Home » Stories » Helene Grimaud explores the spiritual nature of Mozart / New Classical Tracks

Stories for January 25, 2021

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    Angelique Kidjo writes song for imprisoned human rights activist; Nasrin Sotoudeh / NYSMusic
     
    Posted At : January 24, 2021 12:00 AM

    NYSMusic's Andie Chapman writes...... Four-time Grammy winner Angelique Kidjo has often advocated for human rights as she has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2002. Her music is imbued with compassion, and throughout the years she has contributed songs for important causes, such as her contribution song "Leila" for the Enough Project which raised awareness for women's rights in Raise Hope for Congo.    In 2020, the singer and activist recorded the song "How Can I Tell You?" by composers Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty who wrote "Ragtime," "Once on This Island," "Anastasia," and many more notable works. This song was included in a documentary directed and produced by Jeff Kaufman titled Nasrin. Often referred to as the "Nelson Mandela of Iran," Nasrin Sotoudeh fought for human rights in Iran, eventually leading to her arrest in June 2018 for defending women who publicly protested Iran's mandatory hijab law. The government sentenced her to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes. Nasrin now has COVID-19 and a heart condition, but even from the confines of prison she has continued to challenge the authorities.      READ THE FULL NYSMusic ARTICLE & WATCH THE VIDEO

  • Branford Marsalis' soundtrack of Ma Rainey's studio sessions is an impeccable recreation / The Guardian
     
    Posted At : January 23, 2021 12:00 AM

    The Guardian's Dave Gelly writes....August Wilson's 1982 play, and the 2020 Netflix film, are about a lot more than music, but Gertude "Ma" Rainey ("Mother of the Blues") was a real person, and the action takes place around what was a real recording session. Music, and how it's treated, is the basic metaphor here, so music is an important accompaniment to the story. In this case – like the clothes, the cars and the surrounding scene – it must also persuade us that we are in Chicago in 1927. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis has certainly spared no effort in recreating authentic period sounds.    Photograph: David Lee/AP READ THE FULL Guardian ARTICLE

  • Shai Maestro with WBGO's The Checkout, on being more 'Human'
     
    Posted At : January 22, 2021 12:00 AM

    WBGO'S The Checkout: SIMON RENTNER writes......We've always admired Shai Maestro's fearless approach to music. When he sits down at the piano, especially in an improvisational solo setting, he checks the temperature of a space and lets the music come to him, allowing one idea to flow into another. But he wasn't always that free. On this episode of The Checkout, Maestro remembers a difficult moment on tour with bassist Avishai Cohen and drummer Mark Guiliana - a moment that would shape his career. In the middle of a performance, while playing his tune, the trio took an unexpected detour and he completely freaked out. That meltdown would change his thinking, and approach to music, forever. To hear Maestro tell it, what he became after this experience was more human - which is also the title of his new album, which ECM will release on Jan. 29.  READ THE FULL WBGO: Newark NJ ARTICLE & LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT

  • Jeni Slotchiver - American Heritage takes you to a different world of patience and space / Jazz Weekly
     
    Posted At : January 22, 2021 12:00 AM

    Following the success of the Busoni The Visionary series, Jeni Slotchiver is humbled to introduce something so intimately close to home. With Southern roots of her own, Ms. Slotchiver's debut ZOHO CD release American Heritage is her homage to the legendary composers preserving American folk music and creating anew. What was once familiar, is reborn. Spanning 125 years, from Louis Moreau Gottschalk's The Banjo (ca. 1854-5) to Frederic Rzewski's Down by the riverside (1979), American Heritage presents piano compositions by composers of concert music, inspired by the melodies, dance rhythms, harmonic inventions and various stylistic elements evocative of the American experience. Of the eight composers represented, six are of African descent and two of these are women. There are quotes from spirituals, use of the African American pentatonic scale, the African call and response structure popularized in southern church tradition, polyphonic rhythms of jazz, and the rich, sultry harmonies of blues. With the exception of the rich musical heritage of Indigenous people, the largest and most important American folkloric body of work arrived on American shores with the first enslaved African people.  Jazz Weekly's  George W. Harris writes....Pianist Jeni Slotchiver gives solo interpretations of music from early to late 20th Century, taking you to a different world of patience and space. While classically trained, Slotchiver has a rich blues touch and a bona fide feel for gospel and folk material. Material ranges from a homespun read of "Swanee River" to the spiritual "Down By The Riverside" as well as the folk classic "Shenandoah" but with an arrangement by Keith Jarret. Parlor moods are presented in a collection of pieces from Harry Thacker Burleigh and the genteel pen of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, on "Union" and "The Banjo" while traditional pieces like "Deep River" and even 1967's "Troubled Water" feel like they've both been drawn from the same well. A journey to another world and world view. SEE THE Jazz Weekly PAGE

