Honestly, it’s like that old joke about waiting for buses. You wait years for a new release from Lee Fraser, and then two come along at once. Hot on the heels of Live at Parken, Vienna, 05.08.23, released in March, comes a new album, Scii Tenaph, not so much accompanied …

It was with no small excitement that i heard a few weeks ago that US sound artist Christopher McFall was bringing out a new album. Not only is McFall one of the most captivating artists working with field recordings that i’ve ever encountered, but it’s also been no fewer than …

Portrait albums can be a double-edged sword. They’re obviously a great opportunity to present a showcase of someone’s work. Hardly surprising, then, that for many composers, securing that first album devoted to their music is regarded as an important, even vital step on the path toward something that might approximate …

Lysis is the name of Canadian composer Amy Brandon‘s latest album, featuring eight works for various chamber, ensemble and electroacoustic groupings. The word ‘lysis’ is a word with several meanings, mostly biological, primarily referring to the breakdown of cells. There’s something very apt in that choice of word for Brandon’s …

Waiting for me on my doormat when i returned from Vienna a few days ago was a new CD of music by the Estonian composer Age Veeroos. i’ve been doubly excited waiting for it to arrive, partly because i was honoured to be asked to write the liner notes for …

i’m setting off this morning for a week’s vacation in Vienna. On this occasion i have no concerts in the diary at all, so for a change this will actually be a true holiday. More anon.

Another of my exciting recent Faroese discoveries, while preparing for the recent World New Music Days, is The Distance Between Us, a collaboration between composer Tróndur Bogason and the Faroes’ principal new music ensemble, Aldubáran (who were prominent during WNMD). In many respects the album’s title, and accompanying artwork, tell …

As part of my preparation for festivals, i invariably spend time beforehand with music that’s directly related either to where i’m going and / or to what i’ll be hearing. In the case of the recent World New Music Days, this involved revisiting a lot of music i encountered during …

Several events that i’d had high hopes for at this year’s World New Music Days turned out to be disappointingly underwhelming. Among them was the concert given by Danish choir ARS NOVA which, overall, featured surprisingly unadventurous repertoire, mostly standard text settings with almost nothing really exploring the voice as …

This year’s World New Music Days was, not surprisingly, an excellent opportunity to experience that most rare and unknown quantity: Faroese contemporary music. i’ve already mentioned how a significant proportion of composers from the Faroe Islands based their work on extant musical ideas and materials, usually folk-related. However, this wasn’t …

i wrote before about the way the World New Music Days acts like a hadron collider, smashing together diverse stylistic and aesthetic ideas from around the world. One of the startling truths to emerge from this violent eclecticism is that, what makes bad music bad, wherever it comes from in …

A lot more than just music took place during this year’s World New Music Days in the Faroe Islands. The International Society of Contemporary Music’s series of daily committee meetings culminated in the final vote to decide about the 2026 festival. There was only one bid: China. Not surprisingly, all …

Despite being primarily a chamber music festival, the concerts at this year’s World New Music Days in the Faroe Islands devoted significant time to works involving electronics. Five of these were installations, of which two were noteworthy. One was Ringar í Vatni [Rings in Water] by Faroese musician Heðin Ziska …

It’s not really possible to understand, and fully engage with, a music festival without some reasonable appreciation of the context in which it’s happening. In the case of the annual ISCM World New Music Days, such cultural relativism is even more vital. On the one hand, it’s possible to think …

Today i’m setting off for the Faroe Islands, where for the next 10 days i’ll be up to my eardrums in sound at this year’s ISCM World New Music Days. i suspect it’s going to be equal parts exhilarating (because it’s the Faroes, and it’s been far too long since …

Anyone familiar with Björk’s album Utopia – my Best Album of 2017 – will be aware of the ensemble of flutes that features prominently in most of its tracks. Seven of those flautists, Áshildur Haraldsdóttir, Berglind María Tómasdóttir, Björg Brjánsdóttir, Dagný Marinósdóttir, Sólveig Magnúsdóttir, Steinunn Vala Pálsdóttir and Þuríður Jónsdóttir, …

It was a little under a year ago that the CPO label brought out the first volume in their new series exploring the Complete Symphonic Works of Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz. As i pointed out in my review, they effectively jumped into her music halfway through, beginning in the early …

i sometimes wonder whether i’ve come to prize obfuscation in music more than clarity. When things are unclear, things get interesting, the ear and mind work harder, there’s potentially something to be discovered. This is one of the primary aspects that i’ve been revelling in when spending time with Turkish …

For many years i’ve been a keen follower of the work of Noé Cuéllar and Joseph Kramer, better known as Coppice, and have often written about their unique electroacoustic output. There are many things that draw me to it, one of the strongest being the way in which they create, …

Two of the events at this year’s Baltic & Estonian Music Days were especially memorable. The first was given by one of the finest choirs in the world, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. Conducted by Mai Simson in the somewhat simple, functional interior of Tartu’s otherwise imposing St Paul’s Church, …