Contemporary Music Score

The latest CD from composer Jay Cloidt features the premiere studio recordings of two ambitious and diverse works for string quartet, Spectral Evidence and eleven windows, performed by the Cypress String Quartet. Spectral Evidence begins with a straightforward performance of the first two minutes of the Mozart quartet (No. 14 in G, K. 387).

Gottfried Huppertz - Metropolis (Original Motion Picture Score)
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Frank Strobel
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 399 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Capriccio # C5066 | Country/Year: Germany 2011
Genre: (Neo) Classical, Stage & Screen | Style: Modern, Soundtrack

…The contrast between a stripped-down Futurist idiom and sheer melodramatic excess not only matches the film's story, but makes for a score that's fun on its own terms, and Strobel and the Berlin musicians enter into the project's overheated, over-the-top aesthetic. Recommended for anyone with the slightest interest in Metropolis.

Patrick Gowers' score for the Grenada Television series about A. Conan Doyle's consulting detective has become almost as closely linked to Sherlock Holmes in the minds of fans as star Jeremy Brett (1933-1995). But those with no interest in Holmes can also enjoy this recording. Gowers' musical eloquence is richly displayed in these widely diverse, yet cohesive, tracks. Gowers begins the recording with "221B Baker Street," the vivacious theme (performed on Holmes' instrument, the violin, by Kenneth Sillito) that brings to mind Holmes' classic alarm call, "Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot. Not a word!" The cohesiveness of the album comes from Gowers' variations on this theme found throughout the rest of the recording. But the diversity within this cohesiveness is what is remarkable.

Matthijs Vermeulen - The Complete Matthijs Vermeulen Edition - Chamber Music (1994) {3CD Set Composers' Voice CV39~41}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 806 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 451 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 20 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1994 Composers' Voice | CV 39 / 40 / 41
Classical / Modern / Contemporary Classical / Chamber Music

Born: February 8, 1888; Helmond Died: July 26, 1967; Laren, The Netherlands. Matthijs Vermeulen was born the son of a blacksmith in the Noord-Brabant province of the Netherlands. At age 14 he entered the Abbey of Berne at Heeswijk with the intention of becoming a priest; there he received thorough instruction in sixteenth century harmony. In 1907, Vermeulen left the monastery and enrolled into the Amsterdam Conservatory. After two years' study, Vermeulen took his first job as music critic on the Amsterdam daily De Tijd; his work as a perceptive and provocative writer placed his name in circulation long before his compositions were known.

John Corigliano is a difficult composer to pin down stylistically. The generally tonal orientation of his music and the cinematic quality that made his score for The Red Violin such a success have brought him a beloved status rare among contemporary composers. Yet, it would be wrong to call him neo-Romantic; his music has deep rigor and sometimes, as in the Symphony No. 2 on offer here, a quite grim quality. This 2022 release from the Boston Modern Orchestra does not include his most famous works – The Red Violin in either its film score or violin concertos forms, The Ghosts of Versailles, or the Symphony No. 1 – but it offers an excellent window into the richness of Corigliano's music, in which a great variety of elements collide in unexpected ways. One of those elements is quotation, on display in the opening work, To Music; it is based on Schubert's song An die Musik, which is assembled with great subtlety over five and a half minutes.

Rumon Gamba: ‘Having recorded symphonies and film music by Malcolm Arnold and knowing how well his music is received by audiences around the world, I was surprised that there was no disc dedicated solely to his music for the ballet. The four scores featured here on this disc have such strong musical ideas and dramatic narrative, to say nothing of their sheer beauty and passion, that they come alive as pieces of music in their own right. And such contrasts on this programme – brutality and energy (Electra), sweeping romanticism (Rinaldo and Armida) and humour in all its guises (Sweeney Todd). I particularly enjoyed recording Rinaldo and Armida which deserves its place in the repertoire alongside those ballet scores we hear all too often in the concert hall.’

I've listened to many versions of Reich's beautiful piece, but this one somehow feels the most rich. The opening Pulses section is mesmerizingly full in sound, and captures the feeling of beauty and mystery in the piece better than other productions, whose starts just feel flat in comparison.

Icebreaker’s newest release, Philip Glass’ Music with Changing Parts is representative of an exciting new generation’s interest in one of the most important composers of our time.
Icebreaker is considered by many to be the United Kingdom’s leading new music ensemble. The 13-piece group, which tours extensively, has been an active champion of many of today’s most important composers.
Philip Glass’ 1970 score Music with Changing Parts has been part of the group’s touring repertoire for years. This recording brings a vivid re-imagining and fresh interpretation to one of Glass’ greatest scores.