On Kurtag & Ligeti – Music for Viola, the solitary, solemn viola evokes a sense of isolation, possibly in a natural landscape (“In Nomine,” followed by “Silent Lines”). “Letter to Vera Ligeti” is light and slight; expressive is “For Imre Foldes at 60” and the fourth piece, “Chromatically saucy,” is short and dynamic, feeding easily into the next piece.
The Splendor of Southern Gold: Davell Crawford, My Gift to You
On My Gift to You, with a softly carnivalesque sound for a song of personal and cultural history, “Creole Man” indicates diverse ancestry—African, Native American, etcetera. The sensitive voice of the singer Davell Crawford is greatly appealing. “River” is uptempo, textured funk; with a marvelous chorus, and the interpolations of Doctor John and Big Freedia and Donald Harrison Jr. It is true that Davell Crawford, a musician in sacred and secular music, and the grandson of singer-songwriter and trumpeter Sugar Boy Crawford, has performed with Ruth Brown and Anders Osborne; and Davell Crawford is also musical heir to men such as Professor Longhair and James Booker and Allen Toussaint, so celebration and tribute may be a natural inclination.
The Passion and Precision of Poetry: Susanne Abbuehl, The Gift
The flugelhorn produces an eerie effect, natural, old, strange. That flugelhorn is played by Matthieu Michel; and other musicians on The Gift include Wolfert Brederode on piano
and harmonium, and Olavi Louhivuori on drums.
Voice and Piano of a Musical Messenger: Andy Bey, The World According to Andy Bey
On The World According to Andy Bey, the songs assume a coherent, intelligent caring sensibility and subject, a world in which relationships matter—even if and when relationships are troubled. Love is seen as many things: infatuation, lust, compassion, faith, loyalty, understanding, care, dedication. Meaning is preferred to nihilism. Who or what brings knowledge and joy? What allows people to become themselves? We are encouraged to consider such questions.
Legacy and Love, Memory and Music: George Benson, Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole
Throughout the album, George Benson’s guitar playing is soulful and supple—the notes are clear, concentrated, and sensuous. Through his playing and the warmth of his singing—and energetic scatting—Benson, supported by the trumpet of Wynton Marsalis, makes Cole’s signature song “Unforgettable” —a composition by Irving Gordon—now Benson’s to claim. “When I Fall in Love” is a traditionally lush romantic duet, with Idina Menzel, a performer in theater, film, and television.
Out of Tenderness and Wisdom: Ramzi Aburedwan, Reflections of Palestine
Bouzouk-player Ramzi Aburedwan’s Reflections of Palestine reminds me a little of Spanish music. (Could it be that the Middle East influenced Spain? Yes.) Music is almost always a shared thing, a common treasure. I can’t say this music is calming, as it is full of detail, intensity, shifts, requiring attention—but it is enriching.
A review of The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
Though The Narrow Road to the Deep North is very much a novel of war, and the impact of the war experience, it is also a love story. It is perhaps the love story itself – and the many manifestations of love, as it appears in the book, that affects the transformation. Love too is a permanent force, leaving its imprint, and changing us.
A review of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova
To explain the art of thinking, Konnikova uses the metaphor of the mind as an attic in which memories are filed away. The metaphor works well. The reader will readily understand that attics contain important and less important memories and that some places in the attic are more accessible than others. There is also the problem of remembering where one has placed certain items — memory retrieval. But there is much more to learning how to think than how one deals with memories.
A review of Propinquity by John Macgregor
One of the many virtuous attributes of the novel, is the warm and tender friendship between the characters which remain intact even after they go their separate ways after school and university. Another, is the idea of the spiritual search each character is pursuing in order to discover their own personal, ultimate Truth. Macgregor has created a witty, intelligent read, well-suited to those who love an intricate, well-managed mystery.
A review of Deep Blood by Phillip Thompson
As a reader, I like to travel along with my characters as they experience life, and change and grow from those experiences. At the beginning of the novel, Harper is a man who expresses little, and at the end of the novel, Harper is still a man who expresses little. Happiness is elusive.