A Closer Listen
A change of direction, an anticipated collection and a slew of soundtracks mark the winter slate of releases in Modern Composition. This music may be elegant, but it’s not just for highbrow audiences; a few of the albums below have crossover potential, and we may even see them chart; nothing would please us more! As many of the composers we cover have broken into the world of film scoring, we’ve seen their popularity increase, benefitting the entire instrumental music industry. The next renaissance may be right around the corner! In the meantime, we hope you’ll enjoy this sneak preview of the winter slate, starting with solo piano and proceeding to full orchestra. Today’s cover art comes from Leslee Smucker’s Breathing Landscape; look closely and you can see the title!
But before we get to 2024’s music, we’d like to set the mood with a gorgeous winter video, released on the winter solstice. “Winter” combines time-lapse photography by Jamie Scott with a gorgeous piece from Bigo &Twigetti head Jim Perkins.
Those of a certain age will remember Air, the French duo that captured the hearts of the world with a distinctive brand of electronica back in the late 90s. Now solo, JB Dunckel offers a very different sort of music, albeit still sedate. Paranormal Musicality is set of piano improvisations, sensitive and chilled (Warner Classics, January 19). Romantic pianist Olivia Belli is set to unveil the expressive Intermundia, enhanced with strings. The album builds to a high point in “Sybil” before a gentle denouement (Sony XXIM, February 23).
Cascades of flowing notes mark the return of Dutch pianist Doeke, whose Voor Aarde is preceded by the single Kosmos. Inspired by nature, the composer serenades rain and sea, moon and stars (Nettwerk, January 5). Peter Klanac offers minimalist piano pieces in both original versions and variations on the double album Sept cordes, a tonal experiment that works (February 22).
Sonic Pieces celebrates its 15th anniversary with a double release from Sylvain Chauveau: a reissue of the artist’s debut album Le livre noir du capitalisme and a new live set, ultra-minimal, recorded one instrument at a time: piano, harmonium, melodica, guitar. Those familiar with the color coding may refer to these as “the orange and black ones” (February 2). Ben Connolly teams with Echo Collective for Phaethon, Becalmed, a meditation on the climate crisis as seen through the lens of mythology (Neue Meister, January 19). Ben Harnetty‘s The Workbench is a meditation on time, objects and a grandfather’s love, available in both instrumental and voice mail versions. We recommend the latter, as it yields the full emotional impact (Winesap Records, January 19).
We are super-happy about the release of Strings and Tins’ The Stills Series, because we’ve already reviewed the whole thing (save for the exceptional bonus remix). The series offers composers the opportunity to choose a piece from London’s Tate Britain Gallery, to imagine it as a still shot, and to provide it with a score. We may be reading too much into the press release, but the words “the first three EPs” lead us to believe that there will be more (January 26).
Leslee Smucker‘s expansive violin pieces occasionally border on drone, with dark timbres suitable to the season. Breathing Landscape was recorded in an abandoned water tank; the reverb within and the wind without both feature strongly (Beacon Sound, January 26). The title says it all: Music for Sixth-tone Harmonium. Ian Mikyska & Fredrik Rasten explore the wide possibilities of the instrument, performed here by Miroslav Beinhauer. Electronics and unusual percussion alter the timbres: rain, chimes, closing doors. Could the instrument be making a comeback? (Warm Winters Ltd., January 19).
Henning Fuchs combines vocal and instrumental pieces on COCOON, an album with great crossover potential. Lost at Sea is the first instrumental single, although we believe “Love Is” (featuring Lisa Lambe) will be the breakout hit (Neue Meister, February 23, pictured right). In like fashion, the all-female trio Toechter seems primed to break through with Epic Wonder, which straddles the line between modern composition, electronic and avant pop. The theme is the power of kinship, the connections between genres mirroring those we might locate in each other. Might this vision become a reality? If so, it would truly be celebrated as an epic wonder (Morr Music, February 2).
We think it’s fair to say that harp music is associated with the colder months, and Lavinia Meijer cements the association with the seasonal-based Winter. It’s also a a safe bet to proclaim that this album – which includes original pieces, as well as interpretations of pieces from Max Richter and Nils Frahm – will likely land on our chart of The Year’s Best Winter Music in eleven months (Sony Classical, January 12). Gidon Kremer includes a healthy amount of premieres on Songs of Fate, which includes multigenerational pieces by Lithuanian and Polish composers and is a mixture of instrumentals and vocal pieces, performed by the Kremerata Baltica chamber ensemble and soprano Vida Miknevičiūtė (ECM, January 19).
Rone offers variations on a theme on the OST to the Canal + series D’Argent et De Sang. While the central theme arrives in multiple versions, there’s plenty of new music to satisfy (InFiné, January 12). Michael Armendariz, Nick Reinhart, & Jay Gambit‘s OST to Grieve starts with somber piano, but it doesn’t end there, as tipped in the end of the trailer. Already Dead Tapes will be offering both film (on VHS!) and cassette for a truly retro experience (January 19). And Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk offers a new score to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, transforming the viewing experience; a film tour will follow the February 9 release.
Richard Allen
Fri Jan 05 00:01:00 GMT 2024