On the Night of Too Many New-Music Concerts, I attended the Borromeo Quartet's performance of Reich's Different Trains at Tenri. The quartet engineered the electronic element of the work themselves, with excellent results. Reich's Holocaust memorial had even greater impact in intimate surroundings; previously, I'd heard the piece in large halls, with Kronos.... A message from a reader sent me back to the disc On the Threshold of Hope, devoted to chamber works and songs by Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Weinberg's 1944 Piano Quintet is as searingly eloquent as the big Shostakovich chamber works of the same period. Members of the Arc Ensemble play with fierce conviction.... Odd scenes at Stockhausen's funeral (via Rob Preuss).... Schoenberg est mort? Au contraire; Schoenberg is blogging.... Marc Geelhoed has found a video of a cat dancing to Ligeti.... The new Nonesuch Store offers complimentary downloads with each CD purchase.... In movie news, Jonathan Lisecki's short movie Woman In Burka will play at the Slamdance Festival in January. Hollywood is abuzz. Full disclosure: I have a spousal connection to the project. We're hoping for an actual Oscar to go with our high-quality replicas.
