Best of 2021: Andrew Cyrille Quartet (CD Review)
Best of 2021 Andrew Cyrille Quartet The News ECM Records David Virelles, piano; Bill Frisell, guitar; Ben Street, bass; Andrew Cyrille, drums and percussion Andrew Cyrille is now an octogenarian,…
Best of 2021: Spektral Quartet Plays Thorvaldsdottir (CD Review)
Anna Thorvaldsdottir Enigma EP Spektral Quartet Clara Lyon, Maeve Feinberg, violin; Doyle Armbrust, viola; Russell Rolen, cello Sono Luminus CD, 2021 Enigma, the first string quartet by Icelandic composer Anna…
Bernhard Lang – Piano Music (CD Review)
Bernhard Lang Piano Music Wolfram Oettl, piano Kairos Music CD Bernhard Lang (b. 1957) writes in a number of different media, from chamber music to theatre works. His solo piano…
Two Wandelweiser Recordings (CD Review)
Sivan Silver-Swartz Untitled 6 Wandelweiser CD EWR 1920 Nigel Dean, violin; Patrick Behnke, Tanner Pfeiffer, viola; Tal Katz, Julian Tedaldi, cello Antoine Beuger Jankélévich Sextets Another Timbre CD at168 Apartment…
City of Tomorrow on New Focus (CD Review)
City of Tomorrow Blow New Focus Records The City of Tomorrow is a woodwind quintet dedicated to 20/21 music, particularly compositions that explore environmental themes. They first convened to play…
Cantus Records Manifesto
Cantus Manifesto Signum Classics The all-male vocal ensemble Cantus’s first full length recording in seven years, Manifesto, features pieces, all in world premiere recordings, that explore relationships and identity. The…
My Tree (CD Review)
My Tree Where the Grace Is Self-released, 2021 The duo My Tree consists of vocalist Caroline Davis and multi-instrumentalist Ben ‘Jamal’ Hoffmann. Davis is best known as a jazz saxophonist…
Danny Driver Records Ligeti (CD Review)
György Ligeti The 18 Etudes Danny Driver Hyperion Composed between 1985 and 2001, the 18 Etudes by György Ligeti are an eloquent summary of the techniques he had developed throughout…
Magnus Lindberg on Ondine (CD Review)
Magnus Lindberg Aura – Marea – Related Rocks Emil Holmström, Joonas Ahonen, piano and keyboards; Jani Niinimaki, Jerry Plippomem, percussion Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu Ondine This recording includes…
Attacca Quartet – Real Life (CD Review)
Attacca Quartet Real Life Sony Music CD/DL Kronos Quartet excepted, there have been a lot of really bad arrangements of pop music for string quartet. Part of the problem is…