Journal
- Monday, October 28, 2024
"There's a kind of dynamism and movement to it that's just exquisite," Ken Burns says of Leonardo da Vinci's work. "He could feel, I think quite rightfully, that he had lived a fuller life than practically anybody I've ever come across in my study in any period." Burns was on CBS Sunday Morning with his co-directors, Sarah Burns and David McMahon, to talk with correspondent David Pogue about their new two-part documentary, LEONARDO da VINCI, which airs on PBS November 18 and 19 and for which Caroline Shaw wrote an original score. You can watch the piece here.
Journal Topics:
- Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Jeremy Denk was on BBC Radio 4's Front Row to talk with presenter Kirsty Wark about Charles Ives, ahead of Denk's celebration of the composer's 150th birthday in concert at the Lammermuir Festival in Scotland this weekend and on his upcoming album Ives Denk, due October 18 on Nonesuch. You can hear their conversation here at 17:30 minutes in.
Journal Topics: Artist News, RadioWednesday, September 4, 2024Donnacha Dennehy’s Land of Winter is due November 15 on Nonesuch. The piece, performed by the composer's longtime collaborators Alarm Will Sound and conductor Alan Pierson, explores the subtleties of Ireland’s seasons via twelve connected sections representing the months of the year. "It is the varying quality of light that truly demarcates the seasons," Dennehy says, "from the shorter days of grey or piercing light in the winter to the warmer but mercurial light of summer days that at solstice stretch almost to midnight. I like this play between light and time, and it is the major inspiration behind the piece." You can watch a video for “November" here.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News, VideoWednesday, September 4, 2024Laurie Anderson will present a four-episode BBC Radio 6 Music Artist in Residence series December 16–19, 11pm–12am GMT. The themes of Anderson's four playlists: the real world; love and energy; loneliness and change; and the dream world. “It’s been a blast being your DJ and I hope you like the things I put together for 6 Music," she says. "I always wanted to have a late night radio show for people who are somewhere between awake and asleep. But even if you’re out and about—I hope you have a good time listening to some of my favorite music." Anderson is on BBC World Service's In the Studio, offering a front row seat as she put the finishing touches on her new album, Amelia, at Miraval Studios in southern France, with engineer Damien Quintard.
Journal Topics: Artist News, RadioTuesday, September 3, 2024Hurray for the Riff Raff, aka Alynda Segarra, was joined by guitarist Johnny Wilson to perform a Track Star Presents set of songs from Segarra's new album, The Past Is Still Alive—"Alibi," "Buffalo," Colossus of Roads," and "Snake Plant (The Past Is Still Alive)"—as well as a cover of the Marcy Playground hit "Sex & Candy." Segarra also talks with host Jack Coyne about the new album, traveling the country, and first learning to play music. You can watch it here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoFriday, August 30, 2024Laurie Anderson’s new album Amelia, about renowned female aviator Amelia Earhart’s tragic last flight, is out now. On the album, she is joined by the Czech orchestra Filharmonie Brno, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, and Anohni, Gabriel Cabezas, Rob Moose, Ryan Kelly, Martha Mooke, Marc Ribot, Tony Scherr, Nadia Sirota, and Kenny Wollesen. Anderson shares the story behind the album in a new video you can watch here, featuring her conversations with author/journalist Jonathan Cott and conductor/arranger Dennis Russell Davies, archival photographs and film, and songs from the album.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News, VideoFriday, August 30, 2024Brad Mehldau leads residency at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club in NYC. Sam Amidon performs at UK's End of the Road. Ambrose Akinmusire tours France and Germany. Tyondai Braxton is in Woodstock. Jeremy Denk performs in the Republic of Georgia. Emmylou Harris is at Rhode Island's Rhythm & Roots Fest. Hurray for the Riff Raff is at Bumbershoot in Seattle. The Magnetic Fields perform 69 Love Songs at the Barbican in London, where Steve Reich's Jacob’s Ladder gets UK premiere at Royal Albert Hall for BBC Proms. Jeff Parker is in LA. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway are in Virginia, Georgia, and Illinois.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsTuesday, August 27, 2024Ahead of the Playwrights Horizons production of Gabriel Kahane’s Magnificent Bird / Book of Travelers comes a new recording of "Red Letter Days," out now. Kahane wrote the song in October 2020, during the final month of a year spent off the internet, at the height of the pandemic. The previously unreleased track, along with others from his October 2020 song-a-day project, will be performed by Kahane as part of the NYC theater’s staged presentation of music from the Nonesuch albums Magnificent Bird and Book of Travelers September 24–October 6, 2024.
Journal Topics: Artist News, On TourTuesday, August 27, 2024"I think he’s an absolute genius, and his way of thinking about creativity has totally shaped my way of thinking about creativity," Isaac Butler, host of Slate's Working podcast, says of his guest, composer and bandleader Darcy James Argue. They discuss the thought processes that go into Argue's compositions, as on his Secret Society ensemble's 2023 Nonesuch debut album, Dynamic Maximum Tension, and more. You can hear their conversation here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, PodcastFriday, August 23, 2024Laurie Anderson leads an Amelia listening party and conversation at Guild Hall in Easthampton, NY. Ambrose Akinmusire gives West Coast premiere of new work at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in San Francisco. Julia Bullock sings Converse, Simone, Weill, Dylan, Odetta, Cage, and more in London, where Vagabon plays All Points East. The Magnetic Fields perform 69 Love Songs in Edinburgh. Davóne Tines joins BSO for Beethoven's Ninth at Tanglewood. Yasmin Williams performs in Charlottesville and Asheville.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsFriday, August 23, 2024Laurie Anderson, whose new album, Amelia, is due August 30, has shared music videos from the archives for her 1989 album Strange Angels, originally released on Warner Records, on the Nonesuch Records YouTube channel: "Beautiful Red Dress" and a series of PSAs ("Personal Service Announcements"); you can watch both here. They join her previously posted "O Superman," "Sharkey's Day," and "Language Is a Virus."
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoTuesday, August 20, 2024Jeremy Denk's album Ives Denk, due October 18, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Ives' birth, features the composer's four violin sonatas, performed with violinist Stefan Jackiw, as well as remastered versions of his Sonatas No. 1 and 2 for piano, from Denk's 2010 debut recording, Jeremy Denk Plays Ives. "Mr. Denk's playing exuded affinity for Ives and vivid imagination," the New York Times says of a concert performance. "Mr. Jackiw, deftly balancing fervor and elegance, beautiful tone and earthy colorings, proved a comparably inspired Ivesian."
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsMonday, August 19, 2024For Nonesuch Records' 60th anniversary, the label has partnered with photographer Michael Wilson—who has exquisitely captured dozens of Nonesuch artists over the past quarter-century—to produce Michael Wilson / 25 Years: A Nonesuch Collection, 100 box sets of 20 newly created prints from his Nonesuch archive, due September 13. Here, Wilson shares stories from the photo sessions behind the images in the box, with Allen Toussaint, Ambrose Akinmusire, Audra McDonald, Bill Frisell, The Black Keys, Brad Mehldau, David Byrne, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris, Frederic Rzewski, Jeremy Denk, Kronos Quartet, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Manuel Galbán and Ry Cooder, Philip Glass, Randy Newman, Rhiannon Giddens, Stephin Merritt and Lemony Snicket, Steve Reich, and Timo Andres.
Journal Topics: Artist News