Press


2005

Review of Z'VI performance, by Allan Kozinn, New York Times


2004

Concert preview in The Woodstock Times, November, 2004


2003

Praise for premiere of Z'vi


Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, April 28, 2003
"There were also excerpts from Richard Teitelbaum's "Z'vi", an opera about the 17th century false messiah Shabbetai Z'vi, which will receive its premiere at the Venice Biennale this summer. It included two Arab musicians, a cantor, the sensational clarinetist David Krakauer and an elaborate electronic setup operated by the composer. This breathtaking score -- in which Krakauer and Jacob Ben-Zion Mendelson, in full cantorial robe, engaged in a heartwarming duet of Sufi music with Omar Faruk Tekbilek, transcended acoustics altogether. Here Sosnoff's immediacy put magnificent musicians in our laps, creating an overpoweringly visceral effect of barriers being broken."


The Wire Magazine, London, England, January 2003
Blends (New Albion) named one of ten best CDs of 2002 in Contemporary Composition category


Reviews of Blends in Signal to Noise Magazine, The Wire, etc.


2002

Reviews in The Wire, etc.


2001

The New York Times Sunday Arts and Leisure Feature, May 13, 2001 — A Style of No Style That Spurns All Constraints, by David Toop
"Cage's open attitude about the intrinsic qualities of sound proved to be a huge influence on a generation of composers and musicians who made their mark in the 1960's. The composer Cornelius Cardew, the electronic musician Richard Teitelbaum, the film composer Ennio Morricone and the dance-bad guitarist Derek Bailey all turned to free improvisation, rejecting harmony, melody and regular rhythm. Largely based in Europe, the groups in which they played--AMM, MEV, Nuova Consonanza, SME and Music Improvisation Company--invented a new way of organizing sound in the moment, without preparation or written scores."


Richard Teitelbaum, feature article in Jazz Magazine (Paris) by Gerard Rouy, spring, 2001

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Critical Praise for Richard Teitelbaum — composer/performer of "Golem"


The Boston Globe
"Inventive, free and funny and charged with adrenaline."


The Miami Herald
"Powerfully original music."


Le Monde
"Richard Teitelbaum, enlightened explorer of the synthesizer and the first true musician of the instrument."


The New York Times
"The synthesizer is Mr. Teitelbaum's chosen instrument, and he plays it —or rather them, because he uses a battery of synthesizers and other electronic gear—as expressively and musically as a concert violinist or jazz saxophonist. In this regard, he seems virtually unique. A number of musicians use the sythesizer effectively, but nobody in this reviewer's experience plays it with the grace and delicacy of Mr. Teitelbaum."

"The most creative improvising sythesizer soloist in contemporary music."

"A fascinating dialogue between man and machine."


Downbeat
"Teitelbaum, whose background includes both classical music and improvised jazz, is one of those rare individuals with the tasteful sensibility to recognize the beauty of his sythesizer and the technological expertise to intelligently employ it. He utilizes electronics to liberate his musical ideas, freeing them from the technical limitations inherent in performing on traditional instruments."




International Acclaim for "Golem"


Falter, Vienna
"...Richard Teitelbaum's interactive opera Golem was the most exciting artistic contribution to this year's Ars Electronica".


The Independant, London
"...Saturday night's centerpiece was the premiere of Richard Teitelbaum's memorable 'Golem,' the most dazzling new multimedia piece of the festival. A labyrinth of live music with interactive computer system, projections, and film footage, 'Golem' spins off the theme of a soulless life-force and the threat of technology taking over in the age of virtual reality...."


La Presse, Montreal
"Among the best-liked elements of this extraordinary happening of the avant-garde music scene was the visual dimension of 'Golem'..."


Jazz in Time, Montreal
"Enchanting and hypnotic; leaves one shaken and moved."


The Gazette, Montreal
"...Teitelbaum's multimedia biblical allegory...was thought-provoking.... "Unleashed in the Cinema Laurier Saturday night, the 'Golem' was an intriguing metaphor for technology run amok, pitching live players against computer software imbued with artificial intelligence...."


Die Zeit, Berlin
"Teitelbaum's 'interactive opera' [Golem]...adventurously combines the strict logic of the computer world with the Jewish secret science. It reflects a kind of direct joy in the overwhelming load of stimuli from the era of video clips. The work is also marked by a way of using the most heterogeneous styles which leaves one breathless: avant-garde free jazz, synthetic sound realism, 'musique concrete,' the experimental nerve of Charles Ives or the untamed gestures of the New York noise-pop musicians, even the works of Iannis Xanakis."