[The concert reviews from which the following quotes are drawn are in chronological order. Those marked * are from Schirmer News and should be seen as especially edited for promotion purposes. All other quotes have been distilled by the NMEditor in chief whose principal considerations are purely editorial. nd=no publication date proC vided]

Donald Swearingen’s Living Off the List, A Traveling Jewish Theater, San Francisco, CA. Sept. 23-24, 2000 "…for some people, it is desirable or even necessary to have some kind of visual or theatrical element to look at while experiencing a live music event …There have been a number of composer/performers developing and/or using gesture controllers in performance. Donald Swearingen is one such artist … In one rather humorous sequence, he used small flashlights on a row of sensors along the floor to trigger images of familiar yellow and black safety and warning signs while simultaneously triggering blood-curdling screams … Though the evening was lighthearted in tone, there were also segments which were dark and thought-provoking, [e.g.] a detailed account of how many people had died from what causes … The visual elements were constant throughout the evening, many of the video images were simple (often showing animated text) … but the star of the show was unquestionably the audio art." (Pamela Z, 21^st Century Music, January 2001)

Warren Burt: Antipodean Collection, a Laptop Symphony (2000), presented by the Electronic Music Foundation (EMF), Engine 27, & the Amer. Composers’ Forum. NY, NY. Nov. 4. "Burt’s performance … was a warm and thoughtful experience that lacked the academic pretension many might expect to find at a concert of this kind. This nine-movement work was "played" by Burt on his computer, as well as a set of faders and other gear. Throughout, Burt charmed the audience with his warm voice and his sharing of funny anecdotes [many occurring in Australia where he now lives—he is from Upstate New York originally] along with his unique and interesting experiences, giving us an evening of beauty, delight, and growth." (Walter Erickson, 21^st Century Music, Jan. 2001)

*John Corigliano: Symphony #2. World premiere. Ozawa/ Boston Sym. Boston, MA. Nov. 30. "The new string symphony adds another masterpiece to a significant genre. It is a work of great complexity, but it also communicates primal force of feeling. The details spin out into astounding arabesques of elaboration, but the basic architecture is strong, striking, and always in perspective. The piece is an amazing adventure in sound, from the shimmering mist of the opening and close to the meteor shower that sends streams of gold streaking across the fugue, from the rough motor energy of the scherzo to its contrasting chorale and passacaglia; in the central nocturne, the various voices floating from different positions in the orchestra create an incredible richness of perspective, and a rare emotional depth." (Richard Dyer, Boston Globe, nd)

Music of Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn. Bill Susman, piano, and Tim Enos, bass. Fort Mason Ctr., San Francisco, CA. Jan. 14, 2001. "… Susman and Enos gave a thorough and thoroughly musical demonstration of uniqueness and compatibility … They had lots to choose from … well over 1,000 items … But the favorites were the 1937 "Caravan" … and "Sunset and the Mockingbird" from The Queen’s Suite (1959, written as a personal gift for Elizabeth II), which showed the personal touches of both Strayhorn and Ellington." (Michael McDonagh, 21^st Century Music, March 2001)

*August Read Thomas: Fugitive Star. Aurora Qrt. [sic], San Francisco, CA. Feb. 4. "Fugitive Star was a passionate and impeccably crafted and conceived new quartet, written for and dedicated to the Avalon Quartet by the young but by no means unknown [composer]. Though only eight minutes in length, it was the high point of the program. It is not only a stunning piece but was stunningly played by the Avalon [sic]. The work is simple and direct, stretching as a single gesture from beginning to end. It profited from the timbral breadth of the Avalon, and their commitment to the work is understandable." (Keith Chapin, San Francisco Classical Voice, nd. Bracketed text by NMC)

Cindy McTee: Timepiece; Lowell Liebermann: Second Piano Concerto. Stephen Hough, piano; Andrew Litton/Dallas Sym. O., Carnegie Hall. Feb. 9. "Timepiece is a fine program opener, an hors d’oeuvre like a cartoon score built upon the ticking sound implied in its title. It contrasts blocks of breathing, gentle string chords with episodes of industrious busyness … like a soundtrack for a film about a factory in the Jazz Age … By contrast, Mr. Liebermann’s piano concerto … is … a big, attractive tonal piece with a lot of drama, which lays out its themes clearly and generously and provides the pianist (Hough, for whom it was written) with a lot of virtuosic fingerwork." (Anne Midgette, NY Times, 2/13/01)

