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Search Result for Genre CLASSICAL
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6LP BOX
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GODREC 050LP
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$128.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 10/19/2018
Excerpt from liner notes by Sebastian Claren: "When Morton Feldman wrote his second string quartet -- or String Quartet II, as he titled it in the score -- in 1983, he found himself at the height of his career: prior to this, his long form compositions, of which the majority lasted around one and a half hours, had not isolated him or let him disappear from concert and festival programming, as he had expected, but were on the contrary celebrated as a major 'breakthrough' and a big 'step forward' . . . Like the long pieces that preceded it, Feldman's String Quartet II consists of repeated patterns, which usually surface at a certain point in the composition without preparation, are maintained over a given period, and then abruptly abort to possibly return later. In this context, Feldman has always emphasized the interplay of 'reiteration' and 'change' in his music -- two aspects that in his mind had been decisive criteria of the music of the twentieth century as 'repetition' and 'variation' (Stravinsky and Schoenberg). He even claimed Schoenberg's concept of 'developing variation' for his composition technique..." Live Recording! 317 minutes over six LPs. Personnel: Morton Feldman - composition; Pellegrini Quartet: Antonio Pellegrini - violin; Thomas Hofer - violin; Fabio Marano - viola; Helmut Menzler - violoncello.
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2LP
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BNSD 029LP
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$28.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 10/5/2018
"This work, a masterpiece of restraint, reflects the musical imagination of someone who has spent long periods in the quiet recesses of the mind." --Terry Riley
Beacon Sound present a reissue of Hans Otte's The Book Of Sounds (Das Buch Der Klänge) originally released in 1984. Hans Otte (1926-2007) was a multifaceted artist, poet, pianist, composer, and promoter who synthesized the strands of minimalism, Eastern spirituality, and radical art into his own unique and protean vision. In his younger years he studied under the composer Paul Hindemith and the pianist Walter Gieseking. From 1959 to 1984 he was the director of Radio Bremen and was instrumental in introducing artists such as John Cage, Terry Riley, and Steve Reich to European audiences. Although the compositions and recordings that Otte made over the course of his long career are wideranging, The Book Of Sounds is considered to be his masterwork. A solo piano piece, it was written between 1979 and 1982 after a major survey of his previous artistic output and should be viewed through the prism of his own self-development: both as a return to his roots and as a new beginning. It is a cyclical collection of 12 "chapters" that are inspired partly by John Cage's desire to get to the root of sound itself, to liberate it from the weight of expectation and tradition and to view all sound as a manifestation of nature. In a 1979 interview, Otte answered a question about whether his work had a "common core" by saying, "I would say that behind my artistic work, as an aim or hope, is the need to find myself. In other words: despite all the separating structures, the division of all the work, the ideologies, fixed ideas, systems, despite the state and everything that ceaselessly tries to separate and divide us, I fundamentally want to be complete." It might be tempting to assign The Book Of Sounds to the aesthetic of minimalism; however, it is a deceptively sophisticated collection of pieces that unfolds slowly over repeated listens with shifting harmonics and unusual structural touches that keep it firmly on the side of "avant-garde". Includes booklet with contemporary liner note contributions by Terry Riley, Inga Ahmels, and Dustin O'Halloran as well as a reprint of a 1982 Village Voice live review by Tom Johnson and photos taken by his daughter Silvia. First edition of 500.
