Two-Piano Works from Tobias Picker & Timo Andres

by Ted Gordon on March 4, 2014, 4:10 p.m.

Spring is in full swing, and for the past four years that means that the Ecstatic Music Festival is well underway in New York. This year, Timo Andres presents a new song cycle, "Work Songs", to be performed by Gabriel Kahane, Ted Hearne, Becca Stevens, Nathan Koci, & Andres himself. Be sure to check out the concert on March 19th, co-presented by WNYC's New Sounds!

If that doesn't satisfy your Timo fix, we have two more of his works now available from PSNY: his re-composition of Mozart's "Coronation Concerto", which he brilliantly premiered with the Metropolis Ensemble, and his concert-length, two-piano work, Shy and Mighty, which he released as an album on Nonesuch Records. 

Another two-piano work that pianists should not miss is Tobias Picker's Keys to the City, commissioned by the City of New York in commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge. Originally a piano concerto, Picker premiered the two-piano version in 1996. This work has been recorded on Chandos and Wergo. Check out an excerpt of the two-piano version here, performed by Picker and Ursula Oppens: 

David T. Little & Third Coast Percussion Release "Haunt of Last Nightfall"

by Ted Gordon on Feb. 26, 2014, 12:14 p.m.

New Amsterdam Records has just released an exciting new album of music by David T. Little, featuring Third Coast Percussion, along with Eileen Mack, Melissa Hughes, Andrew McKenna Lee, and Toby Driver. The album, "Haunt of Last Nightfall", deals with the massacre of El Mozote, El Salvador in 1981. One of the works featured on the album, "Last Nightfall," is available from PSNY. Little writes,

"It is based on the experiences of Rufina Amaya (1946-2007), a mother of three, and among the only survivors of El Mozote. Containing scenes from each day of her ordeal, the work explores an emotional reality that she may have experienced as she left her decimated family and village behind, crawling on her belly through briars and mud, toward her unwanted new life."

Check out a preview of the album here: 

Alex Mincek at the Avant Music Festival

by Ted Gordon on Feb. 19, 2014, 3:05 p.m.

On February 28th, New York's Avant Music Festival presents an evening of premieres and recent works for percussion and saxophone by Alex Mincek, featuring Mincek on saxophone, Ian Antonio on percussion, Greg Chudzik on bass, as well as members of Talujon percussion ensemble. The program includes four works: V (2012), Nucleus (2007), Out of Thin Air (2013), and the world premiere of Trio (2014). Many more of Mincek's works for small ensembles are available through PSNY, including Stems for solo piano, now available in print. 

In 2013, Mincek won the Herb Alpert Award, awarded by the Herb Alpert Foundation and CalArts; now he heads to CalArts for a residency, culminating with a portrait concert in early March. Check out a recording of Nucleus on his 2011 CD on Carrier Records: