A diverse set of compositions from and performed by French composer Melaine Dalibert in his third solo piano album, presenting active rhythmic to introspective work, exploring harmonics and chord evolution; artwork by David Sylvian, and one piece composed for Sylvian, alongside pieces for elsewhere label leader Yuko Zama, Peter Garland and pianist Reinier van Houdt.

"Here Now Hear" is comprised of nine innovative Australian works commissioned and recorded by the Monash Art Ensemble between 2017 & 2019, featuring an eclectic mix of contemporary cross-genre music by significant Australian composers: Paul Grabowsky, Kate Neal, Andrew Ford, Robert Burke, Cat Hope, Marc Hannaford, Paul Williamson, Johannes Luebbers and Sandy Evans.

Containing the majority of minimalist composer Morton Feldman's compositions for solo piano, 3 CDs of short works and 2 for the magnificent "For Bunita Marcus" and "Triadic Memories", performed by one of the foremost interpreters of Feldman's work, Philip Thomas, and presented in a sturdy 5-CD box set with a 52 page booklet of notes from the performer and artwork.

Brooklyn-based composer, bassist, and writer Nick Dunston in his debut album, blending jazz, contemporary, chamber and avant forms, in a uniquely voiced quintet with Louna Dekker on Vargas on flutes & piccolo, Ledah Finck on violin & viola, Tal Yahalom on guitar, and Stephen Boegehold on drums, in a sophisticated album of concisely fascinating compositions.

The NY electronics duo exclusiveOr (Sam Pluta and Jeff Synder) join forces with the International Contemporary Ensemble and Architeuthis Walks on Land (Katherine Young and Amy Cimini) for this tour-de-force ensemble work, combining composed forms, electro-acoustic improvisation, noise, and lush harmonies, in a fascinatingly detailed album of creative musicianship.

The NY electronics duo exclusiveOr (Sam Pluta and Jeff Synder) join forces with the International Contemporary Ensemble and Architeuthis Walks on Land (Katherine Young and Amy Cimini) for this tour-de-force ensemble work, combining composed forms, electro-acoustic improvisation, noise, and lush harmonies, in a fascinatingly detailed album of creative musicianship.

A set of varied compositions from Frank Denyer, most of them of a delicate acoustic intimacy, with works for female singers & flute, two works for koto, a string quartet, one for flute and electronics and the two-part "Frog" for a bowed stringed instrument of Denyer design, the "sneh"; uncategorizable music of sublime imagination and unusual approaches.

Pianist Daniel Bernardes pays homage to French composer Olivier Messiaen, augmenting his piano trio of Antonio Augusto Aguiar on bass and Mario Costa on drums with the Drumming GP Ensemble of Miquel Bernat on marimba, Jeffrey Davis & Pedro Gois on vibraphones, and Joao Dias on glockenspiel, a wonderful merging of contemporary percussive composition and modern jazz.

Swedish bass player Egil Kalman, here on modular syntheizer, joins Norwegian guitarist Fredrik Rasten for a lovely album of drifting electronics and beautifully entwining acoustic guitar, unhurriedly developing environments of warm, slowly evolving chord structures that show influences from players like Catherine Lamb or the Wandelweiser collective.

Their first release in 2000 performing Cornelius Cardew's "Treatise", for 20 years the Formanex quartet of sound artists, conceptualists and experimenters Anthony Taillard, Christophe Havard, Emmanuel Leduc, and Julien Ottavi are heard here in collaborations with Keith Rowe, Kasper T. Toeplitz, Ralf Wehowsky, Seth Cluett, Michael Pisaro, Radu Malfatti, &c.

Winter 2019 issue of Canada's premiere new music magazine and CD, with articles on Buffy Sainte-Marie, Pierre-Yves Martel, Jennifer Thiessen, Wesley Shen, Julia Kent, Tim Olive, Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi, the CD including works by each, plus reviews of recent Canadian and international recordings as well as the fourth annual Calgary New Music Festival.

A live performance at London's Cafe OTO from composer Thanos Chrysakis, performing compositions focused on the deeper reeds from composers Christian Wolff, Iancu Dumitrescu, Hannes Kerschbaumer, Georges Aperghis, and Chrysakis himself, in configurations from solo to quintet, with Tim Hodgkinson, Jason Alder, Chris Cundy, Heather Roce, Yoni Silver, and Shadanga Duo.

Stunningly unusual vocal music from composer, music researcher and vocalist based in Montreal, Gabriel Dharmoo, collecting works from 2012 to 2019, performed with small and large ensembles using almost completely wordless voice, utterance, guttural sound, swoops and, melodic flights, augmented with physical percussion like stamping and clamping; brilliant and enthralling.

Gamelan Son of Lion partners Philip Corner and Evan Schwartzman perform this Fluxus composition where two pianists play piano notes on the chromatic scale in relationship to numbers counted out loud from 1 to 88, forward and backward, creating an unusual texture and counterpoint that when taken as a whole becomes hypnotic and obsessively absorbing; inexplicably interesting.

The soundtrack for Dutch/Belgium/Italian co-production "Porselein" (Porcelain), a psychological drama by Jenneke Boeijink, recorded with cellist Francesco Guerri and using a motif from Henry Purcell's "The Fairy Queen", the album release including 12 additional tracks; powerful, emotional and passionate music of great tension and brilliant performances from Guerri.

ZNR, the French trio of Hector Zazou, Joseph Racaille, and Patrick Portella, in a deluxe box set combining both of the official ZNR releases, "Barricades III" and "Traite de Mechanique Populaire" along with 2 CDs of additional released and unreleased material and a book of memories, histories, reflections, photographs, documents, interviews and other memorabilia.

An harmonically rich album of spacious guitar interaction from two Argentinian guitarists and composers--Catriel Nievas and Tomas Cabado--who also work in the trio Merce / Cabado / Nievas, a minimal yet satisfying set of 8 pieces that interact through stereo positioning, harmonic disturbance and long decay, the effect mesmerizing and beautifully peaceful.

Five "Soleil Clandestin" soundscapes using abstract voice, guitar, electronics, field recordings & percussion from sound artists Bruno Duplant and Pierre Gerard, on the surface peaceful, minimal and using space and silence, but buried inside are disquieting additions through vocal abstractions placed in unusual position to the sound; curious and captivating.

Three compositions from clarinetist and Wandelweiser peer Jurg Frey, performed by Luke Martin on electric guitar, Laura Cetilia on cello, J.P.A. Falzone on piano & vibraphone, Morgan Evans-Weiler on violin, and Jurg Frey himself on clarinet; beautifully reflective music indicating Frey's working method and his relationship with wide, quiet sound spaces.

Three solo piano works from three composers--Mark Hannesson, Dante Boon, and Anastassis Philippakopoulos--are performed by Dante Boon in this studio album recorded in Berlin; three extremely compatible works that prove to be quintessential examples of Wandelweiser minimalism finding melody, progression and abstraction in subtle and elusive ways; sublime.

A work of silence and intervention from Manhattan-based Chinese composer and sound artist Bin Li presenting two versions of the title track, with Stefan Thut on viol & voice on the 1st version, and voice only on the 2nd, using the locations of Manhattan and Gimmelwald, Switzerland as the background of careful viol and voice placement; intriguing and compelling.

Christoph Nicolaus began working with the stone harp around 2007, a block of granite with a slanted top that is deeply notched to create fins that resemble a loaf of bread, played by "bowing" the sides with wet hands causing each to vibrate in unique and beautiful tones; this album collects 13 compositions & improvisations performed between 2008 and 2018, in rich and uniquely evocative sound.

Four duets of gracefully moving music that focuses on tone without repeating melodies or rhythms, from composer Kory Reeder in his first release, performed by Erin Cameron & Luke Ellard both on bass clarinet; Jonathan Kierspe (saxophone) & Samuel Anderson (bass trombone); Alaina Clarice & Linda Jenkins, both on flute; and Mia Detwiler (violin) & Kory Reeder (piano).

Four compositions for solo piano from Swiss composer Urs Peter Schneider, founder of Ensemble Neue Horizonte Bern, with four accompanying prose pieces with text in German from Schneider himself, Martin Luther, and Ita Wegman; unusual words to accompany Schneider's minimalist works of clear progressions, thoughtful direction and interesting concepts.

An hour long work for the string quintet of Nigel Deane (violin), Patrick Behnke (viola), Tanner Pfeiffer (viola), Tal Katz (cello) & Julius Tedaldi (cellos) performing on two contrasting charts, one where musical elements change and recur, the other where things change but don't recur, creating a textural feel of dovetailed motion and intricate interstices.

Two understated compositions for solo piano from Kuala Lumpur composer living in Berlin, Rishin Singh, both performed by pianist Dante Boon, with the first piece written for Boon himself, a minimal work of slowly rising and descending progressions; the other piece "For Eva-Maria Houben" dedicated to the Wandelweiser composer, using recurring yet distinctly varying patterns.

Twenty miniature compositions for acoustic guitar from French composer and improviser Guillaume Gargaud, each under one and a half minutes, the shortest just 53 seconds, each composed in 12 measures creating a lovely reflective and introspective set of abstract melodies, poetic and evocative music from a player dedicated to solo guitar work.

New York City-based trombonist/composer Weston Olencki, specializing in the performance and production of experimental music & art, presents four compositions for brass instruments exploring a sound-based and psychoacoustic approach to solo performance, applying extended instrument preparations and fundamental principles of sound synthesis to this acoustic medium.

Wandelweiser member and composer Anastassis Philippakopoulos has twelve of her compositions for solo piano performed and realized by French composer/pianist ​Melaine Dalibert, each built around slow moving melodic progressions that resonate through patient performance, each fragment and note ringing beautifully, mysteriously, and dramatically.

2 CDs of works for violin, piano & vibraphone, composed and performed by two young American composers and members of the ensemble Ordinary Affects, who have recorded music by the Jurg Frey, Magnus Granberg, Michael Pisaro, Eva Maria Houben, &c.; the 1st disc presents the Feldman-esque work of JPA Falzone, while the 2nd contains an exquisite new work by Morgan Evans-Weiler.

A split 7" release between Cremaster (Alfredo Costa Monteiro (electronics) and Ferran Fages (feedback mixing board and electroacoustic devices); and the Komora A trio of Karol Koszniec (electronics), Dominik Kowalczyk (laptop) and Jakub Mikolajczyk (modular synth).

Mark Mothersbaugh records five compositions for the Player Piano Forte composed by Nandor Nevai, each an impossible performance for a human being, with each piece named for the number of hands theoretically performing, from "1 Hand" to "5 Hands", driving the Pianoforte into extreme territory of rapidity and complexity in a fascinating set of compositions.

Issuing on CD the duo album of violinist Samara Lubelski and guitarist Bill Nace, originally released on Nace's Open Mouth label early in 2018, presenting a series of psychedelic textural works, Lubelski creating vibrant and reiterating structures that Nace uses as a foundation for swells and expressive emanations; hypnotic and mesmerizing.

Another Timbre's second CD of chamber works by the Paris-based Italian composer Giuliano d'Angiolini: Four pieces - ensemble works performed by Apartment House and the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, a duo for flute and piano, and a piece for solo piano played by the composer, all performed at the 2018 Angelica festival in Bologna Italy.

A beautiful, melancholic soundworld created by three musicians who have a rare rapport--Cyril Bondi on Indian harmonium, Pierre on Yves Martel on viola da Gamba, and Christoph Schiller on spinet--following their previous CDs tse and awire by moving on to new territory in 3 compositions allowing for freedom from each musician, two from Schiller and one from Bondi.

While developing a soundtrack with violinist and violist Anne Bakker, Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek, began editing a series of Bakker's improvisations, creating new works from those recordings by layering them into succinct short works or "scenes"--twenty of them in the end--that he sequenced into this album of confidently dramatic and delicately beautiful episodes.

Drawing from contemporary composers including Tom Johnson, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Adrian Democ, James Tenney, &c, this is the 3rd chapter of Italian flutist Manuel Zurria's project/research on "minimalisms" in contemporary music, taking an active interpretation of the classification over 16 informed and adventurous recordings.

The second of four connected solo piano works by Morton Feldman, Triadic Memories is about that reality, the acoustic space created by the piano's strings and soundboard, as Feldman attempted to expand the temporal frame of his music, heard here in Judith Wegmann's 2019 recording, where thThe second of four connected solo piano works by Morton Feldman, Triadic Memories is about the acoustic space created by the piano's strings and soundboard, as Feldman worked to expand the temporal frame of his music, heard her in Judith Wegmann's 2019 studio recording where that space is revealed by a magnificent Bosendorfer 280VC piano.at space is revealed by a magnificent Bosendorfer 280VC piano.

Vocal performer & musician Jaap Blonk presents a rendering of French dramatist, poet and theatre director Antonin Artaud's "Pour en Finir avec le Jugement de Dieu" (To Have Done With the Judgment of God), a work shelved by the French Radio in 1948 without broadcast as 'too scatological, political, anti-religious, random, and cacophonous through xylophonic and percussive sounds'.

RESTOCKED: Fred Frith's 1999 box set, presenting a large, flexible ensemble project using marked photographs and rules as scores while Frith directs and conducts as well as performing; permanent members are Ikue Mori and Zeena Parkins, otherwise the balance of the 44 strong ensemble changes; recordings here are taken from 5 concerts, including the first in 1992 at AngelicA.

A fascinating 2-CD retrospective of the solo piano and computer work from 1990 to 2016 of San Francisco Bay Area experimental composer Chris Brown, whose work focuses on evolving paradigms of human-machine interaction through live signal processing, generative polyrhythmic textures, and a cohabitation of both formal control and indeterminacy.

Composer & trumpeter Nate Wooley presents the 6th composition of his SSM series exploring music's ability to bring catharsis and ecstatic release to the performers and listeners, in a large ensemble of 11 musicians and voice, in a stunningly sophisticated large work of modern orchestration through acoustic and electronic/amplified instruments; a masterwork.

Austrian composer Peter Ablinger wrote this study, which is not intended for live performance, using a violin performing a slow glissando over one octave, here performed by violinist Johnny Chang, the recording then composed in the studio as a proportion canon, virtually layering 16 violins in a study displaying the harmonic interactions of that single glissando.

Composer Andrew Lafkas' large ensemble piece with performers including C. Spencer Yah, Ron Stabinsky, Barry Weisblat, Sean Meehan, Ben Owen, &c. is a meditative work intended for live performance, this album the 2nd of 3 performances, a brooding and resonant rendering of rich and subtle detail that evolves over 70 minutes, carrying its listeners in a profound revery.

Two hauntingly beautiful works in microtonal composer and violist Catherine Lamb's "Prisma Interius" series, the first a duo with violinist Johnny Change and Xavier Lopez on the "secondary rainbow synthesizer", which channels the sound outside of the performance space as a generator of ambient sound; then a sextet of strings and winds with two secondary rainbow synthesizers.

A compilation of compositions for conventional, acoustic, musical instruments, performed through synthetics and computer processing as an album of electronic music, composed by Lisbon based sound and media artist André Gonçalves, each of 9 parts simply titled "Instrumental", and each a fascinating microcosm of kinetic, synthetic-acoustic potential.

The 2nd orchestral album from saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, two very different but complementary sets of compositions using electronics in mostly acoustic settings: the 1st with the larger EOS Chamber Orchestra and guests including Cory Smythe, Tom Rainey, & Sam Pluta; the 2nd a smaller group of Laubrock, Smythe & Pluta + guests Adam Motlock, Josh Modney, and Zeena Parkins.

The 4th album on Another Timbre from a series of pieces by composer Antoine Beuger, each acknowledging a cultural or intellectual figure, here titled for philosopher, musicologist, educator and one-time member of the French Resistance, Vladimir Jankélévitch, represented by Beuger in a large dramatic work performed by the Apartment House sextet.

Bass clarinetist Chris Cundy, uses the studio as a performance tool for accompaniment along with pre-recorded tapes, as he contrasts two different composers--Cornelius Cardew & Ton de Leeuw and their compositions titled "Mountains", alongside a Cardew graphic score piece, and 2 work for 5 bass clarinets, from Thanos Chrysakis and John Cage, the latter from his Numbers series.

A beautifully hypnotic album of wind music, especially on the Pan-Ney, an instrument developed by Berlin composer Werner Durand, along with electronics and a piece using the talking drum as performed by Marika Falk, presenting early works from the 1990s that bridge both improvisation and composition with an embraceable sound that reveals underlying complexity.

English experimental composer and musical performer John White recorded the pieces on this 2 CD retrospective set between 1980 and 1995, a combination of serious, popular and novelty pieces, often exploring areas of contradiction, particularly linear and rhythmic, within an unlikely sound-world in which parameters such as volume, timbre, texture and speed remain fixed.

Commissioned by Another Timbre for the quarantine commissions series, Hlaholika was developed by composer Adrián Demoč for the Apartment House ensemble as a quintet of violin, double bass, clarinet, viola & piano, using the configurations for 3 other works performed here by Apartment House; plus a piece for an ensemble from the Janacek School of Music in the Czech Republic.

The UK ensemble Apartment House commissioned this work from composer & experimenter Jim O'Rourke based on their performance of other O'Rourke works, here interpreting a new graphic score designed like a sonic mobile, creating a minimal yet episodic piece of flexible interpretation as the performers whistle, hum and quietly sing in combination with bowed harmonics.

Performing four of avant composer Alvin Lucier's works composed between 1991 and 2004, the Montreal-based Quatuor Bozzini (Clemens Merkel on violin, Alissa Cheung on violin, Stephanie Bozzini on viola, and Isabelle Bozzini on cello) focus on Lucier's works of sonic exploration, including the intensely harmonic interactions of the album's title work.

Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek) invited 41 drummer/percussionists including Tony Buck, Vasco Trilla, Tim Barnes, Greg Stuart, Cyril Bondi, &c. to take part in a project by recording a few short fills or phrases, which Zuydervelt used as "Lego Bricks" to build a series of short rhythmical collages, the results being 24 diverse and fascinating compositions.

The third and final CD in composer John Zorn's trilogy inspired by historic figures of Christian mysticism, following works for Francesco d'Assisi and Julian of Norwich, these 10 pieces are conducted by Zorn and written specifically for the acoustic guitar trio of Bill Frisell, Julian Lage and Gyan Riley; an album of breathtaking character and inspired playing.

French voice artist and composer Yannick GuŽdon living in Brussels composed this extended work, the title translating to "insistence on possibilities", realized with cellist Deborah Walker and violist Cyprien Busolini, Guédon merging extended utterance into long string drones, contrasted with silence, as the piece moves through very specific placement.

Sharing compositional credits with the title translating to "the cooked", the trio of Andreas Nordheim on cornet, Ole Schmidt on clarinets, and Chris Weinheimer on flutes, with pianist Jan Gerdes guesting on one piece, present 16 recordings of minimalist harmonic and tonal development, mysterious and haunting works are taxonomically named by their location.

Various facets of German composer and experimenter Florian Wittenburg's interests, in two iterations of two pieces and two compositions, using voice, vibraphones and ringing bowls, treated electronically to emphasize unique characteristics of sound from warmly rich to mysteriously fragile, balanced with space and careful timing; a valuable introduction to his work.

Two works for solo instrumentalists by Baltimore composer Ian Power, both written in 1984: "mahrem bir eser | a private work" using microtonal harmonics and electronic noise, performed by cellist Mariel Robers and recorded in 2016 at Brandeis Univeristy; and "swathe" using overtone and microtone performed by clarinetist Gleb Kanasevich and recorded in NYC in 2019.