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LP
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OMM 8003LP
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$25.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 10/5/2018
Delayed, release date TBA. "The Grammy-nominated string orchestra A Far Cry and pianist Simone Dinnerstein have teamed up on a new recording of keyboard concertos by Philip Glass. The album will be released on Glass' Orange Mountain Music label. The album features the world premiere recording of Glass's Piano Concerto No. 3, a new concerto for piano and strings co-commissioned by A Far Cry and composed by Glass specifically for Dinnerstein, whom the New York Times calls 'an utterly distinctive voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.' Dinnerstein and A Far Cry toured the new Glass concerto in the fall of 2017, and recorded the album in the stellar acoustics of Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA. Of their world premiere performance at the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, the Boston Globe wrote, '[Dinnerstein and A Far Cry] caught and held the music's patient grandeur, giving each phrase, each chord judicious gravity.' The Wall Street Journal called it 'an inspired pairing,' adding 'Mr. Glass could not have hoped for a more graceful, fluid reading.' The idea first germinated in 2014, when Dinnerstein and Glass met for breakfast in his garden and found that they shared a strong interest in the music of Bach and its impact on the world today. Glass, having come to know her work over the years, offered to write a piece for her, and Dinnerstein proposed that it be a concerto for piano and strings, to be paired with one of Bach's own. She explains, 'There are almost no concertos written for piano and strings since Bach's time. The pairing of the Bach concerto with Philip's own composition creates myriad strands of connectivity, enabling the listener to create bridges between the old and the new.' Glass finished Piano Concerto No.3 in 2017 as a response to hearing Dinnerstein play at the Glenn Gould Prize concert in Ottawa the previous year. He explains in the album's liner notes, 'I can say that Bach's music was not consciously in my mind as I composed this new concerto, but in a way it's unavoidable. My basic musical formation was influenced by the study of Bach for years during my studies with Nadia Boulanger. Inasmuch, while this piece itself is not directly influenced by Bach, his music is by definition a part of mine.' To fund the work, Dinnerstein reached out to a number of orchestras from across the U.S. and Canada, eventually enlisting a total of 12, from various parts of the country, to co-commission the work. It was clear from the beginning that the premiere and recording should fall to Boston's A Far Cry, with whom Dinnerstein had formed a musical connection after filling in for pianist Leon Fleisher at a concert in 2016. Jason Fisher (viola) of A Far Cry says, 'A Far Cry has always been a proponent of new music, and it has been a dream of ours since day one to commission a major work from an iconic American composer such as Philip Glass. We're delighted to be partnering on this project with Simone Dinnerstein, a collaborator beloved by our group and one of America's finest pianists.'"
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2CD
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XI 141CD
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XI Records releases Drop By Drop, Suddenly, a two-CD set of eleven compositions for bassoon composed and performed by Leslie Ross. Ross is not only an internationally renowned instrument builder but is also an uncompromising creative musician. The first disc starts with a series of short seed pieces that play primarily with the timbral and microtonal differences highlighted between tone-holes, forming a layered effect while playing with only one fingering, single note or multiphonic. They range from the strictly tonal or modal pitch-centered to a thicker atonal and dissonant collection of frequencies. Pieces progress to longer complex ones by the second disc, some of which have as minimal material as the shorter ones, but make more extensive use of live multi-track recordings and frequency filters to further bring out changes in frequencies or accentuate specific multiphonics. The electronics used were created explicitly for each composition using the computer-based program MAX/MSP. Save for the unconventional 15 microphones of the "prepared bassoon", these recordings include pieces with no sound processing whatsoever, as well as pieces that do involve sound processing and multi-tracking. Importantly, however, any processing is made in real time, not post-recording. All recordings are single-take recordings where four speaker channels along with room microphones have been mixed down to stereo. Key clicks occasionally get picked up in a loop recording to return sometimes processed, sometimes not, while in circular breathing a multiphonic might drop out before sounding again. What might sound like clicks or occasional drop outs on some pieces are not overlooked mastering faults but the result of this live processing, presenting these pieces as they would be in performance. With a formal background in classical music and early performance practice, Leslie Ross took a plunge into the free improvisation scene of downtown New York in the mid 1980's and has immersed herself in experimental music ever since. Her connected, parallel, work as a baroque bassoon builder also opened up concurrently into explorations of invented instruments and sound installations. She has presented solo programs, both acoustic and electro-acoustic throughout Europe and the US over the past three decades. In the mid 2000's she returned her music focus to a detailed exploration, analysis and understanding of bassoon multiphonics. It is through this exploration of multiphonics and the subtle changes made when playing with resonance keys that brought her to the music presented on Drop By Drop, Suddenly.
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LP
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CNMM 002LP
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After the oneiric journey through synthesizers on Volume 1, entitled Synthesis (2018), Massimo Martellotta (founding member of Calibro 35) returns with the second volume of One Man Sessions exploring the tonal possibilities of the classical instrument par excellence: the piano. The instrument is at the center of the scene, and the prepared piano in the manner of John Cage is here decontextualized and freely "In/Prepared" and reinvented in a very personal way, placing objects of common use on the strings themselves to obtain unprecedented timbres. Starting from its nature as a percussion instrument, the piano is hit, caressed, blocked with rubbers or left to resonate on the capsule of a microphone, or else pinched like a harp or a cymbalon, while it fires with the battery, the vibraphone or the mellotron. In Unprepared Piano, the music moves from more classical compositions, quoting Chopin and Satie (the opening piece "Come Un Notturno") to introspective drones ("Risonanza") to songs that hybridize the languages, delineating immediate melodies and openings in balance between the absolute modernity of Nils Frahm, the moving color imagery of Bad Plus (for example in "Sostenuto") and the minimalism of Penguin Café Orchestra ("Nécessaire Per Fanciulli"). All this once again held together by an evocative, current and always recognizable conductor. An album where the piano is the protagonist then, but the dialogue with the other instruments is continuous, fluid, and you will often forget that behind every instrument there is only one person.
