Malcolm Golstein is internationally-renowned maestro. There are ravish reviews about his music in English, French and German. Click here to see some review articles.
Malcolm Goldstein performed at a concert in Strasbourg with Liu Fang, an internationally acclaimed pipa virtuoso.
Press reviews
Concert - Cordes Sensibles
... Liu Fang and Malcolm Goldstein blended their string instruments: pipa and violin, in the auditorium of the Museum for modern and contemorary arts in Strassbourg. Very beautiful sensations.
The idea of blending the two arts - the inventive tradition and free play - brought forth a sumptuous beauty in the auditorium of the Museum for modern and contemorary arts, at the same time sparse but also bewitching. Carried away by the digressions of the two artists, who alternstively offered the initiative of passages one to the other, the instruments became restrained and then allowed the flow without fore-sight, as some delicate measures by Liu Fang on the high pitched and subtle strings of her instrument. ...
The evening did not only gave Goldstein the monopoly of inventiveness. The Chinese woman offered a glimpse of the possibilities of the four strings of the pipa, as rich as the oud, allowing for very nervous articulations that found an echo in the play of violonist. The several pieces that were improvised by the two musicians were expressions of pure feelings, with a self-restraint rendered by the minimal amplification of their instruments suitable to the small hall of the auditorium. - Sophian Fanen, Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, 23 mai 2004. (click here to view the original article in French)
"Malcolm Goldstein's music has no boundary. The first time when I listened to his playing, I couldn't help being deeply touched by the soul of his music. Then we decided to play a concert together. When Gabriel Safdie, most fortunately brought us together as he believed we would collaborate particularly well, I never imagined that I could play improvised music in such a way. Yet when we sat together and began to play, I felt so free and so natural, and there was no hesitation. What we are doing is very unusual, pure improvisation, deep, and totally free. Thanks to Malcolm, a totally new musical world has opened for me. He is no doubt one of the greatest living improvisational masters of our time. For me, playing with him is like a spiritual elevation or a deep meditation. I am profoundly happy to perform with Malcolm and am looking forward to continue performing with him." - Liu Fang, April 10, 2003, Montreal.
Malcolm Goldstein, as composer/violinist, has been active in the presentation of new music and dance since the early 1960's, in New York City, as co-founder of the Tone Roads Ensemble and as participant in the Judson Dance Theater, the New York Festival of the Avant Garde and the Experimental Intermedia Foundation. Since then he has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe, presenting solo violin concerts and appearing as soloist with new music and dance ensembles.
His "soundings" improvisations have received international acclaim for having "reinventing violin playing", extending the range of tonal/sound-texture possibilities of the instrument and revealing new dimensions of expressivity.
Since the mid-1960's Goldstein has integrated structured improvisation elements into his compositions, exploring the rich sound-textures of new performance techniques within a variety of instrumental and vocal frameworks. His music has been performed at several New Music America festivals; Meet the Moderns, NYC; Pro Musica Nova, Bremen; De Ijsbreker (Amsterdam), Weiner Festwochen, Time of Music (Finland), Inventionen, Berlin; Musik der Zeit, Cologne; International Festival of Improvised Music, Neue Horizonte, Bern; Acustica International/hoerspiel festivals, West German Radio Cologne; Inventionen '89 Festival; Wittener Tage fuer Neue Kammermusik; De Ijsbreker, Amsterdam; Sound Culture '93, Tokyo; Fylkingen concert, Stockholm; Neue Horizonte and TonArt concerts, Bern; Next Wave, The Whitney Museum's Sound Art Festival, Experimental Intermedia Foundation, Real Art Ways, etc. (refer to resume for more complete listings.) In the 1990's he was director of the Ensemble for New Music of the Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt.
Goldstein has received grants for his music from the national Endowment of the Arts (USA), Massachusetts Council for the Arts and the Canada Council for the Atrs. He has received commissions from Westdeustcher Rundfunk, Canada Council for the Arts, most recently receiving a commission to compose a string quartet for Quatuor Bozzini, Montreal, as well as being represented on numerous CD recordings, such as Experimental Intermedia (XI), da capo, wergo, Nonsequitur/0.0.Discs, Eremite, etc.. He has written extensively on improvisation and is the author of the book: Sounding the Full Circle.
Press reviews on Malcolm Goldstein solo improvisation
"... Le violoniste Malcolm Goldstein (vu cet automne à Lille dans un émouvant solo pour lequel toute l’Amérique de Thoreau et de Cage était convoquée) donne, avec Hardscrabble Songs (in situ IS 238, Dist. Orkhêstra), un recueil fascinant, gravé d’un archet épileptico-hendrixien que vient soutenir une voix fort riche (écoutez la suite éponyme et tout particulièrement son quatrième développement…) : songs et soundings improvisés de la plus haute volée ! ..." Guillaume Tarche (Improjazz n°111, janvier 2005)./font>
"Il joue du violon, mais sa démarche ne saurait se laisser cerner aisément. Malcolm Goldstein entretient en effet une relation très particulière avec cet instrument, qu’il explore en tant que prolongement du corps, travaillant notamment sur la texture et la vibration du son. Côté composition, dans la foulée de John Cage, Malcolm Goldstein n’a pas hésité parfois à mêler différents bruits enregistrés à sa musique. Il se produit ici en solo au violon (et à la voix à l’occasion de la sortie de l’album ‘’Hardscrabble Songs’’ sur le label : in situ.’’ Hugues Le Tanneur (ADEN / Le Monde N°306).
"Goldstein gehört zu jener Art von Musikmachern, die die Trennung zwischen Komponist und Interpret wieder aufheben. Hindemith oder Pettersson waren solche 'Musiker' gewesen, Leute wie Goebbels oder Barrett verkörpern ihn aktuell. Oder der Geigenvirtuose Goldstein. ..." Rigo Dittmann (Bad Alchemy).
"Depuis les années soixante, le violoniste et compositeur Malcolm Goldstein suit avec une constance exemplaire les voies de l'improvisation la plus radicale. Joué avec une technique rudimentaire, son violon grince, crisse et racle. Le son brut que le musicien développe est une matière qu'il sculpte avec finesse ou sans ménagement. En solo ou avec un quatuor à cordes, comme dans ce cd, avec Ornette Coleman, John Cage ou la Merce Cunningham Dance Company, chaque pièce que Goldstein construit dans l'instant se transforme en happening, réduisant la musique à son _expression la plus pure : un souffle." Camille Guynemer (Octopus).
