Various Artists - Kromos - SUPER-AUDIO CD [Super Audio CD (SACD)]

For her fifth on BIS Clare Hammond has constructed an adventurous programme of twentieth and twenty-first-century variations for piano. From the imposing Chaconne by Sofia Gubaidulina, to the tender grief of Paul Hindemith's variations or Aaron Copland's bold and uncompromising proclamation, the disc presents a fresh perspective on the genre. Hammond opens with Karol Szymanowski's Variations on a Polish Theme from 1904, a virtuosic and intensely Romantic outpouring that contrasts strikingly with the wit and irreverence of Helmut Lachenmann's set on a theme by Schubert. The most recent works in the programme are Harrison Birtwistle's mercurial elegy and it's polar opposite I Still Play, a lyrical waltz composed in 2017 by John Adams. Described as 'a star interpreter of contemporary music' (The Observer), Clare Hammond has developed a reputation for imaginative concert programming. As she herself admits in her liner notes, variation form may on the surface appear to be both limiting and limited, but the works she presents here transcend the form in myriad creative, and at times daring, ways.

Renata Pereira writes of this new InchThis album is entirely dedicated to the music of Brazil. It is very different from Falando Brasileiro (2014) because it is a Brazilian music sound photograph of the twentieth century. It is also very special work, because this photograph is unheard of! The repertoire on this album has never been recorded previously on recorders. We also present two original Brazilian compositions for the instrument, one of which was written in 2019 and is dedicated to the ensemble. It is an important part of our work to reveal Brazilian music and to promote the interest of Brazilian composers to write music for our instrument. As passionate as we are about the recorder's history and it's repertoire, to play our national music is to tell our musical story and not a foreign story.Inch

The streets of eighteenth-century Madrid; a contaminated test-bombing site in Australia and a song from El Salvador provide some of the subject matter for this album by the United Strings of Europe (USE). Formed in 2012 by students at London's Royal Academy of Music, the ensemble brings together outstanding players from across Europe. Artistic director is the Anglo-Lebanese violinist Julian Azkoul, who leads from the violin, curates programmes and arranges music for the ensemble. For In Motion, USE's début recording, Azkoul has arranged Boccherini's celebrated and atmospheric evocation of the Nocturnal Music of the Streets of Madrid, in a version that updates the original's flirt with popular music. Far removed both geographically and in mood is Maralinga, Australian composer Matthew Hindson's powerful and haunting work featuring guest soloist Amalia Hall. The programme opens and closes with works for string quartet, composed some 180 years apart in Vienna and New Zealand respectively and heard in bespoke arrangements by Azkoul. Reflecting the ensemble's distinctive voice and multi-national heritage and the wide-ranging interests and stylistic versatility of it's members, In Motion is a roller-coaster ride of an album.