★Another Timbre
Maniera
With yet another striking and forward-thinking work of contemporary composition, Another Timbre returns with “Maniera”, their second outing with the Italian composer, Marco Baldini, following on from last year's brilliant “Vesperi” which sold out within weeks. Comprising seven works for various configurations of string ensemble, masterfully executed by Apartment House, that nod across time toward Italian polyphonic compositions of the 16th and early 17th centuries, the diverse history of Minimal…
Distant Musics
A portrait CD of the early music of US composer Paul Paccione, all 5 works being originally composed between 1980 and 1990. The pieces were recorded in 2023/2024 and are superbly played by Apartment House.
Cover artwork by Anton Lukoszevieze.
shades
Portrait CD of Boston-based composer Nomi Epstein, featuring three chamber works from 2011 to 2023. Two of the pieces ('shades' and 'Sextet') were recorded by Apartment House in 2023, and 'sounds for Berlin' is a concert recording from Berlin in 2019. Thanks to Samuel Dunscombe for the Berlin recording, and to Heather Frasch & Rebecca Lane for organising the Vibrant Matters concert series of which it was a part. The other two pieces were recorded in London by Simon Reynell.
Cover artwork by Amy …
things that happen again
A portrait CD of UK composer Paul Newland's music, with five pieces dating from 2009 to 2023, all recorded by Apartment House in 2023. A rich variety of music, ranging from string quartet, two different trio combinations, a short work for solo piano, and a score for open instrumentation, realised in this recording by a septet.Cover artwork by Paul Newland
Screens
An extraordinary album of compositions by Frank Denyer, played by Octandre Ensemble. 'Screens' contains five pieces, whose dates of composition range from 1973 to 2021. Anyone listening blind would struggle to identify which were early pieces, and which were late; they all simply belong to and come out of Frank Denyer unique and idiosyncratic soundworld.
A list of the instrumentation for the first piece, 'Broken Music' from 1990, gives an indication of the peculiarity and eccentricity of the mus…
Flax
'Flax' is a 79-minute solo work for piano by the Canadian composer Martin Arnold. It was commissioned in 2020 by the pianist Philip Thomas, but sadly Philip became seriously unwell shortly afterwards. Martin Arnold completed the composition in 2021, and - as Philip was now unable to perform it - the project was taken on by Kerry Yong, with Philip's agreement and support. 'Flax' was premiered by Kerry Yong at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in November 2023, when the CD recording was…
A History of Musical Pitch
This album contains three works by Seamus Cater, including his creative response to the work of Alexander John Ellis (1814-1890), who presented a paper 'The History of Musical Pitch' to the Royal Society in 1880. Ellis was a mathematician, collector, philologist and musical enthusiast, who spent a lot of time measuring the exact frequencies of contemporary and ancient musical instruments, and so is remembered as one of the founders of comparative musicology. Two of the pieces on the disc are 're…
parallaxis forma
"There are many things that for me make Catherine Lamb's music special. I guess first of all, it's music I turn to if I want a certain feeling/mood or experience, of time, and of sound. I've been lucky to hear a few of her recent pieces live, like the Jack Quartet playing her 'divisio spiralis' at Wigmore Hall, and of course the concerts of Explore Ensemble where we've played 'parallaxis forma' with vocalist Lotte Betts-Dean, when I also played electric guitar. For me it's this balance between a…
Translucent Harmonies
An album from andPlay - Maya Bennardo on violin, and Hannah Levinson on viola. Brilliant performances of two pieces: Catherine Lamb's 'Prisma Interius VIII' (Melodic Duo) and Kristofer Svensson's 'Vid stenmuren blir tanken blomma'.
