Tim Rutherford-Johnson
@purlis.bsky.social
Listener, CFer, wordmonger. Written books about new music; trying to write one about Schubert.
https://johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com/about/
Substack here: http://purlis.substack.com
https://johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com/about/
Substack here: http://purlis.substack.com
Absolute VAR nonsense at the Amex tonight
January 19, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Absolute VAR nonsense at the Amex tonight
Read my interview with editor Christopher Fox and new publisher Patrick Becker, here: purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
And with cover star Stephanie Lamprea, here: purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
And with cover star Stephanie Lamprea, here: purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
New look Tempo is looking *absolutely fabulous* today
January 19, 2026 at 10:50 AM
Read my interview with editor Christopher Fox and new publisher Patrick Becker, here: purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
And with cover star Stephanie Lamprea, here: purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
And with cover star Stephanie Lamprea, here: purlis.substack.com/p/purposeful...
New look Tempo is looking *absolutely fabulous* today
January 19, 2026 at 10:40 AM
New look Tempo is looking *absolutely fabulous* today
Exactly my thoughts. I too went 'clock-free' for the first time and found bits of this disorientating (and occasionally maddening). Dead right about placing flute front and centre, and dinner companions afterwards said much the same.
New post. Listening to Taylor MacLennan and GBSR Duo play Feldman's 'For Philip Guston' at Kings Place. www.cookylamoo.com/boringlikead...
For Philip Guston, later
Thirteen years ago I heard the GBSR Duo of George Barton and Siwan Rhys performing Morton Feldman's For Philip Guston in the chilly back room of an art gallery for four-and-a-half hours. On that occas...
www.cookylamoo.com
January 19, 2026 at 7:21 AM
Exactly my thoughts. I too went 'clock-free' for the first time and found bits of this disorientating (and occasionally maddening). Dead right about placing flute front and centre, and dinner companions afterwards said much the same.
Honestly, if the guy scrolling football scores for four hours yesterday had done this instead, I'd have been more impressed.
Thinking about him (the man standing in front of me at a The Fall gig, who, about two songs in, loudly exclaimed “oh, no. No thank you” downed his pint and left
January 19, 2026 at 7:15 AM
Honestly, if the guy scrolling football scores for four hours yesterday had done this instead, I'd have been more impressed.
Anyway, GUSTON: gorgeous performance. Taylor MacLennan the star for me. Sometimes the flute in that piece can be overlooked; he really brought out its fractured lyricism, especially in that final section. (Where George Barton's glock was right on the edge of audibility).
January 18, 2026 at 9:38 PM
Anyway, GUSTON: gorgeous performance. Taylor MacLennan the star for me. Sometimes the flute in that piece can be overlooked; he really brought out its fractured lyricism, especially in that final section. (Where George Barton's glock was right on the edge of audibility).
What's that Woolf line about reading several books at once so they counterpoint each other? With that in mind, this had been my travelling companion for the journey to Feldman today:
January 18, 2026 at 9:34 PM
What's that Woolf line about reading several books at once so they counterpoint each other? With that in mind, this had been my travelling companion for the journey to Feldman today:
I had similar thoughts about the baby in a sling at For Philip Guston this afternoon ...
Wondering what the seven year old I just saw heading for his seat is going to make of Strauss's "Daphne."
January 18, 2026 at 9:28 PM
I had similar thoughts about the baby in a sling at For Philip Guston this afternoon ...
Yessss
#KimGordon has shared details of her third solo album, PLAY ME
Watch a video for lead track ‘NOT TODAY’ here:
buff.ly/bVouBXK
Watch a video for lead track ‘NOT TODAY’ here:
buff.ly/bVouBXK
January 17, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Yessss
Hardly anyone else will say this, so I'm going to: George Barton's booklet essay for this recording is excellent.
January 16, 2026 at 10:52 AM
Hardly anyone else will say this, so I'm going to: George Barton's booklet essay for this recording is excellent.
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
pleased to see Bandcamp making some effort to protect its users from the monotonous, time-consuming, slog of trying to work out what's (not) human art
Hopefully, this policy is curated by humans and won't negatively affect the many artists experimenting creatively with machine learning in cool ways
Hopefully, this policy is curated by humans and won't negatively affect the many artists experimenting creatively with machine learning in cool ways
in a refreshing change of pace, both bandcamp and games workshop announced this week that they've banned AI to varying extents. these stances are crucial during a time when AI is being rammed down our throats at every turn, and some people are starting to accept it
January 15, 2026 at 11:13 AM
pleased to see Bandcamp making some effort to protect its users from the monotonous, time-consuming, slog of trying to work out what's (not) human art
Hopefully, this policy is curated by humans and won't negatively affect the many artists experimenting creatively with machine learning in cool ways
Hopefully, this policy is curated by humans and won't negatively affect the many artists experimenting creatively with machine learning in cool ways
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
First extract from my current work-in-progress is online. Read, comment (eek), enjoy (?), subscribe (thank you): purlis.substack.com/p/schubert-d...
Schubert dub 1
Night and dreams
purlis.substack.com
January 14, 2026 at 1:32 PM
First extract from my current work-in-progress is online. Read, comment (eek), enjoy (?), subscribe (thank you): purlis.substack.com/p/schubert-d...
For those who Qobuz, I've made a playlist in two parts of that Thurston Moore albums-of-the-year list that is doing the rounds. Part 1 is here: open.qobuz.com/playlist/528...
(Original list: substack.com/home/post/p-...)
(Original list: substack.com/home/post/p-...)
Open Qobuz
open.qobuz.com
January 14, 2026 at 6:14 PM
For those who Qobuz, I've made a playlist in two parts of that Thurston Moore albums-of-the-year list that is doing the rounds. Part 1 is here: open.qobuz.com/playlist/528...
