JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
CHIMERAS, REVISED EDITION (2010)
320 KBPS

Newly revised, this is the definitive version of a Zorn masterpiece! Loosely inspired by the remarkable worlds of Henry Darger, Lewis Carroll and Unica Zürn which throw childlike innocence against a backdrop of violence and perversion, Chimeras is one of Zorn's greatest works in the classical tradition. A work of fantasy and imagination scored for a Pierrot Lunaire ensemble plus percussion, the work has been resequenced, remastered and a brief, fleeting newly recorded postlude has been added. Dramatic and colorful, Chimeras is a work filled with femininity, innocence, beauty and violence.

1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
5. Five
6. Six
7. Seven
8. Eight
9. Nine
10. Ten
11. Interlude
12. Eleven
13. Twelve
14. Postlude

[RE-UP] JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
ANGELUS NOVUS (1998)
320 KBPS

John Zorn has shown us many sides of his eclectic musical vision (some may think too many), but here is a side of Zorn's work that has pretty much remained hidden - his compositions for classical chamber ensembles. This CD marks the first in a series documenting these pieces, commissioned by some of the world's leading ensembles and appearing on CD for the first time.
The works here span over twenty years, and include Christabel, a student piece written in 1972 inspired by the romantic mystic poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the wind octet Angelus Novus composed for the world-renown Netherland's Wind Ensemble and dedicated to the Jewish cultural theorist Walter Benjamin, the dynamic chamber symphony For Your Eyes Only and Carny, a virtuosic solo piece that receives an impassioned and breathtaking performance by pianist Stephen Drury.
The Callithumpian Consort of the New England Conservatory (conducted by Stephen Drury) perform this challenging music with startling clarity and intensity on this CD that will surprise and delight Zorn fans and detractors alike.

1. For Your Eyes Only
2. Christabel Part 1
3. Christabel Part 2
4. Carny
Angelus Novus
5. Peshat
6. Tzomet
7. Aliya
8. Herut
9. Pardes

ARNOLD SCHONBERG

ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG
ENSEMBLE MUSIQUE OBLIQUE
PIERROT LUNAIRE (2003)
320 KBPS

After the wrenching revolution Schönberg brought to his music during the final years of the twentieth century's first decade (crystallized in such works as the Three Pieces for piano, Op. 11 and the Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16) the composer quickly drew back from the anguished Expressionism of these years to produce the much lighter Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds Pierrot Lunaire (Three-times-seven Songs from Albert Giraud's Pierrot Lunaire, or, as it is known the world 'round, simply Pierrot Lunaire), Op. 21, of 1912 — a cycle of 21 songs for voice and chamber group that, in the composer's own words, voices sentiments that are "Light, ironic, [and] satirical."
Pierrot Lunaire takes the shape of a single large melodrama in which the female voice gives the text a treatment that is midway between speech and song (the technique, called Sprechstimme, goes all the way back to Humperdinck, though it found its best use at the pens of the Second Viennese School composers). Three sections, comprised of seven songs each, showcase the five instrumentalists in all sorts of wonderfully colorful combinations as the narrator tells of the wandering Pierrot's experiences — indeed, the contrasts offered by just the piano, violin, cello, flute, and clarinet are not enough for Schönberg, who makes the violinist, flutist, and clarinetist double on viola, piccolo, and bass clarinet, respectively. Each of the 13-line poems is a rondel, the opening lines being repeated during the middle of the poem as a kind of refrain.
Structural and motivic connections abound throughout the work, and we find such devices as the recurrence of the queasy solo flute melody of No. 7, "The Sick Moon," in the 13th song, "Decapitation" (part of Pierrot Lunaire's admittedly darker second section, in which the demons of Expressionism come out to play once more), and the use of a passacaglia form in "Night," the first song of Part 2. By the time of "The Moonspot" in Part 3, Schönberg has worked up to the level of a full double-canon (for the pair of woodwinds and the pair of strings). No. 19, "Serenade," is almost a virtuoso piece for cello and piano, while the final song of the melodrama, "O Ancient Charm of Fairy Days," is of the tender, epilogue variety.

Pierrot Lunaire
Part I
1. Mondestrunken
2. Colombine
3. Per Dandy
4. Eine blasse Wascherin
5. Valse de Chopin
6. Madonna
7. Der kranke Mond
Part II
8. Die nacht
9. Gebet an Pierrot
10. Raub
11. Rote Messe
12. Galgenlied
13. Enthauptung
14. Die kreuze
Part III
15. Heimweh
16. Gemeinheit
17. Parodie
18. Der Mondfleck
19. Serenade
20. Heimfahrt
21. O alter Duft
22. Kammersymphonie Opus 9

MORTON FELDMAN

MORTON FELDMAN
IVES ENSEMBLE
STRING QUARTET (2007)
320 KBPS

The string quartet has a special place in classical music, second in importance among ensembles only to the orchestra.The string quartet repertoire is rich, ranging from the 18th and 19th century Classicists and Romantics—Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert most prominently—to Modernists of the past century—Bartok, Shostakovich, and Milhaud among the most prolific and respected. Even iconoclasts like Schönberg, Berg, Babbitt, and Carter confirmed a connection to the tradition and created works which adhered to the formal logic and dramatic ambience of those of their predecessors while incorporating their own compositional procedures. But there have been exceptions as well, extremist composers who rejected the genre outright, or distorted it beyond recognition. Morton Feldman fits into the latter category...or does he?

