Newkirk delivers engaged and engaging treatments of all three pieces, with arguably her rendering of Still's Africa the highlight for bringing attention to this less familiar composition.
Read More
What is American…”deploys the quartets formidable improvisatory skills to intriguing effect.”
Read More
“Any way you might like to measure it, then, their feat is impressive.”
Read More
…the string quartet pushes at the boundaries and prejudices about 21st-Century classical music…
Read More
One of the things at which PUBLIQuartet excels is re-imagining classical material by incorporating improv, and there's no better illustration of it than its treatment of Antonin Dvorák's “American” Quartet.
Read More
Jordan Bak’s debut album, Impulse, transports the listener into a viola dreamland from the very first note.
Read More
What is American | Stellar review in The Whole Note.
Read More
PUBLIQuartet’s “What Is American,” my favorite classical album of the year thus far.
Read More
This sophisticated selection is considered and beautifully performed, Bak showcasing his instrument’s resonant power in solo and chamber works.
Read More
But staples like Dvorak and Coleman are not “straight” arrangements; improvisation reigns on this album. Whether intended or not, it calls to mind that history, even with its rigor, is a reflective approximation; our past is as fluid – and often even more unfamiliar – as our present.
Read More
The tapestry the six pieces form is multi-hued and stylistically rich.
Read More
For his solo debut album, the Jamaican-American viola player Jordan Bak has put together a recital of daringly introspective music….
Read More
The ghosts of history also permeate “Am I Born,” moving like a palimpsest.
Read More
Jordan Bak Creates Immersive, Multi-Dimensional Soundscapes on “Impulse”
Read More
“The ensemble’s members are young and hip, and their music reflects those qualities along with elegant musicality, flawless technique, and imaginative programming.”
Read More
“Sometimes cool and occasionally extremely hot, the collection shows a broad swath of influences.”
Read More
“Throughout its half-hour duration the drama does not let up”
Read More
“With Goodyear’s powerful grip over the keyboard and plangent attack — he is a Beethoven specialist after all — the pianist captures the sheer horror of Hayden’s lines with fine-tuned precision”
Read More
“Goodyear’s crisply articulated performance is so full of life, so rhythmically buoyant, and the starker colours better allow one to appreciate how individual the piano writing is.”
Read More
“there’s also a great deal of color and variety of mood, from the addictive hook of the percussively driven opening chorus…to tangy harmonies that evoke a cappella period hymns.”
Read More