Double vinyl LP pressing including bonus CD edition. Aheym is an astonishing collaboration between National guitarist Bryce Dessner and journeyman new music string quartet the Kronos Quartet. Performing four compositions by Dessner, the Kronos Quartet champion an exciting young composer, continuing a history of presenting new and important works and composers that stretches back to their founding in 1973. Dessner has a history of composition that predates his membership in the National, and represents a new generation who are blurring the lines between Rock and contemporary classical music. From the raw emotional overtones of 'Aheym' to the soaring choral crescendo - courtesy of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus - of 'Tour Eiffel', Bryce Dessner's music for the Kronos Quartet will delight longtime followers of Kronos' work with Steve Reich, Philip Glass and others, and will challenge and surprise the National's many fans. At the close of day, Aheym addresses many of the same aches and dreams as the music of the National, and it is the breaking down of these artificial barriers of genre and performance that Bryce Dessner has made a life's work.
Dmitry Evgrafov's most accomplished work to date, 'Surrender' is a broad and dramatic record that expands the Moscow-based artist's palette and reaches beyond the usual post-classical range. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist, Dmitry released his debut album, 'Pereehali' (2013), when he was nineteen. Shortly after, he performed onstage for the first time, when pulled out of the crowd to collaborate with Nils Frahm. He is co-founder and head of sound design at Endel, a mobile app company making personalized ambient soundscapes that generate responsive music in real time, which last year signed a 20 album deal with Warner Music, widely reported as "the first algorithm to sign a deal with a major". Now 27, and with four albums to his name, Dmitry has also logged 100 million streams of his music to date. While the beautifully close-mic'd piano parts of his music sit well in that playlist world alongside contemporaries such as Frahm, Arnalds or Goldmund, it is far from the full picture. 'Surrender' encompasses a continually changing musical spectrum, sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic, taking the listener on a journey through intimate piano & string arrangements, fractured electronica, and complex, rhythmically driven constructions. On these, Dmitry forges a kind of hybrid sound where post-rock meets classical composition, at times closer in spirit to Efterklang or Mice Parade in it's sense of adventure.
The best-selling Relaxing series takes US back to the Baroque for two hours of soothing suites, concertos and more-all for a budget price! Includes the Four Seasons Vivaldi; Canon in D Major Pachelbel; Largo from Xerxes Handel; Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2, 5 & 6; Air on the G String Bach, plus Telemann, Corelli, Albinoni, Couperin and more.
First time ever on vinyl. Sylvain's music has been praised by peers like Ryuichi Sakamoto and Hauschka, and earned 25 million Spotify streams since 2015. That he has remained largely in the shadows for so long remains something of a mystery, but we're hopeful that this beautiful record will resonate with a wider audience and spark some kind of reappraisal
World famous Japanese guitar player Yoshio Kimura returns on Volume 3 of his specially selected Audiophile Selections. Once again he carefully selects his most favorite songs on this special 180g Vinyl LP. On Audiophile Selections 3 he demonstrates his supreme performance skills. 180 Gram Vinyl! Japanese Pressing! Classically trained Guitarist Extraordinaire Yoshio Kimura Treats Us With His Third Volume of Audiophile Selections!
Following the success of last year's 100 Years of Nine Lessons & Carols, for 2019 King's College release a deluxe product showcasing the landmark 100th service - the last to be conducted by the outgoing Director of Music, Sir Stephen Cleobury.
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge releases a beautiful and varied selection of Easter choral music on it's new album under the direction of Daniel Hyde. Now the Green Blade Riseth is a procession through time and history, with music rooted in ancient Gregorian chant all the way through to contemporary works charting the course of Holy Week and Easter. The album presents not only a rich variety of choral music but a demonstration of the flexibility and agility of the Choir of King's College. Daniel Hyde conducts the Choir in music from the 'Golden Age of English Polyphony' (Byrd's Civitas) and the era of Italian grand opera (Rossini's O salutaris Hostia), as well Victorian, Edwardian and mid-twentieth century choral masterpieces. A selection of popular Easter hymns structures the program, which culminates in Durufl 's stunning transcription of Tournemire's Choral Improvisation sur le 'Victim Paschali', performed by Matthew Martin on the King's College organ.