  • Jane Ira Bloom and Mark Helias improvise together over zoom / NPR: Fresh Air
     
    Posted At : January 21, 2021 12:00 AM

    Soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and bassist Mark Helias come together to create duets discovered in the moment in a way that is rarely heard today with Some Kind of Tomorrow. The long time bandmates, separated by space and time find a way to play in real time with one another and the results are magical. Two master improvisers and composers bring listeners up-close and personal to the first spark of their imaginations at work, recording eleven duet improvisations over the spring, summer, and fall of 2020. The music is raw, authentic, intimate, alive, and unapologetic in its passion. Their sound is deep wood and polished brass recorded with a depth that is hard to describe. They played the music, recorded it, mastered it firsthand and are now making it available to listeners for the first time as a digital download on Bandcamp. Don't miss these fearless jazz explorers as they face the future.   Heard on Fresh Air, here's Kevin Whitehead's piece. LISTEN & READ THE TRANSCRIPT

  • Shunia delivers heart-lifting chants for these troubled times / American songwriter
     
    Posted At : January 20, 2021 12:00 AM

    Shunia is a duo that combines addictive melodies, ancient chants and polycultural rhythms into a sound that feels both new and timeless. Their music captures and conveys deep energies and spirit. The state of "shunia" means stillness, receptivity. Shunia's members, Lisa Reagan and Suzanne Jackson both performed with the Washington National Opera for 20 years before finding continued success in their solo careers. Coming together as Shunia, they combined their influences, inspirations and experiences to create genre-defying music with the power to transform and to connect you to the energy within and around you. It can put you in touch with something as simple as your five senses or as mysterious as the infinite. American Songwriter's NADIA NEOPHYTOU writes......To press play on Shunia's new album of chants is to allow a wave of calm and relaxation to wash over one's whole self. For Lisa Reagan and Suzanne Jackson, who've known each other for 30 years, sharing the gift that's been a major part of their lives with others is the reason they began recording together as the duo Shunia in the first place. "Music in and of itself is such a powerful medium," Reagan tells American Songwriter. "It is the language of our humanity and our souls. We know these mantras are tried and true, and we have personally been chanting them for years." READ THE FULL American songwriter ARTICLE

  • Ed O'Keefe is the CBS news white house correspondent who came to play / 98.7WFMT Q&A
     
    Posted At : January 20, 2021 12:00 AM

    WFMT: Chicago 's Candice Agree writes....From the age of 3, CBS News political correspondent Ed O'Keefe toiled at a keyboard-not in typing, as unintended preparation for his 13 years at the Washington Post, but in studying classical piano in Delmar, a suburb of Albany, NY. Although he loved playing, his interest in current events and politics pulled him into a journalism career. No stranger to Chicago, in 2008, O'Keefe was in Grant Park the night that Barack Obama was elected president. O'Keefe, 37, is about to become a fixture in the White House press room, as he will cover the Biden administration for the TV network he joined in 2018. But he has never left his first passion far behind. He shared some musical memories with us before taking on his new assignment at CBS News as Senior White House & Political Correspondent.    Photo courtesy CBS News) READ Candice Agree's Q&A with Ed O'Keefe.