1. String Quartet (I)
2. String Quartet (II)
3. String Quartet (III)

UNIVERS ZERO

UNIVERS ZERO
CLIVAGES (2010)
320 KBPS

Founding members of the original "Rock In Opposition" [R.I.O.] movement and the inventors of "chamber rock", Univers Zero have continued to change and grow and develop over their entire career, while still keeping a ensemble sound and spirit that is easily recognizable. Clivages is their first studio album in over five years, but much more importantly, it is their first studio release in over 20 years - since 1986's Heatwave - to feature the energy and sound of a working, rehearsing, live ensemble performing in the studio! And it shows! It features the current line-up of the group who have been playing concerts and working together for quite some time now: Michel Berkmans (bassoon, English horn, oboe), Kurt Budé (clarinet, bass clarinet, alto sax), Pierre Chevalier (keyboards), Daniel Denis (drums, sampler), Dimitri Evers (bass), Martin Lauwers (violin) with guest Andy Kirk (guitar and percussion).
Univers Zero are rightly famous for finding the perfect balance between classical and rock influences and drawing on musicians from both worlds. In terms of this, Clivages is possibly their best-balanced release, featuring a couple of small chamber works for the trio of strings, reeds and double reeds of the group. The rock side has not been ignored in any way, however and in addition to compositional contributions from band members Denis, Budé and Berckmans, Clivages features Andy Kirk's 12' piece "Warrior", which harkens back to the sound of the band circa Heatwave! A tremdously strong work from a band who have a very full catalog of essential discs!

1. Les Kobolds
2. Warrior
3. Vacillements
4. Earth Scream
5. Soubresauts
6. Apesanteur
7. Three Days
8. Straight Edge
9. Retour de Foire
10. Les Cercles d'Horus

DAVID SIMONS

DAVID SIMONS
FUNG SHA NOON (2009)
320 KBPS

David Simons is an enigmatic figure in the Moondog/Partch mold who has been doing things his own peculiar way for decades. An instrument builder and virtuoso thereminist, David has written music for theater, dance, film, sound installations and classical concert ensembles. The pieces for his second Tzadik CD are some of his most ambitious to date, and feature compositions for large ensemble, string quartet, gamelan, theremin, garbage cans and empty bottles. Complex music at the nexus of classical and world music by this remarkably unique musical thinker!

1. Odentity
2. Uncle Venus
3. Music for Theremin and Gamelan II
4. Music for Theremin and Gamelan II
5. Chain Of Incident

UNIVERS ZERO

UNIVERS ZERO
THE HARD QUEST (1999)
320 KBPS

After an absence of over a decade, Univers Zero has returned, and more invigorated than ever. The slate has been wiped clean, now with a mix of old and new chalk for drawing. Original member Michel Berckmans has returned after having last played with UZ 18 years previously on Ceux de Dehors. Dirk Descheemaeker, from the band's last albums in the 80s, is also back. These veterans represent the fortified woodwinds section. The members who handle the strings, both new, are Reginald Trigaux (related to the band's original guitarist and Present founder, Roger Trigaux) on guitar and Igor Semenoff on violin. At the center of it all, of course, is drummer Daniel Denis, who on this outing does double-duty, playing the keyboards as well.
The compositions are tighter and more accessible than previous albums, almost as if Denis had written the album keeping in mind with the prospect of luring a new generation of potential fans. Texturally and compositionally, this might be the most diverse Univers Zero album to date. The keyboard sounds generated include the now-reinstated harmonium, as well as organ ("Affintite") and even harpsichord ("Civic Circus"). On "Vieux-Manants," sparse bass drum and tambourine create (as Brandon notes in his review) a medieval feel, while other tracks feature tuned percussion ("Civic Circus") and Denis' traditional drum kit. Denis even loosens up to play a straight 4/4 on the middle-Eastern "Xenantaya"; always wondered if he could do that!
With the excellent recording quality coupled with a return to the more organic sound of the band's earlier albums, I would very much recommend this as a top consideration for those starting off in their exploration of the band, as well as old-time fans who are well in-the-know. This is Univers Zero. This is what they do.

