★Neuma Records
Ice Door
To the bemusement of the rest of us, mathematicians often describe certain equations, processes, and proofs as “elegant,” “beautiful,” or even “sensuous.” Artworks based on algorithms, conversely, might seem less predisposed to such descriptions. But what if those complex calculations actually produced perceptibly emotional qualities? Take, for example, the work of Spanish composer-mathematician Juan J.G. Escudero. His cult classic, Shapes of Inner Timespaces (Neuma 134, 2021), evoked such respo…
River of January
The journey of River of January began in early 1969, when as a freshly arrived 14-year-old from Los Angeles, standing by the ocean in Rio de Janeiro [transl., River of January], Rick Baitz heard a crescendo of rhythmic chanting, followed by a parade of women sashaying down the sidewalk, joyfully singing and swaying to the beat of their own samba. He didn’t know at the time that one day he would write a piece honoring the name of that city, but In 1991 he was commissioned by The Juilliard School …
Plucked & Struck
Plucked & Struck is a collection of works for Celtic (lever) harp and small percussion. Many feature the Orff xylophone, a miniature didactic instrument developed by the German composer Carl Orff in the 1920s as part of his early childhood music education system. This album might be the first to explore the classical compositional potential of this particular combo. The music is deeply rooted in New York City. All three performers—and most of the composers—are from “the world’s borough” of Queen…
The Air-Conditioned Nightmare
After over five decades of making music at, in, and around the piano, Denman Maroney may have left New York for the more rustic climes of a quaint French town, but he has not abandoned his musical ambitions. Choosing March 2020 to travel, and kept in place by the pandemic shutdown, Maroney put down roots that are now flourishing in this double album with fresh local conspirators. Taking John Cage’s prepared piano and Conlon Nancarrow’s rhythmic innovations to new musical territories, Maroney’s p…
Landscapes and Lamentations
“Music and nature have a long and illustrious history together,” writes violinist, composer, improvisor, hiker, Richard Carr. “It’s been done a zillion times, but I can’t fight it anymore. True, I spend more time than most knocking around the woods and winding up and down the trails. Over the course of six decades, I have explored the major mountain ranges of six continents. This has been long enough to witness first-hand the changes that have been so apparent not only to the naked eye but also …
Orchid Music
There is no shortage of songs about flowers, but few actually let the flowers themselves do the singing. Now, thanks to advances in genome sequencing and data mapping, we can, as it were, hand them the mic and hear their side of the story. With a little help from experimental composer and orchid whisperer, Juraj Kojš, brings their inner world to life, revealing its musical potential. You have heard the sonified data of black holes, gravitational waves, weather, and the stock market. Now make way…
Arkinetics
There are many cultures that use repetitive, percussive music to induce meditative states. In cultures as diverse as those in Asia, the Middle East, and West Africa, the drum has been used to weave entrancing patterns that move the body and mind. Drummer/composer Dan Kurfirst has been studying the drums, rhythms, and their combined effects on the body and mind. His new recording, Arkinetics, provides a fascinating encapsulation of his study of global rhythms, free improvisation, and engaging pro…
Tourmaline
*CD with 12-page booklet* Tourmaline is a semi-precious gemstone that appears in a multitude of color schemes and is found throughout the world. It is known as “the stone of reconciliation” and is believed to foster positive energy, healing, and connections with the Earth. Tourmaline also serves as a symbolic representation of the philosopher’s stone, of the alchemical tradition, believed to be capable of transforming base metals into gold, attaining divine wisdom, perfecting the human body and…
A Secret Code
*2022 stock.* Everyday experience is never far from Pamela Z’s musical world. Whether it be a typewriter, birdcall, checking in at the airport, or a mess on the street, her creatively quirky imagination transforms it into a moment of profound questioning and wonder. From sonic trifles to complex numbers, the works on A Secret Code – only her third solo album after Echolocation (1988), and A Delay is Better (2004) – span two decades of redefining song. As fellow composer Annea Lockwood writes in …
Transparent Waves
*2022 stock.* When does our experience of sound become "music"? In the tradition of John Cage and Morton Feldman, in which sounds – and silences – can just be themselves, Thomas DeLio plays with the spaces between your ears as much as the sounds he puts there. In short, be advised this album is replete with clicks, silences, and brief sound events. Stripped bare, it plays with time and space and the minimum conditions for music. It gives the term ‘experimental music’ meaning. DeLio’s approach to…
