Classical Music 296 Items

For her second release on Northern Electronics, Vallmo (appellation of Melina Akerman Kvie) strengthens her proficiency towards an electronic elevation with each and every track being a crevice offering kaleidoscopic gleams into a poetic narrative extracted from the slightly autotuned yet softly metallic voice. What Virgil is to Dante, the piano is to the listener: a fragmented leitmotif and a guiding cicerone into the nimbus that is "Othem". Dual in nature, the album comprises seamless transitions between divergent idioms, figuratively as well as literally. A false dichotomy conveying the opposing pairs tender and bold, distinct but evading and with a direction every so often forward as inward. "Othem" is an opus in equal parts melancholy, magic and mimesis.

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.

Reflections is a recording of Sufjan Stevens' sixth collaboration with acclaimed ballet and dance choreographer Justin Peck. Originally composed for World Premiere and performances (May 17-26, 2019) by Houston Ballet, the piano duet was recorded at Oktaven Studios by Ryan Streber and performed by pianists Timo Andres and Conor Hanick. Reflections is imbued with Stevens' memorable and emotionally resonant melodies and arrangements and continues to establish Stevens as a contemporary composer.

Managing two record labels and the most successful electronic music school in the country has left Natia Sartania aka sTia with little time for her own music for the past 13 years. However, her musical journeys and transitions brought her back to "home". This 7-track album has been created by Natia since the full-scale invasion in Ukraine. She dedicates this album to all people who had to leave their homes behind.
It's not easy to define the musical genre of this EP. Mostly acoustic piano with some electronic ambience and squeaky pedal that gets in the way. Some melancholic recitative and hypnotic hip-hop instrumental in the end.
In A4 Natia collaborates with Luna Flowers and Sabana, the founding members of the most influential hip-hop collectives in Georgia such as "KayaKata", Ltfr and Temple Pharmacy.
In B3 sTia's home is covered by one of the most promising young Georgian hip-hop instrumentalist Nikala

Spencer Zahn's latest collection is a return to the hushed palette of solo piano lyricism. This focused sparseness comes after the sprawling, lushness of his critically acclaimed 2022 album, Pigments with Dawn Richard. Living life centered around composition. Zahn sets aside a window each day to commune with the piano, to and beauty in details. Statues I is the first chapter of an ambitious double-album The second installment, Statues II, will follow this fall and be accompanied by a gatefold vinyl, designed by longtime collaborator Hana Tajima.

what an interesting time to be alive full of hardship and love

let’s take it easy on ourselves but let us not forget to solidify our spirits with earthly challenges in the name of a better future here’s a vinyl edition of an album i recorded in 2021 with a few extras that have been added quite recently for the sake of making it into a full LP (thanks to the initiative of Hhr) i have recorded the whole thing at my home studio with an upright piano, two of my favorite polyphonic analog synths - korg polysix and roland juno 60, and a greco stratocaster, that i have bought accidentally because i understand nothing about guitars. the main material for this album was composed around 2017, when entering my mid-twenties and trying to overcome the disenchantments of some crucial personal realms of human life.

as for the later added instrumentals (1,4,9,10) i have kept the sonic consistency intact but with way more hopeful spirits during the process. despite this ambivalent intervention from the future, this work feels even more complete to me now.

have a nice trip.

and let every lacking soul on this planet find peace and love within the nearest time attainable. let us all make an effort.

settima tacca

Celibidache never conducted opera (perhaps a single Carmen, or maybe an act of Don Giovanni…) because, he said, opera performance is subject to too many approximations. Celibidache was the great conductor of Symphonies and Concertos and here, in this recital, his performance is the best. Featuring a sublime rendition of Shubert's "Unfinished", this is a magical recording with great sound.

Sarah Neufeld is a violinist and composer based in Montréal, Canada. Best known as a member of Arcade Fire, she is also a founding member of the acclaimed contemporary instrumental ensemble Bell Orchestre and has performed and recorded with many other groups, including The Luyas, Esmerine and Little Scream.