Libera, a boys choral group based in south London making beautiful, progressive albums in the classical and the ambient/new age style, have recorded "Beyond", their eagerly-anticipated new album - a transformative and spiritual musical experience. This comes hot on the heels of their successful 2017 "Hope" album. Even with 50 million hits on You Tube, performances for Popes and Presidents, Classical Brit nominations, and their most recent USA and Japan tours a triumph with the critics and at the box office, Libera remain one of the UK's best-kept secrets. "Beyond" includes "Sanctus" with it's extraordinary vocal range and heavenly serenity, the breathtakingly beautiful melodic elegance of "Salve Regina", the exciting and uplifting "Benedictus Deus" and, as an antidote to the angst and pressures of modern life, "Voca me" - and the exquisite voices and harmonies of Libera. "Beyond" is an inspirational journey to the depths of your own consciousness, away from the noise and bustle to find a quiet place to relax and rejuvenate the spirit. The distinctive sound of Libera has travelled the world in the last few years. The group's albums have topped both mainstream and classical charts in many countries, and their recordings hold their place in top 10s alongside major artists. Libera's unique sound has endeared the group to fans all over the world, particularly in the USA, the UK, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan, where their CDs top the mainstream and classical charts and where they pack concert halls appearing in their trademark flowing white robes on imaginatively lit stages. The boys who make up the vocal band Libera normal South London kids aged 7 to 16. However, as their recordings and performances demonstrate, the music they produce is truly extraordinary. With shimmering, mystical chords and ecstatic harmonies, they are unlike any other group you have ever heard.
In essence, the sound of the piano comes in two parts: it's attack and it's decay. The striking of a hammer is followed by the resonance of a string or strings. (Much the same might be said about the vibraphone, as it happens.) This dual quality of sound comes to mind when listening to Moments by New York-based composer Michael Vincent Waller. Performed by pianist R. Andrew Lee and vibraphonist William Winant, Moments - his third album, following Trajectories (Recital, 2017) and The South Shore (XI, 2015) - draws on Western classical music tradition in it's most archetypal forms through it's use of modal melodies, triadic harmonies and metered rhythms. Yet the emotional heart of the music is not in attack, but resonance. The afterlife of sounds. Those elements that can't be grasped and placed into easy historical categories. Behind his surface attacks Waller finds hazy, edgeless zones that draw us downwards, into introspection - an "inward gaze." Waller's music is often compared to that of Erik Satie, and there is certainly something Satie-like in it's concision, it's subtle asymmetries and it's lack of ornament. But where Satie's Gnossiennes, Nocturnes and Gymnopedies were blank canvases, deliberately signifying nothing, Waller's pieces are vessels to be filled. That is partly an effect of titles: Waller's pieces on this disc are all 'moments' of autobiographical poignancy - memorials, birthdays, homecomings; friends, teachers, family members. We are clearly invited to invest certain emotional expectations into these sounds. Liner notes by Tim Rutherford-Johnson and "Blue" Gene Tyranny. Mastered by Denis Blackham for digital and compact disc. Mastered and cut for vinyl by Rashad Becker.
Get Lost is Bruno Bavota's first studio album since the 2016 release of Out of the Blue helped thrust him into that peculiar world of anonymous but significant success via high-volume streaming playlists and high-profile TV commercials. Out of the Blue marked the beginning of Bavota's drift from immaculate, traditional piano music. If Get Lost isn't a complete reinvention, it is at the very least a radical new direction. Rather than obsess over the sound of the piano itself, Bavota now explores the sounds around the piano - the resonance, the silence, and the acoustic ambience of the living, breathing space in which the piano resides. He employs an array of outboard effects pedals and processors to not just capture those sounds that are often overlooked, but to sample, loop, and reposition them as central figures in a story. Bruno Bavota gave Get Lost it's name when he found himself drifting deeper into the darker side of his music. Inspired by a familiar observation of modern life, Bavota confessed, "I think people are becoming more selfish and don't seem to have time to listen to other people who need to be heard. We don't show much empathy." Much like Bavota's evolving approach to the piano, he has discovered profound purpose and influence in the people and places least visible but most meaningful.
The title of "The Decalogue" has a touch of the grandiose: it means "The Ten Commandments." Yet this score, composed by Sufjan Stevens for a dance work choreographed by Justin Peck that premiered with the New York City Ballet in May of 2017, is quiet and experimental. Stevens's piano score, as played and recorded by Timo Andres, sounds like etudes in the Romantic-modernist tradition, as if prompted by Debussy. With "The Decalogue," now released digitally, and on vinyl and CD, Sufjan is making-gently, without ostentation-new departures.
Tignor has released 9 LPs across the Western Vinyl and New Albion labels to critical acclaim within the classical and experimental communities. He has collaborated with numerous artists at the boundaries of popular music including Keith Kenniff (Helios), Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, John Congleton, and post-rock titans This Will Destroy You. While a young artist in NYC, Tignor mixed bands at CBGBs, was an assistant to La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, and served as the technical director for 9 years for a New Music festival produced by Phillip Glass. Tignor discovered computers through his college electronic music studio (as a creative writing major), subsequently obtained his Masters in computer science from NYU, proceeded through Princeton's PhD program in music composition, and was later recruited for a software engineering position at Google, where he has worked since 2011.
