Classical Music 457 Items

The Classical Collections focusses on the rich work of French composer Erik Satie. He is the first of the minimalists and stands as a huge influence for artists like John Cage and Brian EnoIncluding the famous Gymnopédies, Gnosienne Nd3, Nocturnes...

Niklas Paschburg"s third album Panta Rhei arrives via 7K! on March 17th, 2023. The title and the music are inspired by Heraclitus"s Greek philosophy that "everything flows" and finds the Hamburg-born artist exploring an unrestricted world of post-classical music drawn from deep within himself. Across two previous albums, the now Berlin-based Paschburg has been captivated by the movement of the Baltic Sea (2018"s Oceanic) and the darkness of a Northern European winter (2020"s Svalbard). As a result of being unable to travel during the pandemic, this latest album finds him looking inside his own heart and mind. Niklas"s personal journey becomes a captivating and colourful musical journey that combines his melancholic and delicate pianism with synths and electronic beats, suggestive ambient and the evocative voices of German singer Lúisa, Spaniard Bianca Steck and the Icelandic Kaktus Einarsson, frontman of post-punk band Fufanu. It is a move towards ambient-pop that is intimate and meditative but with positive and uplifting vibes.

Factory Benelux presents a box set collection of the first five albums released by the celebrated Factory Classical imprint in 1989, featuring modern classical works composed by Benjamin Britten, Elliott Carter, Paul Hindemith, Theodore Lalliet, Gyorgy Ligeti, Steve Martland, Olivier Messiaen, Francis Poulenc, Dmitri Shostakovich and Michael Tippett.

The new Factory Benelux clamshell box set includes a 24 page booklet featuring the original Factory commissioned liner notes from 1989, as well as a contemporary essay by writer Stuart Huggett and an interview with Tony Wilson. Each individual CD is housed in a card wallet which reproduces the original artwork by designers Peter Saville, Trevor Key, Ben Kelly, Mark Farrow, Neville Brody and Trevor Johnson.

The 5 CDs have been newly re-mastered in 2022 by Peter Beckmann at Technology Works.

Curated by Durutti Column viola player John Metcalfe, the performers include the Kreisler String Orchestra, German pianist Rolf Hind, The Duke Quartet and oboist Robin Williams, with Steve Martland’s material performed by Residentie Orkest Den Haag and pianists Gerard Bouwhuis and Cees Van Zeeland.

Explained Factory founder Tony Wilson: ‘The idea I had in mind was people like Peter Saville, the Factory designer, and his girlfriend - art school kids brought up with Bowie and Roxy Music, into punk, maybe they find acid house interesting, but they’re looking for something else. For people like them or younger, there is no easy way into classical music, because it’s all quite exclusive. They’re scarcely likely to read Gramophone magazine, or make head or tail of it if they did.’

‘I was a relatively angry young man at that time,’ adds Metcalfe, ‘and chose to channel some of that into a rather naïve disapproval of standard classical industry practices. The white tie and tails and very, very boring, reproductions of Constable paintings on album covers, all that stuff. So I had a chat with Tony and he said, “Off you go, fill your boots”.’

Largely drowned out by relentless Acid House beats and faddish Madchester guitar rock in 1989, the bold, contrarian Factory Classical catalogue is now ripe for re-appraisal by much the same audience identified by Wilson. Indeed since 1989 Metcalfe has worked as an arranger for artists such as Peter Gabriel, U2, Blur, Coldplay and Bat for Lashes, as well as performing and recording with the Max Richter Ensemble. Sadly contemporary composer Steve Martland passed away in 2013.