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LP
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LSD 010LP
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From Breaking Bad to Danish films and albums, Asger Baden is a productive composer and has created music for countless films, television productions, and series. He has worked with directors such as Christoffer Boe, Nicolaj Arcel, and Martin De Thurah, and his music is featured well known productions like Breaking Bad, The Wolfpack, and VICE on HBO. Zarniqa was recorded with a 40-piece major symphony orchestra in Prague. On the album, Asger Baden chases music's untouched essence. Asger Baden is a composer and producer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. On Zarniqa, the first album in his own name, Baden creates 16 cinematic, timeless compositions with a dramatic and dense expression ranging from melancholy to an etheric ease. The main part of the album is recorded with a 40-piece symphony orchestra in the majestic Rudolfinum Dvořák Concert Hall in Prague. In stark contrast to the orchestra are the piano pieces, recorded solo by Asger Baden in Copenhagen. The contrast between the grand symphonic sound and the intimate piano pieces defines the album.
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CD
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NW 80801CD
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"Kyle Gann, voice & electronics, sampling keyboard; Kenneth Patchen, voice; Martha Herr, voice. This recording features three works by Kyle Gann (b. 1955): Custer and Sitting Bull, Scenario, and So Many Little Dyings, from the decade 1994 to 2004. Those familiar with Gann's music will recognize a commitment to just intonation (alternate tunings), paired with a deployment of unexpected meters, often set to frequently shifting tempos. But here we also encounter another side of Gann, a composer preoccupied with texts, the inherent rhythms found within the spoken word, and the dramatic potential of these texts (including poems, interviews, stories, speeches, and even one psychic transmission). A musical reflection on the historic encounter between Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the Lakota leader Sitting Bull, Custer and Sitting Bull (1995-99), presented here in an updated version, is an example of a 'pocket opera,' a kind of one-person opera that blossomed in the unfunded spaces of downtown Manhattan. From 1999 to 2007 Gann performed it live himself, narrating the drama using various historical texts set to a MIDI keyboard accompaniment tuned to just intonation (ranging from 20 to 31-note-to-the-octave scales). While it takes the form of reimagined American history, Custer is perhaps most centrally about the value of sustained, repeated listening. Indeed, Gann's use of just intonation not only rewards but arguably requires many hearings to access certain subtleties. The title of So Many Little Dyings (1994) is taken from the Kenneth Patchen poem 'And What with the Blunders' (from First Will & Testament, 1939). The entire work originates from the pitch and rhythm of Patchen's spoken voice, which Gann sampled and transcribed from a recorded recitation of the poem. Listening to it, however, one might not perceive this borrowing immediately, as the work begins with the sound of a microtonal toy piano imitating the rhythms and contours of Patchen's voice. Very slowly, over the course of the 7-minute work, the piano's melody is taken over by a recording of Patchen's sampled voice. Scenario, for soprano and virtual orchestra, was written between 2003-2004 but wasn't performed live until 2012. The text is taken from a 1932 S. J. Perelman story of the same name, which consists of a non-stop, breathless collage of filmic clichés. On the page, Perelman's text continues for pages without paragraph break and includes dialogue excerpts, Hollywood rumors, and behind-the-scenes film directions. In Gann's setting of it, what he calls 'a surrealist collage opera, the musical analog of an animated cartoon, for theatrical soprano and virtual orchestra,' each collaged portion is set in a corresponding style and character, so the soprano must alternate rapidly between each affect and singing style throughout the 17-minute work."
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2CD
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ARB 166CD
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Arbiter has uncovered unknown performances by musicians who reached Claude Debussy's inner life more so than those accepted as his emblematic interpreters. Marius-François Gaillard played Debussy's piano music from memory, starting in 1920 when he was twenty, receiving praise from Mme. Debussy. Each work explores an enigma that reveals itself through its individuality. Mieczyslaw Horszowski heard the composer play and brings his experience into pieces that he performed by him for over eighty years. Irén Marik played the composer throughout her entire life and had been close to Bartók, who often performed Debussy's music. Marie-Thérèse Fourneau, a lost master, takes a late work to an unprecedented height. Our restoration of Debussy himself at the piano with Mary Garden capture 1904 sounds that have finally become audible. Gailliard's Debussy recordings include early works, Suite Bergamasque, Pour le Piano, Estampes, nine Préludes, and others. Marik plays two Préludes and En Blanc et Noir. Horszowski is heard in Children's Corner Suite and Fourneau in a late Étude. Irén Marik and John Ranck also perform En blanc et noir. Most of the recordings are published for the first time and Gaillard's Debussy receives its first restoration from original shellac discs.
