Going through Twitter contacts on my account (which will be changed soon, as I want an account that will only concentrate on music and not any other of my pursuits), I came across the name of a label whose work always left me impressed, but whom I had forgotten about, Erstwhile Records. Jon Abbey and …
Read more “Reinier van Houdt – drift nowhere past / the adventure of sleep”
Dirk Fock was a Dutch-American pianist with a very interesting musical history, including working with Richard Strauss. From the Bandcamp site: Dirk Fock (1886-1973) In 1945 the Dutch-born conductor and composer Dirk Fock (also: Foch) became an American citizen. Before that – during the interwar years – he conducted many orchestras all over Europe. Living …
Sublime. There’s no other word for it. If you enjoy modern classical music, especially by composers like Gorecki, Ligeti or Penderecki, Canadian composer Adrian Copeland has something here which will appeal to you, with long, mournful drones, sparse instrumentation, and a rough, melancholic feel to the tracks. Track 4, Heir to the Ember Sun, was …
The Ukrainian pianist Valentin Silvestrov released this home recording in 2020, and though it might lack slightly in recording quality, the beauty of his Chopin-esque playing shines through. Beautiful music for dark times.
Sophia Jani is a Berlin-based composer of modern classical music who seems to be part of a wave of a creative new generation coming out of Europe. This collection of string quartets is elegant, yet the music has a mournful quality to it.
As the world is in a state of free-fall at the moment, it is nice to take some time to listen to something mellow, perhaps saccharine to some tastes, but calming nonetheless. Mattia Cupelli’s release is an appropriate one to share today considering the album’s title, most recognized as the date where Roman emperor Julius …
Though his bio on Bandcamp calls him a superlative jazz pianist, I would have to add that Chris Conway handles modern classical music with as much aplomb. He has also worked with some stellar musicians, including Guy Barker, Andy Sheppard, Stan Sulzman, Martin Speake and the legendary Finnish sax player Sakari Kukko (leader of Piirpauke) …
Michał Jacaszek is a Polish composer joined by the Kwartludium, a contemporary classical music quartet who, until coming across this recording, I had never heard of previously. Jacaszek, the quartet, and the musicians who supplement this recording make a very tense, yet totally organic series of an electroacoustic series of soundscapes, which, as he says, …
This should be a breakout year for Alexei Aigui, who has released his fourth album of the year in collaboration with pianist Arkady Marto. The album is absolutely sublime. Each track has a gentle touch, balancing violin and piano perfectly. The cornerstone of the album for me is this track, Nocturne No. 0: It is …
Although there are some phenomenal classical musicians represented on Bandcamp, I didn’t expect to hear any work by the Counter-Reformation-era priest and composer Tomás Luis de Victoria. This cassette tape, released by The Striking Chamber, came as a pleasant surprise. It’s only 13 minutes long, and it’s released here as one solitary, slightly over-compressed track, …
Read more “The Striking Chamber – Tomás Luis de Victoria: Collected Works”