable (ESP-Disk’)
September 25
Tashi Dorji - Stateless (Drag City)
October 2
Noah Haidu - Doctone (Sunnyside)
October 9
Sam Decker - Shrove (Sunnyside)
November 13
Tani Tabbal Trio - Now Then (Tao Forms)
Coming Soon
As Bang on a Can returns to presenting live performances, cautiously and responsibly, with two concerts at MASS MoCA on July 31 and August 1, pianist Vicky Chow, BoaC executive director Kenny Savelson, and MASS MoCA performing arts director Sue Killam discuss the logistics, concerns, and emotions involved in this bold venture.