It was nearly six months ago that i began my weekly series of Isolation Mixtapes, and even after just a few weeks it was starting to look as if i had been hopelessly pessimistic about how long the presence of lockdown and the necessity for isolation were going to be…

The last couple of years have been unusual for the Estonian Music Days. In 2019 the festival was bloated beyond all recognition and sense due to its assimilation into the World Music Days, making for a horribly hectic and exhausting experience. In 2020, for reasons pandemical, it was the opposite,…

This week’s Isolation Mixtape focuses on music beginning with the letter Y. Once again there are two of the most outstanding tracks from each of the years 2010 to 2019, featured in chronological order. Here’s the tracklisting in full, together with approximate timings and links to obtain the music. As…

This morning i’m setting off for Tallinn in Estonia where, after i’ve been Covid tested upon my arrival – and assuming my result is negative – i’ll be catching some of this year’s postponed Estonian Music Days. From Tuesday, the concerts will also be broadcast live on the country’s classical…

This week’s Isolation Mixtape was the most difficult letter of the alphabet to work with. My usual plan of featuring two fabulous tracks from the last decade initially proved impossible regardless whether i was focusing on the artist or the track beginning with that letter, which i suspect says more…

Like most of this year’s festivals the 2020 Proms was cancelled due to the pandemic, with the BBC offering a selection of ‘greatest hits’ from their Proms archive. That itself was pretty interesting, inasmuch as (just like with their broadcasts of Choral Evensong) it revealed how one year’s festival is…

We’re nearing the end of my alphabetical series of Isolation Mixtapes, celebrating some of the most interesting music from the last decade. This week features groups, composers and artists beginning the letter W, and as always there are two tracks from each of the years 2010 to 2019, explored in…

It would be disingenuous to downplay just how laugh out loud funny is so much of John Oswald’s music. And this is surely one of the main reasons why he has fallen foul of the more simple-minded legal “brains” in the pop industry, since a casual encounter with his later…

To return to the theme of reissues that i was exploring recently, another composer whose work has hitherto been languishing relatively unheard is the Canadian John Oswald. i first encountered his music around 25 years ago, at a Birmingham Symphony Hall concert where the Kronos Quartet included his astonishing electroacoustic…

This week’s Isolation Mixtape explores some of the most fascinating and beguiling music from the last decade by artists, composer and groups beginning with the letter V. As always there are two tracks from each of the years 2010-2019, featured in chronological order. Here’s the tracklisting in full, together with…

Released tomorrow is a new album of eight works by Icelandic composers, all of which have been curated by – and in some cases created in collaboration with – cellist and vocalist Gyða Valtýsdóttir. The general tone of these works, all of which are quite brief, is meditative in nature,…

As was the case at last year’s festival, most of the concerts at Forum Wallis 2020 focused on works for ensemble. However, while in 2019 the majority of performances involved larger numbers of players, due to the pandemic almost all of the pieces this year were for small chamber groupings,…

For the latest Isolation Mixtape, i’m focusing on some of the most enthralling music from the last decade beginning with the letter U. Once again there are two tracks for each of the years 2010 to 2019, explored in chronological order. Here’s the tracklisting in full, together with approximate timings…

i’ve often likened going to a music festival to an act of pilgrimage, and that feels especially true of Forum Wallis. The two-and-a-half hour train journey from Geneva, edging round the lake before passing by Montreux and on into the heart of the Swiss Alps, feels akin to leaving behind…

The twentieth instalment in my weekly Isolation Mixtapes is devoted to some of the best music from the last ten years by composers, groups and artists beginning with the letter T. Two tracks from each of the years 2010 to 2019 (three in the case of 2019, as i wanted…

This morning i’m setting off for five days in the Swiss Alps, where i’ll be checking out this year’s postponed Forum Wallis festival. Words to follow next week upon my return. Meanwhile, this week’s Isolation Mixtape explores some of the most interesting and marvellous music from the last decade by…

Despite being located at opposite ends of the aesthetic / behavioural spectrum, i’ve recently been finding that two new releases pose the same questions about the distinction between long- and short-term listening. In the case of Arboreal, the latest album by Canadian musician Jamie Drouin’s alter ego Liquid Transmitter, this…

Number 18 in my weekly series of Isolation Mixtapes explores some of the best music from the last decade by artists, composers and groups beginning with the letter R. As always, there are two tracks from each of the years 2010 to 2019, featured in chronological order. Here’s the tracklisting…

A couple of years ago i wrote about the world première of Erkki-Sven Tüür‘s Symphony No. 9, subtitled ‘Mythos’. It was a fantastic performance of what turned out to be a marvellous piece (i often find myself marvelling while listening to Tüür’s music), so it’s exciting to see that original…

For the latest Isolation Mixtape i’ve had to take a slightly different approach from usual. We’ve reached the letter Q in my alphabetical celebration of some of the best music from the last decade and, quite frankly, though i scoured my music collection like never before, trying to put together…