★Another Timbre
The way to go out
Three mysterious, shimmering chamber works by the Australian composer Newton Armstrong, performed by Plus Minus Ensemble and Séverine Ballon (cello) "In 1990 I was studying composition at university. I basically wanted to be Stravinsky. Chris Mann took an interest in me and I started spending a lot of time at his house, drinking tea and talking. He changed my mind about a lot of things and introduced me to people who were making music that excited me. The Melbourne experimental scene was thrivin…
Stain Ballads
Four chamber works by the Toronto-based composer Martin Arnold, whose previous album ‘The Spit Veleta’ sold out last year. Beautifully played by Apartment House. "There are number of ways that the word 'ballad' could be applied to a lot of the music I make - clearly, I'm devoted to lyrical (if endlessly meandering) melodies, slow melodies that invoke a kind of vague, indistinct sentimentality. But it's significant to me that the word 'ballad' comes from the from Old French balade, from Provençal…
All English Music is Greensleeves
Five pieces by the radical young Belgian composer, Maya Verlaak, impeccably performed by Apartment House, and the soloists Sarah Saviet (violin) and Mark Knoop (piano)"Subversion has destructive connotations. However, subversion can also mean reversing a current standard: being subversive can be anything that challenges an existing system. My approach to subversion doesn’t destroy current standards, but it uses the standards to create, while developing solutions to its own characteristics and p…
Parallel Words
Eventless Plot is the collective name for three musicians from Thessaloniki, Greece, who compose together. Vasilis Liolios, Aris Giatis and Yiannis Tsirikoglou have been collaborating in this way since they met as students 20 years ago. They bring in other musicians from Greece and Holland (where Yiannis now lives) as their compositions develop. The CD presents three of their recent and most compelling chamber works.
"The title reflects the basic idea of the composition. There is a contradiction…
Iteration
Two improvisations from an astonishing Munich performance in May 2019 by the Berlin-based duo of Lucio Capece - bass clarinet, slide saxophone, room acoustics and mini-speakers & Werner Dafeldecker - double bass.
"The two pieces were recorded last year during our live performance at the ‘Offene Ohren’ concert series in Munich. On the disc are two unedited improvised sets. Lucio and I have known each other for many years and play together periodically. So the music was maybe ‘pre-planned’ to some…
Good Day Good Day Bad Day Bad Day
A unique and extraordinary 45-minute composition for piano & keyboards + percussion, written for the GBSR duo: George Barton & Siwan Rhys. Composed by Oliver Leith in 2018, and recorded in March 2020 by Mark Knoop.
"I like looking at and framing everyday life, sometimes banal things. Good day good day bad day bad day is almost an incantation, I was interested in the rituals, habits, things we tell ourselves to keep going, invasive irrational thoughts, odd pleasures and reliefs of life. Mainly be…
Monument of Diamonds
Epic 45-minute microtonal composition by Kraig Grady, using a 17-tone scale, the Meta-Slendro tuning, created by Erv Wilson. Composed in 2020. The instruments were specially built or adapted for the unusual tuning system.
"The idea of Monuments came from the sound of the brass, in which I include the saxophone here. Brass seems to be used much less in newer music than strings, winds and percussion which is unfortunate. Since they are used less than strings or winds in new music, they seem to inv…
Repetition of the Same Dream
Five works for flute, percussion & electronics, recorded during Covid-19 lockdown in a church in Basel, Switzerland, March 2020. Commissioned by Another Timbre and performed by Mara Winter - flute and Clara de Asís - bowed objects, percussion & electronics.
"There were some pieces that I composed and others that were formed by Mara and I, where the roles of composer / performer dissolved into each other. ‘A passage through’ was composed specifically for Mara’s bass flute, also relating very much…
Hyazo
A new album from the trio who released Tse in 2016, and - along with violinist Angharad Davies - Awire in 2018. Three compositions of quiet and delicate beauty, two by Christoph Schiller, and the title track by Cyril Bondi.Cyril Bondi: Indian harmoniumPierre-Yves Martel: viola da gambaChristoph Schiller: spinet
Antifona
Following on from the wonderful "Cantilena", four new chamber works by the Paris-based Italian composer Giuliano d'Angiolini. Performers include Apartment House, Manuel Zurria, Mark Knoop and the composer.