Stockholm composer Magnus Granberg's first visit to Japan was to perform at the 2019 Ftarri Festival, adapting his extended and subtle work "Come Down to Earth Where Sorrow Dwelleth", originally composed for the Boston ensemble Ordinary Affects, here reworked for sho, koto, prepared piano and electronics performed by Ko Ishikawa, Miki Maruta and Toshimaru Nakamura.

Exploring the difference between the two Greek concepts of time--chronos (measurable) and kairos (qualitative moments)--Bern composer Urs Peter Schneider's 1973 composition uses synthesizers to measure, divide, experience, forget, free from, and embody time; plus a 1968 composition with Ensemble Nueue Horizon Bern, and two recent works with Ensemble Montaigne.

The centerpiece of composer Kevin Good's "Slow" series is this evening-length glockenspiel solo, performed by San Diego based glockenspiel player Michael Jones, the composition of slow, melodic fragments that are increasingly permeated by swathes of silence of increasing length, exploring how the expressivity of the melodies are perceived and framed by these silences.

Using guitars, violin, electronics, field recordings, abstract voice, and a "sound knife in the sand", Pierre Gerard recorded this set of 13 works in Liege, Belgium, and Wimereux, France, in 2019, using intuitive approaches to his minimalist electroacoustic compositions as he assembles his elements to convey human gesture and architectural form in sound.

"An invitation into our perceptual periphery, where noise(s) — and perhaps we — can be somewhat disobedient" read the liner notes to Colombian composer Sergio Cote Barco's sound work, three compositions from extreme minimalism and silence to rich sound, each varying the topography and envelopes of sound, ostensibly performed by "electronic music".

One circular and one continuous composition from Argentinian composer Sergio Merce, using rich tones like clouds of sound generated by a microtonal saxophone, synthesizer and wind synth, the title referring to his sense of music a channel to see, to reveal, a channel that opens through intuition, observation and attention but not through thinking; beautiful.

Four works by Argentinian composer Max Bober living in Warsaw, Poland, performed in solo, duo and trio configurations by pianist Alejandro Peña Gutiérrez, flutists Francisco Rojas and Clara Peláez Hidalgo, and soprano Natalia Jarosiewicz; fragile works of depth and beauty that unfold gracefully.

Two beautifully subtle works for an ensemble of strings and electric piano from French composer Bruno Duplant, realized by the Boston-based Ordinary Affects ensemble or Jordan Dykstra, Morgan Evans-Weiler, JPA Falzone, Luke Martin and Ashley Frith, the first a quintet and the second a string quartet, creating illusory affects of motion and space through abstraction.

Compositions for violas, bass clarinets and flutes performed by Vincent Royer, Jill Valentine, Jason Alder, Chris Cundy, Tim Hodgkinson, Yoni Silver, Lori Freedman, Carla Rees, Karin de Fleyt, Thanos Chrysakis, Katrina Lauder, with compositions from Gerard Grisey, Iancu Dumitrescu, Thanos Chrysakis, Niels Rasmussen, Salvatore Sciarrino, Lori Freedman, and Tim Hodgkinson.

Three versions of composer Koen Nutters piece "Intervals, time and space between," performed in Berlin, Switzerland and The Netherlands in 2019 by Ensemble Post-music and DNK Ensemble with special guests Stefan Thut, Luke Martin, Thea Mesirow and Aaron Foster Breilyn, the work open to interpretation as a construction kit for each player to build their own version.

Taking modular synths into unusual territory, Autumn Records label leader and relentless audio explorer Greg Davis spent years using a computer controlled modular synthesizer system to generate an obsessive set of synthetic and electronic sounds -- swooping, burbling, chattering, &c. -- assembled into this quick witted and energetic set of compositions.

An actualization of Manfred Werder's text score, "2015³", taking a quote from Walter Benjamin, "through excessive fatigue I had thrown myself on my bed in my clothes in the brightly-lit room, and had at once, for a few seconds, fallen asleep", the Regler trio present an abstract interpretation through location recordings of the band setting up and falling asleep.

Recording in live conditions and multitrack, French guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Baysse performs a version of Terry Riley's classical minimalist composition "In C" using electric guitar, acoustic guitar, twelve string guitar, effects, banjo, bass, glockenspiel, maracas, cymbal, mandolin, synthesizer, percussion, and drum machine.