Apophany
If you were to connect seemingly unrelated things – Heavy Metal and the symphony orchestra, for example – you might be guilty of apophenia. That friction between opposites has never been a problem for Nick Vasallo, though – his music is equally at home in both worlds. Melding Xenakis, Varese, Extreme Metal, and Dark Ambient with gothic charm, Vasallo conjures up a muscular sonic battle that leads you on an inexorable musical journey to a conclusion where surrender is your best option. Catharsis …
In Her Words
*Includes 4-page wallet with a 8-page booklet.* This album is a breakthrough for celebrated composer Stefania de Kenessey: it is all electronic, and it is all dance music. In recent years, de Kenessey has turned increasingly to electronic music composition as a rich source of experimentation, of new sonorities – and of total control. Or something like that. The result is an eclectic combination of vernacular and classical influences that refers, in equal parts, to the Bulgarian and Hungarian fol…
Orchard
*2022 Stock.* “I was born and raised in Kentucky, and for many generations my direct ancestors and extended family have been farmers. So, creating music that is ‘about’ soil, plant life, and the natural world, is my way of honoring that legacy.” Composer Tyler Kline’s tools, though, are not the plow – and vegetables are not the crop – in this collection of brief piano pieces commissioned by and for over a dozen pianists. Instead, Orchard is a celebration of fruit. Each sketch draws on a specific…
Transmutation of Things
There is a venerable history of popular songs used as the starting point for elaborate classical compositions, but 500 years ago Josquin and Dufay never imagined using a gargantuan digital orchestra with up to 300 layered tracks pushing architectural proportion and human perception to the max. And yet, that is exactly what composer, MC Maguire, does in his Toronto studio. It’s daunting, it’s overwhelming, and it has to be heard (preferably loud) to be believed. Dubbed “the most irritating and sp…
Signals
Lawson & Merrill are not financial advisors. But if electroacoustic bliss is what you seek, you would do well to make an appointment with them. They – David Margolin Lawson and David Merrill – met a number of years ago while engineering sessions at the revered CityVox Studios in New York City. They discovered they both had a love for “mid century” electronic music and composers like Morton Subotnick, Eliane Radigue, Edgard Varèse, Ilhan Mimaroğlu, and Steve Reich. It wasn’t until recently, thoug…
ElectroResonance
*2022 stock.* Hearing the bell, I am able to let go of all my afflictions My heart is calm, my sorrows ended I am no longer bound to anything I learn to listen to my suffering, and the suffering of the other person When understanding is born in me, compassion is also born- Stepping into Freedom, Thich Nhat Hanh Resonance... How do we find or create opportunities for connection, collaboration and shared human and sonic space? How do we listen deeply to one another and respond in ways that create …
Rainforest IV
** Six panel wallet with one CD. Binaural audio best heard with headphones ** Few artists within the canons of 20th Century avant-garde and experimental music can be regarded as important or influential as the pianist and composer David Tudor. His name rings out across the years. Yet, despite Tudor’s place in history, his legacy largely remains under the shadow of the artists that he worked with, most notably John Cage, while the majority of his own output as a composer - a handful of releases p…
The imagE - imAge Set
Neuma presents the complete recordings of Roger Reynolds’s "imAgE" series (2007-2015). The series features six pairs of comparatively short, related works that showcase several solo instruments: flute; viola; cello; contrabass; piano; and guitar. Each pair, composed for the same instrument, represents opposing ideas- the first is evocative, and the second is more articulate and punctuated. All works were composed for the performers on the album.
Personae - The Vanity of Words - Variation
** 2021 Stock ** Neuma Records presents Personae - The Vanity Of Words - Variation by Roger Reynolds. Personae (1990) violin, ensemble, and tape; The Vanity OF Words [Voicespace V] (1986) tape; Variation (1988) piano. Baritone Vocals – Philip Larson. Composed By, Liner Notes – Roger Reynolds. Conductor – Rand Steiger. Ensemble – Sonor. Liner Notes – Thomas DeLio. Piano – Aleck Karis. Violin – János Négyesy.
Drumming in the Dark
Neuma presents Drumming in the Dark by Steven Schick. Engineer, Josef Kucera. Production assistance: Roger Reynolds and Terry Longshore. "In 1938 when John Cage formulated his famous dictum, "Percussion is revolution," I doubt that he had my mother in mind..." - Steven Schick