“An extremely clever and often amusing juxtaposition of industrial construction sounds and composed music for his instrument.”
– Scott MacClelland, Performing Arts Monterey Bay
Performing Arts Monterey Bay
“Once again, the range of flute writing seemed to be limitless in its imagination and technical requirements.”
– Scott MacClelland, Performing Arts Monterey Bay
New York Times
“Ned McGowan, a composer and flutist, proved there’s still plenty of life in old-fashioned virtuosity with “Bantammer Swing”, a playful, athletic concerto for his unwieldy contrabass flute.”
– Steve Smith, New York Times
American Recorder
“A particularly impressive piece is Workshop by Ned McGowan… McGowan creates a wonderful environment of machine and construction ‘noises’, placed in timbral and rhythmic interplay with rapid, flashy recorder lines that travel into quieter sections and end exuberantly.”
– Tom Bickley, American Recorder
jazzenzo.nl
“The compositions of band leader Ned McGowan, very complex in many ways, are especially well put together. Live performance also allows them to breathe enough, by optimally taking advantage of theatrical aspects[…]”
– Mischa Andriessen, jazzenzo.nl
Brabants Dagblad
“… Ned McGowan’s new piece ‘Wood Burn’ does well and grows to the highpoint of the evening.”
– Mark van de Voort, Brabants Dagblad
Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise
“If you are having a slow day, his samples will wake you right up!”
– Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise
Paris Transatlantic
“Combining acoustic instruments with machine sounds is nothing new, of course, but the composer’s treatment of mechanistic noises is like a Tinguely sculpture in its sensitivity and humor.”
– Guy Livingston, Paris Transatlantic
Paris Transatlantic
“The sound quality is exceptional […] Performer, improviser, and composer McGowan has assembled around himself a tribe of dedicated musicians who perform the most fiendishly difficult rhythms with flair and ease…”
– Guy Livingston, Paris Transatlantic
Bruce Hodges
“Whether singing, humming, sputtering or tapping, McGowan was a veritable master class in contemporary flute tone production, including passages using the faint clicking, percussive effect of the keys.”
– Bruce Hodges
Bruce Hodges
“(about Second City) Ricocheting tempi combined with sometimes acrid, piercing sonorities to conclude some of the most satisfying music of the night.”
– Bruce Hodges
Sequenza 21
“Ned McGowan, an American expatriate living in Amsterdam known as a leading contemporary composer/flutist”
– Sequenza 21
Emusers.org
“…the seldom-heard contrabass flute, an instrument that, in the hands of Ned McGowan, is capable of everything from near breathless calm to driving bass riffs that propel the orchestra forward.”
– Brighternow – emusers.org
Geneco
“(Tools is) brutal and humorous.”
– GeNeCo
Guido van Oorschot
“… the rhythmical quicksilver of Ned McGowan’s Urban Turban.”
– Guido van Oorschot, Volkskrant
Hindu
“The final piece was a composition of Ned’s called “Chamundi Hill” where Keiko imitated the sound of the tambura by intriguingly ‘bowing’ the strings of the piano, which earned them a shout for encores and a standing ovation.”
– Marianne De Nazareth, The Hindu
Ned McGowan, a master on the contrabass flute
“Ned McGowan, a master on the contrabass flute”
– Fluit
Opduvel
“Ned McGowan shows himself from an animated, versatile side, both compositional and performing”
– Opduvel
FLUIT
“It’s striking how free and rich the music is and how well the contrabass (flute) lends itself for this”
– FLUIT
Peter Sheridan
“Fantastic album! Beautiful artistic playing with rich low Flute tones. A most unique and worthy album for sure.”
– Peter Sheridan
Performing Arts Monterey Bay
“His virtuosity as performer and composer were irrepressible.”