Raphal Blechacz: Platinum Power
Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz has attained Platinum-honours with his debut album in his homecountry. In fact, sales were so high that Blechacz even stormed into the pop charts, scoring a golden disc in the first week of its release. EMPIK, Poland’s largest distributor of CDs and DVDs (compare it to WOM in Germany, FNAC in France and Tower Records in the USA) reported the album reached the top ten of its internal charts, climbing as high as 6. This is all the more sensational, since Rafal Blechacz went for traditional repertoire on his first CD, recording Chopin’s complete Preludes as well as the Nocturne op. 62 – not exactly surprising pieces for a classical Pianist and works which have been recorded by the greatest of the great among the trade. The Platinum distinctions were officially announced and presented to Rafal Blechacz last Sunday, after a concert at the Mickiewicz University Aula in Poznań, where he performed the composer’s Piano Concerto (in fact, a much more seldomly performed piece and one of the more unusual Piano concertos). It is just one of the signs that Rafal Blechacz is quickly turning into a media star in Poland – where he already has a fan club dedicated exlusively to him.
Steve Roach: Builds an Arc of Passion
Steve Roach has announced “Arc of Passion”, a new two-disc set, which is already hailed as a potential classic. Built around three tracks, “Arc of Passion” is said to “weave elements of his three definitive styles into a continuous, evolving flow”. Steve Roach himself describes the style as the “deeper end of my tribal ambient sound” and draws paralells to previous albums like “Proof Positive” and “Mystic Chords”. A striking similarity between the latter and “Arc of Passion” can certainly be seen in the fact that they both feature a string of medium-length tracks alongside a key piece of over an hour. In the case of “Arc of Passion”, that key piece is the title track, which Projekt, the label Steve Roach has worked with intensively since “Lost Pieces” in 1995, describes as follows: “Waves of emotion from intertwining sequencers provide the foundation for the evolving trance patterns that develop into full mesmerizing, passionate form.” Steve Roach has furthermore revealed a few details of the sessions to us.
Anne-Sophie Mutter: Simply Anne-Sophie
After decades at the fore of classical music, Anne-Sophie Mutter has announced “Simply Anne-Sophie”, a double-disc feature based around her work of the past years. “Simply Anne-Sophie” is not to be seen as a hurriedly compiled “Best Of” by Anne-Sophie Mutter. Instead, this combination of Audio Disc and DVD wants to take a short leave from the break-neck tempo with which she has established herself as the archetypical violinist of her generation. This is probably, why “Simply Anne-Sophie” may well be considered as the most commercial album she has ever recorded. Anne-Sophie Mutter performs Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and Beethoven and shows her interest in 20th century works with an interpretation of “Porgy and Bess”. And for all those who have followed the life and times of Anne-Sophie Mutter all the way to the tabloids, it may be an interesting detail that “Simply Anne-Sophie” also contains a piece dedicated to her by former husband Andre Previn , whom she was married to until 2006.
Mirko Uhlig & Dronaement: Walk the Farewell Fields
German sound artists Mirko Uhlig and Dronaement (aka Marcus Obst) have announced the release of a Split CD on Czech label Nextera as a first document of their nascent collaboration. “Farewell Fields” will be a two-track affair and directly or indirectly focus on the live repertoire of both of the musicians. In the case of Dronaement, the case is more obvious: “Fields” is a long, floating track recorded on the spot at the “ETA Festival” at the AZ Conni club in Dresden. It features all of the different shades that have made Dronaement stand out from the fold: Glistening chord progressions, drones, field recordings and even some pulsating rhythms create a dense, yet open space for both dreaming and concentrated listening. There is a subtle Krautrock-feeling to “Fields” as well (a genre Marcus Obst has a long-standing interest in), which awards the track the position of an ideal overview of his entire ouevre. Mirko Uhlig, on the other hand, offers “Para Puri”, a piece which has been part of his concert repertoire for the past year in various alternative forms. Built around a deep, breathing bass resonance and a line of vocal samples, the work establishes an ambiance of longing and absolute tranquility, in which time seems to stands still. Thanks to the excellent distribution network of Nextera, the album will now be available worldwide.
Gabriela Montero: Live in my Living Room
After infusing the entire classical scene with energy, Pianist Gabriela Montero is now allowing everyone into her most private spaces. “Live In My Living Room” is the name of her latest project and it will bring the talents of the Venezuelan to households everywhere by using the internet as its highway. For “Live In My Living Room”, Gabriela Montero will be hosting a free monthly concert from her house on her personal website. These concerts will consist of the very improvisations Gabriela Montero has become famous for and which she has continously presented alongside the classical standard repertoire both in her concerts and on CD. The basis for these improvisations will be themes suggested by fans and the general public. Topics can range from “Emotions, beautiful visions, inspirations from other composers” to “a film or television show that touched you”. Gabriela Montero has asked for submissions to be sent to her directly and without delay - the first volume of “Live In My Living Room” is scheduled for December already.