1. Vieux-Manants
2. Civic Circus
3. Affinité
4. Rouages
5. News From Outside
6. Rébus
7. Kermesse Atomique
8. Succès Damné
9. L'Impasse du Choléra
10. Xenantaya
11. L'Oubli

PAUL MORAVEC [RE-UP]

PAUL MORAVEC
TEMPEST FANTASY (2007)
320 KBPS

Paul Moravec’s music is firmly rooted in Western tradition, yet manages to sound at once fresh, elegant, and fiercely individual. His Tempest Fantasy, the work that won him the Pulitzer Prize in 2004, is a meditation on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and has been described by Fanfare magazine as ‘openly and ebulliently attractive, flowing with an effortless lyric pulse’. Mood Swings, named by The Washington Post as the best new classical composition of 1999, is a rhythmically charged work that endeavors to make audible the workings of the central nervous system. The disc ends with Scherzo, which the composer describes as ‘a compact, energetic encore-type work’.

Tempest Fantasy
1. I. Ariel
2. II. Prospero
3. III. Caliban
4. IV. Sweet Airs
5. V. Fantasia
Mood Swings
6. Mood Swings
B.A.S.S. Variations
7. B.A.S.S. Variations
Scherzo
8. Scherzo

GUY KLUCEVSEK

GUY KLUCEVSEK
SONG OF REMEMBRANCE (2007)
320 KBPS

Composer/accordionist Guy Klucevsek is one of the few musicians alive who is as comfortable working with Laurie Anderson, John Zorn or Bang on a Can as he is at Lincoln Center, in a Broadway pit or at Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. His second CD for Tzadik presents four beautiful new works and includes a brilliant dance score for two pianos, an intimate solo for accordion and a charming chamber piece for voice and ensemble.

1. Overture
2. Song of Remembrance
3. Procession of the Gypsy Divas
4. More Gypsy Divas
5. Bandoneons, Basil and Bay Leaves
6. Incidentally, the Coroner Called
7. Intro/Dance of the Blue Flamingos
8. Eulogy for the Divas
9. Tea Song
10. My Walk with Ligeti
Cameos
11. Choir Practice Chiropractic
12. Java Good Time
13. Tangoes in Gospel
14. Balkan Merengue ("Everybody's Doin' It!")
15. Accordion Foaled
16. Chiropractic Choir Practice

JOHN CAGE

JOHN CAGE
SOLO FOR 'CELLO (2007)
320 KBPS

The works for violoncello solo recorded and compiled on this CD by Friedrich Gauwerky are reference works for John Cage's unusual way of composing. Apart from the tones, Cage also helped to put the varied forms of silence on the musical map: In John Cage’s "Concert for Piano and Orchestra", the western art work, score, exploded: The work is composed in individual parts whose execution is freed of every constraint. Each part is even conceived as an autonomous work, e.g. like "Solo for Cello".
"59 1/2 Seconds", one of his "time-length pieces", ranks among Cage’s most radical “graphic” compositions. Stars become notes or noises in "Atlas Eclipticalis" – again without a score. With the "Variations I", written for any number of people using any sort and number of sound-producing means, Cage’s composition reached the outmost limit on the way to absolute indetermination. But, if one hears "Etudes Boréales" for cello solo, however, one experiences that it is a piece whose status can only be compared with J.S. Bach's cello compositions.
A critic wrote about Friedrich Gauwerky: "... a virtuoso with far-sightedness, good taste, amazing technique, and a captivating instrument."

1. Solo for 'Cello
2. 59 1/2 Seconds for a String Player
3. Atlas Eclipticalis. Version for 2 violoncelli
4. Variations I. Version for violoncello solo
5. Etudes Boréales for violoncello solo

JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
FEMINA (2009)
320 KBPS

If one is interested in dipping their toes into the pool of John Zorn's more avant music, this would be a good place to start. At times boisterous and rowdy and at other times soothingly beautiful, Feminia encompasses all that's great about John Zorn the Composer. There is a good mix of the style of his more accessible Film Works series paired with the unpredictability of his "game pieces" (i.e, Cobra, Xu Feng). I'd also perhaps throw in a bit from his classical works as well for reference.
For this recording Zorn enlisted a small ensemble of talented women who should be familiar names to devoted followers of the Tzadik label. If you think you've got what to expect from this CD all figured out because of the title and the cast involved then you're going to be pleasantly surprised. I've heard some of these performer's solo works and I was still highly intrigued how their talents interacted with one another.
Feminia is only 35 minutes, but is filled with many more inspired passages than most CDs double it's length. A must hear even if you're not a Zornhead.

