Rhiannon Giddens, Molly Tuttle, Vagabon, Kronos Quartet News & More
Rhiannon Giddens partners with PA Innocence Project * Molly Tuttle shares "Alice in the Bluegrass" video * Vagabon on Paste digital cover * Kronos Quartet anniversary playlist series & more
News from the Nonesuch Journal
Rhiannon Giddens Partners with PA Innocence Project to Support Wrongfully Convicted Individuals
Rhiannon Giddens is collaborating with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project on a fundraising initiative and a powerful music video for her song "Another Wasted Life," released this week, on Wrongful Conviction Day. The video, directed by Daniel Madoff, features 22 wrongfully convicted people, clients of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, who collectively spent more than 500 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. Inspired by the tragic story of Kalief Browder, a young man wrongfully incarcerated at NYC's Rikers Island for three years, where he was subjected to nearly two years of solitary confinement, Giddens wrote "Another Wasted Life," from her album You're the One, as a reminder of the human toll exacted by wrongful convictions and the importance of prison reform.
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway Share "Alice in Bluegrass" Video
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, who won three IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards last week, have released a video for "Alice in the Bluegrass," from their new album, City of Gold. The video was made by Joshua Britt & Neilson Hubbard at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios, where the album was recorded.
Vagabon Feature of Paste Digital Cover Story
"To unspool Tamko's music is a bountiful reward," Matt Mitchell writes of Vagabon (aka Lætitia Tamko) and her new album in Paste magazine's digital cover story. "Especially on Sorry I Haven't Called, the work is dazzling and stirring … a euphoric token of growth, romance and reflection."
Rhiannon Giddens Inducted Into American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Rhiannon Giddens was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences this week, along with her fellow members of the classes of 2022 and 2023, like Salman Rushdie, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jason Moran, Gustavo Dudamel, Zadie Smith, and others.
Listen: Kronos Quartet Shares First of Five Playlists Celebrating Five Decades
As part of Kronos: Five Decades, the year-long celebration of Kronos Quartet's 50th anniversary, the group is publishing five decade-spanning playlists curated by its founder and violinist David Harrington. The first, featuring music Kronos performed in its first decade, 1973–1982, is out now. It includes works the quartet would later record on Nonesuch by George Crumb, Ken Benshoof, Terry Riley, Anton Webern, Peter Sculthorpe, Dmitri Shostakovich, Jimi Hendrix, Aulis Sallinen, Alban Berg, Witold Lutoslawski, and Samuel Barber.
Nonesuch Events for the Weekend
Cécile McLorin Salvant continues a residency at NYC's Village Vanguard through Sunday. Carminho kicks off North American tour in Boston and New Jersey. John Adams's Naive and Sentimental Music is performed by SF Symphony led by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Timo Andres joins Calder Quartet in California and New Mexico. David Byrne chats with Kalefa Sanneh at The New Yorker Festival. Tigran Hamasyan is in South Korea. Makaya McCraven is in Kentucky. Mandy Patinkin performs in Portsmouth, NH. NY Phil premieres Steve Reich's Jacob’s Ladder. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway tour California and Oregon.
Richard Goode's Beethoven: The Complete Sonatas at 30
It was 30 years ago this week: pianist Richard Goode's ten-disc set of the complete Beethoven sonatas was released on Nonesuch. "Superb," said the Guardian. "An outstanding set," exclaimed the New York Times. "It is hard to think of any other artist at once technically, temperamentally and intellectually as suited to the challenges of these sonatas." Gramophone calls it "one of the finest interpretations ever put on record."
Randy Newman's Nonesuch Debut at 20
It was 20 years ago this week: The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1 was released on Nonesuch. For Randy Newman's label debut, the legendary singer-songwriter revisits earlier work via a piano-and-voice solo set. The collection, says the Chicago Sun-Times, offers "an intimate, seamless and seemingly effortless stroll through some of the highlights and obscurities in his catalogue."