My Cat is an Alien: Get cosmic with Keiji Hano & Steve Roden
My Cat is an Alien, an Italian improvisational duo, have stepped up the gear in their ongoing “Cosmic Debris” series by releasing two new volumes at the same time – one with Japanese icon Keiji Hano and the other other with American sculptor and sound artist Steve Roden. The contrasts between the two CDs could hardly be more extreme. Keiji Hano is considered one of the biggest names in his country’s underground scene and regards high volume an important aspect of his work (“A lack of boundaries means something can go anywhere; that's why my music is loud.” and “I use the electric guitar as a weapon to express myself,” are two excellent quotes to describe his style). On "Cosmic Debris Vol. III", Keiji Hano and My Cat is an Alien openly eschew folk and fragility, engaging in a musical dialogue their label describes as “a cosmic bomb exploding in your brain”. Staying true to the philosophy of the “Cosmic Debris” series, this is no collaboration in the conventional sense of the word, but rather a combination of two live improvisations – which sees My Cat is an Alien perform in their homebase in Turin and Keiji Hano in Tokyo. In direct comparison, the “Cosmic Debris Vol. II” with Steve Roden sounds like an inverted picture.
Trio Mediaeval: Folk Songs and Joke Ballads
The Trio Mediaeval have said goodbye to their mediaeval roots for an album of Nordic Folk. “Folk Songs”, as always with their longterm partner ECM Records, places the Trio Mediaeval next to Birger Mistereggen, one of the few active musicians in the Norwegian folk drum tradition, and features a total of nineteen tracks. With titles such as “I don’t think much of these boys” on the one hand and “Beloved Jerusalem” or “Saviour of the nations, come”, the direction the Trio Mediaeval are taking on this album is clear: “Fun Ballads” on the one hand and serious, spritual pieces on the other.
Olga Neuwirth & Vinko Globokar: New works with col legno
Two composers of very different generations and with very different backgrounds are about to release their latest albums with specialist record label col legno. Austrian Olga Neuwirth, just back from her performance at the Dokumenta in Kassel, will present “...ce qui arrive... Verfremdung/Enfremdung”, while veteran Vinko Globokar, an artist at the intersections of Jazz and contemporary music, is looking forward to “Der Engel der Geschichte/Les Ortages”, a massive double SACD set taped on the occasion of his 70th birthday in 2004. Both releases are scheduled for Autumn of this year and again serve as reminders of the colourful repertoire policy of col legno, which seeks to fuse inspiring interpretations of classical pieces with 20th and 21st century scores.
Julia Fischer & Sol Gabetta: Gramophone & Echo Award
A double strike by two young performers has heralded a turn of the tides on the classical scene. At the beginning of this month, German violinist Julia Fischer secured herself the title of “Artist of the Year” at the Gramophone Awards. Now, just three weeks later, Cellist Sol Gabetta took home similar honours ("Instrumentalist of the Year") on the night of the highest German distinction in the field of classical music, the Echo. For both Julia Fischer and Sol Gebatta, the awards crown highly succesful recording and touring sprees and were won against a fierce lineup of competitors. Julia Fischer, for exampe, lept ahead of long-standing stars such as Rolando Villazon, Bryn Terfel and the freshly appointed Messenger for Peace Daniel Barenboim, as well as up and rising talents such as Joyce DiDonato.
Cyclic Law: Gives birth to a sister (and she's screaming!)
Canadian label Cyclic Law, seminal in the field of moodful ambient, is preparing for one one the biggest steps in its history: Launching a fully-fledged sister company. “Twilight Foundation” will be geared more towards the Metal market and highlighting genres such as Black Metal and Doom Metal next to the styles typically associated with Cyclic Law: Dark Ambient and mysterious, spaceous electronics. To make this an impressive start in every possible way, Cyclic Law and Twilight Foundation’s Frederic Arbour has chosen to release the debut album by his compatriots “Towards Darkness”, "Solemn" is a work full of crunching guitar chords, distorted screams and – to top things off – majestic atmospheric synthesizer pads. The latter can be attributed to the inclusion of Keyboarder Simon Carignan, who has now complemented the ranks of Towards Darkness.