A solo album from Italian percussionsit Lucio Miele, presenting six works of layered percussion with live electronics and, on three tracks, recitation from actor Simona Fredella, each piece sound-oriented with an incredibly diverse set of percussive variety, detailed atmospheric settings and diverse rhythmic foundation; a remarkable and sometimes hair-raising album.

Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek) invited 41 drummer/percussionists including Tony Buck, Vasco Trilla, Tim Barnes, Greg Stuart, Cyril Bondi, &c. to take part in a project by recording a few short fills or phrases, which Zuydervelt used as "Lego Bricks" to build a series of short rhythmical collages, the results being 24 diverse and fascinating compositions.

Spring/Summer issue of Canada's premiere new music magazine, including an 11-track CD of music from the artists covered in each issue, with articles: Sobey Art Award wubber Lou Shppard; a 30-page section exploring climate emergency through nine sound and music artists; Brooklyn-based composer and violist Tanya Kalmanovitch; Ashley Au; James Goddard; David Psutka; &c. &c!

Known for her chamber and piano works, Canadian composer and widow of Morton Feldman presents five beautiful chamber works performed by the trio of George Barton on percussion, Siwan Rhys on piano and Mira Benjamin on violin, introspective and contemplative pieces of rich color & reflection that reveal the gravity between sound and silence.

Five chamber works written by composer UK Oliver Leith, the debut CD release from the creative music group Explore Ensemble including a piece they commissioned--Me Hollywood--, the compositions spanning four years of work and reflecting a sort of portrait of the composer as he experiments with unusual arrangements, sampling sounds, and new instruments.

Two works from Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith and performed by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze and pianist Kerry Yong: "Through the Low Hills" a piece for constrained variations like an object viewed from different angles as it is turned over; and "Ballad" a major work intended for performance that unfolds slowly, allowing for delicate melodic interaction.

A cohesive suite in eight parts on dynamics, tone and vocal narration in acoustic jazz from the joining of the 20+ year Swedish duo project J/L Duo of saxophonist Johan Jutterstrom and drummer/percussionist Andreas Hiroui Larsson, Brooklyn-based pianist Adrian Knight and vocalist/lyricist Frew Elfineh Taha (also known under the moniker Black Fist).

A percussive "Natchtprogramm" and a tonal "Syntax" from composer Torsten Papenheim, recorded in the studio in Cologne and Berlin, the former performed with trombonist Matthias Much, double bassist Achim Tang and pianist Philip Zoubek; the latter with Johannest Trondle (violincello) & Axel Haller (electric bass), then with Elena Kakaliagou (french horn) & Evi Filippou (percussion).

A modern spoken opera by NY composer Elliott Sharp and librettist/narrator Jack Womack (Terraplane) with several narrators, reflecting the events surrounding a 1981 killing in New York's East Village, set in a darkly instrumental soundtrack developed by Sharp using guitars, saxophones, clarinets, synthesizers, bass, percussion, drums programming and samples.

Originally released in 2001, Elliott Sharp's production of this 3-CD set collects 171 1-minute pieces from international artists over a vast field of musical approaches, with contributors including Christian Marclay, Eric Mingus, Fred Frith, Harry Smith, Henry Kaiser, Ikue Mori, Jack Womack, Jad Fair, Joey Baron, Marc Ribot, Merzbow, Phill Niblock, Zeena Parkins, &c. &c.

Featuring electronically-augmented vocal interpretations of lieder songs by such composers as Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann, New York vocalist Judith Berkson also presents purely electronic pieces engaging noise and feedback-oriented vignettes, the evolution of her project started in 2016 as she re-contextualizes classical music in powerfully expressive ways.

Darkly meditative and somber compositions for the lower registers of the grand piano accompanied by synthesizer, in two extended pieces by Je Suis! and Angles 9 pianist Alexander Zethson, using the interactions between the deep piano keys and synth more as a sound source than as a distinct instrument, each reshaping the other to create a cloud of sound.