1. Femina-part one
2. Femina-part two
3. Femina-part three
4. Femina-end titles

DANIEL BARENBOIM

DANIEL BARENBOIM
BRAZILIAN RHAPSODY (2000)
320 KBPS

On this splendid recording, the Argentinean pianist-conductor Daniel Barenboim extends the thin line between Brazilian popular and classical music. He's joined by bassist Robert Kassinger, violinist Nikolaj Znaider, flutist Emmanuel Pahud, oboist Alex Klein, clarinetist Larry Combs, and Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista. They skillfully meld American jazz, classical genres, Portuguese choros, and African-derived sambas into a New World sound. Barenboim's piano lines are furious on the title track and florid on his Debussyan solo renditions of Darius Milhaud's "Corcovado" and "Sumaré" from Saudades do Brasil. Antonio Carlos Jobim reshaped the samba into the cool bossa nova, and this album's version of "Wave" reveals his melodic genius. The phenomenal singer and songwriter Milton Nascimento provides the high point of the CD, with his angelic tenor on his ebullient ballad "Travessia." Powered by Baptista's hypnotic caxixis and cuicas and guided by Barenboim's wide artistic vision, the sounds on this disc reveal the past, present, and, hopefully, the future of Brazilian music.

1. Tico Tico No Fubá
2. Travessia
3. Corcovado
4. Manha de Carnaval
5. Tristeza
6. Pedacinhos do Céu
7. Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5
8. Wave
9. Avarandado
10. Sumaré
11. Aquarela do Brasil
12. Song of the Sabiá
13. Brazilian Rhapsody
14. Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar
15. Bahia

CAROL EMANUEL

CAROL EMANUEL
TOP OF TREES (1999)
320 KBPS

OK! Quick!! How many jazz harpists can you name? If you came up with more than two, you are clearly not a normal person and you are probably in need of professional help. The 4th edition of the "All Music Guide to Jazz" lists a grand total of seven - and that's going all the way back to 1934 and the list doesn't include Carol Emanuel. So who the heck is this lady?
I'm here to tell you that I've read everything there is to read about Ms Emanuel - and that took about 10 minutes, (I'm a slow reader). As near as I can tell, Ms Emanuel was minding her own business, playing classical music, and wondering if that was all there was to life - when she was liberated by avant-garde composer and alto sax player John Zorn. Ms Emanuel has been hangin' out with the New York "Downtown" jazz crowd ever since.
"Tops of Trees," (and I have no idea what the title means), is a set of ten songs, mostly composed by the Downtown guys - Mr Zorn, Guy Klucevsek, (if you were able to name more than two jazz harpists, how many jazz accordionists can you list?), Marty Ehrlich, (saxman, clarinetist and flutist), and drummer Bobby Previte to name four - many of whom also accompany Ms Emanuel on the album. Ms Emanuel's harp is the "constant" in what could have easily been anarchy otherwise. She has wonderful touch and tone - the music, (sometimes atonal, edgy and angular), just spills out.... Is it jazz? Yes! Is it challenging? Yes again!! Is it worth your time? Yes, absolutely!!!
Koch Records has handled the sonics well: The disc realisticly captures the warmth and resonance of Ms Emanuel's harp.

1. Travel (Evan Lurie)
Carol Emanuel: solo harp
2. Christ Mass (Butch Morris)
Carol Emanuel: harp
Michelle Kinney: cello
Myra Melford: harpsichord
Brandon Ross: guitar
3. Singung Sands (Guy Klucevsek)
Carol Emanuel: harp
Mark Feldman: violon
Guy Klucevsek: accordian
4. Tazmanian Devil (John Zorn)
Carol Emanuel: solo harp
5. Blue Ridge (Amy Rubin)
Carol Emanuel: harp
Amy Rubin: bass & keyboard
Steve Solerna: guitar
Tiger Bemford: tabla
6. Diminishing Returns (Anthony Coleman)
Carol Emanuel: harp
Anthony Coleman: piano
Mark Ribot: guitar
Roy Nathanson: soprano saxophone
7. Parallel Play (Marty Ehrlich)
Carol Emanuel: harp
Hank Roberts: cello
Marty Ehrlich: bass clarinet
8. Listening to Robin (Wayne Horvitz)
Carol Emanuel: harp
Vickie Bodner: oboe
9. How Long is the Cost of Brittainy (Bobby Previte)
Carol Emanuel: harp
Bobby Previte: drums
Jerome Harris: guitar
Steve Gaboury: keyboard
Nickky Gregoroff: vocal
10. Looking for America (Bill Frisell)
Carol Emanuel: harp

JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
MUSIC ROMANCE VOL. 1:
MUSIC FOR CHILDREN (1998)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Originally released in 1998, John Zorn's Music Romance Vol. 1: Music for Children has now been remastered and revised, and it still sounds as strange as it did back then. Zorn, whose musical base has always been jazz, has spent his career finding affinities between jazz's improvisational spirit and the sound of Japanese noise rock or La Monte Young-esque drone music, with detours into spaghetti western soundtracks and film noir music for fun. On Music for Children, Zorn combines, among other things, soul-jazz, noise rock, African lullabies, and Lou Reed's guitar feedback.
The album's first track, Fils Des Etoiles, features Anthony Coleman on celeste and Brazilian musician Cyro Baptista singing and playing percussion, and it's a gorgeous, fragile piece whose calm is shattered by the next track, This Way Out, a collaboration with the Boston band Prolapse that alternates between screaming thrash rock, bebop interludes, and bursts of Hammond B-3 organ. Thankfully, the track is only a minute and ten seconds, because this schizophrenic genre mash-up wears out its welcome early. Next is the fourteen-minute-long Music For Children, which sounds like the soundtrack to an old horror movie, all ominous violin and restless percussion, punctuated by the sound of someone cracking a whip--clearly the song's title is meant to be ironic. Both Bikini Atoll and Bone Crusher sound like This Way Out, and thankfully they're equally as short.
Cycles Du Nord, at twenty-one minutes, is the longest track on the album, and it's been updated for the reissue, with Lou Reed adding guitar and guitar feedback and Zorn peppering bass drum hits throughout. With its main instrument a wind machine that sounds more like a vacuum cleaner, the track has the potential to bore more conventional listeners. But if you've bought a John Zorn album, chances are you've got an open mind and are willing to listen for hidden tones beneath the "noise." With six minutes left in the track, a distorted guitar appears that brings forth the subtle melody obscured by all the unconventional sounds. The album's final track, Sooki's Lullaby, is Anthony Coleman playing a delicate lullaby on a celeste music box, and it's the closest thing to children's music you'll find on the album.
Often beautiful but just as often jarring, Music for Children is a very strange album to classify. For those looking for an odd but ultimately pleasant listening experience, go ahead and play the album straight through.

1. Fils Des Etoiles
2. This Way Out
3. Music For Children
4. Bikini Atoll
5. Bone Crusher
6. Dreamer Of Dreams
7. Cycles Du Nord
8. Sooki's Lullaby

SCOTT WALKER

SCOTT WALKER
AND WHO SHALL GO TO THE BALL?
AND WHAT SHALL GO TO THE BALL? (2007)
320 KBPS

Listeners familiar with his erratic output of last couple of decades will know that when Scott Walker breaks those famously-long bouts of public inactivity the results can be perplexing, challenging and downright confrontational.
Commissioned by London’s South Bank Centre in 2006 to produce a score for a contemporary dance piece, Walker has turned in a series of oblique and angular strokes of the musical brush which coalesce into four edgy movements.
Whilst sharing the uneven contours that shaped The Drift as well as some personnel (including Mark Warman, co-producer Pete Walsh and Alasdair Molloy – seen in the recently released SW documentary 30th Century Man being instructed to slap and punch a side of pork for percussive effect), the biggest difference is the absence of Walker’s haunted croon.
The resulting chamber music has the strings, woodwind, and brass of the London Sinfonietta deploy terse motifs and abrupt flicks of rhythm slashing at the air, trading places with ambiguity, silence and solitude. Cinematic echoes abound. The taut grunt of the bowed basses evoke flashes of John Williams, Bernard Herrmann and Elizabeth Lutyens, whilst the dissonant churning of “4th Movement” has shrill galloping Louis Andriessen-like repetitions on the brass, colliding one on top of each other before being electronically accelerated into oblivion.
No stranger to the emotive cues and triggers required for movie soundtracks (in 1999 he provided the music to Leos Carax’ Pola X), this score provides ample opportunity for dancers to make their mark. A master of his entrances and exits, Walker gathers all the loose ends thrown up in to the air during the previous 20 or so minutes, distilling them into a sustained D chord, and thus providing the album with a powerful sense of mournful resolution.
No doubt it’ll be labelled ‘pretentious’ by members of the critical orthodoxy that, by and large, prefers musicians and artists to remain firmly inside the box into which they’ve been interred. Walker has never been one to conform to anyone’s expectations and having been in the game this long, he’s not about to start now.

