A Musical Celebration of the Life of Gardner read

D'Anna Fortunato, John McDonald, Janet Packer, Scott Woolweaver
April 8, 2006, St. John's Church, Beverly Farms, MA, USA

David Cleary, New Music Connoisseur, Fall/Winter 2006

November saw the death of another longtime Boston-based tonmeister, Gardner Read...Given that his music is rarely heard here these days, it was good to encounter....Tears ... transcribed from a voice/piano original by John McDonald...pleased much, as did a McDonald penned piece d'occasion entitled Gardner Read His Exequy (2005)...First rate too were the performances... John McDonald (piano) ... possessed obvious technical fluency but harnessed it to exquisite musicality and tastefullness.

Music for Piano and String Orchestra

Kalistos Chamber Orchestra,
April 24, 2005, Edward M. Pickman Hall, Longy School of Music, Cambridge, MA, USA

David Cleary, New Music Connoisseur, Spring/Summer 2005

John McDonald accurately describes his Music for Piano and String Orchestra (1995) as "not quite a piano concerto, but not really chamber or orchestral music." The keyboard part is showy but does not dominate the piece, while the ensemble backing shows elements of writing for both small and large forces. ...its four movements flow uninterruptedly into each other, outlining unusual architecture along the way. It says much about McDonald's talent that he builds a fully satisfying entity from what might in lesser hands come off as messy or unfocused - a highly effective and unique effort. ...Pianist Winston Choi played McDonald's piece with a powerful yet fetching tone and pinpoint technique.

Transcriptions

Kenneth Radnofsky, Faculty and Friends Perform Music of Our Time,
February 22, 2005, Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, Boston, MA, USA

David Cleary, New Music Connoisseur, 2005

John McDonald's Transcriptions, Op. 397 (2004) for string quartet and alto sax, is unlike anything else your reviewer has ever heard by this tonemeister. Shot through with obsessively circular string ostinati, twisted sax cantilena lines, and fractiously granitic formal outlines, this is stark, nihilist music that truly disturbs. McDonald risks all here on an entity which some may think a mistake, while others (this critic included) consider it an evocative, remarkable work.

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Copyright © 2005 John D. McDonald. All rights reserved