Featuring Max Richter, Rachel Grimes and Quartet San Francisco. Learn about the artist and pieces featured below and listen to the episode at MaestroClassical.com or iTunes.
Max Richter
“infra 4″ (mp3)
from “Infra”
(Fat Cat Records)
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Originally conceived as a Royal Ballet-commissioned collaboration between composer Max Richter, choreographer Wayne McGregor and artist Julian Opie, Max Richter’s gorgeous score to ‘infra’ is deservedly given life of its own in this album-length release from FatCat’s instrumental/orchestral imprint 130701 Records.
The initial setting for ‘infra’ was as a ballet – written in autumn 2008 and premiered in November of the same year at The Royal Opera House in London – although here Richter’s score is given the full scope of a standalone new album. Expanded and extended from the original piece, ‘infra’ comprises music written for piano, electronics and string quintet, including the full performance score as well as material that has subsequently developed from the construction of the album – more a continued reference to the ballet than as a “studio album” in the strictest sense. The composition resonates with Max’s characteristic musical voice – majestic, involved textures; fluent and sweeping melodies; an enigmatic and inherently intellectual understanding of harmonic complexities that compels and mesmerizes.
Richter’s work on the ballet came initially from McGregor’s invitation, a request for 25 minutes of music for his piece, inspired by T.S. Elliot’s ‘The Wasteland’ and named after the Latin term for ‘below’. This eventually became more collaborative as the project developed – Wayne would ask for Max to extend or alter certain passages of music in accordance with his own amendments to his choreography and concept, whilst logging the whole process for a BBC documentary (broadcast, along with the ballet in full, on BBC2 in November 2008). The dance performance was backed with digital images created by Julian Opie – observational scenes of street life, haunting and curiously balletic despite being of the everyday – and Max’s score is an appropriately close reference to the traveling theme:
“I started thinking about making a piece on the theme of journeys. Like a road movie. Or a traveler’s notebook. Or like the second unit in a film – when the scene has been played, and the image cuts away to the landscape going by. This started me thinking about Schubert’s devastating and haunting “Winterreise” (Winter Journey), so I used some melodic material from Schubert as a found object in parts of my new piece.”
Rachel Grimes
“Every Morning”
from “Books of Leaves for Solo Piano”
(Violinjazz Recordings)
Buy at Amazon MP3
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BBC Pioneering Neo-Classicist reveals her solo debut by Spencer Grady, October 13, 2009:
“We owe Rachel Grimes big.”
“..with Music for Egon Schiele …found the conviction and confidence to match her voice..”
“Her most wondrous gift was always her ability to paint the most evocative pictures in purest ivory and her lightness of touch allows majestic statements such as the Corner Room and Long Before Us to ring out, echoing with sensuousness and sentiment before drawing the listener back in.”
New York Times – Live Review by Allan Kozinn, October 14, 2009:
“..offered glimpses of an alternate universe in which expansive, unified projects are everything.”
“..overall serenity..”
“..her evident fascination with French music: Ravel and Debussy hover nearby (in the watery imagery and modal harmonies of “Bloodroot” for example)”
Quartet San Francisco
“Crowdambo” (mp3)
from “Látigo”
(Violinjazz Recordings)
Buy at Napster
Buy at iTunes Music Store
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Description of “Crawdambo” from Quartet San Francisco violinist, Jeremy Cohen: “I wrote this piece as an homage to my teacher and mentor, Anne Crowden, who passed away in 2004. Anne instilled in me a dedication to musical expression that truly became the basis of my violin-playing. She communicated to me how important it is that the joy of music-making be evident in my playing at every moment. In this little musical “thank you” to Anne I found myself cooking up a musical soup of favorite sounds, techniques, and rock and classical-infused ideas held together by a mambo rhythm.”
Dragonette’s catchy tune, “Pick Up the Phone” off of Fixin to Thrill is this week’s Single of the Week at iTunes US! Be sure to get the track for free and, for a limited time, buy their two albums for just $5.99!
Though the Undertones only released four albums and were active for a mere five years, they’ve managed to make a musical legacy that still gets them credited as one of the best power pop/garage rock/punk rock groups ever. Formed in 1975 in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland, the five piece of brothers John and Damian O’Neil, Drummer Bill Doherty, Bassist Michael Bradley, and vocalist Fergal Sharkey initially started out as a cover group, playing regular gigs in the famous Casbah club. With the introduction of punk rock to the UK music scene (primarily from the Sex Pistols. Buzzcocks, and imported by the Ramones), the group began to change their sound and introduced hammering, power chord oriented guitar hooks that were as infectious as the top groups of the time.
Artist: Frank(JustFrank)
Artist: Automelodi
