January CD Roundup

Also on Wergo (see my previous post) is Japanese composer Keiko Harada’s recent disk, F-fragmentsfeaturing solo piano, accordion and duet of the same. F-Fragments, the work that lends the disk its name is a movingly austere meditation on the events surrounding the Fukushima disaster in 2012. It is followed by Book I, a virtuoso work for solo accordion that brings to mind the Ligeti Etudes or Berio Sequenzas and Nach Bach, for solo piano, a meditation on the Well-Tempered Clavier. The musical language is commendably pure, if a little austere.

Other recent Wergo releases (not, as yet, Spotifyable) include: Mark Andre’s …auf…, a sequence of three orchestral pieces that ‘search for new resonances and means for transitions between sounds’; works by Ukranian composer Valentin Silvestrov; a complete box set of Hans Werner Henze’s 10 Symphonies played by Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin; and John Cage’s so-called ‘Number Pieces’ One7 and Four6 in versions for piano. 

On ECM records, Souvenance is a selection of works from oud player and composer Anouar Brahem. I’ve only heard the preview track January, available on YouTube, but it’s pretty clear that the key word here is cross-over, with his style mixing up elements of European classical and popular cultures with music from his native Tunisia. The two-disc recording is available later this month.

On Naxos, yet another rerelease from the old Maxwell Davies, Collins Classics back catalogue, this time his ballet Caroline Mathilde with bonus works Chat Moss and Ojai Festival Overture. Also on the label is Chinese composer Gan-Ru’s Shanghai Reminiscenceswhich explores his childhood and the Chinese cultural revolution; and Jack Gallagher’s Symphony No. 2. 

Originally posted at Composition:Today ©Red Balloon Technology