Category Archives: News

New music – Edmund Finnis and Clare Hammond present Youth

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by Ben Hogwood

Pentatone have announced the release of a new EP from pianist Clare Hammond, presenting piano works by composer Edmund Finnis. The new music has a deeply personal resonance for the pianist.

The EP begins with Youth, a set of brief pieces recalling an image, sensation of place, significant encounter or a moment of vivid perception. Each musical image is conveyed as clearly and directly as possible, written for the piano in a focused, uncluttered, personal way.

The EP closes with Lullaby for Emmeline, commissioned by Hammond and her husband on the occasion of their daughter’s birth. Evocative and enchanting, these works share a kinship with some of the most famous piano cycles inspired by childhood experiences, while their magical and ethereally beautiful nature are also characteristic of Finnis’s iridescent musical approach.

“Ed and I initially discussed working together on a new piece when we were students at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama”, recalls Hammond. “It took us 10 years to find the right opportunity, but was well worth the wait!”

Talking about the music itself, she describes it as “relatively simple but seems immediately to touch the heart. It is beautifully evocative, moving, and stays with you long after hearing it. I gave the premiere at Milton Court in the Barbican, have performed it across the UK (including for a BBC Radio 3 live broadcast), and shall be playing it again at the Harrogate International Music Festival on the 24 March 2024. Youth has become a very important piece for me and I feel honoured to have been involved in its creation.”

For Finnis, meanwhile, the EP is a step in a new direction. “It’s a great joy to be able to share this first release of my music for solo piano. Since I was young, the keys of the piano have always been for me a private space in which to think, invent and dream. Many of the sounds and ideas within this collection of short pieces have been in my mind and under my fingers for a long time. They are like memories. I’m indebted to my friend Clare Hammond for the artistry, grace and lucidity she brings to this personal music.”

You can listen to an excerpt from Youth on the Pentatone website

Published post no.2,031 – Wednesday 6 December 2023

New music – A Strangely Isolated Place: 2023 Label Compilation

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by Ben Hogwood

Here is a treat for electronic music lovers, in the form of the annual label compilation from A Strangely Isolated Place.

Mixed by todos, it is a generous collection of ten tracks that can be sourced from the Bandcamp page below for a ‘name your price’ fee. Label founder Ryan Griffin posted the following commentary to the mix:

“It has become somewhat of a tradition since our first annual compilation release in 2019, and each year I find it tough to separate tracks from their album releases in this way. We pride ourselves on delivering an album format, and more often than not, specifically a conceptual album format that works best as a whole. So I appreciate the artists who allow us to separate their musical children for this worthy annual exercise. It’s so easy to skip over releases nowadays – at no fault of anyone but the pace of life and technology today – and so this compilation not only helps us reflect on the year gone by, but also ensures anyone new to the label, or dipping in and out over time, can get a taster of what we have proudly spent our time and passion presenting this year. Please take the time to visit each respective artist release to realize its full form.”

todos has provided a continuous mix, “left to his own devices as we have grown to admire time and time again, using snippets and samples from many of the releases, but focusing on delivering a long-form mix that stands on its own, using nothing but the ASIP 2023 library of music.”

You can listen below, and follow the commentary from the Bandcamp page:

Published post no.2,026 – Friday 1 December 2023

New music – Jozef van Wissem: The Devil Is A Fair Angel And The Serpent A Subtle Beast (Incunabulum Records)

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by Ben Hogwood

Dutch lute player and composer Jozef Van Wissem has today shared a second track from his forthcoming album The Night Dwells in the Day, set for release on 19 January 2024 on Incunabulum Records.

Following the recent first single, The Call of the Deathbird featuring guest vocals from Hilary Woods, today he shares the album’s opening instrumental The Devil is a Fair Angel and the Serpent a Subtle Beast.

“The track grapples with the world as it moves on and all the dualism and dichotomies that follow” explains the artist. “It combines darkness and light, happy and sad at the same time”. You can listen below:

Published post no.2,023 – Tuesday 28 November 2023

New music – Martin Arnold: Flax (Another Timbre)

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by Ben Hogwood

This intriguing piece, recorded for Another Timbre, is a sizeable structure of 79 minutes for solo piano by Canadian composer Martin Arnold. The piece was commissioned by pianist Philip Thomas on the back of the success of his box set of Morton Feldman piano music. Sadly Philip became very unwell shortly after commissioning the piece and is unable to play it. However, fellow Apartment House pianist Kerry Yong took on the project with Philip’s blessing, and has recorded it for Another Timbre.

Released on Friday 23 November, Flax can be heard in part on the Another Timbre bandcamp site – where it is also available for purchase:

Published post no.2,022 – Monday 27 November 2023

New music – Special Request: What Time Is Love? Sessions

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by Ben Hogwood

If we know anything about Paul Woolford and his Special Request moniker, it is that he never stops giving. After a prodigious run of albums in 2021 he took his foot off the gas a little in terms of releasing records, but returns with the first in a run of four releases to show he’s been anything but idle.

This is not just any old release, either. With the blessing of The KLF he has reimagined and recast one of their biggest and most influential tunes, What Time Is Love? While remixing the original would surely be foolhardy stuff, Woolford has been far more imaginative. He takes his own spin on the original, putting it in the centre of a new album, around which orbits a number of tracks written and executed in respect to how The KLF were working at the time.

That means a contrast of out and out, acidic rave highs, and ambient dropout patches, where field recordings and relaxing textures combine to soothe the fevered brow. This being Paul Woolford, however, it’s not quite as simple as that – as you’ll find out when you listen.

Released today, the What Time Is Love? sessions are not to be missed – and will be reviewed in full on Arcana soon.

Published post no.2,018 – Thursday 23 November 2023