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2LP
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SV 097LP
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Double LP version. "Steve Reich's Drumming is regarded as one of the most important musical works of the last century. Distilled through his studies of African percussion in Ghana during 1970 and Balinese gamelan music, Reich revolutionized our understanding of polyrhythms, sculpting a new sonic territory to illuminate the radical potential of Minimalism. Divided into four sections, performed without pause, Drumming is written for eight small tuned drums, three marimbas, three glockenspiels, piccolo and voice. The singers recite melodic patterns that mimic the sounds of the instruments, gradually rising to the surface and then fading out. The overall effect can be transfixing -- pulling listeners into the rhythm and possessing a raw immediacy, directness and energy. The premier performances of Drumming took place in December 1971 in New York City -- first at The Museum of Modern Art, then at Brooklyn Academy of Music and finally at Town Hall where this recording was made -- and featured the composer along with a cast of longtime collaborators including Art Murphy, Steve Chambers, Russ Hartenberger, James Preiss, Jon Gibson, Joan La Barbara, Judy Sherman, Jay Clayton, Ben Harms, Gary Burke, Frank Maefsky and James Ogden. Originally released in 1972 by gallerist John Gibson in a small private edition, Drumming represents the culmination of Reich's investigation into rhythmic phase relationships and its early realization captures a remarkably organic feel, especially compared to the more widely known version on Deutsche Grammophon from 1974. This first-time vinyl reissue and first-time CD release has been carefully remastered from the original master tapes."
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CD
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NW 80796CD
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"This recording is the first ever devoted to the orchestral music of Christian Wolff (b. 1934) and thus documents a little-known aspect of his wide-ranging work. John, David (1998) introduces in its second part a prominent role for solo percussionist, playing a wide range of pitched and non-pitched instruments, including marimba, glockenspiel, a variety of drums, wood and metal instruments and other sources, the exact choice left to the performer. Rhapsody (2009), in contrast, uses instruments of the traditional Western orchestra without percussion, divided into three separate ensembles and reordered into unusual combinations and relationships, both within and between the groups. In his essay On Charles Ives (1990) Wolff remarks that in the mid-1970s he had a sudden sense of his own work as 'an odd sort of mix of Ives and Satie.' He refers to Ives's 'readiness to draw upon whatever sources are useful'; the tendency to include altered versions of popular music and hymn tunes is a feature they have in common. The unlikely conjunction of Ives and Satie may provide a clue to such disparities as are evident in these orchestral pieces: Sections reminiscent of the density and complexity of Ives, of the simplicity and directness of Satie, and of the transparency of Webern, are juxtaposed without any need to mediate or explain how they are connected. The music is continually surprising, exhilarating, and challenging; it resists easy categorisation. Sometimes engagingly direct and transparent, at other times bewilderingly complex and profuse, it invites listeners to be alert to new kinds of musical experience, to suspend judgement based on more familiar models. There is a sense of immediacy that deliberately avoids any suggestion of a general plan or underlying theoretical principle; the controlling idea of a 'grand narrative' such as is associated with composers of the European avant-garde is explicitly rejected in favour of a variety of ad hoc procedures."
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2CD
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RZ 1038-39CD
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From the liner notes by Hans-Peter Schulz; Translation by Peter Gebert: "... SOLO II: Solo II is part of a group of works with the title Buch der Stille 1 ('Book of Silence 1'). This is a series of solo pieces for flute/oboe da cacchia (solo I), trombone/bassoon (solo II), organ (solo III), low string instrument (solo IV), and piano (solo V), all of which were developed from the same compositional idea; the series is a generalisation of disappearing musics, itself a composition for three winds, two strings and two pianos written between 1989 and 1991. The individual solo-compositions can be performed separately, as well as in all combinations simultaneously. After Jakob Ullman had met John Cage in person on the occasion of a Cage festival organised by the Deutschlandfunk in 1990, this encounter developed into a lengthy and intensive exchange of ideas which had considerable impact on the compositional process that Ullmann was concerned with at the time, specifically of soli I, II and III, finished in 1992. The pieces can therefore be rightly considered as a reflection and result of this exchange of ideas . . . MÜNTZERS STERN (MÜNTZER'S STAR): Between 2014 and 2016 Jakob Ullmann composed the orchestral work steine, feuer, sterne ('stones, fire, stars'). . . . One section among these is the section for a solo bassoon, which may be performed independently under the title 'Müntzers stern'. Thomas Müntzer, born around 1490, was a keen supporter of the Lutheran Reformation. . . . After the battle near Frankenhausen, Müntzer was captured, tortured and eventually beheaded. As a priest, he strove for the renewal of divine service and translated liturgical texts and hymns from Latin to German even before Luther. The title Müntzers stern refers to the Advent hymn Gott heil'ger Schöpfer aller Stern, a translation of the medieval hymn conditor alme siderum done by Müntzer as part of this work. Ullmann spread the melody of the hymn over the total duration of the composition in a very prolonged manner. In the course of this process, the six different tone pitches of the hymn, which are heard either being sung or as an emphasised partial within the bassoon's spectrum, are supplemented by another six tones, played ordinario on the bassoon, those still missing in the twelve-tone space, until the chromatic scale is completely filled in ..."
