The UberBach album is a collection of compositions by the Munich-based composer Arash Safaian on themes by Johann Sebastian Bach. Safaian starts off with various pieces by Bach- chorales, orchestral works, organ and clavier music- and works with them to create five concertos for piano, vibraphone and chamber orchestra. Arash Safaian’s musical partner is the internationally acclaimed pianist Sebastian Knauer. Sebastian Knauer writes of this project: “When I heard the first example of UberBach, I was enthusiastic about the project at once. The virtuosity of the piano part, the melodiousness of the compositions and the closely woven sound made a deep impression on me. I imagined I was listening to Bach and yet it sounded too modern for the original.” He called his long-time musical partner, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the very next day and organized the recording. Arash Safaian is an artist, composer, and producer. He is the son of artist Ali Akbar Safaian, an important representative of Iranian modernism. Born in Teheran, he grew up in Bayreuth, where he was exposed to Richard Wagner’s operas at an early age. Alongside his interest in music, painting and sculpture shaped his childhood and youth. He has made his mark as a composer with orchestral works, ensemble pieces, film music and operas. He currently lives and works in Munich.

SPARK is simply different. The five-strong grouping combines the finesse and precision of a classical chamber ensemble with the energy and bite of a rock band. The American Record Guide describes Spark as “a genuine classical music phenomenon not unlike Yo Yo Ma or the Kronos Quartet, but even more vital”. Invitations have taken the Classical Band to some of the world’s most prestigious concert platforms, from the Vienna Musikverein and Berlin’s Konzerthaus to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, and to numerous music festivals. 2017 sees the release of the Classical Band’s fourth album, Facets of Infinity, featuring SPARK in the eponymous work by Berlin rising star Johannes Motschmann as a solo group alongside the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra under the direction of Sebastian Weigle. Johannes Motschmann is one of Germany’s most instructive present-day composers. He and his electro trio play in clubs like Berlin’s Berghain, plus he performs works with Ensemble Modern and radio symphony orchestras. Motschmann builds up his music from small motivic cells – like Mahler or Wagner – into higher-level structures. That applies as much to his pieces for trio as to his orchestral works. Facets of Infinity, with the Frankfurt Opera orchestra – Museumsorchester Frankfurt – at full strength and Spark as solo performer, makes that perfectly clear: not only does Motschmann quote from his Electric Fields album in this huge work, he combines these quotations with a seemingly endless melody – almost in the manner of Morton Feldman.

ECARTELE is an imaginary soundtrack for a feature film dating from the 1970s about the meeting between two of the major thinkers of the 20th century – the Nobel Prize winning physicist Wolfgang Pauli and the psychoanalyst and creator of the theory of archetypes, Carl Gustav Jung. The album relates in musical terms the story of the unusual friendship between the two scientists and explores the mysterious grey area between physics and the psychology of the unconscious. The title of the album (from the French ‘écarteler’) refers both to the medieval tradition of quartering execution victims and to the Jungian concept of ‘quaternio’ – the intersection of two pairs of concepts that are polar opposites. Thus, in the exchange between Jung and Pauli, two other people play an important role: one is the young English doctor Erna Rosenbaum, who belonged to C.G. Jung’s circle in the late 1920s, and the other is the mathematician, astronomer and theologian Johannes Kepler, whose work was a powerful source of inspiration for Pauli. The album tracks are short, episodic, minimalistic and narrative – a musical screenplay and soundtrack for a film that was never made... In order to achieve a tonal range that is both modern and cinematographic, the composer Damian Marhulets uses electronic sounds as well as working with the four string players of the famous Szymanowski Quartet and Marina Baranova on prepared piano.

Two great German music traditions are fused together on this electro-acoustic album from Berlin-based composer Johannes Motschmann: the classics, and electronic music. Using analogue synthesizers, the Yamaha CP-70, and an old Wurlitzer piano, these dark and melancholic tracks mesh rhythmically with massive percussion and violin sounds. All of the components of these tracks, from percussive sounds to violin tracks, were recorded in the same acoustical space. This allows the handmade electrosounds to be perceived in their full, natural qualities. Boris Bolles helped to mix and master these works, as well as provide some of the violin tracks. Johannes Motschmann received his musical education at the University of Music Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden, then at the University of Music in Karlsruhe, and finally at the Hochschule fur Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. He studied piano, composition, and electronic music with such scholars as Jorg Herchet, Wilfried Jentzch, Clemens Kuhn, and Wolfgang Rihm. Motschmann’s compositions have been performed by Ensemble Modern, the NDR Radio Philharmonic, and the SWR Symphony Orchestra.