1. 1st Movement
2. 2nd Movement
3. 3rd Movement
4. 4th Movement

MAX RICHTER SPECIAL

Blending classical, electronic and rock influences into a style he calls "post-Classical," composer/programmer Max Richter ignores boundaries in favor of haunting, strangely familiar sounds. Born in Germany in the mid-'60s, Richter and his family moved to the U.K. when he was still a little boy; by his early teens, he was listening to the canon of classical music as well as modern composers, including Philip Glass, whose sound was a major influence on Richter. the Clash, the Beatles, and Pink Floyd were also important, along with the early electronic music scene; inspired by artists such as Kraftwerk, Richter built his own analog instruments. He studied composition and piano at Edinburgh University, the Royal Academy of Music, and in Florence with Luciano Berio. Richter then became a founding member of the Piano Circus, a contemporary classical group that played works by Glass, Brian Eno, Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, and Julia Wolfe, and also incorporated found sounds and video into their performances. After ten years and five albums, Richter left the group and became more involved in the U.K.'s thriving electronica scene, collaborating with the Future Sound of London on Dead Cities (which features a track named after him) and Isness; he also contributed orchesrations to Roni Size's In the Mode. Richter's own work evolved from the Xenakis-inspired music of his early days into something that included his electronic and pop influences: 2003's Memoryhouse introduced his mix of modern composition, electronica, and field recordings, and the following year's stunning Blue Notebooks — inspired by Kafka's Blue Octavo Notebooks — showed off a more streamlined, and more affecting, version of this sound. 2006's Songs from Before paired Richter's plaintive sound with texts written by Haruki Murakami and delivered by Robert Wyatt; two years later, 24 Postcards in Full Colour, a collection of elaborate ringtones, was released closely followed by his first work for the big screen, animated documentary soundtrack's Waltz with Bashir.

MEMORYHOUSE (2002)
320 KBPS

Max Richter's Memoryhouse is a journey though the 20th century which unfolds like the soundtrack to an imaginary film. Combining the BBC Philharmonic under conductor Rumon Gamba--no strangers to recording classic film scores--with atmospheric electronics, the result is a melancholy evocation of love, loss and survival, often with the focus on Eastern Europe. Minimalism with a deeply emotional core, overlaid with fragments of poetic voices, the melodic sensibility lies between Philip Glass's minimalism.

1. Europe, After the Rain
2. Maria, the Poet (1913)
3. Laika's Journey
4. The Twins (Prague)
5. Sarajevo
6. Andras
7. Untitled (Figures)
8. Sketchbook
9. November
10. Jan's Notebook
11. Arbenita (11 Years)
12. Garden (1973)/Interior
13. Landscape with Figure (1922)
14. Fragment
15. Lines on a Page (One Hundred Violins)
16. Embers
17. Last Days
18. Quartet Fragment (1908)

THE BLUE NOTEBOOKS (2004)
320 KBPS

Richter has created a soundtrack for our time. It is at once reflective and the music itself has the power to carry us to that inner place of denial, peace, sorrow, joy, regret, forgiveness, whether it be for ourselves or those once loved, forgotten or dearly missed.
There is no denying that Richter has created a musical space that is highly personal. Yes, there are many great pieces of orchestral music and many of them convey much of the same emotion, but Richter has done so in a way that is a coherent journey from start to finish. The level of musicianship and production value in this recording is very high; it is challenging to create and execute music at this level.

1. The Blue Notebooks
2. On The Nature Of Daylight
3. Horizon Variations
4. Shadow Journal
5. Iconography
6. Vladimir's Blues
7. Arboretum
8. Old Song
9. Organum
10. The Trees
11. Written On The Sky

SONGS FROM BEFORE (2006)
192-320 KBPS

This record is a resounding success. From the first note, the sound is cavernous, and entombed beneath some of the most mournful orchestration imaginable are musical secrets and recycled sonic treasure.

1. Song
2. Flowers For Yulia
3. Fragment
4. Harmonium
5. Ionosphere
6. Autumn Music 1
7. Time Passing
8. Sunlight
9. Lullaby
10. Autumn Music 2
11. Verses
12. From The Rue Vilin

24 POSTCARDS IN FULL COLOUR (2008)
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With his fourth album, Berlin-based Richter further cements his status as one of the leading lights of modern composition. Each of this album's twenty-four tracks is a classically-composed ringtone, an evocative miniature whose theme, though fully developed, hints at a larger piece; thus Richter explores the fugitive nature of memory through reprises and repetition throughout this intriguing album. With a sonic palette consisting of string quintet, solo piano, 16-track 2-inch tape, transistors, found shortwave radio, vinyl clicks, dust, scratches and rumble, and acoustic guitars, Richter's latest effort is both beautifully detailed and sonically rich.

1. The Road Is A Grey Tape
2. H In New England
3. This Picture Of Us. P.
4. Lullaby From The Westcoast Sleepers
5. When The Northern Lights/Jasper And Louise
6. Circles From The Rue Simon-Crubellier
7. Cascade Nw By W
8. A Sudden Manhattan Of The Mind
9. In Louisville At 7
10. Cathodes
11. I Was Just Thinking
12. A Song For H/Far Away
13. Return To Prague
14. Broken Symmetries For Y
15. Berlin By Overnight
16. Cradle Song For A (Interstate B3)
17. Kierling/Doubt
18. From 553 W Elm Street, Logan Illinois (Snow)
19. Tokyo Riddle Song
20. The Tartu Piano
21. Caold Fusion For G
22. 32 Via San Nicolo
23. Found Song For P
24. H Thinks A Journey

WALTZ WITH BASHIR (2008)
256-320 KBPS

Post-minimalist composer Max Richter's first film score is his finest work released yet on cd. Dark, intense and simoultaneously chilling and moving - Richter blends post-Philip Glass minimalism with baroque, with elements of techno and ambient thrown in for effect and delivers the finest film score of the year. A work of genius from a prodigiously gifted young composer.

