10 THENEWYORKER,SEPTEMBER14, 2020
ILLUSTRATION BY CELIA JACOBS
Angel Olsen’s 2019 album, “All Mirrors,” is her fullest and most sumptu-
ous production thus far. Its sweeping crescendos and string arrangements
replaced the quiet, unadorned insularity of her previous records, but the
effort was never meant as an abdication of her original sound; in fact,
her plan had always been to release the raw, largely acoustic demos that
eventually bloomed into the album’s lush recordings. She’s compiled
some of these versions on “Whole New Mess,” a risky project that could
have emphasized the blandness of unfinished work but is instead an
illuminating look at Olsen’s process and the vulnerability embedded in
her music. Intimate, stripped-back renditions of “Lark” and “Tonight”
feel like the steady roots of a bountiful sonic garden.—Julyssa LopezINDIEROCK
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MUSIC
Cyrus Chestnut Trio
JAZZ Expressing unabashed joy may be unfash-
ionable in these trying times, but the pianist
Cyrus Chestnut has been spreading good vibes
for so long that he couldn’t tone down the glee
if he tried. At the same time, no stylist this
steeped in gospel, classical, and blues is bereft
of gravitas; his characteristic work finds the
balance of exuberance and contemplation that
mainstream jazz has always sought. He’s joined
at Smoke, for a live-streamed show, by the bass-
ist Eric Wheeler and the drummer Chris Beck,
the same rhythm team that enlivened Chest-
nut’s “Kaleidoscope,” a spirited 2018 production
that found the trio boring into adaptations of
Ravel, Satie, and Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the
Water,” with equal elation.—Steve Futterman
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
CLASSICAL The arrival of a new music direc-
tor is cause for celebration, but COVID-19 is
preventing the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
from throwing a proper party for its newly
appointed leader, Jader Bignamini. Fortunately,
the D.S.O. leads the pack in presenting concerts
online, where the orchestra will showcase its
promising young Italian conductor for a global
“Jessye Norman at 75”
OPERA When Jessye Norman died, in 2019, she
had mastered all the Mt. Everest roles in opera:
Cassandra in “Les Troyens,” Aida, Elisabeth
in “Tannhäuser.” But, despite her formidable
dramatic and vocal skills, the Augusta, Georgia,
native refused to be typecast as a purely grand
singer; she loved wrapping herself around the
intricacies of German lieder as well. Her am-
bition was to make beautiful music no matter
the genre, and it’s that inclusive spirit that will
no doubt be the emotional nexus of “Jessye
Norman at 75: A Celebration,” presented by
Black Opera Productions and Brookfield Place
and live-streamed at blackoperafilm.com. Fea-
turing stars ranging from Anna Deavere Smith
to Laverne Cox, Grace Bumbry, and Dance
Theatre of Harlem, the production offers fans
and admirers the opportunity to toast Norman
while imagining the riches she would have
brought to the concert hall and to records, this
year and beyond.—Hilton Als (Sept. 15 at 6.)Mix Master Mike and Steve
Jordan: “Beat Odyssey 2020”
INSTRUMENTAL A drummer and a turntablist
improvising live together suggests something
noisy or indulgent—or both. But “Beat Od-
yssey 2020,” the first collaborative album
by the veteran studio-session drummer
Steve Jordan and the former Beastie Boys
d.j. Mix Master Mike, is spry, focussed,
and eminently approachable. Moreover, it
sounds nearly composed, almost songlike.
Simplicity is the key: Jordan leans hard into
looping funk beats, over which Mike jug-
gles ear-catching snippets rather than show
off his scratches. When he does, they res-
onate all the more.—Michaelangelo MatosKelly Lee Owens: “Inner Song”
ELECTRONIC The singer-songwriter and elec-
tronic producer Kelly Lee Owens synthesized
an irresistible strain of poppy ambient techno
on her self-titled 2017 début. Her journey
since has been a tumultuous one. After en-
during what she has referred to as the hardest
three years of her life, she looked inward,
mining personal turmoil for “Inner Song,” a
restorative new album about self-discovery
and balance. Recorded with her collaborator
James Greenwood, the record erupts with
dreamy dance music that is, by turns, mo-
bile and meditative. The warped, Simon-like
synth tones of songs such as “Jeanette” and
“Flow” ripple like synapses firing along neural
pathways, but these electric moments are
merely elements of a holistic centering ex-
perience.—Sheldon PearceLaurie Spiegel
ELECTRONIC The pioneering electronic-music
composer Laurie Spiegel created “A Har-
monic Algorithm” in 1980, using an Apple II
computer to fashion a self-generating piece
that would yield new results well beyond any
mortal artist’s life span. In March, if not for
the pandemic, she would have presented a
2011 revision of the piece—in an elaborate
surround-sound version designed in collab-
oration with the sound artist Seth Cluett—at
Brooklyn’s Issue Project Room. Recently, Issue
allowed an extremely limited audience to visitaudience. Through ticketed, live-streamed con-
certs, four initial programs, all conducted by
Bignamini, offer canonical classics and em-
phasize substantial works by Black composers,
including Philip Herbert’s poignant “Elegy:
In Memoriam—Stephen Lawrence” and Jo-
seph Boulogne’s sprightly Symphony No. 1 in
GMajor.—Steve Smith (Sept. 10-11 and Sept. 17
at 7:30 and Sept. 18 at 5:30.)Heartbeat Opera:
“The Secret Sauce”
OPERA Ever resourceful in its reimaginings of
standard repertory, Heartbeat Opera trans-
mogrified its production of “Lady M”—a riff
on Verdi’s “Macbeth”—into an “online fanta-
sia” when the pandemic cancelled live shows
in the spring. The event, hosted on Zoom, fea-
tured a live performance, a music video, and a
Q. & A. session with the cast and the creative
team. For its seventh anniversary, Heartbeat
tests the ongoing viability of that formula
with “The Secret Sauce,” a seven-day cele-
bration of the company’s inventive approach
to opera. Each show promises a different set
of music videos, drawn from Heartbeat’s
past productions, and a sneak peek at “The
Extinctionist,” a newly commissioned work
intended for digital performance.—Oussama
Zahr (Sept. 14-20.)