(Original list: substack.com/home/post/p-...)
(Original list: substack.com/home/post/p-...)
First extract from my current work-in-progress is online. Read, comment (eek), enjoy (?), subscribe (thank you): purlis.substack.com/p/schubert-d...
Schubert dub 1
Night and dreams
purlis.substack.com
January 14, 2026 at 1:32 PM
First extract from my current work-in-progress is online. Read, comment (eek), enjoy (?), subscribe (thank you): purlis.substack.com/p/schubert-d...
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
There is a crisis of impunity. The Musk/Grok stuff is just one f many examples of people who are counting on there never being any consequences. And it all makes me just incandescently mad.
Elon Musk Cannot Get Away With This
If there is no red line around AI-generated sex abuse, then no line exists.
www.theatlantic.com
January 14, 2026 at 12:27 AM
There is a crisis of impunity. The Musk/Grok stuff is just one f many examples of people who are counting on there never being any consequences. And it all makes me just incandescently mad.
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Richard Barrett, Samuel Beckett, late-night Brixton, Tai chi and two chords by Schubert: all in the opening pages of my next book. Monthly extracts to start appearing on my Substack tomorrow. If you don't want to miss out, make sure you SUBSCRIBE: purlis.substack.com
Purposeful Listening | Substack
Reviews, interviews, essays on music and sound by the author of Music after the Fall. Click to read Purposeful Listening, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
purlis.substack.com
January 13, 2026 at 11:40 AM
Richard Barrett, Samuel Beckett, late-night Brixton, Tai chi and two chords by Schubert: all in the opening pages of my next book. Monthly extracts to start appearing on my Substack tomorrow. If you don't want to miss out, make sure you SUBSCRIBE: purlis.substack.com
Of course, Philip Clark has written some of the best words surrounding yesterday's Feldman centenary. I hadn't made the Talk Talk connection before, but it makes absolutely perfect sense.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFQE...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFQE...
January 13, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Of course, Philip Clark has written some of the best words surrounding yesterday's Feldman centenary. I hadn't made the Talk Talk connection before, but it makes absolutely perfect sense.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFQE...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFQE...
Richard Barrett, Samuel Beckett, late-night Brixton, Tai chi and two chords by Schubert: all in the opening pages of my next book. Monthly extracts to start appearing on my Substack tomorrow. If you don't want to miss out, make sure you SUBSCRIBE: purlis.substack.com
Purposeful Listening | Substack
Reviews, interviews, essays on music and sound by the author of Music after the Fall. Click to read Purposeful Listening, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
purlis.substack.com
January 13, 2026 at 11:40 AM
Richard Barrett, Samuel Beckett, late-night Brixton, Tai chi and two chords by Schubert: all in the opening pages of my next book. Monthly extracts to start appearing on my Substack tomorrow. If you don't want to miss out, make sure you SUBSCRIBE: purlis.substack.com
Happy 100th, Morty. I wrote this for your birthday: van-magazine.com/mag/morton-f...
“Something that has to do with … leaving … ”
Between the winter of 1950–51, when he began mapping out a series of “Projections” in squares on graph paper, and the attenuating final breath of “Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello” in 1987, there were fewe...
van-magazine.com
January 12, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Happy 100th, Morty. I wrote this for your birthday: van-magazine.com/mag/morton-f...
To be precise, Zak was created by Keller AND Susan Bradshaw.
‘Hans Keller invented a composer, Piotr Zak, and transmitted one of his pieces. In fact, “Mobile for Tape and Percussion” was created by Keller walking around a studio striking a collection of musical instruments at random.’
Susannah Clapp on musical hoaxes.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Susannah Clapp on musical hoaxes.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Susannah Clapp · Not Quite Music
For Rimsky-Korsakov, the key of A was clear pink; for Scriabin, it was green. Duke Ellington read the flight patterns of...
www.lrb.co.uk
January 12, 2026 at 2:01 PM
To be precise, Zak was created by Keller AND Susan Bradshaw.
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
First post of 2026 is up! And it's a great in-depth interview with composer, writer and publisher Christopher Fox and publisher Patrick Becker on Tempo's recent relaunch at Wolke Verlag. Plus, some news about subscriber bonus content coming up later this month.
open.substack.com/pub/purlis/p...
open.substack.com/pub/purlis/p...
Purposeful Listening 6
Analysis/critique
open.substack.com
January 9, 2026 at 2:23 PM
First post of 2026 is up! And it's a great in-depth interview with composer, writer and publisher Christopher Fox and publisher Patrick Becker on Tempo's recent relaunch at Wolke Verlag. Plus, some news about subscriber bonus content coming up later this month.
open.substack.com/pub/purlis/p...
open.substack.com/pub/purlis/p...
Reposted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
In a story Michael Tilson Thomas often tells, Morton Feldman is looking through a large orchestral score by a student. "Uh-huh, uh-huh, good," he says, flipping quickly through the pages.
Then he stops and swoops in on one page of the score. "This mezhuh right heah," he says, "needs some COWBELL."
Then he stops and swoops in on one page of the score. "This mezhuh right heah," he says, "needs some COWBELL."
January 9, 2026 at 3:31 PM
In a story Michael Tilson Thomas often tells, Morton Feldman is looking through a large orchestral score by a student. "Uh-huh, uh-huh, good," he says, flipping quickly through the pages.
Then he stops and swoops in on one page of the score. "This mezhuh right heah," he says, "needs some COWBELL."
Then he stops and swoops in on one page of the score. "This mezhuh right heah," he says, "needs some COWBELL."
Hey, just be glad it's not the early stuff
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8u8...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8u8...
January 9, 2026 at 6:13 PM
Hey, just be glad it's not the early stuff
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8u8...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8u8...