Tobias Picker on Tzadik Records

by Ted Gordon on April 1, 2014, 2:13 p.m.

Tobias Picker, one of America's strongest composers of the 20th and 21st-centuries, has just released a new CD on John Zorn's Tzadik label, with performances by Sarah Rothenberg and the Brentano Quartet as well as members of the JACK Quartet, the Talea Ensemble, and many more. "Invisible Lilacs: Chamber Music 1976-2011," Picker's entry into Tzadik's "Composer Series", contains striking and authoratative recordings of several of his chamber works spanning four decades, inlcuding Sextet No. 2 ("Halle's Ravine"), available on PSNY, and Nova, soon to be available from PSNY. The CD also includes recordings of Picker's Piano Quintet ("Live Oaks"), and Invisible Lilacs for violin and piano, both available through Hal Leonard. Check out a video documentary of the recording process below! 

Tobias Picker's "Invisible Lilacs: Chamber Music 1976-2011" is available now from iTunes, Amazon, and most retailers. 

Beat Furrer in New York

by Ted Gordon on May 23, 2013, 3:18 p.m.

Beat Furrer, the Swiss composer and founder of Klangforum Wien, has just ended a week-long residency in New York with the Talea Ensemble. The residency included lectures, open rehearsals, and several concerts, including a non-staged performance of Furrer's opera, FAMA, which included the vocal ensemble Ekmeles, at the Bohemian National Hall. The week also included the US premiere of Furrer's 2011 Studie für Klavier, available from PSNY, on May 14th at the Austrian Cultural Forum. We're excited to be able to make available several of Furrer's works, which are notoriously difficult to get a hold of. In addition to the Studie für Klavier, Furrer's a due for violin and piano, presto for flute and piano, and Spur for string quartet and piano are all available for download. 

Wet Ink and Talea Ensemble Provide New Music for Autumn

by Ted Gordon on Nov. 23, 2011, 11:56 a.m.

Though the weather is increasingly dark and gray, and the holiday season will soon tempt us to forgo exploring new music in favor of familiar holiday music, there still exist shining beacons of new music in this wintry sea.

One such beacon - Wet Ink, which includes PSNY composers Kate Soper and Alex Mincek - has just come back from a Californian tour, where they made a deep impression on the local press. The tour ended up back in Brooklyn, at Roulette, with a program featuring Teresa McCollough performing the World Premiere of "In My Own Skin " by Alvin Singleton, and Alex Mincek and Ian Antonio (also of Yarn/Wire and Zs) performing Alex's "Nucleus."

If you haven't heard "Nucleus", here's a taste from the awesome recording on Carrier Records: 

Next up for Wet Ink: a residency at Duke University in December. And for Kate Soper, the premiere of a new work for soprano and violin, "cipher," by the SEM Ensemble at the Paula Cooper Gallery on December 13th. 

The Talea Ensemble has just held two recording sessions at the American Academy of Arts and Letters of two works by Anthony Cheung: "Windswept Cypresses" and "Centripedalocity."

Cheung, who is their pianist, will also be performing on their awesome program on Sunday the 27th at the Roger Smith Hotel, which includes works by Berio, Bartok, Nono, and Larry Polansky. It's a rare treat to hear these works, especially Nono's "'Hay que Caminar' Soñando", live: 

Hats off to these ensembles for keeping autumn vibrant with new music!