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2CD
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SV 097CD
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"Steve Reich's Drumming is regarded as one of the most important musical works of the last century. Distilled through his studies of African percussion in Ghana during 1970 and Balinese gamelan music, Reich revolutionized our understanding of polyrhythms, sculpting a new sonic territory to illuminate the radical potential of Minimalism. Divided into four sections, performed without pause, Drumming is written for eight small tuned drums, three marimbas, three glockenspiels, piccolo and voice. The singers recite melodic patterns that mimic the sounds of the instruments, gradually rising to the surface and then fading out. The overall effect can be transfixing -- pulling listeners into the rhythm and possessing a raw immediacy, directness and energy. The premier performances of Drumming took place in December 1971 in New York City -- first at The Museum of Modern Art, then at Brooklyn Academy of Music and finally at Town Hall where this recording was made -- and featured the composer along with a cast of longtime collaborators including Art Murphy, Steve Chambers, Russ Hartenberger, James Preiss, Jon Gibson, Joan La Barbara, Judy Sherman, Jay Clayton, Ben Harms, Gary Burke, Frank Maefsky and James Ogden. Originally released in 1972 by gallerist John Gibson in a small private edition, Drumming represents the culmination of Reich's investigation into rhythmic phase relationships and its early realization captures a remarkably organic feel, especially compared to the more widely known version on Deutsche Grammophon from 1974. This first-time vinyl reissue and first-time CD release has been carefully remastered from the original master tapes."
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NW 80803CD
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"Asked whether he would describe his music as 'Sound for the sake of sound,' James Tenney (1934-2006) replied, 'It's sound for the sake of perceptual insight -- some kind of perceptual revelation.' This release aptly demonstrates Tenney's deep exploratory fascination with the nature and potentialities of aural perception. His attraction to these topics was simultaneously intellectual and sensuous, and its musical products at once invite both sustained reflection and the most immediate of corporeal responses. A number of his works feature pitch collections that progressively approach or diverge from the structure of the harmonic series, or that gradually move between its 'harmonically complex' or 'dissonant' upper reaches and its 'harmonically simple' or 'consonant' lower regions. A paradigmatic example is provided by Harmonium #1 (1976). For 12 String (rising) (1971) represents an arrangement for strings of Tenney's classic electroacoustic composition For Ann (rising) (1969), which predated his interest in harmony. It nonetheless shares with much of his subsequent music a ruthless simplification of form and structure that eschews narrative drama in order to highlight the subjective processes and perceptions of the listener. The first movement of Two Koans and a Canon (1982) is entitled "First Koan (a gentler Beast)" and constitutes a variation upon Tenney's earlier Beast (1971) for solo double bass. It is a study in acoustical beating, an alluring rhythmic pulsation audible between tones whose pitches are sufficiently close to each other. The "Second Koan" in turn recalls Tenney's Koan (1971) for solo violin. It exhibits another of his radically reduced formal designs: a steady cross-string tremolo that gradually migrates upwards in register across the strings of the instrument. The brief final "Canon" is the most structurally complex of the movements. Alone of the three it employs a live tape-delay system. From 1975-84, Tenney produced a number of other compositions calling for the use of a tape-delay system in live performance, which he once referred to as 'the poor man's orchestra' for its ability to produce lush textures from few instruments. The most texturally sophisticated of these pieces is Voice(s) (1984), which requires the use of four separate tape machines. The final track, Blues for Annie (1975), offers a glimpse into the breadth of Tenney's personal musical interests. His appreciation for the blues is expressed forthrightly in a literal transcription and arrangement of Jaybird Coleman's 1927 recording of 'No More Good Water 'Cause the Pond is Dry.' "
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2CD/SACD
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NEOS 11716-17CD
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Neos present Donaueschinger Musiktage 2016. A collection of compositions featuring Rebecca Saunders, Bernhard Gander, Martin Smolka, James Dillon, Franck Bedrossian, Martin Jaggi, and Georg Friedrich Haas.
