Amores Pasados
Lute songs old and new: John Potter and Anna Maria Friman (voices) with lutenists Ariel Abramovich and Jacob Heringman sing new songs by John Paul Jones, Tony Banks and Sting beside Campion, Warlock, Moeran and Picforth. Recorded November 2014, Rainbow Studio, Oslo.
Lukomoriye
Fourth ECM New Series album of music by Alexander Knaifel: choral prayers, Pushkin songs and piano pieces, performed by Oleg Malov (piano), Tatiana Melentieva (soprano), Piotr Migunov (bass) and the Lege Artis Choir (Boris Abalian). Recorded 2012, Smolny Cathedral, St Petersburg.
Eine Olive des Nichts - Zagajewski, Tranströmer, Jaccottet
Poetry and sound collage by radio author Burkhard Reinartz: texts by Adam Zagajewski, Tomas Tranströmer and Philippe Jaccottet read in German by Reinartz, Anja Lais and Bruno Winzen, woven with ECM recordings. Recorded August 2013, Rheinklang Tonstudio, Cologne.
Aquilonis
Sixth ECM New Series album by Trio Mediaeval (Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth, Berit Opheim): Icelandic chant of St Thorlak, Italian laude, English carols, Norwegian hymns and works by Jormin, Brooks and Andrew Smith, recorded June 2014 at Propstei St. Gerold.
Transeamus
Final album by The Hilliard Ensemble: 15th-century English carols and motets by John Plummer, Walter Lambe, William Cornysh, Sheryngham and anonymous composers, sung by David James, Rogers Covey-Crump, Steven Harrold and Gordon Jones, recorded in 2012 at Propstei St. Gerold.
The Fifth Century
Gavin Bryars's The Fifth Century, a setting of Thomas Traherne for choir and saxophone quartet, and his Two Love Songs after Petrarch, sung by The Crossing under Donald Nally with the PRISM Quartet, recorded in Philadelphia in 2014 and 2015.
Iannis Xenakis
Trifold glossy slipcase includes two CDs, label catalogue and 16-page booklet of liner notes and images. For new initiates and avant-garde fiends alike, this Iannis Xenakis collection renders a breathtaking survey of works by the radical composer, theorist, architect and engineer, spanning the period 1956-1974 and featuring some of the greatest works of the 20th century, including the awe-inspiring sonic architecture of ‘Persepolis’.Inarguably one of the most important composers to blend electro…
Ensemble Music Vol.2
Five Xenakis works for ensemble recorded in New York in 1996 with the composer's participation: Akrata, Echange, Xas, Okho and the first recording of A la Mémoire de Witold Lutoslawski, by the ST-X Ensemble.
Ensemble Music Vol.1
Xenakis's works for ensemble and voice recorded in concert by New York's ST-X Ensemble under Charles Zachary Bornstein: Plektó (first recording), Eonta, Akanthos, Rebonds and N'Shima.
Percussion Works
First complete set of Iannis Xenakis's percussion works on three CDs: sextets, duos and solos, including Persephassa, Pléïades, Psappha, Kassandra and Rebonds, played by Steven Schick and the ensemble red fish blue fish.
Music for Strings
All of Xenakis's chamber music for strings except the quartets, from Syrmos (1959) to the first recording of Ittidra (1996), played by Ensemble Resonanz under Johannes Kalitzke, with John Eckhardt on solo contrabass in Theraps.
Robert Schumann
Thomas Zehetmair, as violinist and conductor, leads the Orchestre de chambre de Paris in Schumann's Violin Concerto WoO 23, Phantasie op. 131 and Symphony No. 1 "Spring", recorded in February 2014 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris.
Robert Schumann, Heinz Holliger: Aschenmusik
Heinz Holliger (oboe, oboe d'amore), Anita Leuzinger (cello) and Anton Kernjak (piano) play Holliger's Romancendres framed by Schumann's chamber works, recorded in July 2012 and November 2013 at Radio Studio Zürich.
in Tokyio
Implosive Eternity -- computer assisted music; 'Abysses Latents -- for voice, tenor saxophone and percussion; 'Bolids & Contemplations (III) -- computer assisted music; 'La Legende D'Icaire' -- for bass clarinet, ensemble and computer assisted sounds; 'Penumbra' -- for saxophone solo. Performed by: Keiko Hatanaka, Robert Reigle, Gustavo Aguilar, Tim Hodgkinson, Hyperion Ensemble
Soleil Explosant
First CD in a while from the Romanian composers Dumitrescu and Avram (potenially associated with the European "spectralism" contingent, what The Wire referred to as "the altered harmonic dimensions and numinous sonorities of the European avant garde composition movement"). Iancu Dumitrescu: "Remote Pulsar (I)" (computer assisted music), "Movemur (III)" (spectral music for viola solo, performed by: Cornelia Petroiu), and "Numerologie Sect*te (I)" (computer assisted music). Ana-Maria Avram : "Inca…
Hieroglyphen der Nacht
Valentin Silvestrov's works for solo cello and for two cellos, played by Anja Lechner (cello, tam-tam) and Agnès Vesterman, recorded in December 2013 at the Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, and produced by Manfred Eicher.
Visions fugitives
Solo piano recital by Anna Gourari: Prokofiev's complete Visions fugitives op. 22, Medtner's Fairy Tale op. 26/3 and Chopin's Sonata No. 3 op. 58, recorded in October 2013 at the Historischer Reitstadel, Neumarkt, and produced by Manfred Eicher.
El Cuchi bien temperado
Guitarist Pablo Márquez plays his own solo arrangements of seventeen songs by the Salta composer Gustavo "Cuchi" Leguizamón, recorded in May 2012 at the Auditorio RSI in Lugano and produced by Manfred Eicher.
Imágenes - Music for Piano
Argentine pianist Horacio Lavandera plays ten piano pieces written by bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi between 1960 and 2002, recorded with the composer present in October 2013 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher.
Erik Satie, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Kim Kashkashian, Sarah Rothenberg, Steven Schick, Houston Chamber Choir, Robert Simpson
Rothko ChapelMorton Feldman's Rothko Chapel with music by Satie and Cage, played by Kim Kashkashian (viola), Sarah Rothenberg (piano, celesta), Steven Schick (percussion) and the Houston Chamber Choir under Robert Simpson, recorded in Houston in May 2012 and February 2013.