‘Maximalism’ is what the Canadian-born composer John Kameel Farah calls his unique composition style. The artist, whose parents are Palestinian-Canadian but who now lives in Berlin, has a musical style which, despite its complexity, still creates an organic feeling of unity. In this way, Farah represents a new generation of North-American composers who share a style in which complexity and musical narratives are not mutually exclusive. His music brings the listener powerfully into its sound world, with piano and live-produced synthesiser and organ sounds which are layered onto passages which could most accurately be defined as ‘power minimal’. These give way to practically ‘contrapuntal’ units, into which Arabic melodic fragments are interwoven. Recording “Time Sketches” was a huge experiment for John Farah. The focus of the album is his 12 minute long piece, “Fantasia”. This was originally written as a commissioned work for the Western Front Society in Vancouver and performed in Berlin in 2016. John revised and recorded this work for the Neue Meister series, and wrote and recorded all the other pieces on the album in only a month (a feat which would usually take many more months). For the recording, a concert hall belonging to a home for blind children on the outskirts of Hanover was rented, into which John moved during the recording period. This rather special situation is reflected in the composition of the album, which, apart from the ecstatically complex Fantasia, has a special mood and musical flavour.

The music of contemporary composer Sophia Jani is characterized by it's great independence from structures and conventions as well as by it's musical poetry within a minimalist approach. Her debut album "Music as a Mirror" presents works for woodwind quintet, string quartet and piano. In the largely male environment with this album Sophia Jani aims to take a different perspective and position as a unique female voice. Sophia Jani's music lives from influences of various artists of all times and nations: from Bach and Schubert to the European and American avant-garde of the 20th and 21st century, to avant-pop artists like Bjo�rk and Ryuichi Sakamoto, or electronic music producers such as Tim Hecker, Laurel Halo or Skee Mask. In this way, she creates music that spans a dramaturgical arc while suspending any sense of time - calm, powerful, elegant, dance-like. Thus she finds a poetic minimalism that takes it's listeners by the hand and imaginatively and cleverly opens a new horizon.

Sven Helbig is one of the new composer generation for whom there are no longer any barriers between the classical world of the orchestra, experimental art and pop music. He composes choral, orchestral and chamber music for many different stages. Helbig's Pocket Symphonies are a coherent cycle of 12 compositions for orchestra and piano quartet in which the composer pursues the idea of creating symphonic pearls in the form of songs.

Two great German music traditions are fused together on this electro-acoustic album from Berlin-based composer Johannes Motschmann: the classics, and electronic music. Using analogue synthesizers, the Yamaha CP-70, and an old Wurlitzer piano, these dark and melancholic tracks mesh rhythmically with massive percussion and violin sounds. All of the components of these tracks, from percussive sounds to violin tracks, were recorded in the same acoustical space. This allows the handmade electrosounds to be perceived in their full, natural qualities. Boris Bolles helped to mix and master these works, as well as provide some of the violin tracks. Johannes Motschmann received his musical education at the University of Music Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden, then at the University of Music in Karlsruhe, and finally at the Hochschule fur Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. He studied piano, composition, and electronic music with such scholars as Jorg Herchet, Wilfried Jentzch, Clemens Kuhn, and Wolfgang Rihm. Motschmann’s compositions have been performed by Ensemble Modern, the NDR Radio Philharmonic, and the SWR Symphony Orchestra.

The Twelve" is a soundtrack, but it also is an album very much in it's own right, with tracks that stand on their own, "It tells the story of [..] twelve people even without you seeing the film" explains Federico Albanese. The pieces invoke feelings of meditation and anticipation that convey a wonderful sense of storytelling, and hearing about Albanese's inspiration for these only strengthens their narrative. Take "The Stars We Follow", a piece as gentle and contemplative as it is powerful. The track was inspired by Japanese master Aoki Hiroyuki and the special practice he developed in order to connect to nature, "It's something between a martial art and a dance. At some point Lucy sent me a short clip where they do a session of this on a beach, and I thought somehow the movements were like chasing stars," explains Albanese, "as well as the general idea of all these elders travelling, and following their own ideas and stars and trying to communicate them with the world." The wonderfully comforting piece "North Variation" was inspired by Master Lyudmila Khomovna, one of the last people of Uilta decent living in a remote island in Siberia, "She is a very particular person, and profoundly elder, a very wise person. I was having this idea in mind of something set in a very cold place but with a deep warmth within," says Albanese. "The Twelve" cemented Federico Albanese's abilities to work outside his comfort zone. Being simultaneously able to adapt to the collaborative efforts of filmmaking while following his own internal creative process, his album demonstrates the added value of organic partnerships between artists, "I would say cinema is my second love besides music. I'm probably not the kind of person who is willing to write music for anything, I am happy to pledge to a project when I can see there is something I can give to it.