"The first acid tests of the newly formed SWR Symphonieorchester after the fusion, with some high-carat world premieres." --Dirk Wieschollek Fono Forum January 2018/Critic survey 2017
SACD 1 features the world premieres of Rebecca Saunders's "Skin" for soprano and 13 instruments (2015/16) performed by: Juliet Fraser (soprano), Klangforum Wien, and Titus Engel (conductor); Bernhard Gander's "Cold Cadaver with Thirteen Scary Scars" for 21 instruments (2016) performed by: Steamboat Switzerland, Klangforum Wien, and Titus Engel (conductor); and Martin Smolka's "a yell with misprints" two movements for ensemble (2016) performed by ensemble recherche.
SACD 2 features the world premieres of James Dillon's "The Gates" for string quartet and orchestra (2016) performed by Arditti Quartet, SWR Symphonieorchester, and Pierre-André Valade (conductor); Franck Bedrossian's "Twist" for orchestra and electronics (2016) performed by SWR Symphonieorchester, Alejo Pérez (conductor), IRCAM, and Robin Meier (computer music designer); Martin Jaggi's "Caral" for orchestra (2016) performed by SWR Symphonieorchester and Pierre-André Valade (conductor); and of Georg Friedrich Haas's "Konzert für Posaune und Orchester" (2015/16) performed by Mike Svoboda (trombone), SWR Symphonieorchester, and Alejo Pérez (conductor).
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NEOS 11607CD
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In "Nachklang - Rose (Echo - Rose)", two (music) cultures stand side by side on an equal footing: that of Europe and of Persia. The starting point is the effect left behind by the scent of a rose. While it is associated with love in Western culture, in Islam it has strong religious, metaphysical and symbolic connotations. Rupert Huber himself describes his composition for mixed choir and Persian instrumental ensemble as a "patchwork" in the best sense of the word, where flecks of different colors stand side by side without one dominating. The present CD also includes two older works by Huber: "Wermut (Wormwood)" for choir and trombone to a text from the Book of Revelation, and "Der kranke Mann (The Sick Man)" based on a theme by Robert Schumann. Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks - Dastan Ensemble: Mike Svoboda - trombone; Rupert Huber - conductor.
Rupert Huber was principal conductor of, among others, the WDR Choir and directed the SWR Vokalenemble Stuttgart as well as regularly conducting well-known choirs, orchestras and ensembles. His works are performed at festivals such as Ruhrtriennale, Salzburg Festival, Wien Modern, or Eclat Stuttgart, often in cooperation with ARD broadcasters.
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NEOS 11706CD
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After CDs featuring orchestral works, organ pieces and string quartets by Ernst Helmuth Flammer, NEOS is now releasing a CD of chamber music. On this disc, the composer investigates the phenomenon of time frequently and intensively, and sheds light on various aspects of it from both a musical as well as a philosophical perspective. Composed in 1988, "Zeitflucht" ("Time-Flight"), for example, explores the difference between the subjectively perceived and actually measurable passage of time, while in "Dahingegangen" ("Passed Away") from 1992 the transition into the hereafter, in other words beyond time and beyond real existence, is explored. The CD concludes with what Flammer calls a "closing piece for a chamber music ensemble", "All Ding will haben ein End" ("All Things Come to an End") (scored for a Pierrot ensemble) -- the composer wishes its rondo form to be understood as a symbol of the existential process of "becoming and passing away".
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NEOS 11730CD
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What musical means and forms can be used today when composing orchestral music? Composer Moritz Eggert poses this question in the two works of this release, which are live recordings of the world premiere performances. "Muzak" for voice and orchestra was composed in memory of David Bowie, who died in 2016. A modified version of the word "music", Muzak refers to the background music commonly played on elevators, department stores, and hotels. In "Muzak" Eggert seeks to include the entire sound world of his own time in a single composition. "Muzak" is therefore a distillation of all kinds of music, from pop music to classical repertoire, and addresses the question of whether boundaries between genres are still viable and make any sense. In "Number Nine VII: Masse" Eggert takes up the aesthetic challenge of composing a work for orchestra where all musicians play continuously without a break. Moritz Eggert - voice; Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks with David Robertson as conductor for "Muzak" and Peter Rundel as conductor for "Number Nine VII: Masse".
