Prism v1

Prism is a special collaboration for Cached between Jen Powers, Matthew Rolin, and Cole Pulice. Across four tracks, the trio soars through their own cosmic blend of Atomic Americana. Prior to this collaboration, Jen Powers and Matthew Rolin, based in rural Ohio, have created space across several intersections of DIY music communities with their American Pastoral trance music. Rolin is a deft guitar player with a sound as expressive as it is skillful; Powers’ dulcimer playing is transcendent and hypnotic. Between applying their craft to more experimental and borderline-free-jazz worlds, as well as with troubadours like Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Powers and Rolin work keeps an air of far-out approachability.

The third volume of the Danish String Quartet’s ongoing Prism series, which shows how the radiance of Bach’s fugues is refracted through Beethoven’s quartets to illuminate the work of later composers. “Beethoven had taken a fundamentally linear development from Bach,” the Danes note, “and exploded everything into myriads of different colours, directions and opportunities – much in the same way as a prism splits a beam of light.” Here the quartet follow the beam from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Fugue in c-sharp minor through Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet no.14 to Béla Bartók’s String Quartet No.1.

The Danish String Quartet’s Grammy-nominated Prism project links Bach fugues, late Beethoven quartets and works by modern masters. In volume two of the series, Bach’s Fugue in Bb minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier (in the arrangement by Viennese composer Emanuel Aloys Förster) is brought together with Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 130 and Alfred Schnittke’s String Quartet No.3 (composed in 1983). As the quartet explains, “A beam of music is split through Beethoven’s prism. The important thing to us is that these connections be experienced widely. We hope the listener will join us in the wonder of thee beams of music that travel all the way from Bach through Beethoven to our own times.”

The Danish String Quartet's Grammy-nominated Prism project, linking Bach fugues, Beethoven quartets and works by later masters, receives its fourth installment. The penultimate volume of the series combines Bach's Fugue in G minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier (in the arrangement by Viennese composer Emanuel Aloys Frster) with Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 132 and Felix Mendelssohn's String Quartet No.2 (composed in 1827). As Paul Griffiths observes in the liner notes, these pieces "sound all the more remarkable for the exquisite brilliance and precision of the Danish players".

The arena rock sound from Canada's Prism dominated radio in the '70s and early '80s, and with 16 singles under their belt they were one of the forerunners amidst the multitude of other guitar rock bands. This hits collection from the "Over 60 Minutes" series gathers all of their strongest songs and reveals an excellent cross section of this talented band's musicianship. With six of their album's represented here, the purity of Ron Tabak's harsh yet powerful vocals burst from the guitar and keyboard interplay that swims behind him. The first three songs on the album, "Good to Be Back," "Don't Let Him Know," and "Cover Girl," were written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, who were good friends of the band…

The Danish String Quartet bring their highly acclaimed Prism project to its conclusion. In each volume of this series a particular Bach fugue is connected to a late Beethoven quartet which, in turn, is connected to a quartet by a later master: “A beam of music is split through Beethoven’s prism,” in the Danes’ words. “The whole approach invites active, committed listening,” The Guardian observed. “The group plays with virtuosity, intensity and tenderness.” The project has been eight years in the making. Now on the fifth and final volume, Johann Sebastian Bach’s chorale prelude Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit “opens up like a flower” (as Paul Griffiths writes in the liner notes) to preface Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 16 in F major. Anton Webern’s early String Quartet, composed in 1905 – and inspired both by Beethoven and Schoenberg – follows, and the programme returns to Bach with Contrapunctus 14 from The Art of the Fugue.