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The Power of the Keyboard
Yarlung Records

The Power of the Keyboard

$21.99

Details

Composer
Joseph Haydn, Oliver Knussen, Astral Mixtape, Maurice Ravel, Peter Sculthorpe, Heitor Villa-Lobos
Artist
Nathan Ben-Yehuda, Astral Mixtape
Format
CD
Label
Yarlung Records
Released
May 19, 2023
Catalog #
YAR54481
UPC
198004544818

About

Nathan Ben-Yehuda pursues a fulltime solo concert career as a classical pianist but also plays with Astral Mixtape, an innovative crossover quartet writing new works and reimagining classics from Monteverdi to Rimsky-Korsakov, and playing with ideas and thematic material from Sigur Ros to Radiohead and Four Tet. We end this album with two tracks by Astral Mixtape. Track 6 offers Goddess Gardens, including intoxicating “mixtape” snippets from Scheherazade and Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending, as well as more recent fare. Seven Hellos closes the album on track 7, an original composition by the four members of the quartet. Astral Mixtape is clearly close to Nathan’s heart: “I am part of this wonderful band of fellow classical musicians who are seeking to reimagine the conventional roles of our instruments, and applying non-classical approaches to arrangement and composition in our works. Astral Mixtape is the collaborative project most personal to me.” Before we get to Astral Mixtape, however, Nathan’s solo piano repertoire makes a powerful statement. Not only can Nathan handle the thorny Knussen Variations, but he plays Haydn beautifully, and he recorded my favorite performances to date of both Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit and Villa-Lobos’ Rudepoêma. Nathan kindly agreed to play Gaspard for this project, but also Peter Sculthorpe’s Nocturnal. –Bob Attiyeh, producer

Tracklist 7 tracks

  1. 1 Keyboard Sonata No. 54 in G Major, Hob.XVI:40 11:33
    Track
    1
    Title
    Keyboard Sonata No. 54 in G Major, Hob.XVI:40
    Duration
    11:33
    Composer
    Franz Joseph Haydn
    Performer
    Nathan Ben-Yehuda
  2. 2 Gaspard de la nuit 24:51
    Track
    2
    Title
    Gaspard de la nuit
    Duration
    24:51
    Composer
    Maurice Ravel
    Performer
    Nathan Ben-Yehuda
  3. 3 Rudepoêma 19:20
    Track
    3
    Title
    Rudepoêma
    Duration
    19:20
    Composer
    Heitor Villa-Lobos
    Performer
    Nathan Ben-Yehuda
  4. 4 Variations, Op. 24 07:11
    Track
    4
    Title
    Variations, Op. 24
    Duration
    07:11
    Composer
    Oliver Knussen
    Performer
    Nathan Ben-Yehuda
  5. 5 Nocturnal 07:33
    Track
    5
    Title
    Nocturnal
    Duration
    07:33
    Composer
    Peter Sculthorpe
    Performer
    Nathan Ben-Yehuda
  6. 6 Goddess Gardens 06:30
    Track
    6
    Title
    Goddess Gardens
    Duration
    06:30
    Composer
    Nathan Ben-Yehuda, Juan Salvador Carrasco, Michael Siess, Misha Vayma
    Ensemble
    Astral Mixtape
  7. 7 Seven Hellos 07:20
    Track
    7
    Title
    Seven Hellos
    Duration
    07:20
    Composer
    Nathan Ben-Yehuda, Juan Salvador Carrasco, Michael Siess, Misha Vayma
    Ensemble
    Astral Mixtape