Listen at MaestroClassical.com or on iTunes and learn about the featured pieces below:
Florent Ghys
“Soli” (mp3)
from “Baroque Tardif: Soli” (Cantaloupe Music)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Napster
More On This Album
Album Notes: Cantaloupe Music continues its series of EPs. These are available via digital music services and in a limited edition physical pressing available to members of our subscription-only Cantaloupe Club.
After receiving a traditional French diploma in music, Florent Ghys researched experimental and minimalist music–leading him to Bang on a Can’s Summer Festival at MASS MoCA in 2007. Returned to his hometown in Bordeaux and missing the community he found around the summer festival, Ghys asked himself, “What would I write if I had to write for an ensemble in which I am the only player?”
Ghys says of his process: “The reasons for this schizophrenic question are multiple. Returning to Bordeaux from Paris, I had the feeling of being musically isolated – of being out of tune with my new environment – and I couldn’t stop writing. I was also interested in the idea of breaking the boundary between the composer and the musician. and the feeling I had of sitting in the audience while my music was being played onstage wasn’t, to be honest, all that satisfying.
“I didn’t intend to compose a solo for myself playing the upright bass, nor did I intend to compose a piece for me and a fleet of clones, but I did intend to create a ‘multiple-me’ ensemble.
“I know multi-track recording will never replace live recording, but multi-tracking was an interesting starting point to see if it would change my compositional process while writing strictly for me – after all, the instrumentation for the EP was linked only to the instruments I can actually play. I could have an upright bass, a bass, a guitar, an electric guitar, a voice. I could also use a pianino (a small 6 octaves piano) and hit some dishes in my kitchen.” Baroque Tardif: Soli is the first in a series of three EPs from Florent Ghys.
Olivier Manchon
“Come Back” (mp3)
“Memoires (feat. Gregoire Maret)” (mp3)
from “Orchestre de Chambre Miniature – Volume 1″
(ObliqSound)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album
Album Notes:
Olivier Manchon > violin
Hiroko Taguchi > viola
Christopher Hoffman > cello
Alan Hampton > double bass
John Ellis > tenor saxophone (tks 1, 4, 7), bass clarinet (tk 3)
Hideaki Aomori > clarinet (tk 5, 8), bass clarinet (tk 6)
Gregoire Maret > harmonica (tk 2)
Produced by Olivier Manchon.
Description: Orchestre de Chambre Miniature – Volume 1 is the personal project of French violinist and composer Olivier Manchon, better known for his collaborations with indie acts My Brightest Diamond and Sufjan Stevens, and as co-leader of orchestral pop group Clare and the Reasons. With this mini chamber orchestra, Manchon showcases his skills as a gifted composer and arranger, creating a cinematic narrative of jazz and classical music performed on strings and woodwinds. The album also features John Ellis (Charlie Hunter, John Patitucci, Sting) on clarinet and saxophone and Gregoire Maret (Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller) on harmonica.
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Tags: Maestro Classical, Podcast
