THENEWYORKER,DECEMBER13, 2021 5
OPPOSITE: SOURCE PHOTOGRAPHS FROM WARNER BROS. / PHOTOFEST (“THE LEARNING TREE”); M-G-M / PHOTOFEST (“SHAFT”); PARAMOUNT PICTURES / PHOTOFEST (“LEADBELLY”); RIGHT: ILLUSTRATION BY ELEANOR DAVIS
In 2007, Robert Plant, the Led Zeppelin front man, and Alison
Krauss, the decorated bluegrass singer, released the collaborative
album “Raising Sand,” which not only defined a moment in modern
roots music but won a Grammy for Album of the Year. More than
a decade later, the two seemingly varying musicians pick up where
they left off with the follow-up “Raise the Roof.” They do all they
can to re-create the conditions that produced the original’s magic: the
album is again helmed by the Americana legend T Bone Burnett, who
is assisted by some of the finest session players in the world, and they
convene once more for a collection of stunning covers handpicked by
Burnett himself. The pair’s contrasting vocals remains the draw, but
this sampler of styles—which includes the blues of Allen Toussaint
and the indie rock of the Tex-Mex band Calexico, along with the
folk of Anne Briggs and the country of Merle Haggard—stands to
reinforce the entire cast’s deep love of roots sounds.—Sheldon Pearce
AMERICANA
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MUSIC
Kati Agócs
CLASSICAL The signature “Composer Portraits”
series at Miller Theatre, which has supplied
a vital platform for dozens of established
and emerging artists through the years, re-
sumes for the venue’s first in-person event
since March of 2020. In the spotlight is Kati
Agócs, whose music is known for its elemen-
tal strength and generous lyricism. “Voices
of the Immaculate,” performed, in its world
première, by the soprano Lucy Dhegrae, with
the chamber collective Third Sound, blends
scripture from the Book of Revelation with
testimony from victims of abuse by clergy.
“Immutable Dreams,” a quintet from 2007,
completes the program.—Steve Smith (Miller
Theatre; Dec. 9 at 8.)
“Eurydice”
OPERA Matthew Aucoin’s opera “Eurydice,”
adapted from Sarah Ruhl’s play of the same
name, isn’t exactly a retelling of the Orpheus
myth from the heroine’s point of view, although
we do see Eurydice’s descent to Hades and her
various encounters there—some heartbreaking,
others quite funny—as though she were Lewis
Carroll’s Alice in the underworld. Erin Morley
lends her a saucy, independent streak and a
shimmery soprano that peals like a string of
tiny bells in her upper register. But Eurydice
is a reluctant muse: in her central aria, “This
is what it is to love an artist,” she becomes
music, mimicking the gorgeous swirls and up-
ward scales of Aucoin’s score, but she does not
readily reveal her feelings. The baritone Joshua
Hopkins sounds handsome and reassuring as
Orpheus, and the conductor Yannick Nézet-
Séguin stirs up an atmosphere of equivocation
and suspension. The ascent from Hades is a
highlight of Mary Zimmerman’s thoughtful
production.—Oussama Zahr (Metropolitan Opera
House; Dec. 8, Dec. 11, and Dec. 16.)
Laura Marling
FOLK The pandemic brought a pair of dis-
tinct Laura Marling albums—“Song for Our
Daughter,” a 2020 solo release, and “Ani-
mal,” from July, the second LP by LUMP,
her duo with the producer Mike Lindsay.
The records travel in separate lanes: “Song
for Our Daughter” is the thirty-one-year-old
Brit’s seventh solo album of patently earnest
folk songs, whereas the chillier LUMP ma-
terial casts Marling’s downbeat croon in soft
dance beats, like Joni Mitchell gone disco
diva. Both deviate from the diaristic tone of
the musician’s earlier work while retaining its
feminism. “Song for Our Daughter,” the focus
of Marling’s show at Brooklyn Made, on Dec.
13, draws inspiration from Maya Angelou’s
“Letter to My Daughter.” Some are cautionary
tales, others are answer songs, but all come
steeped in warmth, empathy, and meticulous-
ness.—Jay Ruttenberg
Lyra Pramuk
EXPERIMENTAL The recordings of the Ber-
lin-based electronic artist Lyra Pramuk
constitute a symphony of the self—choral
music illuminating just how sublime the
experience of solitude can be. Her début
full-length, “Fountain,” from 2020, is built
solely on digitally processed layers of her
conservatory-trained voice. This staggering
song cycle can sound ambient or operatic,
toweringly abuzz or bathed in light, evoking
hymns and showcasing daring extended vocal
technique—as if Enya had collaborated with
Anohni, or Meredith Monk had amplified
the wordless melodies of Elizabeth Fraser.
The grandeur of classical fuses with the dy-
namism of pop to produce a divine spirit of
becoming. Pramuk has previously collaborated
with Holly Herndon and Colin Self, musicians
who similarly research themselves and the
future. And although “Fountain” was largely
self-contained, the live U.S. première will
expand Pramuk’s robust interior world ever
outward. On Dec. 10-11, Pramuk is joined by
an ensemble at the contemporary art center
MOMA PS1.—Jenn Pelly
Randy Ingram and Aubrey
Johnson Duo
JAZZ The seamless union of pianist and vocalist
is, in a jazz context, an act of immeasurable
poise and trust; the keyboardist is alternately
a selfless accompanist and a measured soloist,
the singer both a featured artist and a gracious
collaborator. Aubrey Johnson, a knowing vocal
artist and a committed educator, attempts this
artistic balancing act with Randy Ingram, a
pianist of taste and resourcefulness, at Soap-
box gallery, on Dec. 9. The fact that both have
independently recorded Jimmy Rowles’s ex-
quisite composition “The Peacocks”—Ingram
on the album “The Wandering,” from 2017,
and Johnson on her début album, “Unraveled,”
from 2020—is a sure sign that kindred stars
are aligning.—Steve Futterman
Josey Rebelle: “TTT Mixtape”
ELECTRONIC Dance d.j.s tend to craft smooth
rhythmic arcs with disparate recordings, com-
municating a persona through their selections,
but sometimes their more free-form moments
are the most telling. Back in April, the London
house spinner Josey Rebelle made “TTT Mix-
tape,” a ninety-minute outing for the British
dance label the Trilogy Tapes (which is now
available on its SoundCloud). Rebelle’s set
doesn’t hew to any specific b.p.m. range, but
she ties together, with finesse, a wide range
of formative material, from eighties electro
