A Keeril Makan Premiere, Conducted by Richard Carrick

by Ted Gordon on April 4, 2014, 10:25 a.m.

Boston has always been a strong home for new music, and this weekend, across the Charles River, MIT hosts the world premiere of Keeril Makan's Letting Time Circle Through Us, for percussion, cimbalom, acoustic guitar, piano, violin, and cello. Makan's meditative, crystalline music has been recorded by ICE, the Kronos Quartet, and the Either/Or Ensemble-- and on Saturday, April 5th, fellow PSNY composer Richard Carrick leads the Either/Or ensemble in the performance of Makan's new piece. No stranger to performing Makan's work, Either/Or has recorded several of his works, and are a Visiting Artist ensemble at MIT for the 2013-2014 season. Check out some of our favorite works be Keeril Makan over at his Soundcloud page. 

Richard Carrick is also releasing a new CD on New Focus Recordings of compositions for solo electric guitar, entitled Stone Guitars. A preview of material on the forthcoming album can be seen below. 

The Living Earth Show Perform Knight, Andres on New CD

by Ted Gordon on Nov. 22, 2013, 5:31 p.m.

Adrian Knight and Timo Andres are among several composers whose works have been recently recorded by The Living Earth Show, a San Francisco-based duo of guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionist Andrew Meyerson. Their new CD, High Art, was released on Innova on November 19th, and includes Knight's "Family Man" and Andres' "You Broke It, You Bought It." Already well-reviewed by the SF Examiner and written up in the San Fransisco Classical Voice, the album is The Living Earth Show's recording debut; they have performed the works of Knight, Andres, and others across the country since 2012. Check out the video for "Family Man" below: 

Knight's works on PSNY for guitar include "Bon Voyage" (three guitars) and "Daedaldualism" (guitar, synthesizer, and electronics); other electro-acoustic works include "The Tears" (harp, live electronics) and "Vain Attempts" (piano, electronics). Andres' works on PSNY with percussion include "Crashing Through Fences" (piccolo, glockenspiel, two bass drums) and "Trade Winds" (bass clarinet, piano, percussion, string quartet).  

Springtime for New Music

by Ted Gordon on March 13, 2012, 2:25 p.m.

A lot has happened at PSNY since we last brought you news of the first ever digital publication of Morton Subotnick's chamber music: we've added almost 20 new works by several of our composers, including Adrian Knight, Timothy Andres, Alex Mincek, Tobias Picker, Pierre Jalbert, and Fred Lerdahl. Here are some highlights from this recent round of additions:

Adrian Knight's "Daedaldualism," for electric guitar, synthesizer, and live electronics:

Like Subotnick, Knight writes much of his chamber music to include electronics, both fixed and live. We're especially exited to be able to publish his music through PSNY since it seems a perfect fit for music with electronics-- all patches and programs are downloadable, and we're more than happy to answer any questions about the technical requirements. 

Alex Mincek's "Karate", for two saxophones:

"Karate" is just one of several pieces Mincek has written for saxophone, an instrument with which he is intimately familiar. "Karate," in particular, bursts with virtuosic, competitive tension, as two saxophones are seemingly pitted against each other in battle. Strongly reminiscent of John Zorn's early "game pieces" in structure, as well as the wildly frenetic aesthetic of "For Alto"-era Anthony Braxton.

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