Henning Fuchs is a music composer and musician. He has scored over 40 short films and documentaries. He assisted renowned composers and worked on more than 20 internationally acclaimed movies and tv-series. His songs and instrumental compositions have been nominated and awarded many times. From 2012 to 2016 Henning worked closely with Max Richter on film, album and theatre related projects. He writes: "With the release of A New Beginning a dream has come true. When looking for inspiration I came across records from a trip to Finland I had taken after my studies in Liverpool. To get into the mood for composing, I projected slides of this journey onto the wall and listened to ideas from my old voice recorder, which I had sung, knocked and talked on during my trip. It was mainly places of solitude and silence that inspired me to compose... Silence became the main theme and stylistic element of the whole composition for this album. Silence as the moment from which something new emerges... "

I'm a digital nomad, says Arnold Kasar. "I like to sit in the dining car in the morning, when the train is heading south from Berlin, and my eyes can take in a landscape in the morning fog. It doesn't even take five minutes, and I'm in old Europe, in a whole different mindset. With my mobile equipment I can work very well in the dining car, and also in hotels. I have my own sonic vocabulary, which no one else has, and it allows me to be independent. I listened to my album Resonanz entirely during these endless train journeys, editing and honing it gradually." Arnold Kasar has done a lot of commuting over the last few years to record with legendary figures such as Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Friedrich Liechtenstein. On these journeys he captured impressions of the day as sound recordings, his laptop became a sketchbook. In this way, several hours of extremely personal piano improvisations have accumulated, which Arnold Kasar now and then selected an individual take and processes it beyond recognition. Through the act of editing his present album Resonanz is the result. "I have a toolbox of portable synthesizers that are the source of everything. So at any time, I can go from the piano to the electronics and back to the solo piano, or mix them together." Arnold Kasar describes this process as a medial exchange, from the observation to the deconstructed melody, to the dark drone and then back to contemplation.

Brothers Sebastian and Daniel Selke's music can be likened to an exercise of memory retrieval. All of their four albums explore and pay tribute to their past; growing up in East Berlin in the final decade of the GDR. At it's core, the duo's music can be heard as a dialogue between siblings about their shared upbringings and experiences, a conversation given form through Sebastian's cello and Daniel's piano keys, in the fusion that becomes CEEYS. In 2017, the duo also founded Q3 AMBIENTFEST, a three-day happening for neoclassical and experimental music, which seeks to explore the cultural and musical impact of East German heritage. But the memories rescued through their music are far from only historical, they are foremost emotional recollections. Their 2018 album, W�NDE was as much about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and it's implications in society, as it was about the thin walls that separated the brothers at home, and through which they heard each other practicing their instruments when young. The same can be said of their latest album HIDDENSEE, which speaks both of a physical place - the picturesque East German island in the Baltic Sea - as well as a place and time of spiritual importance for the brothers. As East Germany opened itself in the 90s, the two brothers would find themselves traveling out of their homeplace to the rest of the world, and while grateful for their newfound freedoms, they would also come to miss their childhood Eden. The duality of east and west, novelty and familiarness, is also thoroughly explored through CEEYS' musical style, which merges influences from the luminaries of classical music such as Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, with the lesser known artists of East Germany and the contemporary musicians Sebastian and Daniel were exposed after the fall of the wall.

Pascal Schumacher's new album LUNA is in complete contrast to his previous release, SOL. And it's not just the play with the contrasting album titles that already points to the different moods of brightness and darkness. Both releases also come from different creative viewpoints. While SOL held something of a spontaneous discovery as Schumacher embarked on his first solo endeavor with the vibraphone after years of playing with bands and ensembles, LUNA captures a more contemplative side of Schumacher's work, which again was more about composing for other musicians. Specifically for the Belgian post-classical ensemble Echo Collective, which gives the album it's many layers and textures. Despite the contrasts, SOL and LUNA don't become adversaries, quite the contrary. Their duality feels entirely complementary, the expression of natural musical evolution as day gently glides into the night.

The renowned Irish singer-songwriter Wallis Bird and Spark, the classical band - one of the leading formations of the young creative classical music scene in Germany - join forces for a cross-genre concert experience, that spans an entire millennium of female sound art. The six musicians and musicians offer a 360-degree view of the rich and colourful universe created by visionary women from the Middle Ages to the present day.

2024 release. This mesmerizing collection of music takes listeners on a journey through ethereal soundscapes and haunting melodies, creating a truly immersive experience. With it's delicate blend of electronic and classical elements, Visions of Venus showcases Wallis Spark/Bird's unique musical style. Each track is meticulously crafted, with layers of intricate instrumentation and evocative vocals that transport listeners to another world. Immerse yourself in the mesmerizing soundscape of Visions of Venus by Wallis Spark/Bird. Let the ethereal melodies transport you to another world as you embark on a musical journey like no other.