I’d been meaning for a while to write something about music criticism, and the increasing role of bloggers and online communities in its changing face. Completely fortuitously, a bunch of stuff has popped up in the last couple of weeks: Firstly, a chatter post on NewMusicBox by Alexandra Gardner on the merits of newspaper reviews [...]
All posts in category Reviews and responses
Responses to concerts and recordings. These are fundamentally personal responses, and aren’t intended to conform to the necessary rigour of a ‘real’ review.
Crrritic II – distance and dialogue
Posted by robertdahm on January 28, 2011
http://soundisgrammar.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/crrritic-ii-distance-and-dialogue/
Hardcore 2: the hardening
The subtitle is my own, of course, but Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop’s performance last Friday of Hardcore 2 was, well, pretty hardcore. The first thing you notice about Hardcore 2 is that it features what, on paper, just looks like a hardcore weird programme. It went like this: Enno Poppe: 17 Etüden für die Violine (1993) 2. [...]
Posted by robertdahm on June 29, 2010
http://soundisgrammar.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/hardcore-2-the-hardening/
“It is necessary to insist”
In late March, Klang ist Grammatik had the good fortune to be able to attend a bunch of stuff at Berlin’s Märzmusik festival. One of the most inspiring events, however, was the pair of remarkable artist talks. The second was with Salvatore Sciarrino (whose German is pretty basic, which was great for me because it [...]
Posted by robertdahm on May 20, 2010
http://soundisgrammar.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/it-is-necessary-to-insist/
ELISION, Ferneyhough, “Terrain”, and the performative tradition of complexity
One of the advantages of having my CD player back is that I can listen, over and over again, to this new release from ELISION ensemble of the music of Brian Ferneyhough on Kairos. Now, the disclaimer here is that Terrain is pretty much a precision-targeted, Soundisgrammar-seeking love bomb. This is some of my favourite [...]
Posted by robertdahm on May 15, 2010
http://soundisgrammar.wordpress.com/2010/05/15/elision-ferneyhough-terrain-and-the-performative-tradition-of-complexity/
Tracy’O
SoundisGrammar takes a brief foray into the beer-soaked, drug-fueld, tragi-glamorous world of rock journalism by talking about Berlin-based, Parisian electro-rock duo Tracy’O.
Posted by robertdahm on March 11, 2010
http://soundisgrammar.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/tracyo/
Golden Fur in Sydney
Here is a really weird review by Rachel Orzech of the concert Golden Fur did for New Music Network in Sydney last weekend, containing music by Liza Lim, Kate Neal, Alvin Lucier, Jaap Blonk and Marco Fusinato. It’s weird in the sense that Orzech seems fairly confident in her assertions of what the ‘average listener’ [...]
Posted by robertdahm on September 9, 2009
http://soundisgrammar.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/golden-fur-in-sydney/
Quiver
Aaaaaaaaages ago, on the 31st of July, there was a concert at the Richmond Uniting Church given by Quiver, a newly formed contemporary music ensemble. Anthony Lyons has reviewed the concert for Resonate magazine, but it (undeservedly) completely slipped SoundisGrammar’s mind. I don’t have too much to add to the linked review, except to say [...]
Posted by robertdahm on September 4, 2009
http://soundisgrammar.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/quiver/
Book review: Sounding postmodernism
David Bennett’s Sounding postmodernism (published by the Australian Music Centre) is an attempt to look at Australian composition through the lens of a modern/postmodern dichotomy. Despite the understanding of these particular terms being highly contestable in a musical context (both are very highly politicised, and the claiming of these terms by particular aesthetic/ideological camps renders [...]
Posted by robertdahm on August 29, 2009
http://soundisgrammar.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/book-review-sounding-postmodernism/
