Still Point
from the album STILLPOINT
Awadagin Pratt w/ Roomful of Teeth & A Far Cry
New Amsterdam Records, 2023
“A gorgeous synthesis of Pratt, Roomful of Teeth, and A Far Cry’s ability to enhance and support each other, Still Point reminds us that the experience of time is unique and individual; what is still and balanced for one can be electrifying and generative for another.” - A. Kori Hill, icareifyoulisten
Read the NPR Review of STILLPOINT
Together
from the album Together
yMusic & Judd Greenstein
New Amsterdam Records, 2022
“Together” is at once beautiful and thought-provoking, an elegant 15-minute stretch of sheer sonic pleasure that also comments — wisely and lightly — on the terms of its own creation…
To listen to “Together”..was to be reminded how much can be accomplished within this sound world. In the initial establishing sections, Greenstein sets up a collection of distinctive musical worlds, one for each instrumentalist — a rapid flourish for the flute like the song of a fantastical nightingale, harmonically exploratory figures for the strings, and so forth.
Each piece of musical material occupies its own harmonic and rhythmic space, not dependent on anyone else but not entirely isolated either. The gestures interact in a loosely connected way. Each one is, as the saying has it, a mood.
And then, with subtle but sure-footed directness, Greenstein gathers them in for the sequel. Rhythms are increasingly shared; the harmonies allude to one another. “Listen to that,” you think, “they’re playing together” — and suddenly, a musical attribute that has always seemed a basic requirement begins to feel like a radiant achievement.” - Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle
Read the NPR Review of Together
Four on the Floor
from the album Unbound
Jasper String Quartet
New Amsterdam Records / Sono Luminus, 2017
“The pop-style rhythmic fury of Judd Greenstein’s “Four on the Floor” is exhilarating.” - Seth Colter Walls, New York Times, Best Recordings of 2017
Jasper String Quartet sounds to be on the same page as each of the composers on the album, but their performance of Judd Greenstein‘s Four on the Floor deserves special commendation, for they sound to be on the same line, word, and syllable as the composer. Greenstein’s rhythmic organization is virtuosic, exciting, and ironically irregular for the title, yet tactful and subtle throughout.” - Adam O’Dell, icareifyoulisten
“Judd Greenstein’s finely judged Four on the Floor is consumed in frantic motor energy before breaking out into a superb Bartókian jog-trot and climax.” - Laurence Vittes, Gramophone, June 2017
City Boy
from the album Dreamfall
NOW Ensemble
New Amsterdam Records, 2016
“Greenstein’s “City Boy” is full of lifting, pulsing musical patterns changing over time, allowing one instrument after another in the NOW Ensemble’s arsenal - of flute, clarinet, electric guitar, double bass, and piano - to shine brilliantly.” - John Schaefer, New Sounds, New York Public Radio
“Melodies, figures, riffs, textures, and moods dart about in Judd Greenstein‘s “City Boy,” sometimes returning, sometimes abandoned in mid-thought. Our “City Boy” is taking in all the sights and sounds of his bright and busy urban environment, sometimes understanding, sometimes looking wide-eyed and agape at what passes by. Witty, charming, even a touch jazzy, sometimes bringing to mind the sophisticated and brilliant scores of the “Peanuts” cartoon specials, “City Boy” brings the program to a playful close.” Don Clark, icareifyoulisten
Listen to a wonderful discussion of the piece on the New Music Listening Club podcast, with special guest Griffin Candey
In Teaching Others We Teach Ourselves
from the album Baroque
Nadia Sirota
New Amsterdam Records, 2013
Also appears as an LP single with a remix by Son Lux
“Sirota shows off her stunning mastery of the undersung viola in a captivating collection of new works that pay homage to the baroque concerto. Judd Greenstein's "In Teaching Others We Teach Ourselves," features a soaring, bittersweet melody that swoops and undulates as though mirroring flight, with rich textures.” - Ronni Reich, The Star-Ledger, Best Albums of 2013