Let Pass My Weary Guiltless Ghost
Magnus Granberg and Skogen return with another exquisite hour-long piece recorded in Stockholm in November 2019. With Ko Ishikawa, Rhodri Davies, Toshimaru Nakamura, Simon Allen and others.Magnus Granberg - prepared piano & compositionKo Ishikawa - shoAnna Lindal - violinLeo Svensson Sander - celloSimon Allen - vibraphoneErik Carlsson - percussionHenrik Olsson - objectsPetter Wästberg - contact microphone, mixing board, loudspeakerToshimaru Nakamura - no-input mixing board
Fűr Biliana
Four chamber works for strings by the veteran German composer Ernstalbrecht Stiebler, performed by Biliana Voutchkova, with Michael Rauter and Nurit Stark. From a string trio from 1963 to a violin solo from 2018.
Unfurling
A 52-minute piece jointly composed and performed by Angharad Davies (violin), Klaus Lang (harmonium) and Anton Lukoszevieze (cello). Recorded during a residency at Dai Hall in Huddersfield, March 2020. Thanks to Ryoko Akama.
Unconscious Collections
Three fresh and engaging pieces recorded during a meeting in Basel in June 2019 of Argentine guitarist Tomás Cabado and Christoph Schiller on spinet. The first piece is an improvisation, the second a composition by Christoph Schiller, and the final piece is composed by Tomás Cabado.
Chordioid
A double CD of works for violin, piano and vibraphone. One disc is a long piece by J.P.A. Falzone, the other a long piece by Morgan Evans-Weiler. Both are beautiful, delicate chamber works for violin + piano / vibraphone / fortepiano, recorded at Wesleyan College in Connecticut.
Ricercar nell’Ombra
**In process of restock** Since early 1990s, the Lyon based composer, sound artist, and writer, Emmanuel Holterbach, has been issuing a slow trickle of beautiful efforts into the landscape of avant-garde and experimental sound. Predominately focused the discipline of musique concrete, his latest LP, Ricercar nell’Ombra, a collaboration with the Florentine ensemble, Blutwurst, takes both into incredible new realms. Issued by Another Timbre - belonging to their expansive dedication to cutting edge…
Chamber Works
Five chamber works by the Brazilian/Dutch composer Luiz Henrique Yudo, realised with brilliance by Apartment House. Each piece is the transcription into sound of a visual work of art.Luiz Henrique Yudo is a Brazilian-born composer now living in Amsterdam. He composes by transposing visual works of art into sound. “Music coming from structures, labyrinths, alphabets, codes, patterns, architecture, paintings, drawings, sculptures…” The pieces on the CD are wonderfully realised by Apartment House, …
The Fish That Became the Sun
This CD offers the first recording of Frank Denyer's extraordinary hour-long piece for large ensemble The Fish That Became the Sun (Songs of the Dispossessed), composed between 1991 and 1996. The ensemble includes a huge number of home-made percussion instruments made from discarded materials, as well as obscure instruments such as eunuch flutes, ocarinas and crumhorns. The album comes with a booklet with notes by Frank Denyer and an essay by Michael Turnbull.Musicians include:Octandre Ensemble …
The Boundaries of Intimacy
The Boundaries of Intimacy foregrounds works that are very restrained and quiet, but as always with Frank Denyer, there is a sense of tension or danger in the air that occasionally explodes and cuts across the music."Most of the music on this CD is soft, some of it very soft indeed. To achieve the optimal listening level, think of the musicians as being just over the other side of the room in which you are listening, rather than in another grander space. Imagine them performing intimately, witho…
Žiadba
Žiadba consists of five chamber compositions by the young Slovak composer Adrián Democ, who is currently teaching music at a school in Spain, as he says it is practically impossible to survive as an experimental composer in Eastern Europe. Democ's music is very varied: some of his pieces are quiet and restrained, while others are bursting with life and vigour. His Kvarteto begins with an intricate and fast-moving canon movement, brilliantly played by Apartment House and Ostravska Band / fama Q.