![EcoSono Ensemble – Matthew Burtner: Icefield (2022) [FLAC 24bit, 44,1 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/07/28/tydojegmg13wc_600.md.jpg)
EcoSono Ensemble – Matthew Burtner: Icefield (2022) [FLAC 24bit, 44,1 kHz]
Music video for “Icefield” from the upcoming album, “Icefield” on PARMA Recordings. Film and music by Matthew Burtner “Icefield”, a new sound art work by Matthew Burtner, couples a lone saxophonist with a 1000-square mile body of ice in Alaska, an Icefield that serves as the source for dozens of prominent and ancient glaciers.
![Eight Strings & a Whistle – And Nothing Remains the Same (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/01/04/pd9ncznshxaec_600.md.jpg)
Eight Strings & a Whistle – And Nothing Remains the Same (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]
On AND NOTHING REMAINS THE SAME from Eight Strings & a Whistle and Navona Records, the flute-viola-cello trio explores the constant cycle of transformation that defines human existence. Since 1998, Eight Strings & a Whistle have earned a reputation for championing Baroque, Classical, and Romantic repertoire while also premiering new works from living composers. AND NOTHING REMAINS THE SAME focuses on the music of contemporary composers, some of whom composed their pieces specifically for the trio. The performances heard on the album offer a rewarding and intimate listening experience with a deeply evocative sound rife with stark dissonance and rich harmony.
![Elena Talarico, Francesco Zago, Stefano Grasso, Giuseppe Olivini – Bill Whitley: Absent Light – In Paradisum (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/01/05/pti4a11vrv1gc_600.md.jpg)
Elena Talarico, Francesco Zago, Stefano Grasso, Giuseppe Olivini – Bill Whitley: Absent Light – In Paradisum (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]
Peeling back the complex layers of Bill Whitley’s ethereal ABSENT LIGHT, one is astounded to see how this music could at once be so serene, yet technically intricate.
For starters, there’s the massive instrumental setup. ABSENT LIGHT, despite its pleasant airiness, is scored for male soprano, piano, soprano saxophone, electric bass, electric guitar, celesta, glockenspiel, tenor instrument, and glass bowls. But its true beauty is of a mathematical nature: featuring three separate rhythmic cycles, instruments taking turns with arithmetic regularity, and a singing undercurrent of the glockenspiel playing a cryptic 73-beat counterpoint.
Blurring the lines between mathematics and music, ABSENT LIGHT is a shining example of intricate acoustic architecture. Mesmerizing and intense.
![Darryl Friesen – Karen Sunabacka: Curlicue (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/11/20/yrgvp900ibq0b_600.md.jpg)
Darryl Friesen – Karen Sunabacka: Curlicue (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]
Wide skies, whistling winds, and a love for the great outdoors take center stage on Karen Sunabacka’s CURLICUE, a collection of eight works for solo piano performed by Darryl Friesen. Each piece tells a story of Sunabacka’s wilderness adventures, from the titular Curlicue’s explorations of the twists, turns, and curls of a river, to Falling in the Water’s conjuration of girls jumping into water and sheets of rain pummeling tents, to Lost’s encapsulation of the fear and dread of losing one’s way. Friesen’s crisp performance brings each piece to life, transporting listeners to the Canadian woodlands and prairies for an adventure all their own.
![Christopher J. Keyes – A Connotation of Infinity (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/11/19/yw9zork25ikha_600.md.jpg)
Christopher J. Keyes – A Connotation of Infinity (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]
Christopher J. Keyes’s new album, Ravello Records’ A CONNOTATION OF INFINITY, speaks directly to why listeners should embrace the transgressive element of electronics in traditional classical music. Keyes, who wrote as much software for the album as he did music, employs what he calls a 3D audio for a more immersive listening experience. Keyes’s latest release, which features performances of select pieces on video, envelopes and entrances the minds of listeners from all walks of life.
![Avner Finberg – The Four Seasons of Isolation (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/01/04/e73suiv3sy3pa_600.md.jpg)
Avner Finberg – The Four Seasons of Isolation (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]
Avner Finberg’s album THE FOUR SEASONS OF ISOLATION is a moving meditation on the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns. Finding himself separated from his fellow musicians and beloved concert audiences, Finberg took the opportunity to focus on composition and began writing this large-scale work for solo violin and electronics. Freed from the need for an accompanist, he worked in solitude to develop this musical essay reflecting on his year in isolation. The result was a nod to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons called The Four Seasons of Isolation. Also included on the album is The Raven, which incorporates a dramatic reading of Edgar Allen Poe’s masterpiece accompanied by violin and looper. The music combines electronics and violin to create haunting, ever-expanding chords that illustrate the story.
![Amy Schwartz Moretti – Ace Composers II (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/02/09/m75m8qed5juya_600.md.jpg)
Amy Schwartz Moretti – Ace Composers II (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]
Amy Schwartz Moretti (born 1975) is an American violinist, currently the Caroline Paul King Chair in Strings at Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music.
Moretti was born in Wisconsin and raised in North Carolina and California. She studied in the pre-college program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, who awarded her their Distinguished Alumni Award in 2014, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, who awarded her an Alumni Achievement Award in 2005. She has been concertmaster at The Florida Orchestra and the Oregon Symphony and in 2007 became the first director of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at the Townsend School of Music
![Alan Rinehart – Weiss: Works for Lute (Arr. A. Rinehart for Guitar) (2021) [FLAC 24bit, 44,1 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/06/06/vhjmrl8iwrmga_600.md.jpg)
Alan Rinehart – Weiss: Works for Lute (Arr. A. Rinehart for Guitar) (2021) [FLAC 24bit, 44,1 kHz]
The lute often conjures images of medieval bards and travelling troubadours, but the instrument’s repertoire extends long beyond the Dark Ages. On Sylvius Leopold Weiss, guitarist and lutist Alan Rinehart pays tribute to the composer’s legacy of the high Baroque, bringing to light a collection of works that were overshadowed by the keyboard works of his contemporaries. The album exemplifies the genre’s complexity, with travelling basslines, intricate melodies, and pleasant harmony. As Rinehart’s fingers explore the frets, they bring to life the quintessential beauty and liveliness of Baroque’s climactic period and shine light on Weiss’s oft-overlooked repertoire.
![Alan Rinehart – Dreams Laid Down: New Music for Classical Guitar (2018) [FLAC 24bit, 44,1 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/06/06/qxbg0e7pe2bob_600.md.jpg)
Alan Rinehart – Dreams Laid Down: New Music for Classical Guitar (2018) [FLAC 24bit, 44,1 kHz]
Dreams Laid Down brings to life the works of several acclaimed composers, evoking a tender, reflective atmosphere. Inspired by sources from the Beatles to the poetry of Rinehart’s wife, the album creates an intimate aural experience that is as personal to the listener as it is to the artist himself. The title track, composed by Michael Karmon, is named after a book of poems by Rinehart’s wife Janice Notland. Karmon animated six of her poems with thoughtful, evocative compositions. Contrast this with composer John Oliver’s Ancient Heroes Suite. Oliver, inspired by ancient music conventions, worked with dance-oriented rhythms in experimental time signatures that recall melodies resonating through ancient halls, while filtering them through a modern context.