Anthony & Joseph Paratore: Gershwin, Schönberg
Anthony and Joseph Paratore have announced the release of two new CDs: This means that one of the leading Piano duos of our time is back with a typical blend of contemporary and classical repertoire, as well as their very personal take on Jazz. Having said this, “Anthony & Joseph Paratore Play George Gershwin” is actually a re-release of their 1995 CD with German label Koch, with entirely new packaging and photography. After featuring their soulmate Dave Brubeck on their previous output, Anthony and Joseph Paratore are back with yet another moonwalker between the genres: George Gershwin. The disc not only presents popular favoruties such as the “Fantasy On Themes From "Porgy And Bess" as well as the “Rhapsody in Blue”, but is also dedicated to the much less well-known “Piano Concerto in F”, which has been arranged For Two Pianos – well worth a discovery for anyone who missed the first pressing. The second album, “Transkriptionen für vier Hände” (“transcriptions for four hands”), however, is a fresh and new publication. Here, the Paratore Piano Duo offer a daring splits between the styles: Saint Saens transcriptions of Liszt and Beethoven as well as the Chamber Symphony of Schönberg arranged by Alban Berg.
György Ligeti: Remembering Ligeti
A festival in Dublin is paying hommage to one of the most prominent figures of contemporary music, György Ligeti. Organised by Guitarist and Composer Benjamin Dwyer, “Remembering Ligeti” has been conceived as three days of music, presentations and debates. It furthermore plans to demonstrate the influence the Hungarian has had on other art forms: There will be screenings of three movies by Stanley Kubrick, including “2001” and “Eyes Wide Shut”, all of which include seminal pieces by György Ligeti. For the performance part, meanwhile, Benjamin Dwyer has secured the inclusion of acts such as the Arditti Quartet, promisingly titled Irish ensemble “Ligeti Winds”, Accordionist Dermott Dunne, as well as a solo concert by the Arditti Quartet’s violist Ralf Ehlers. With admission fees ranging between 15€ and a free entry, anyone with the chance to visit the Irish capital between the 9th and 11th of November should be packing their bags already.
Janine Jansen: Bach Inventions & Partitia
Dutch violinist Janine Jansen has revealed details on her new studio album. “Bach Inventions & Partitia” will feature solo work, as well as a rearranged version of Bach’s Two-part and Three-part Inventions, originally written for keyboard in a chambermusical setting. On the CD, Janine Jansen joins forces with Maxim Rysanov and cellist Torleif Thedéen for violin/viola/cello versions of the pieces, which add a completely new perspective on the works. “These pieces are not played enough. They deserve to be played!” Janine Jansen explained her motivation to record the Bach Inventions, claiming they were part of “an ongoing search to find a way to play Bach.” In addition to these fresh sounds from hundreds of years ago, Janine Jansen also dives headlong into a piece often referred to as the crown jewel of the violin repertoire: Bach’s “Partita for Violin Solo No.2”.
Non Visual Objects: Surrealist Techniques (a.o. releases)
Vienna-based label Non Visual Objects has announced the release of three new albums. The record company run by soundartist Heribert Friedl and graphic designer Ralp Moser will publish the Post-Punk hommage “drink_deep” by Tomas Phillips, “The view underneath”, a highly unusual collaboration between experimental electronica expert Dawid Szczesny and Hip Hop producer Ignaz Schick as well as “falte”, a music-made experiment based on a surrealist technique. As the line-up already indicates, the fresh CDs, all limited to 300 copies, will take the label into even more daring territory and offer the potential to extend its reach into an entirely different group of listeners.
Simone Dinnerstein: Goldberg Variations at Wigmore Hall
Pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who recently jumped to worldwide media attention after spending years in relative anonymity, is preparing for a solo concert at London's Wigmore Hall. Scheduled for the 23rd of October, Simone Dinnerstein will be performing Bach's „Goldberg Variations“, which shot her to fame and got her a number one disc on Billboard's Classical charts, one last time before taking a lengthy break from the piece. As she has pointed out several times in interviews, her live version of the „Goldberg Variations“ is not identical to the one recorded on her CD with American label TelArc. Instead, it also features the repetitions of the variations and can therefore last up to 1,5 hours in total. It was this version which got Simone Dinnerstein first recognition among the influential newspapers, including a rave review by the New York Times in September of 2006, which characterised her as an artist „poised for breakthrough“. After her succesful debut at Carnegie Hall and winning over crowds in the USA, the Wigmore Hall recital will intensify Simone Dinnerstein's efforts of connecting with European and worldwide audiences at yet another impressive venue. With ticket prices between 10 and 20 British Pounds, the event is also reasonably priced, offering everyone a chance to catch up with one of the biggest surprises of the classical scene of the last few months.
Partner sites
