Washington Post: P-CE "liberated Copland's score"

The Washington Post sings praise for the Post-Classical Ensemble's live musical performance of Aaron Copland's score during the screening of The City (Sunday, October 14, 2007, at UMD's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center):

The live performance liberated Copland's score from the film's low-fidelity recording and made the music an equal partner with the film's images and words, presenting dated propaganda but with considerable dramatic power. The Post-Classical Ensemble synced precisely with the film (a challenge Gil-Ordonez likened to "conducting an opera where the singers are robots") and vividly rendered Copland's striking music.

Click on The Washington Post logo to read the full article (Tuesday, October 16, 2007; Page C03):

Washington Post: No Coats, Ties or Stuffed Shirts

Watch out, Washington, warns The Washington Post -- as it piles on pre-performance praise for the Post-Classical Ensemble's live musical performance of Aaron Copeland's score during the screening of The City (Sunday, October 14, 2007, at UMD's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center):

"We insist on moving outside the parameters of classical music." The result: unpredictable, idea-rich concerts designed to challenge the audience. Post-Classical is still well off the beaten path, but audiences are starting to grow -- and they're as diverse, says [Joseph] Horowitz, as the music itself...

[Angel] Gil-Ordonez... [i]s a kinetic performer onstage, using his entire body to guide the ensemble. His conversation is just as animated... He says, classical music needs to recover the freewheeling atmosphere it had before it became, well, classical. "When you went to a concert 200 years ago, it was the event of the week. You were there to meet your friends, to talk -- even during performances! At the premiere of Beethoven's Ninth, people jumped up shouting in the second movement: Aarrgghhhh! Like Mick Jagger!

"And this is the key: We have to recover this sense of spontaneity. I am still hoping somebody in the audience will just sing aloud some of the music while I'm conducting."

Click on The Washington Post logo to read the full article (Friday, October 12, 2007; Page M05):

Baltimore Sun: Bringing 'The City' back to life

The Baltimore Sun's music critic Tim Smith heralded the P-CE's live performance of Aaron Copland's score alongside the 1939 World's Fair film documentary The City.

Smith notes:

That's still not all. After the presentation, the audience will get to step, you might say, directly into the film itself. The movie's last sequence, promoting a new kind of model city built from scratch, includes footage of one such place - Greenbelt, which this year celebrates the 70th anniversary of its creation under the guidance of the Resettlement Administration during the era of the New Deal. After the screening of The City, there will be a field trip by bus to Greenbelt for a panel discussion and dessert reception.

Click the paper's logo below to read the full article:

Naxos: Artist of the Week: Angel Gil-Ordonez

Classical music leader Naxos published a close-up feature on the Post-Classical Ensemble's musical director, Angel Gil-Ordonez on its website.

Naxos notes:

Angel Gil-Ordóñez has attained an outstanding reputation among Spain’s new generation of conductors as he carries on the tradition of his teacher and mentor, Sergiu Celibidache...

In 2006, the King of Spain awarded Mr. Gil-Ordóñez the country’s highest civilian decoration, the Royal Order of Queen Isabella, which is equivalent to a knighthood, for his work in advancing Spanish culture in the world, in particular for performing and teaching Spanish music in its cultural context.

Click the Naxos logo below to read the full article:

Angel Gil-Ordonez Among WDC Chefs

Super Chef online magazine cited P-CE musical director Angel Gil-Ordonez among those important to Washington, DC-based chef and restaurateur Jose Andres.

Chef Andres had been listed among this year's Power 150 in the October issue of Washingtonian Magazine.

George Stoney Joins P-CE for The City

Legendary documentary film-maker George Stoney will be taking time out from filming a documentary about Albany, NY, to provide the voice-over for the East Coast's first full-length screening of The City, filmed for the 1939 World's Fair. The Post- Classical Ensemble will perform accompaniment live.

The event takes place Sunday, October 14, 2007, at 3:00 P.M. at UMD's Dekelbaum Hall in the Clarice Smith Center (directions).

Full article online:

Washington Post Anticipates P-CE's 2007-8 Season

The Washington Post is already eager for the coming musical season:

In October, the Post-Classical Ensemble will revive the 1939 documentary The City, which has a rarely heard Aaron Copland score

Click on The Washington Post logo to read the full article (Monday, May 7, 2007; Page C02):

Baltimore Sun: P-CE's "Soul-Touching Music"

The Baltimore Sun has followed up its preview with due diligence and published its review of the Post-Classical Ensemble's performance of Gustav Mahler's "Der Abschied" (Farewell) from Song of the Earth and the premiere of a piece by Zhou Long inspired by Mahler.

Said The Sun's Tim Smith :

The D.C.-based Post-Classical Ensemble is all about new things, and new light on old things. Friday night at the Clarice Smith Center, those two motivations came together for a fascinating exploration of Der Abschied (The Farewell), the last movement from The Song of the Earth, Gustav Mahler's indelible reflection on mortality and the comforting continuity of nature.