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NEOS 11704CD
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From a conversation between Nikolaus Brass and Das Klarinettenduo, Beate Zelinsky and David Smeyers, in Donaueschingen in 2006, there arouse the double concerto Zeit im Grund, released on two different Neos CDs: Zeit im Grund/Von Wachsender Gegenwart (NEOS 11112CD, 2013) and Double Concertos by Atli Ingolfsson, Adriana Holszky and Nikolaus Brass (NEOS 11708CD, 2017). This has been the beginning of more future collaborations. In 2009 Brass composed his work "Dialoghi d'amore VI" for the duo, which he expanded into a three-movement work in 2011. Later the quintet "SPUR" for string trio and two clarinets was realized through a collaboration between the Munich based TrioCoriolis and Das Klarinettenduo. For the "5. Streichquartett", Beate Zelinsky and David Smeyers started working together with the Minguet Quartett. This inspired Brass for his trio "Strophen", written especially for Beate Zelinsky, David Smeyers and the violist of the quartet, Aroa Sorin. This CD is completed by "Salut" and "Adieu", both works for clarinet solo.
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NEOS 11709CD
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Unaccompanied solo pieces, like those brought together on the present CD, are in a category by themselves -- for instrumentalists and composers alike. Nowhere else is the musician left on his own to such an extent, left to his own devices. Moreover, there are often special technical difficulties; since the advent of virtuoso performance, the solo piece has always been a preferred venue for stupendous, exposed virtuosity. Such works for a single interpreter play a major role in the oeuvre of Marcus Antonius Wesselmann, already in a quantitative sense with 19 compositions so far. The composer, who lives in Cologne, has consistently explored the possibilities of various ensemble types and sizes in a body of work that has grown steadily over the past thirty years. Alongside a series of ensemble works, he has repeatedly written solo pieces for various instruments, so that today there is a nearly equal balance in his works catalog between ensemble and solo compositions. With the exception of the piano works ("SOLOS 5", "6", "7", "9", "14", and "16"), Wesselmann has so far chosen a different instrumentation for each work -- here flute, percussion, electric guitar, viola, baritone saxophone, or bassoon in the mix, composed in 1991, stands somewhat apart from the series of works introduced on this CD, for this composition for two-channel tape requires no performing soloist. Wesselmann is essentially concerned here -- according to his own formulation of the basic idea of the piece -- with the "connection and/or mediation of musical and scenic sequences." "SOLO 1" features Helen Bledsoe on flute; "SOLO 2" features Dirk Rothbrust on percussion; "SOLO 3" features Mats Bergström on electric guitar; "SOLO 4" features Garth Knox on viola; "SOLO 9" features Simone Otto on baritone saxophone; and "SOLO 10" features Johannes Schwarz on bassoon.
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NEOS 10819CD
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On this CD, Isao Nakamura presents a selection of works for solo percussion which -- despite some very demanding technical passages -- do not focus primarily on technical brilliance but on clear, focused artistic ideas, as well as, in some cases, extra-musical concepts. The main focus here is on drums. As the only instruments tuned to a specific pitch, in this CD the timpani features in two movements of Elliott Carter's "Eight Pieces for Four Timpani" and in Peter Eötvös's "Thunder". The latter is an experimental solo work for one-pedal timpani. Nicolaus A. Huber uses only a single snare drum in "dasselbe ist nicht dasselbe" ("the same is not the same"). A nearly endless range of sounds is elicited from the timpani by alternating playing techniques. Several works on this CD were dedicated to Isao Nakamura. Also features compositions by Mauricio Kagel, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Iannis Xenakis, and Toshio Hosokawa.
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NEOS 11719CD
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René Wohlhauser (composition, baritone, piano, conductor) was born in 1954 and grew up in Brienz, Switzerland. Experiences as a rock and jazz musician, lied accompanist, and improviser have accompanied and continue to accompany his principal activity as a composer of contemporary art music (including chamber, orchestral, and stage works). In recent years, Wohlhauser has repeatedly undertaken tours in Europe as a pianist, singer, and conductor with the Duo Simolka -- Wohlhauser and his own Ensemble Polysono. In 2013, Neos began its CD series "Wohlhauser Edition". He teaches composition, music theory, and improvisation at the Basel Academy of Music (and until 1991 at the Lucerne Academy) and as Professor at the Kalaidos Music Academy. The Ensemble Polysono and the Duo Simolka -- Wohlhauser from Basle specialize in the interpretation of current contemporary music. They go on tour each year in Switzerland and several larger cities in Europe (including Basle, Berne, Zurich, Stuttgart, Munich, Hamburg, Weimar, Erfurt, Detmold, Berlin, Paris, London, and Salzburg). Works for various ensemble combinations, performed by the Ensemble Polysono, Egidius Streiff, the Duo Simolka -- Wohlhauser, and the Treiber-Sontòn Caflisch-Müllenbach Trio.
