the little moonling - waltz of constellations 

Kyle Gann, Music Downtown: Who Killed Classical Music?

[ˈɑrʋoˈpært ] estonian composer arvo pärt

Congratulations to Julia Bullock, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Los Angeles Philharmonic & Gustavo Dudamel, and Thomas Adès, all of whom won GRAMMY Awards, and to Laurie Anderson, who received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award!

What are your favorite pieces of 'classical music' written since 1960?

I've been putting together a playlist for more recent modern/postmodern/contemporary music, wanted to see what people like to hear

Hi all! So, exciting news: my work for solo percussion, Just Ordinary (2019) is published through Media Press Music!

You can purchase the score on their website!

Listen to the piece on Soundcloud

does classicalblr know about the music of Yasif Adıgözəlov

Hey, I just want to talk about music a bit.

One genre of music that is most likely my favorite is contemporary classical. Mostly post-war but not exclusively. From many different composers such as Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki, Philip Glass, Urmas Sisask, Astor Piazzolla and many, many more (Including several that aren't minimalist). I love their compositions so much. Another important thing is the contribution of Jazz and Blues to Contemporary Classical music. I am personally not someone that listens to a lot of Jazz and Blues but what I've listened to has been really good, and the influence that these genres have had in classical music has been so good. They have enriched and diversified music a lot. Contemporary classical would be way more bland were it not for the innovations brought on by Blues and Jazz. That influence also expands beyond classical music to many other genres. Jazz and Blues are kings in being good and improving other genres. I need to listen to more of them.

MEGASTRUCTURES by R. Michael Wahlquist

SUDDENLY...I've got a new album rolling out today unlike anything you've ever heard from me. Yes, at times there are things inside the piano that probably shouldn't be, but it also has:Massive constellations of sound...Hypercanons with up to sixty voices...Harmonic webs tangling across the entire piano... The piano's sound transformed into cosmic vastness...Shifting metric engines propelling the music far into space......and also one really pleasant, simple interlude titled "Hold Me as the Light Fades" (in case you aren't up for the interstellar voyage of the entire album).Listen to the album and read the full story of each track in the album booklet at the link below. Music available now (or soon) on all major music streaming services.https://www.rmichaelwahlquist.com/megastructures

Nalinakaanthi Raagam | Manavyalakincharadate | Indian fusion classical cover |Karthik Mohan

I have been looking forward to producing this song for the longest time. Composed in Nalinakaanthi, it is one of the most beautiful Carnatic songs composed by the great saint Thyagaraja. The true poetic nature of such songs can be understood and felt only in the language in which the song was written, in this case, Telugu. The song is sung in praise of Lord Rama who decided to incarnate himself on the earth and taught us the path of self-virtue and righteousness so we can free ourselves from the cycle of birth and death.

Dexter Britain - Do What You Are Doing

his last album, his last apocalyptic statement, etc

Mystical Messenger (Orchestral & Choral Version) by John Martini 

helga pogatschar MARS REQUIEM, 1995

"Sondheim is not only one of the finest American composers, but also one of the most essential," writes the New York Times' Joshua Barone in an article titled "Stephen Sondheim Belongs in the Pantheon of American Composers," which references John Adams, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, and calls Sweeney Todd "the masterpiece of a great American composer." You can read the article here.

Germaine Sijstermans — Betula (Elsewhere)

Photo by  Ana Lemnaru

Betula by Germaine Sijstermans

The cover of Germaine Sijstermans’ Betula includes an image of small rocks suspended from a ceiling by taut cords. Sijstermans is an installation artist as well as a composer and clarinetist, and the photograph is a close-up from one of her pieces. If you go to her website, you’ll see that the lines and things she strings across rooms serve mostly to make you aware of the dimensions and contours of the spaces they bisect. 

One could say the same thing about her music.  The album opens with slowly arcing pitches played by violist Johnny Chang, which shiver in close proximity to long tones played on flute by Antoine Beuger and clarinet by the composer. Each draw of the bow or woodwind-magnified breath could be a line in one of Sijstermans’ installations. Their sounds draw attention away from the sounds themselves, and invite an awareness of what surrounds them. The space doesn’t seem empty; rather, it is suffused with gentle vibration, like autumn leaves bouncing orange back at the sun. Given that Betula translates as Birch, this is probably a very intentional result.

The opening piece, “a song” (2018), last just 8.11, which on this double CD makes it a small plate. The next piece, “Jasminum” (2019), is more of a main course. Over the course of nearly 31 minutes, the entire ensemble, which also includes trombonist Rishin Singh, guitarist Fredrik Rasten, and accordionist Leo Svirsky, makes itself felt, but only occasionally all at once. Often, a quietly plucked harmonic or held tone will intensify another, more loudly played sound, functioning like one of those suspended stones. At other points, one seems to flower out of another, like the advancing branches of ivy climbing up a wall. 

This music is played with such quiet assurance that the developmental process merits acknowledgement. Sijstermans developed the album’s contents over the course of a residency at Intro In Situ, in Maastricht, Netherlands. The five musicians who accompany her played the pieces during work-in-progress presentations, cultivating a relationship to each other and to the music as organically as ecosystem. 

Bill Meyer