2. Iconography
3. The Haunted Ocean 1
4. JSB/RPG
5. Shadow Journal
6. Enola Gay (Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark)
7. The Haunted Ocean 2
8. Taxi And APC
9. Any Minute Now/Thinking Back
10. I Swam Out To Sea/Return
11. Patchouli Oil And Karate
12. This Is Not A Love Song (Public Image Ltd)
13. What Have They Done?
14. Into The Airport Hallucination
15. The Slaughterhouse
16. The Haunted Ocean 3
17. Into The Camps
18. The Haunted Ocean 4
19. Andante/Reflection (End Title)
20. The Haunted Ocean 5 (Solo Version)

JOHN ZORN [REPOST]

JOHN ZORN
ANGELUS NOVUS (1998)
320 KBPS

John Zorn has shown us many sides of his eclectic musical vision (some may think too many), but here is a side of Zorn's work that has pretty much remained hidden - his compositions for classical chamber ensembles. This CD marks the first in a series documenting these pieces, commissioned by some of the world's leading ensembles and appearing on CD for the first time.
The works here span over twenty years, and include Christabel, a student piece written in 1972 inspired by the romantic mystic poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the wind octet Angelus Novus composed for the world-renown Netherland's Wind Ensemble and dedicated to the Jewish cultural theorist Walter Benjamin, the dynamic chamber symphony For Your Eyes Only and Carny, a virtuosic solo piece that receives an impassioned and breathtaking performance by pianist Stephen Drury.
The Callithumpian Consort of the New England Conservatory (conducted by Stephen Drury) perform this challenging music with startling clarity and intensity on this CD that will surprise and delight Zorn fans and detractors alike.

1. For Your Eyes Only
2. Christabel Part 1
3. Christabel Part 2
4. Carny
Angelus Novus
5. Peshat
6. Tzomet
7. Aliya
8. Herut
9. Pardes

GUSTAV HOLST

GUSTAV HOLST, KAIJA SAARIAHO,

MATTHIAS PINTSCHER
MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE, BRETT DEAN
THE PLANETS (2006)
320 KBPS

Current scientific thinking seems to have relegated Pluto from the list of fully-fledged planets in our Solar System. It might have been better if these discs had followed received opinion and moved Colin Matthews Pluto to the second disc of other Plutons. It is a fine and interesting piece in its own right, but it completely destroys Holst's planned, considered and magical fade-out to Neptune with the female chorus's eternally alternating chords disappearing into the farthest reaches of space.
That said, this is an enterprising pair of discs. Most people will obviously buy them for the Holst work but the new works, specially commissioned by Rattle (apart from Pluto) for this project, are an interesting collection of Plutons and a substantial bonus. Saariaho's Toutatis is the most impressive: she seems to have listened to and assimilated Holst's Planets and filtered them through her own refined orchestral sensibilities. The result is a delicate piece with evocative woodwind textures that structurally reflects the complex orbit of the asteroid after which it is named. The Pintscher is a more overtly exciting item with a wonderfully played virtuoso trumpet cadenza. Mark Anthony Turnage's Ceres is perhaps more familiar territory with its jazzy syncopations and woodwind colourings typical of the composer. Brett Dean, an ex-viola player with the orchestra, contributes Komarov's Fall which has an arch structure leading to and from a big climax, but maybe overstays its welcome a touch. The second disc also includes some CD-ROM material to play on your computer - well produced but it might have benefited from a little less chat and a bit more of the rehearsal sequence.
But what of the main work which will, after all, be the chief reason to purchase for most people?
If Holst later came to find the rich panoply of sounds and textures in the Suite almost embarrassing as he sought a more sparse and ascetic sound world, there is no denying his supreme mastery over orchestration throughout his career. And the Berlin Philharmonic fully live up to all the demands made of them here. With all the skills of the EMI engineers to help them, there is so much on this disc which is ravishing to the ear. From the perfectly voiced and balanced big full orchestra discords of Mars and Saturn to the softest and most exquisite string pianissimos in Venus and Neptune, this is demonstration quality stuff both for sound and playing. The only quibble I can find is that the celeste, magical in Holst's writing for Venus and Neptune, is placed so far forward as to make it almost a concerto instrument.
The performance itself probably comes off worst in the familiar warhorses. Mars is a tad too fast and a bit matter of fact, so that the threatening, disrupting 5/4 rhythm becomes just insistent - rather like the passage in the first movement of Shostakovich's Leningrad that Bartok took to task in his Concerto for Orchestra. The separate sections of Jupiter don't quite cohere into a whole and the `Big Tune' sounds a little as if it's placed where it is because that's what the composer's great friend, Vaughan Williams, would have done.
On the plus side, though, is as breathtakingly beautiful a Venus as you'll hear. The horn steals in after the violence of Mars like a refugee from Weber's Oberon: the woodwind chords are balanced perfectly: and the solo violin and cello are sweetness personified. Mercury has the lightness of step of a Mendelssohn Scherzo with the subtlety of the rhythmic writing for timps and celeste perfectly realised. Saturn is perhaps the highpoint of Rattle's performance, profoundly moving and achieving a climax of huge weight and intensity. The harmonic suspension just before the beginning of the march is superbly judged by Rattle and his players provide a superb luminous quality for the coda. Uranus shows off Rattle's ability to lift and bounce rhythms, though the famous organ glissando at the climax goes for nothing. Neptune is a wonderful study in pianissimo writing and playing - if a little compromised by the prominence given to the celeste. Vaughan Williams must have had this movement in mind when he wrote the finale of his Sixth Symphony.