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NEOS 11715CD
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A major interest of the Spanish composer Alberto Posada is exploring the relationship between music, nature and mathematics. He also focuses on the connection between music and other forms of art. This portrait CD, Poetics of the Gaze, comprehensively documents the influence of fine art on his compositions. Alberto Posadas was born in Valladolid, Spain in 1967. He is regularly a composer-in-residence at IRCAM, has held scholarships from the Free State of Bavaria (Villa Concordia, Bamberg) and the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin, and was awarded the National Music Prize by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. His music is played at many festivals, including the Donaueschinger Musiktage, Eclat (Stuttgart), Ars Musica (Brussels), Ultima (Oslo), Klang-spuren Schwaz (Tyrol), Ultraschall (Berlin), Musica Strasbourg, and the Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik. Klangforum Wien featuring Nacho de Paz as conductor.
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NEOS 11606CD
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rūḥ-i-gulāb (The soul of the rose) is based on two 13th-century Oriental texts: the Rose Poem of Ğalāl-ad-Din Rūmī (translated by Friedrich Rückert) and excerpts from the Poem of the Mantle by Sharaf al-Din al-Būsīrī. A cross-cultural work of art emerges from the composition. Opening up to Oriental and Far Eastern culture is a central concern of the conductor and composer Rupert Huber. This includes turning away from the strict conceptualization of a work -- that is, away from traditionally "fixed" notation -- to encouraging individual performers to assume responsibility and listen closely to and respond to each other. He consistently follows this approach in the Rose Ausländer setting, "Mein Venedig" ("My Venice"). Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks & Madīḥ Ensemble: Doris Huber - bowl, bells; Rupert Huber - conductor.
Rupert Huber was principal conductor of, among others, the WDR Choir and directed the SWR Vokalenemble Stuttgart as well as regularly conducting well-known choirs, orchestras and ensembles. His works are performed at festivals such as Ruhrtriennale, Salzburg Festival, Wien Modern, or Eclat Stuttgart, often in cooperation with ARD broadcasters.
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NEOS 11720CD
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In The Wannsee Recordings, Gunnar Geisse expresses his fascination with accepting the fleetingness of the current moment and his perception of its changing nature. On the other hand, he is also attracted to the possibility of expressing and reflecting upon the complexity of human existence through art. Geisse developed an instrument he calls a "laptop guitar", a computer-enhanced extension of his former main instrument (the electric guitar) which allows him to take analog playing to the digital level. He uses the possibility of software-based real-time conversion of audio into MIDI data to control virtual instruments and samplers. It does not matter which type of audio signal is used as a source: Input signals can be from electric guitar, speech, or noises; even "translation" of music into other music is possible in this way. Today, Gunnar Geisse uses the computer both as an instrument for improvisation and as a production tool in creating well over 20 radio plays, in commissioned works for musica viva, the Munich Opera Festival, the Munich Biennale and the Donaueschinger Musiktage. Geisse used real-time manipulation of choral singing and orchestra in Gregor Hübner's "De Profundis". In addition to his work as an electric guitarist with among others the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk, the Radio Symphony Orchestra of the SWR. and the Broadway Musical Company New York, his love for improvised and experimental music has resulted in collaboration with Peter Brötzmann, Vinko Globokar, Phil Minton, David Moss, Olga Neuwirth, Mike Svoboda, Michael Wertmüller, and many others.
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NEOS 11703CD
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This CD, titled Vocal Music, presents a selection of the vocal works for mezzo-soprano and various instrumental settings, composed by the recently deceased Czech composer Ladislav Kubík during the period 2012-2016, complemented with one of his earlier compositions, "River in Spring on a text by Franz Kafka (1996). Kubík's lifelong interest in poetry and prose, demonstrated over the years by his numerous vocal works, ranged from the ancient Latin texts and traditional Japanese poems through Rilke, Pasternak, and Kafka to the 20th century Czech, Slovak, American, and Polish poetry. Equally wide is the range of musical forms and genres that bear the poetic message; they include large choral works as well as miniature songs, various chamber music combinations, and non-traditional vocal applications, sometimes in symbiosis with an electronic component. Amongst these works, a special place in Kubík's compositional output belongs to the works for mezzo-soprano, partially generated and inspired by the composer's collaboration with the notable mezzo-soprano Phyllis Pancella. Three of the included works, "24 Haiku", "To Be a Poet", and "Magdalene", are dedicated to her. Yet, her performance is effectively supported by Taiwanese-American pianist Hui-Ting Yang and the Czech musicians Jitka Hosprová (viola) and Hana Brozová (flute), as well as the excellent and, for new music, always enthusiastic Florida State University Percussion Ensemble with Alexander Jiménez (conductor).
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