Marius

For the last batch of our Iannis Xenakis retrospective, we have remastered important recordings from the late 60s that had never been re-issued since their original LP version. The works here conducted by Marius Constant include the Polytope de Montréal, composed for an installation Xenakis made in the French pavilion of the 1967 World Fair, including a sensational light show. It has never been recorded otherwise! Also included are the ballet Kraanerg, number-theory-inspired Syrmos, and mythological works Medea (also an absolute premiere) and Oresteia (probably his stage masterpiece).

Confié à l'Assistance publique, Alain A., une fois adulte, délaisse ses études et décide de se faire un nom dans le milieu marseillais, enchaînant les délits. A la faveur d'une rencontre, sa vie bascule. Il rejoint l'école des fusiliers marins de Lorient, puis devient une légende au sein des Forces spéciales françaises. …

Honegger was an eclectic composer whose achievement is well reflected in this stimulating compilation. Dutoit’s recording of the oratorio King David is particularly compelling: on hearing it one understands why the composer frequently returned to the formula of narrator, soloists, chorus and orchestra.

The Norwegian Marius Neset has split his career between cool Scandi jazz and adventurous composition for symphony orchestras, gaining considerable acclaim for both. Here he combines the two, putting his quartet in the centre of a complex soundscape played by the versatile Norwegian Radio Orchestra under the British conductor Geoffrey Paterson. Mostly a series of musical portraits, it is an ear-opening, often beautiful listen. Complex work is drawn from the simplest of themes. A Day in the Sparrow’s Life imitates the jerky, carefree behaviour of the bird with a folk dance that expands into a skirmish of contrapuntal melodies. The two-part It Looks Like Glass is a brilliant evocation of the material’s occasionally sinister sheen.