Brion; 2 Songs from Silas Marner; Sindbad; Exiles
by Robert Carl, Fanfare Magazine
03/01/2011

Brion; 2 Songs from Silas Marner; Sindbad; Exiles
by Carson Cooman, Fanfare Magazine
03/01/2011

CD review: Harold Meltzer, "Brion, Sindbad, Exiles"
by Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle
10/31/2010

Sounds Heard: Harold Meltzer—Brion; Sindbad; Exiles
by Frank J. Oteri, New Music Box
10/26/2010

Concertos II
by Kilpatrick, American Record Guide
07/30/2010

The concertos for cello, solo bass clarinet and oboe makes this disc an inviting experiment in the contemporary concerto
by Robert Moon, Audiophile Audition
04/15/2010

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 (Albany)
by Christian Carey, splendidzine.com
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-Concertos
by Steve Smith, Time Out New York
11/20/2003

Since its inception during the Baroque period, the term concerto has generally signified a virtuoso vehicle for a soloist o soloists to flash the goods over a supportive ensemble. Naturally, like practically everything else in music, that definition underwent scrutiny during the cranky 20th century. In a most impressive recording debut, the New York new-music ensemble Sequitur offers an admirable survey of creative reinterpretations of the form.

Opening with a riotous explosion of percussion, Elliott Carter's toothy 1961 Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano with Two Chamber Orchestras deals in argumentation rather than hero worship. Egged on by their respective instrumental claques, harpsichordist Sara Laimon and pianist Steven Beck taunt, vex and importune each other throughout the piece. Soloists and ensemble(s) alike give a powerful performance of a work that has lost none of its bite.

Thea Musgrave takes an overtly narrative approach in her Lamenting with Ariadne. A solo violist (here, Daniel Panner) portrays the titular character, who mournfully wanders through a beguiling landscape; Dionysius is represented by a trumpeter who begins offstage and gradually closes in, briefly transforming the lament into a reverie. In David Rakowski's Locking Horns, the primacy of French-horn soloist Daniel Grabois is established only through great effort, and is challenged all the way by an aggressive bellow horn player in the ensemble. Harold Meltzer reverses that approach with Virginal, in which the solo harpsichordist (Laimon again) is absorbed into the ensemble texture, never to emerge. A winsome miniature with a brief but dazzling ostinato passage, Meltzer's piece finishes far too soon.

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