The Brooklyn Rail
Critical Perspectives on Art, Politics and Culture
FEB 2006
Music
Dimensions in Music: The Art of the Cello, Extended: Charles Curtis Plays Waking States
by Alan LockwoodMusic
Possessed of a microtonal pitch acuity with which he mirrors sine waves, and in command of an exquisite technique that earned him first soloist chair in Hamburg’s North German Radio Orchestra, cellist Charles Curtis bridges the out and in sides of classical music. Waking States, his contemporary cello series in early December, put those virtuosic extremes—devotion to sound’s naked nuances, and mastery of an immensely sonorous instrument—on telling display.
Walking When the Woods Were Wild
by Scott MarshallMusic
Jozef van Wissem (with Gary Lucas and “field recordings” on some tracks): The Universe of Absence; Objects in Mirror Are Closer than They Appear; Narcissus Drowning; and Simulacrum: Mirror Images for Solo Lute and Electronics (all on Persephone/BVHaast, Netherlands)
Anthrax: Fearsome, Ridiculous, and Charming
by Sarahjane BlumMusic
On the corner of Forty-Fourth and Broadway, below two facing marquees uneasily promoting “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Anthrax,” are visitors checking carefully to ensure they know exactly where their line begins and the other ends. Either group could be described as a mass who ventured into this tourist trap to watch middle-aged Jewish men sing, dance, and wax nostalgic about life vastly removed from Times Square. But I, at least, could not be paid enough to see Harvey Feinstein and Rosie O’Donnell revisit life in the shtetl. I came to see Anthrax because I absolutely love them. I walked away from the evening loving them even more.
Make Me Feel Something
by Grant MoserMusic
Seductive and moody and oh-so-beautifully textured, the songs of Calla are reflections and shadowy whispers from your hidden corners. Listening to these songs is like sitting at a dark corner table in a basement bar, or being underground with a fallen angel telling you fables, or walking the city on a quiet night, or waking up from a dream and trying to grasp at the fleeting images that just recently occupied your mind.
Parthenia with Phong Bui
by Phong BuiMusic
After their usual Sunday afternoon practice, Rail Publisher Phong Bui visited the Carroll Garden studio of Rosamund Morley and Larry Lipnik, two members of Parthenia, a critically acclaimed New York-based viol consort whose ethereal, spirited and virtuoso performances of sixteenth to twenty-first century music has delighted audiences across the United States and Europe. .
