Various Artists - On Wenlock Edge - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Described as having InchVersatility and flair with lively improvisationsInch by the New York Times and being Inchalways compelling and always exhilaratingInch by Imperfect Fifths, NYC-based Sirius Quartet is only the most natural choice for showcasing the genius of five genre-bending contemporary composers. Navona Records' PLAYING ON THE EDGE brings inspiration and experience from all walks of life into one string quartet collection with the music of composers Jennifer Castellano, Ian Erickson, Brian Field, Marga Richter, and Mari Tamaki. PLAYING ON THE EDGE suggests, beyond all else, the ability to take risks and push limits, both on the part of the composers and performers. Each piece involves unconventional tactics, from performers choosing the order of movements to music that completely evolves rhythmically and harmonically from beginning to end. Emphasis on dissonant chords, sul ponticello bowings (quite literally playing on the edge), jagged and uneven rhythmic movement, and general innovation and rule-bending from each composer permeates the album. And none are more equipped for this risky yet rich undertaking than Sirius Quartet, best known for embracing the unexpected. Progress and innovation require the spirit and initiative to push back on boundaries and ask questions about whether anything truly can't be done. Fortunately, the artists of PLAYING ON THE EDGE are well up to such a task.

Gottfried Silbermann as the greatest organ builder of the Baroque, with a conservative sound ideal, alongside the Romantic era, filled with rich tones and emotional exuberance - a contradiction in itself? No, because in the intensive study of Silbermann's organs, Freiberg's Cathedral Organist Albrecht Koch always found a great affinity for these instruments in romantic music. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy or Robert Schumann as it's representatives knew and appreciated the Inchexcellent Silbermann Organ.Inch The program on this album thereby takes up two paths on the one hand, works by Johann Sebastian Bach, which in their pathos, their musical intensity, tonal density, and emotional statement can be associated with the Romantic era and it's emotional approach. On the other hand, Romantic organ works by Niels Wilhelm Gade, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger, which can be performed on the Great Silbermann Organ of the Freiberg Cathedral without any problems, as the range of the keyboard allows it.

Founded in 1982 in the former county town of Radnorshire in Wales, the Presteigne Festival has become a significant part of the Welsh cultural calendar and is internationally renowned for it's commissioning of new work, support of living composers and with a long tradition for the encouragement of young artists. The festival's orchestra, conducted by Artistic Director George Vass, explores a selection of the many new works premiered by the festival in this volume of recent British music for string orchestra, including a set of variations on the folk song 'Lovely Joan' - with a movement contributed by one of eight composers, concertos by Martin Butler and Joe Duddell and music by the veteran composer Hugh Wood.