Ronald Corp - Pop Cantatas: Jonah-Man Jazz / Prodigal - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Bach,J.S. / Guillon / Scheen / Le Banquet Celeste - Bach Psalm 51, BWV 1083 - Vivaldi Nisi Dominus, RV 608 [COMPACT DISCS] date 02/26/2016

First performed in a production by Abigail Morris in March 2010 at St Michael’s Church in Hampstead, London, The Ice Mountain is a story of the cycle of life, of loss and how to come to terms with death. The cyclical passage of time through the four seasons reflects the work’s emotional journey, while the story itself is based on an old Swiss legend The Old Woman and the Dead and the music incorporates elements of Swiss folk-music and liturgical chant. Composer and conductor Ronald Corp says ‘the tale is a haunting one and very poignant and I was drawn by the mystical element in the story; I think my music for the opera reflects this’.

In a Word, the sixteenth installment of the intergenerational collaboration series FRKWYS, brings together postminimalist composer Daniel Lentz with vocalist and sound artist Ian William Craig for an album that embraces erosion and the fertility of the loam left behind. A document of shared transformation, Lentz's elegant piano figures and Craig's trembling tenor are wilted, warbled, and looped through manipulated tape machines in a real time composition that evokes a strange warmth and layered beauty. Six panel fold-out CD edition includes artist essays and photographs.