Sebastian Currier: Broken Consort; Elliott Carter: Enchanted Preludes. Cygnus Ensemble. Washington Irving H.S., NY, NY. Feb. 17. "It was notable that … Broken Consorts was the only piece that really dealt with the timbral characteristics of each instrument in the group: violin and cello, flute and oboe, and two guitars … His piece, a chain of episodes introduced by a repeating pattern of strummed guitar punctuated with sharp single tones on the flute, was happily adroit, if somewhat prolix … Elliott Carter’s 1988 [piece] for flute and cello, was by far the high point of the evening, with a satisfying intellectual and emotional weight that lifted it above the rest of the program." (Ann Midgette, NY Times, 3/20/01)

Karlheinz Stockhausen: Klavierstück IX; Tierkreis; Kontakte. Ensemble 21. Miller Theatre. NY, NY. Feb. 22. "Marilyn Nonken gave a luminous account of the piano piece … The chord repetitions were tense and lifted as much as they thudded; the surreptitious detail of changes in balance and resonance came through, partly thanks to the use of moderate amplification, as Mr. Stockhausen prefers … The artificial sounds [of Kontakte], laid down by the composer on tape, seemed to come straight from nature; sounds of rushing winds, thunder, the cries and bellowings of animals, a distant human choir, falling water. The pair of performers—Ms. Nonken again and Tom Kolor—were like Eve and Adam in a harsh Garden of Eden, flooded with information about the world and racing with supreme energy and agility to keep up with the flow. Their music-making created a further flood of beautiful, bewildering information and was thrillingly dramatic. A classic was refreshed." (Paul Griffiths, NY Times, 2/22/01)

*Lewis Spratlan: When Crows Gather. NY premiere. Hostetter/Sequitur Ens. New York, NY. Feb. 27. "When Crows Gather was inspired by an incident one December morning when a throng of crows gathered in trees outside Spratlan’s studio. In the onrushing opening section, the instruments evoke wintry winds through swooshing, darting thematic lines, before the music settles into a loopy dance. An Ivesian episode follows in which chorale-like evocations of summertime parlor songs and a near-inaudible piano rag are jabbed by spiky counterpoint for strings … The arresting piece is [filled with] complex and gritty language." (Anthony Tommasini, NY Times, nd. Bracketed text presumably that of Schirmer News)

PERSPECTIVES: Music of Stockhausen, Webern & others. Maurizio Pollini, piano. Carnegie Hall. March 19. "If there was one thing that characterized Maurizio Pollini’s contribution to [this] series, it was the degree to which he leveled the ground on which old and new could meet … In the [final series concert] … Mr. Pollini played … Brahms and Beethoven with an energy and an edge that suggested how fresh this music must have sounded when it was new. [Yet] he played works by Webern and Stockhausen not only with a clarity that made the abstruse comprehensible, but also in a way that made the music sound warm-blooded, not calculated … Klavierstücke V, with its short bursts of color and texture, and Klavierstücke IX, with its pounded, repeating chords, its use of the overtones left hanging after the chords fade away, and its fragmented lines, can sound disjointed without … a performer who understands Stockhausen’s sound world. In these and in Webern’s Piano Variations (Op. 27), Mr. Pollini’s triumph was in persuasively conveying the logic of the music’s progression and in illuminating such niceties as Webern’s use of dynamics almost as a strand of counterpoint, separate from and as important as the notes they modify." (Allan Kozinn, NY Times, 3/21/01)

PERSPECTIVES: Music of Schoenberg, Knussen, Goehr, Takemitsu and Stravinsky. O. Knussen/ London Sinfonietta. Carnegie Hall. March 28. "The program began with a fascinating curiosity … Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene (1929-30) is a film score in search of a film … [Schoenberg] composed this turbulent and fractious music for an imaginary one. [His] influence … seemed clear in the highly charged melodic writing that runs through Mr. Knussen’s Way to Castle Yonder, a potpourri for orch. from his opera Higglety Pigglety Pop! … But the luscious harmonic writing is awash with Impressionism, while the lucid textures and spiky rhythms are steeped, it seemed, in late Stravinsky [whose] steely, crystalline Movements for piano & orchestra (1958-59), with [Philip] Bush ably substituting for Mr. Serkin at the keyboard, [followed]. Bush was also impressive in Alexander Goehr’s fitful and arresting Konzertstuck for piano & small orch. (1969) … All these works prepared us for Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles (1965-66), in which he compressed an entire requiem Mass into about 15 galvanizing spare and moving minutes." (Anthony Tommasini. NY Times, 4/2/01)