Disc 1
Gustav Holst
1. Mars, The Bringer of War
2. Venus, The Bringer of Peace
3. Mercury, The Winged Messenger
4. Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity
5. Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age
6. Uranus, The Magician
7. Neptune, The Mystic
Colin Matthews
8. Pluto, The Renewer

Disc 2
Kalja Saariaho
1. Asteroid 4179 : Toutatis
Matthias Plintscher
2. Towards Osiris
Mark-Anthony Turnage
3. Ceres
Brett Dean
4. Komarov's Fall

RACHEL'S

RACHEL'S
SYSTEMS/LAYERS (2003)
224 KBPS

If you're expecting something like Music for Egon Scheile or Selenography, it may take you a few listens to get into the groove of this latest album. Systems/Layers is a bit less structured overall, and some of the best moments, such as "Arterial" and "Last Things Last", come when the band forgets the ambient thing for a while. But I must say that after a couple listens it really started to grow on me--I realized that, without thinking about it, I had developed detailed images of the people presented in all those little sound clips, and would spend the length of the album wondering what their lives must be like. It was this connection that really made the album for me. If you've never heard Rachel's, start with one of the albums mentioned above, but if you're already a fan, what are you waiting for?

1. Moscow Is in the Telephone
2. Water from the Same Source
3. Systems / Layers
4. Expect Delays
5. Arterial
6. Even / Odd
7. Wouldn't Live Anywhere Else
8. Esperanza
9. Packet Switching
10. Where_Have_All_My_Files_Gone?
11. Reflective Surfaces
12. Unclear Channel
13. Last Things Last
14. Anytime Soon
15. Air Conditioning / A Closed Feeling
16. Singing Bridge
17. And Keep Smiling
18. 4 or 5 Trees
19. NY Snow Globe

V.A. / URBAN REQUIEM

COLGRASS - LINDROTH - SAINT-SAËNS

WHITACRE - SOUSA - SHOSTAKOVICH

URBAN REQUIEM (2008)
320 KBPS

Pulitzer Prize winning composer Michael Colgrass’s Urban Requiem headlines this recording. This nearly half hour work explores the technical and expressive qualities of the saxophone quartet, as well as providing an aural experience that vividly describes life in the Big Apple. Scott Lindroth’s exciting Spin Cycle explores a variety of timbral and rhythmic aesthetics and is reflective of many of the technically exhilarating works currently being written for wind band. Lee Brooks’s transcription of Saint-Saëns’s popular Introduction and Rondo- Capriccioso gives this exciting work a new and fresh perspective. October demonstrates Eric Whitacre’s exceptional melodic gift as well as his use of the sonorities of wind and percussion instruments. Guy Duker’s setting of Shostakovich’s powerful Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Folk Songs is an invigorating and challenging contribution to the repertoire. Finally, the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine by the American March King, John Philip Sousa, reminds us of the magic of his exceptional compositional talents and of the tradition of the wind band in the 21st century American music scene.

Scott Lindroth
1. Spin Cycle
Camille Saint-Saens
2. Introduction et rondo capriccioso in A minor, Op. 28 (arr. for flute, clarinet and wind orchestra)
Eric Whitacre
3. October
Michael Colgrass
4. Urban Requiem
Dmitry Shostakovich
5. Overture on Russian and Kyrgyz Folk Themes, Op. 115 (arr. for wind ensemble)
John Philip Sousa
6. Nobles of the Mystic Shrine