Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise

Give me oblivion

The hyper-lyrical, gloriously old-school Russian tenor Ivan Kozlovsky sings an aria from Eduard Nápravik's Dubrovsky (1895). Via the omniaudient David Shengold.

Bob Dylan at 80

May he keep on keeping on indefinitely.

Nightafternight playlist

New and recent releases of interest.

Melancholy Grace: music of Frescobaldi, Luzzaschi, Strozzi, Bull, and others; Jean Rondeau (Erato)

Richard Barrett, strange lines and distances (via Bandcamp)

Chris Cerrone, The Arching Path and other works; Timo Andres, Lindsay Kesselman, Ian Rosenbaum, Mingzhe Wang (In a Circle)

Lucia Dlugoszewski, Exacerbated Subtlety Concert, plus works of Tan Dun and Philip Corner; Agnese Toniutti (via Bandcamp)

Mascagni, Iris; Karine Babajanyan, David Oštrek, Ernesto Petti, Samuele Simoncini, Nina Sveistrup Clausen, Felix Krieger conducting the Orchester und Chor der Berliner Operngruppe (Oehms)

Kassiani, Hymns; Alexander Lingus conducting Cappella Romana (Cappella)

Wadada Leo Smith, Sacred Ceremonies; Smith, Bill Laswell, Milford Graves (Tum)

Charmaine Lee, KNVF (Erratum Musical)

Resonant Bodies: works of Charmaine Lee, Pamela Z, John Cage, Amadeus Regucera, Susan Botti, and others (New Focus)

Malcolm Arnold, The Dancing Master; Eleanor Dennis, Catherine Carby, Fiona Kimm, Ed Lyon, Mark Wilde, Graeme Broadbent, John Andrews conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra (Resonus) 

Scott Wollschleger, Dark Days; Karl Larson (New Focus)

A Matthaeus Pipelare moment

A Pomponio Nenna moment

A Kelley Sheehan moment

For Norman Lloyd

Lloyd, center, in Orson Welles's Julius Caesar, 1937.

The great actor, director, producer, and raconteur Norman Lloyd died today, at the age of 106. He spent his last day at his beloved home in Mandeville Canyon, Los Angeles, where he had lived since time out of mind. With him, a golden hoard of twentieth-century cultural memory is gone. I've had the honor to speak with many extraordinary people in my journalistic career; my two-hour-long conversation with Norman is, hands down, my favorite among all interviews I've done, and will probably remain so. To hear him so vividly bring to life the personalities of Welles, Schoenberg, Brecht, Eisler, Feuchtwanger, Bernard Herrmann, Chaplin, Hitchcock, and a host of others left me elated for days. Another time, I invited Norman to join me for a concert at the LA Philharmonic. Unfortunately, this never came about, but I remember his response: "A concert! I haven't been to a concert in forever. The last time, I think it was Toscanini."

More: A wonderful recollection by Todd McCarthy, who knew Norman well.

The NY Phil at the Shed

New Stages. The New Yorker, May 10, 2021.

Easter and Kassiani

Χριστός ἀνέστη! Today is Easter, and I am thinking of my late mother, who was a devout Greek Orthodox and the granddaughter of a notable priest, Rev. Basilios Lambrides. I'm listening to Hymns of Kassiani, a new disc by the Byzantine choir Cappella Romana. This ninth-century abbess, whose Troparion is sung on Holy Wednesday, is the earliest female composer whose music is still known.

A Linda Catlin Smith moment

This recent program by Toronto's Thin Edge New Music Collective includes the première of Dark Flower, a major new piano quartet by Smith, alongside pieces by Jonathan Bailey Holland, Sarah Hennies, and Alex Jang.