Anthony Paul De Ritis: Devolution

October 25, 2012 — "The mixture of influences, references and textures is both blindingly apparent and blindingly gorgeous." – WQXR Radio "…enterprising…" – Gramophone Magazine "I should think that any lover of new music would really like this and most people would at least be transfixed by the creativity…orchestration is lush…wholly engaging…" – Audiophile Audition "The performance, under the direction of Gil Rose, is a blast, hitting the score's marks with a kind of joyfully volatile precision." – New Music Box

August 14, 2012 — Questions of "real" or "fake" are dialectically put aside on the Boston Modern Orchestra Project's new recording of music by Anthony De Ritis, music in which, in a way, everything is real and fake all at the same time. Or, more precisely: this is music which is constantly, enthusiastically directing your attention to the materials out of which it’s fashioned. The manufactured nature of music, which the classical music tradition tries to misdirect away with notions of transcendence and sublimity, is here part of the whole point.

July 31, 2012 — Anthony Paul De Ritis is the chair of the Department of Music and Multimedia Studies at Northeastern University. I have heard good things about De Ritis’s music and its reliance on an eclectic, crossover combination of sound sources as well his skill at writing captivating music that unfolds in real time. De Ritis had studied with Kyle Gann, with whom I am familiar and also philosophy with Richard Fleming. De Ritis is, clearly, a bit of a visionary, himself and I find all three of these pieces new, refreshing and fascinating to listen to.