How People Actually Listen - Stop Pandering to an Extinct World a short response to Who Cares How you Listen? - Thoughts on Our Relationship with Recordings read the post to which this piece is a response here As musicians or people interested in classical music, we must simply face the truth. The last time the concert hall has been the "primary mode of consumption" in classical music has been literal decades. Even as early as 2002, a consumer study published by Audience Insight LLC lists radio as the number one source for listening to classical music, followed by recordings, and then lastly live concerts (view here ). It is naïve, seemingly purposefully so, of musicians to deny this fact again and again. The only musicians who have a "complex relationship with recorded music," are those who blame the lack of their career success on it no longer being the 'good ole days'. The authors of Who Cares How You Listen? - Thoughts on Our Relationship with Recordings...

Robert Carl - Sentient Serenade The sparse serenade sounds more intellectual than natural, a literal distillation of the organic world through a mathematical lens.  Robert Carl 's Sentient Serenade  is a fresh take on how natural sounds inspire new creations of art. Carl conceived of the piece after viewing a spectrogram of natural sounds. Using an indirect source for musical material is an interesting concept, which can be heard throughout the work. The sparse serenade sounds more intellectual than natural, a literal distillation of the organic world through a mathematical lens. Carl has a strong sense of traditional rhetoric in his music, which creates a notable sense of form and focus when repeating short motives. Performed and recorded by the Four Corners Ensemble  (4CE), Sentient Serenade  demands a high level of focus for the players. While sounding technically easy, the piece is exposed in orchestration, and relies primarily on the perfect execution of timbral...

 John Mackey - Divine Mischief: Concerto for Clarinet Divine Mischief  is erratic, borderline random, at times corny, but most of all, firmly entertaining. John Mackey 's latest work, a three-movement concerto for clarinet and wind ensemble, challenges the expected norms of the genre. Divine Mischief is erratic, borderline random, at times corny, but most of all, firmly entertaining. Mackey's sudden and drastic shifts of style, meter, and timbre are brought to life and even exaggerated by the virtuosic theatrics of clarinetist Julian Bliss . The concerto was premiered by Bliss and the Dallas Winds on the 18th, and had its second performance by Baylor University on the 20th. Throughout all three movements, Mackey throws the audience for a loop by having the solo clarinetist musically portray the titular mischief. Every time the music begins the settle into a groove or mood, Bliss plays a completely contradictory note. Even the first entrance of the clarinet, guns blazing with...