Steve Hackman’s Brahms x Radio with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Structure not readily grasped, song mixed with movement as unit of expression. Emotional canvas contorted to map across time. More than a hundred years between them. Hundreds of hundreds of listenings held closely, personal to every listener. Holding anxiety, tears, belonging, acceptance. Private treasures. It’s what I listen to when I’m. It’s what I listen to when I want. Feelings painted in the rhythm manifest in the melody with renderings absent drum and bass. Drive expressed in the motion of the soloists, vocalists. Brooke Simpson, Khalil Overton and Andrew Lipke. Providing cues complimented by the preemptive intonation, force clues of Steve Hackman’s conducting. Preemptive too indicative. The music remains surprising. The expected blended into the new. Fully engaging. Needs another listening. Could be sold as two performances. Or three. The first to begin to grasp it. The second to settle in. The third to flow with the new flow. Like reading lyrics on a page, as written work. Except mind humming tune, mouthing lyrics is part of the context. Part of the soundscape and experience of live performance. It is engaging. Consuming. Mind and emotion wrapping. And the excitement in hallways after, the chatter and sharing thrilled fans, personal glances of shared experience touched deeply. Keep creating, Steve Hackman. Keep performing and creating Brooke Simpson, Khalil Overton and Andrew Lipke. Keep us challengingly, lovingly, cradled cared for and catered into deeper experiences. Deeper ways of living.

Brahms x Radiohead with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra

EXCAVATION

The Arcades Project by Walter Benjamin

John Cage