“Translucent Harmonies” allows listeners to deeply immerse themselves in sound, silence, and resonance. This hour-long program includes Prisma Interius VIII by Catherine Lamb (USA) and Vid stenmuren blir tanken blomma by Kristofer Svensson (Sweden), both composed in j…
String Trio
"I wrote the piece on a commission from the Concertgebouw Brugge, and it was premiered by the Goeyvaerts Trio as part of the 2019 Slow Festival. The trio played the piece again after the festival, but I always had the feeling that it hadn’t yet arrived at its final destination. So when the plan emerged to have Apartment House record the trio, I sat down again and worked some more on the piece. It’s not the first time I’ve re-worked ‘finished’ pieces. This is mainly due to my basic way of working…
A Dread of Voids
Two beautiful recent works for ensemble by Australian composer Anthony Pateras, one performed in Naarm / Melbourne, Australia, the other in Berlin.
Patterned Language: Lizzy Welsh violin Erkki Veltheim violinChloë Sobek double bass Alexander Garsden guitarAnthony Pateras piano, celeste & sines
A Dread of Voids: Jess Aszodi voice Jon Heilbron double bassSam Dunscombe bass clarinet Rebecca Lane bass fluteAnthony Pateras piano & conductor
Fragments of Reincarnation
A 45-minute single movement piece for shō, Hammond organ and cello, exploring ways of combining the differing tuning systems inherent in the instruments.
Violin and String Quartet
Dating from two years before the composer's death in 1987, 'Violin and String Quartet' lasts two and a quarter hours, throughout which the strings weave gently shifting patterns of sound. It is one of Feldman's most beautiful pieces.
Echo Stane
Nine solos for Hardanger fiddle, composed and performed by Sarah-Jane Summers, a virtuosic Scottish musician based in Norway. Sarah-Jane's music stretches from traditional folk music to experimental work. This album is one of experimental solos, but nonetheless contains references to traditional music both in the titles of the pieces, and sometimes in the music itself.
Natural World
A haunting 55-minute work for voice, piano and electronics by one of the world's leading experimental composers. Natural World is in three sections - Field Guide, Chorus and Seascape. It starts playfully, with Juliet Fraser singing encyclopedia-style facts about birds and animals against Mark Knoop's stop-start piano motif. But, following the introduction of field recordings and then electronics, the music gradually - almost imperceptibly - becomes darker until, without ever explicitly addressin…
Evening Star, Vesper Bell
Beautiful 54-minute work by Magnus Granberg, written for and wonderfully played by Apartment House. As with almost all of Granberg's compositions, a strong ability in improvisation is essential as the score presents musicians with pools of musical material from which they have to select sounds according to what they are hearing in the moment from the other musicians. Sumptuously gorgeous music.
Neha
Two orchestral works by Adrián Demoč, the highly-acclaimed Slovak composer currently based in Spain. The title track 'Neha' (2018) creates a shimmering tension by overlaying 'well-tempered' chords with the same chords using natural harmonics outside of the tempered tuning system. This doubling creates a gentle trembling of interferences. The second piece, 'Popínavá hudba', evolves from a single melodic line, which is repeated with slight variations such that it curves and is bent into fascinatin…
Sound Pieces
Apartment House realise seven works by the pioneering US experimental composer. The first six pieces are text scores for open instrumentation, while 'Peace/Tree' is a seven movement work for violin, cello and piano that specifies pitches, while still leaving a lot of freedom of interpretation. The download also includes an alternative realisation of 'Quintessential' that didn't fit on the CD
Clear and Hazy Moons
Another young composer who you’ve probably not heard of, but whose music you really should get to know. Four stunning pieces, three played by Apartment House, and one by the Rothko Collective. Brilliant music that really shouldn’t be possible from someone so young.
Vesperi
Another Timbre is back with yet another incredible statement from the contemporary landscape of experimental sound, “Vesperi”, the debut album by the Italian composer Marco Baldini from the Florence-based ensemble, Blutwurst. A striking series of minimal works for acoustic instruments, drawing their inspiration from early music and North Indian (Hindustani) classical music, and executed by two remarkable ensembles - a quartet of two cellos and two double bass, and a trio of cello, double bass, a…