My, this is a lovely release. Passepartout Duo manage to balance modern classical music with a minimal post-rock sound without the “rock” part. It’s exquisite listening, especially for those who like minimalist music. Think of Arvo Pärt collaborating with Sigur Rós, and this might give you an idea of what Continue Reading
Classical
Tigran Hamasyan – StandArt
It’s not exactly Christmas music (today is when our Armenian brothers in the faith celebrate theirs, and we celebrate ours tomorrow), but any opportunity to hear the music of the excellent Armenian-American pianist Tigran Hamasyan is a happy event. May you all enjoy your holy day!
OpensoundOrchestra – String Quartets
Today, we have some fine contemporary classical music coming out of Russia. Fancy Music usually deliver consistently good albums, and this one is no exception. The Opensoundorchestra interpret the works of newer composers such as Nastasya Khrushcheva, Elmir Nizamov, Anatoly Palaev, Vladimir Kobekin, Vladimir Martynov and zhokhowski
Gaelynn Lea – All the Roads that Lead Us Home
This album is an absolutely sublime combination of folk music and classical, with Gaelynn Lea’s violin sounding like a full orchestra. From the release website: “‘All the Roads that Lead Us Home’ is a focused, vibrant piece of music by a person who is able to take a solitary instrument Continue Reading
Misty Shore Duo – Stillness and Waves
The Misty Shore Duo are Chen-Hui Jen & Jacob Sudol, with Jen performing on piano and Sudol performing with computer electronics. The duo perform the works of Morton Feldman, Alvin Lucier, Michael Pisaro and one of Sudol’s own compositions. For electroacoustic music, each track has an amazing warmth to it.
Liudmila Knyazeva (Людмила Князева) – Русская классическая хоровая музыка 19-20 в. (Russian Classical Choral Music of the 19th-20th Centuries)
My friend, the Russian composer Liudmila Knyazeva, has composed an album of Eastern Orthodox choral music. It’s a wonderful venture with the vaunted hymns the Church is known for. This is an especially nice thing to hear as we as Orthodox prepare for the Marian Fast, as well as for Continue Reading
Novoselie, Questa Musica – Requiem
A sublime, baroque look at the requiem on Fancy Music. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Requiem (from Latin requies – “rest”) is a high genre of concert sacred music, a kind of mourning oratorio. Even the above phrase is little understood by the general public, not to mention the names Continue Reading
Divertissement Сhamber Orchestra, Sergey Kuryokhin – Re:SEASONS
Sergey Kuryokhin was as fine a composer as he was an improvisor. The Divertissement Orchestra, led by violinist Ilya Ioff, reinterprets one of Kuryokhin’s finest compositions from his album The Sparrow Oratorium. Well-played, indeed. Alisa Ten: vocals [1, 2, 4] Vera Chekanova: vocals [2, 3, 4] Lidia Kovalenko: violin [1], Continue Reading
LENsemble Vilnius, Vykintas Baltakas – Horizons
The LENsemble Vilnius, conducted by Vykintas Baltakas, won my attention because of their astounding interpretation of their interpretation of Osvaldas Balakauskas‘ composition Rain for Cracow (1991) for violin and piano. A worthy release.
Ian Vine – Five Strings
Ian Vine, a composer out of the United Kingdom, provides us with a conceptual piece of classical music. From his Bandcamp site: “Recently I have written a series of pieces that are concerned in one way or another with the presentation of unique, and yet similar, events or objects. In Continue Reading