s e q u i t u r




		Cellos Add Wordless But Lyrical Voices by Allan Kozinn, New York Times 03/04/2008 Stylistic Wanderings and Flirtations With Multimedia And Jazz by Allan Kozinn, New York Times 04/18/2007 Earthy Cuban Sounds, Rendered With An Urban Complexity by Allan Kozinn, New York Times 01/10/2007 A Menu Of Familiar Signposts And A One-Woman Opera by Anne Midgette, New York Times 04/02/2005 American Piano of the 1940s by Jack Sullivan, American Record Guide 01/01/2005 Sequitur-Concertos BBC Music Magazine 04/01/2004 Sequitur-Concertos by Ian Quinn, American Record Guide 01/31/2004 Sequitur-Concertos by Ken Smith, Gramaphone Magazine 01/01/2004 Sequitur-Concertos by Steve Smith, Time Out New York 11/20/2003 Eclecticism and Humor in Works by Lewis Spratlan by Allan Kozinn, The New York Times 11/14/2003 Meditations on Power, Old and Freshly by Allan Kozinn, The New York Times 05/22/2003 Sequitur's new-music cabarets offer contemporary classics with theatrical flair by Brian WIse, Time Out New York 05/15/2003 Music In Review: Sequitur by Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times 05/24/2002 A High-Energy Romp Through The Raucous 1940's by Anne Midgette, New York Times 10/27/2001 Seasons of Squawks on the Crows' Calendar by Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times 03/01/2001 Two Flutists Explore the 20th-Century Repertory by Allan Kozinn, The New York Times 10/28/2000 Concert Connects New With Newer by Allan Kozinn, The New York Times 04/28/2000 Poetry as the Setting for Meditations on a Child's Death by Allan Kozinn, The New York Times 11/16/1999 The Sound of the City by Robert Hilferty, The Village Voice 01/26/1999 Music: Classical and New by Rose Martelli, newyork.citysearch.com 01/18/1999 New Songs Spring Forth In a Lively Mixture by Paul Griffiths, The New York Times 01/13/1999 A Cozy Cabaret Of Comical Sultriness by Justin Davidson, New York Newsday 01/12/1999 Sequitur: George Crumb Concert by Kenneth Goldsmith, New York Press 11/18/1998 Clash Of The Titans: Two Legendary Composers are Feted by Ken Smith, Time Out New York 10/22/1998 Sequitur: Kaye Playhouse Concert by Mark W. Greenfest, The New Music Connoisseur 05/18/1997 New Works Teeming With Fauna by Allan Kozinn, The New York Times 02/22/1997

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	Sequitur: George Crumb Concert by Kenneth Goldsmith, New York Press 11/18/1998 You don't hear George Crumb's name bandied about avant circles the way you do Xenakis, Stockhausen or Berio. Crumb seems to have garnered a certain credibility among the uptown crowd; a roomful of Elliott Carter fans might think highly of Crumb. There's a certain academic vibe to his reputation that leaves him out in the hipster cold-which is a shame, because an evening of Crumb's full-blown instrumental works is nothing short of revelatory in terms of just how radical a composer he is. It's a quiet radicality that reveals itself best when seen and heard live as opposed to just heard via his numerous recordings. Take his opus "Ancient Voices of Children" (1970), with lyrics by Federico Garcia Lorca, for example. I've owned the LP forever and it never hit me quite right - I gave it a listening or two, but its slow pace and conventional aura relegated it to my shelf for years. However, Sequitur's small army of musicians brandishing everything from toy pianos to music saws made me wish that the 40-minute piece would never end. It's a testament to Crumb's skills that he can keep so many small events happening simultaneously, without the piece turning into either gray muddiness or a three-ring circus. I couldn't get over the guy playing a mandolin with a glass jar or the duet of a fat chromatic harmonica and a groovy electric piano. The pianist kept plucking the strings of the piano with a guitar pick, while the mezzo-soprano, Mary Nessinger, screamed into the strings under the lid, making the entire hall vibrate madly. Offstage in the wings, a boy soprano, David Nierenberg, sang throughout the whole piece, only to appear onstage at the very end for a chilling duet with Nessinger, where they both yelled into the piano strings. The boy's voice and the mezzo's voice were so closely pitched that it was impossible to tell who was singing. It was nothing short of remarkable. Sequitur played two other Crumb works: the 1970 electric string quartet "Black Angels" and a second Lorca composition, Federico's "Little Songs for Children" (1986), scored for prepared harp, multiple flutes and soprano. Both were stunning and, once again, it was the seeing that made the hearing that much more intriguing. I've got two versions of Black Angels on disc and both emphasize the searingly pumped-up screams of the strings. Sequitur, however, took a completely different tack by turning down the volume while raising the echo. Instead of a sonic assault, the work became a lesson in subtlety and quiesence. Crumb makes the string quartet perform Herculean tasks while playing their instruments; they're required to click their tongues, use their mouths as percussion instruments, whoop and holler, bash gongs, play their instruments in reverse by sawing at the top of the neck and fingering at the base, and bow sets of glasses filled with different levels of water to create microtones. Although I've played the recording of Black Angels time and again, I never had any idea that so much was contained in the work. And that's the ultimate testament to George Crumb: Where many others would use such tactics to draw attention away from the inherent weakness of the music, Crumb manages to integrate the entire kitchen sink into his work so seamlessly that it comes out the other end sounding nothing short of elegant.

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