Tobias Ringborg - Swedish Romantic Violin Concertos - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Limited transparent green colored vinyl LP pressing. Into a pretty room - Lots of Hands' debut on Fire Talk Records - exists in the tear-stained early mornings of adolescence, just as the sun makes it's first appearance over the horizon and thoughts of the night before begin to subside. A collage of reworked demos, freewheeling session standouts, and swatches of instrumental electronics, into a pretty room offers a touching rumination of grief and loss, growing up and letting go. Billy Woodhouse and Elliot Dryden, the core duo behind Lots of Hands, first connected in a Newcastle school music program at age 16. Following years of cultivating a dedicated fanbase across 3 self-released records, into a pretty room marks the duo's first truly collaborative effort, with Dryden often trekking the vast northern English countryside to write and record in Woodhouse's bedroom studio. Between pints of beer and rounds of Fortnite, the two slowly chipped away at into a pretty room. Newly relocated from Leeds to their current base of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Lots of Hands is anchored by the duo's friendship, which emanates across the album's 14 tracks.

Tobias Ringborg - Violin Sonatas [COMPACT DISCS] date 01/12/2006

Over the last decade the music of the Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra has become internationally admired, and this has led to prestigious commissions and performances around the world. Fandangos was heard at the BBC Proms in London and employs a harpsichord work attributed to Antonio Soler as a departure for a richly inventive orchestral fantasy. The dramatic Sinfonia No. 4 was described by ArtsNowNashville as 'a textbook example of how this composer breathes new life into old forms. The piece is basically a classic Germanic symphony imbued with Spanish sensibilities and reinvigorated with new harmonies and rhythms.' Robert Schumann is subtly evoked in Carnaval, five character pieces that explore mythical creatures, both menacing and serene.