NOW is one of the many composer-driven chamber ensembles flourishing in New York that can trace its aesthetic back through Bang On A Can to Dutch minimalist Louis Andriessen, and ultimately, to American minimalists like Steve Reich. The combination of instruments from both classical and pop worlds (flute, clarinets, bass, electric guitar, and piano) and the uninhibited cross-pollination of classical and pop traditions give the music an appealing, freewheeling vitality. The music of this recital by the NOW Ensemble is ...
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NOW is one of the many composer-driven chamber ensembles flourishing in New York that can trace its aesthetic back through Bang On A Can to Dutch minimalist Louis Andriessen, and ultimately, to American minimalists like Steve Reich. The combination of instruments from both classical and pop worlds (flute, clarinets, bass, electric guitar, and piano) and the uninhibited cross-pollination of classical and pop traditions give the music an appealing, freewheeling vitality. The music of this recital by the NOW Ensemble is notable for its sunny geniality. It's not simple or facile music by any means -- it's full of rhythmic, contrapuntal, and textural intricacies that keep it constantly engaging -- but it conveys an infectious optimism that's worlds apart from both the angst-y complexity that long characterized contemporary classical composition and the nostalgic, reactionary return to old-fashioned tonality. Judd Greenstein's description of his piece, Change, could apply to the sound and impact of many of...
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