Click on The Baltimore Sun logo to read the full review (Friday, March 15, 2007):

Washington Post: P-CE "Revelatory Performance"

The Washington Post called the Post-Classical Ensemble's performance last Friday "a revelatory performance."

Further, The Post said:

The Post-Classical Ensemble may be the most thought-provoking music group in town. It's certainly one of the most innovative, using its concerts as laboratories for musical thought experiments. Often focusing on a single piece -- or even a single movement from a single piece -- the group probes a work's cultural "back story," pulling away layer after layer of context to expose its innermost core.

Click on The Washington Post logo to read the full review (Monday, March 19, 2007; Page C05):

Baltimore Sun: P-CE's "Music of Poetry"

The Baltimore Sun previews the Post-Classical Ensemble's performance of Gustav Mahler's "Der Abschied" (Farewell) from Song of the Earth and the premiere of a piece by Zhou Long inspired by Mahler.

Said The Sun's Tim Smith :

Music just doesn't get more profound than this.

Click on The Baltimore Sun logo to read the full review (Friday, March 15, 2007):

Gramophone: P-CE's DVD a "Vivid New Reading"

The upcoming April 2007 issue of Gramophone contains a review by Philip Kennicott of the DVD release by Naxos' of The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936) and The River, with a new recording of Virgil Thomson's musical score by Washington's own Post-Classical Ensemble.

Dallas Morning News: P-CE DVD "Smartly Played"

The Dallas Morning News has reviewed Naxos' re-issue of Pare Lorentz's 1930s classics The Plow That Broke the Plain and The River -- with soundtracks re-recorded by the Post-Classical Ensemble (P-CE).

It's a joy to hear Thomson's agreeably flinty music in up-to-date sonics, smartly played by the Washington, D.C.-based Post-Classical Ensemble, under conductor Angel Gil-Ordóñez. Thomson allows himself brief moments of gnarly mood music, but otherwise the score is a nonstop medley of marches, hymns, folk songs and what the composer himself called "darn-fool ditties," in harmonizations as spare as Lorentz's Dust Bowl scenes.

Click on the Dallas Morning Herald logo to read the full story:

Washingtonian: Horwitz Loves P-CE

Ask AFI Silver Theatre & Cultural Center's chief Murray Horwitz about his favorite Washington band, and what will he tell you?

At the top of the list is classical and that means the Post-Classical Ensemble!

Click on the Washingtonian logo below to read full article:

NYT on P-CE: "Lively and Stylish"

Today's New York Times hailed the release of Naxos' DVD of The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936) and The River, which critic Anthony Tommasini called "historic, engrossing and artistically rich films" and want on to say of the Post-Classical Ensemble's contribution:

Naxos recruited the conductor Angel Gil-Ordóñez to record the scores freshly with the Post-Classical Ensemble.

The performances are lively and stylish.

Click on the New York Times logo below, please, to read the full article:

NPR Features P-CE DVD The Plow and The River

National Public Radio reports on Naxos' re-issue of Pare Lorentz's 1930s classics The Plow That Broke the Plain and The River -- with soundtracks re-recorded by the Post-Classical Ensemble (P-CE).

Elizabeth Blair's report includes an interview with the P-CE's musical director Angel Gil-Ordonez, who describes the majesty of Virgil Thomson's film scores.

Click on the NPR image to access the audio story as well as video clips:


Click on the DVD image to get your own copy today:

Washington Post features P-CE DVD Plow and River

The Washington Post reviews Naxos' re-release of The Plow That Broke the Plain (1936) and The River, with the Post-Classical Ensemble re-recording Virgil Thomson's original score.

Said The Post's Philip Kennicott :

The music draws on Thomson's study and appreciation of cowboy ditties, church hymns and other folk melodies, all of which have such deep and far-reaching associations that few Americans will fail to find something that is both familiar and unconsciously haunting.

Click on The Washington Post logo to read the full review (Sunday, January 28, 2007; Page N02):

Wesleyan celebrates DVD of P-CE's Music Director

The Wesleyan Connector celebrates the re-release of the 1930s classics The Plow That Broke the Plain and The River, whose scores are directed by the university's music director, Angel Gil-Ordonez, who is also musical director for the Post-Classical Ensemble (P-CE).

Click on The Wesleyan Connector logo to read the full article:

Washington Diplomat: Post Classical Conductor Awarded High Honor

The Washington Diplomat reported on the award of the Royal Order of Queen Isabella by King Juan Carlos I of Spain to the Post-Classical Ensemble's Music Director Angel Gil-Ordonez for his work in promoting Spanish music in the United States.

Click the paper's logo below to read the full article: