Richard Reed Parry, a composer and multi-instrumentalist best known as a member of the rock band Arcade Fire, has gradually been building up a body of classical compositions based on a simple concept: the music is driven not by a shared rhythmic pulse, such as the beat of a conductor or a metronome, but by the actual pulse of the performers themselves, who listen to their own heartbeats while playing; the phrasing is determined not by the barlines but queued by the performers' breaths. Parry's Music for Heart and Breath is out on Deutsche Grammophon, a 116-year-old record label that, between this release and their release earlier this year of classical music by rock guitarists Bryce Dessner (The National) and Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), seems to have gotten awfully hip in a big hurry. Certainly, the performers gathered for these sessions are about the hippest that the new-music world has to offer: Parry himself, of course; Bryce Dessner and his brother Aaron, both of The National; the wildly flexible sextet yMusic; the Kronos Quartet; and performer/composers Caroline Shaw and Nico Muhly. Richard Reed Parry's Music for Heart and Breath is New York: WQXR's Q2 'Album of the week.'

 

Peter Boyer's love affair with American orchestras continues with his second Naxos recording, dedicated to celebratory works composed for five American orchestras over a period of 15 years. Boyer, who claims more than 300 performances by more than 100 orchestras, writes in a fluent, powerful style that fuses conservative American currents with Hollywood-ish size and populist sentiment. Read the full review in the August issue of Gramophone Magazine.

 

Older but hopefully not too terribly wiser, Time for Three has landed. Fourteen years since its casual beginnings at the Curtis Institute, the string trio now has the major recording deal of its dreams, and (the members hope) the kind of support that knows how to showcase a classically trained bluegrassy trio with ever-evolving taste for musical fusion. Perhaps the most dramatic evolution yet is heard within seconds on the new album, titled Time for Three, with an added, strongly pulsating rhythm section. Although the members - violinists Zachary De Pue and Nicolas Kendall, and bassist Ranaan Meyer - remain their recognizable selves, the landscape around them has changed. That change did not happen without - ahem - discussion. "I've always been very vocal about being a trio and using our imagination as much as we can within the two violins and bass instrumentation," said Meyer. But other members - and the new album's producer and label - felt differently. The album is the flagship release for the new Universal Music Classics label, which promises to give an American accent to the conglomerate that includes Deutsche Grammophon and Decca. For the occasion, Time for Three expanded temporarily on the new recording to include guest stars, most significantly vocalists. The group's live show on Wednesday at World Café Live will feature only the core members. But the idea of going beyond the usual lineup is clearly aimed at capturing an audience that might not normally be drawn to all-instrumental music. "We've known for years in this commercial world that the hook is having a singer, and we don't sing," said violinist Kendall. "It was time to be headed in this direction. I think the rest of the team really saw how it could open doors for us." Read the full philly.com interview and see Time for Three at Philadelphia's World Cafe Live at 8pm on July 23rd.

 

Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry gets to the heart of the matter - literally - on his new classical album, Music for Heart and Breath. While recording the 12 compositions for the set, Parry and co-producer Bryce Dessner of The National outfitted the musicians, from duos to a small orchestra, with stethoscopes and asked them play in tempo with "their lungs and their hearts, the involuntary organs of the body. I had the idea, like, a long time ago and thought, 'Oh, this is a really good idea that nobody seems to have done, for some magical reason.' It just had something that felt very real  and very important to me." READ THE FULL Billboard INTERVIEW.

 

Christopher Bono spent his early life devoted to baseball and was even drafted by the Seattle Mariners before an injury prevented him from playing, but it's this music that he really knocks out of the park.  This is an artist just totally hitting his stride.  I feel like I haven't even experienced enough in life to fully appreciate an album like this; music that is powerful and humble and confronts the spiritual and the unknowable beginning from a place of absolute desperation. Bono's narrative for Bardo draws heavily from Tarot (specifically "The Fool") as well as the Tibetan Book of the Dead to share the surreal journey of The Fool as he moves through a cycle of loss - from intense sorrow toward the afterlife and eventually rebirth.  ("Bardo" translates from Tibetan as "the transition.") The story is told in four movements, with preludes before each meant to suggest "ambient portals" acting as passages to the next chapter of The Fool's journey.  "Bardo I: Enter the Mystic" invites you in with a drone and then quickly jumps to a stormy, chaotic yearning before, as the liner notes indicate, our protagonist is driven to "face the churning storm of dark destiny emanating from his own mind." READ THE FULL Classical KING: Seattle 'Second Inversion' REVIEW.

 

If you are able to own only one of the Road Shows albums (which would be a pity), make it the newly arrived Volume 3. It contains six performances that took place between 2001 and 2012 on three continents. There is some variation in personnel, but the core is Sonny Rollins' working band, with Bob Cranshaw on bass, Clifton Anderson on trombone and either Bobby Broom or Peter Bernstein on guitar. Rollins' long-term collaborator, co-producer/engineer Richard Corsello, meticulously blended the beginnings and endings of tunes using applause tracks. His sources were soundboard tapes and recordings he made using a portable 24-channel Pro Tools rig. Mastering engineer Allan Tucker was able to overcome the "enormous differences" in the board tapes. Volume 3 has the clearest, most balanced sonic quality of the Road Shows albums. It sounds like one concert-a concert for the ages. READ THE FULL Jazztimes REVIEW.

 

Polish-Canadian pianist Katarzyna Musial's "Come Dance With Me" is an invitation to a unique and global rhythmic journey full of literal and figurative twists. In a rich and varied program, she presents 28 different dances- musical snapshots of various folklores and cultures imbued with her own style and panache. The album itself dances with showcases from Argentinian, Andalusian, French, Cuban, Catalonian, Québécois, Polish, and American composers, and viscerally transports listeners around the world, and home again. With several world tours under her belt, the Steinway artist has crafted an album that combines what the Chicago Classical Review has called "major talent" and "astounding technique" with a genuine exuberance, creating a global musical experience that is nothing short of action packed. It is clear from the sheer variety of selections, and the joy with which she explores them, that Musial has an instinct for music that cherishes formal categories, boundaries, and cultural identities while transcending them. "Come Dance With Me" transitions seamlessly between the outgoing and flamboyant music of Ginastera or Lecuona, and the more contemplative pieces of Olivier Messiaen in a wonderful, if surprising, conversation.  Katarzyna Musial's 'Come Dance With Me' is the WCRB: Boston - CD Of the Week