Tag: @sequenza21

Composers, Contemporary Classical, Deaths, Electro-Acoustic, File Under?, Metropolitan Opera, New York

Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023)

Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023) Sequenza 21 is saddened to learn of Kaija Saariaho’s passing at the age of 70. The cause was cancer. Despite the toll taken by the disease, she continued to compose nearly to the end of her life. Hush (2023) for Finnish jazz trumpeter Verneri Pohjola, was her last piece.   Saariaho was one of the greatest composers of her generation, and a pathbreaker who encouraged composers in the next. She composed for nearly every genre of concert music and made electronic music at top flight studios, including IRCAM.    The composer had an international career with champions

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by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, jazz

Rochford and Downes on ECM (CD Review)

Sebastian Rochford, Kit Downes A Short Diary ECM Records    “This short diary (of loss), offered as a sonic memory,   created with love, out of need for comfort.” -Sebastian Rochford   When Sebastian Rochford’s father, the Aberdeen poet Gerard Rochford (1932-2019) passed away, the drummer decided to create a recording in his memory. He composed most of the music after his father’s death, and enlisted pianist Kit Downes as a collaborator. Downes is actually a musical switch-hitter; he is also an accomplished organist. “This Tune Your Ears Will Never Hear” opens the album mid-tempo with thick chords and snare in

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by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, Dance, File Under?, Piano

Sufjan Stevens – Reflections (CD Review)

Sufjan Stevens – Reflections  Timo Andres, Conor Hanick, piano Asthmatic Kitty   Reflections is a studio version of Sufjan Steven’s sixth collaboration with choreographer Justin Peck. Over the course of his career, Stevens has explored a number of genres: indie rock, electronica, and folk music. His work as a concert music composer shows considerable facility, with idiomatic, indeed virtuosic, writing for piano duo.    The opening track, “Ekstasis” begins the ballet with emphatic, thickly voiced chords and glissandos, followed by brilliant passagework and a briefly inserted swinging melody. Pianists Timo Andres and Conor Hanick are perfect for the challenges posed

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by Christian Carey
CD Review, early music, File Under?

De Profundis Sings Morales (CD Review)

Morales: Missa Desilde al cavallero, Missa Mille Regretz, Magnificat Primi Toni De Profundis, directed by Eamonn Dougan and Robert Hollingsworth Hyperion Records   Cambridge’s De Profundis has quickly become a go-to ensemble for Spanish vocal repertoire from the Renaissance. An all-male group with a sonorous sound that includes an incomparable bass section (hence the group name), they have released extraordinary recordings of Vivanco, Esquivel, and Ribera. Now De Profundis is turning its attention to Cristobal de Morales (c. 1500-1553), with a projected 12-album project to record his masses and Magnificat settings. The first disc in the collection, released in 2023, 

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by Christian Carey
CD Review, Composers, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Piano

Frederic Rzewski – Late Piano Works (CD Review)

Frederic Rzewski Late Piano Works Bobby Mitchell, piano Naxos   Frederic Rzewski (1938-2021) was a gifted composer and pianist. His oeuvre included pieces in many genres, but it is his piano works that, to date, are best known. Rzewski premiered a number of pieces, but in his later years deputized pianist Bobby Mitchell, dedicating works to him and trusting his talent to be sufficient for their often virtuosic and complex interpretive demands.   Rzewski’s pieces combine modernism and vernacular styles, particularly leftist folk songs, often in sets of multifaceted variations. War Songs (2008) includes songs that are both pro and

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by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Rebecca Saunders – Skin on NMC (CD Review)

Rebecca Saunders Skin Christian Dierstein, Dirk Rothbrust, percussion Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB), Enno Poppe, conductor Quatuor Diotima Juliet Fraser soprano, Klangforum Wien, Bas Wiegers, conductor NMC Recordings   Berlin-based British composer Rebecca Saunders often creates pieces with the capacities of specific collaborators in mind. Her latest recording for NMC, Skin, features three of her “calling card” pieces from the 2010s, performed estimably by their dedicatees. Saunders is one of the composers sometimes described as part of the Second Moderns, creators who revitalize the tenets of modernism in the light of Postmodernism and New Complexity. Pieces consist of a plethora of extended

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by Christian Carey
CDs, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Piano

When Sufjan met Timo and Conor

  Sufjan Stevens is an indie rock luminary who, throughout his career, has explored a number of styles. His first contemporary classical release, Reflections will be released on Asthmatic Kitty on May 19th. The music is for piano duo and performed by Time Andres and Conor Hanick.  This meeting of stalwart musicians crosses the boundaries of pop and post-minimalism to create music that is carefully crafted, well-paced, and has a strong sense of drama. Below is the recording’s lead off single, “Ekstasis,” both in a visualizer and a live performance.  

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by Christian Carey
CD Review, Choral Music, Contemporary Classical, early music, File Under?

love & light – iSing Silicon Valley (CD Review)

love & light iSing Silicon Valley, conducted by Jennah Delp Somers Esteli Gomez, soprano; Cheryl Ann Fulton, harp Avie Records   On love & light, the girl’s choir iSing Silicon Valley performs a program of ancient liturgical chants and Latin motets by contemporary composers. Many include the dulcet accompaniment of harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton, who arranges early music for the harp. Os Mutorum by James Macmillan opens the recording with a gentle spirit, introducing the listener to a program emphasizing healing and uplift. Star power and fetching lyrical singing is provided by soprano Esteli Gomez. Her performance on Kile Smith’s

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by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, File Under?, Violin

Olivia de Prato – Panorama (CD Review)

  Panorama – Olivia de Prato (New Focus)   Violinist Olivia de Prato has established herself as a staunch advocate of new music. In addition to her work with Mivos Quartet, she is a talented soloist. On her second solo release for New Focus Recordings, Panorama, she undertakes a recital disc of female composers. A number of the pieces include electronics, fleshing out the solo texture in diverting fashion.   The album opens with Missy Mazzoli’s violin plus electronics piece Tooth and Nail (2010). The original version was written for violist Nadia Sirota; this is a transcription for violin. The

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by Christian Carey
CD Review, File Under?, jazz, LPs

Pharaoh Sanders – Karma LP Reissue

Pharoah Sanders – Karma (Impulse, 2023 reissue)   Karma is one of saxophonist Pharoah Sanders most important releases. Recorded in 1969, it was his third as a leader, and featured a long suite, “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” that was in part an homage to the recently deceased John Coltrane, with whom Sanders had performed and recorded. Coltrane’s own extended suite, “A Love Supreme,” is quoted during “Karma,” and the use of a vocal refrain and free jazz solos on top of modal harmonies also hearken back to “A Love Supreme.”   Impulse has reissued the recording as a

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by Christian Carey