post-classical
See: Neil Cowley – ‘I Choose The Mountain’: solo compositional delicacy with love to Wim Wenders
BRITISH pianist Neil Cowley, who released a septet of albums sitting astride the point where jazz begins to shade into modern composition and ‘tronica over a period of ten years from 2006, has been on something of a musical journey. Having dissolved his previous combo, the Neil Cowley Trio, he’d seemingly fallen out of love …
Track: Laura Masotto – ‘Blue Marble’: the pain and the bite of the pandemic lockdown for layered solo violin
LAURA MASOTTO is an Italian composer and violinist and composer who loves to create and architecture of sound by looping up her violin to strengthen, harmonise, lend support and bite and drama to the thrust and core of her work. She’s set to release her second album on 7K! near to midsummer – 7K! of …
See: The video for Matt Emery’s ‘Raindrops And Blood Spurts’: the scarlet fire of battle as reimagined for solo cello
THE EXCELLENT Surrey composer Matt Emery, a leading light over at Injazero Records for four years or so now working at the more deliciously experimental edges of modern composition, is launching an EP project entitled the Spotlight Series, in which he looks to investigate and put the spotlight on an instrument in turn, really explore …
Album review: Christine Ott – ‘Time To Die’: French composer returns to Gizeh for a modern compositional masterclass
Without a doubt one of the most potent voices in modern composition today, Christine Ott is as happy to push right out into dark, even industrial-infused experimenta as she is to play a straight bat with absolute confidence in the deeper classical tradition and the wider avant-garde palette; she can do it all, if she chooses, and when she breathes the ondes Martenot into life; there really is no one to touch her
See: Theo Alexander’s ‘Bright-Eyed Hunger’: London composer targets the dream state with his dazzling minimalism
LONDON pianist Theo Alexander likes to loop, to evoke the dreamstate, to explore the beauty of harmony and melody and repetition. He’s an album coming up on Toronto’s lovely Arts & Crafts imprint in late May that looks to seal his reputation as one of the most interesting people working in the minimalist end of …
Album review: Balmorhea – ‘The Wind’: Texas post-classical duo present a lovely set for Deutsche Grammophon
Balmorhea draw a line back in the tradition to the much-missed Louisville, KY outfit Rachel’s, who opted to take an idea and use whichever instrumental mix they found brought out the best of what they wished to convey. And The Wind roams freely and with precision across a spectrum from formal classical through a more pastoral take on the form and all the way out to ambient experimentalism, spoken word, found sound, with a unity and cohesion. It’s just a lovely, thoughtful record; complex in its simplicity
See: Patrick Belaga – ‘The Tunnel Is A Tower’: off-kilter ambience in which electronica plays against shadowy cello
AS YOU can pretty much deduce from the photo, Patrick Belaga isn’t your common or garden cellist. Classically trained, natch, he loves to bust out of convention – whether that’s collaborating with performance artists such as Wu Tsang, or scoring Lady Gaga’s Netflix documentary. Life – and music, and art – are for living. His …
See: Tristan Kasten-Krause – ‘From Thin Air’: high choral grace with stunning visuals lead us to a liminal better place
TRISTEN KASTEN-KRAUSE, the intensely collaborative dronescaper who’s all set to release his debut album come late April, has dropped some beautifully tailored visuals to accompany his second teaser for that record – you can watch that below. “From Thin Air” follows the delicious drones of “Dawn Looming”, his first reveal from late last month; a …
Track: Mischa Blanos unveils a debut album of percussive piano for InFiné with ‘Silicon Road’
INFINÉ, the French label which has a catalogue for which the adjective ‘eclectic’ is truly justifiable – there really can’t be many (any?) labels which can boast releases by both Mozart and Carl Craig – is debuting an exploratory new album by Romanian pianist and producer Mischa Blanos, venturing out under his own sail away …
See: The video for Naoko Sakata’s ‘Improvisation 2’: another fluid, free-flying expression at the solo piano from next week’s album
NAOKO SAKATA, the free improvisational piano talent who Anna von Hausswolff just knew she had to sign to her Pomperirossa Records imprint, has released another flowing, epic, impressionistic improvisation from her forthcoming debt album for the label, “Improvisation 2”, which you can hear right here. Based in Gothenburg, Sakata is a good fir for Pomperipossa, …