Top 10 for Jan

  • SIGNUM saxophone quartet :

    Echoes

     An ensemble that attracts rave reviews and sell-out crowds at prestigious venues everywhere from Vienna to New York, the sensational SIGNUM saxophone quartet are now set to present their first Deutsche Grammophon album.
  • The Album Leaf :

    SYNCHRONIC - OMPS

     Milan Records announces the release of SYNCHRONIC (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) with music by The Album Leaf.
  • Shai Maestro :

    Human

     In its review of pianist Shai Maestro's leader debut, The Dream Thief, All About Jazz spoke of "a searching lyrical atmosphere, emotional eloquence and communal virtuosity that serves the music.
  • Poor Clare Sisters of Arundel :

    Light for the World

     More than 800 years since they were founded, the Poor Clare Sisters of Arundel – a community of 23 nuns living in the south of England – have found themselves unexpected recording stars.
  • Ilan Eshkeri :

    A Perfect Planet

     Sony Music today announces the January 8, 2021 release of A PERFECT PLANET (SOUNDTRACK FROM THE BBC SERIES) with music by composer ILAN ESHKERI (Stardust, The Young Victoria).
  • Jane Ira Bloom, Mark Helias :

    Some Kind of Tomorrow

     Soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and bassist Mark Helias come together to create duets discovered in the moment in a way that is rarely heard today with Some Kind of Tomorrow.
  • Catalyst Quartet :

    Uncovered Vol. 1 - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

     On Friday, February 5, 2021, GRAMMY Award-winning Catalyst Quartet releases UNCOVERED Volume 1 on Azica Records.
  • Laila Biali :

    A Case of You - LIVE

     SOCAN Music and JUNO Award winner Laila Biali shares an intimate acoustic cover of Joni Mitchell's classic love song, A Case of You, captured live off the floor at Revolution Recording Studios.
  • Max Richter :

    Beethoven - Opus 2020

     Max Richter and Deutsche Grammophon are set to release a brand-new orchestral composition to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birthday.
  • Yo-Yo Ma | Kathryn Stott :

    Comfort and Hope

     Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott come together again, this time for Songs of Comfort and Hope, set for release on December 11, 2020 on Sony Classical.

Helene Grimaud explores the spiritual nature of Mozart / New Classical Tracks

Posted: November 18, 2020 12:00 AM | By: Admin
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Helene Grimaud and Camerata Salzburg: The Messenger via Deutsche Grammophon.

It has been about 10 years since Helene Grimaud has recorded any Mozart. Her latest release is a concept album that generates a fascinating dialogue between Mozart and the Ukrainian-born contemporary composer Valentin Silvestrov. The Messenger, by Silvestrov is the title track of this recording, and it echoes the music of Mozart, creating a connection between the present and the world that existed before.

"I thought it was interesting to have them facing each other and more importantly, these three elements that I feel they share very strongly: clarity of textures, form and this purity. You know, Silvestrov says something about how music has been so transparent. You have to be able to see all the way through to the bottom, and that appears also in Mozart's music: there's transparency and also this quality of impermanence of something that is there. But as soon as you try to seize it, it vanishes. It's not really for this world."

LISTEN TO THE New Classical Tracks SEGMENT & READ THE Q&A

Crossover Media Projects with Helene Grimaud

  • Helene Grimaud

    The Messenger

    For her latest studio album, pianist Hélène Grimaud travels to Salzburg where she creates a fascinating juxtaposition between the eternal Mozart and the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937). Hélène has long had a passion for Silvestrov's music, which some call post-modernist or even neoclassical.  The composer's own words hint at why this is for her so intriguing: "I do not write new music. My music is a response to and an echo of what already exists."

    In selecting the music for this album, Hélène has carefully chosen music by Mozart that fits into an overall dramaturgy: from Mozart's famous unfinished D minor Fantasy, Helene transitions seamlessly into the great D minor concerto K. 466 - one of the most popular amongst Mozart's 27 concertos (and one of only two in a minor key). The C minor Fantasy here signals "the end of Mozart" and a new beginning: The Messenger starts with a theme reminiscent of Mozart, and like a messenger, creates a connection between the present and the world that existed before. Melancholy and hope, sadness and exuberance can be felt emanating from both Mozart's and Silvestrov's works. The Messenger, one of Silvestrov's most performed works, is dedicated to his wife Larissa Bondarenko, who had recently passed away. The Two Dialogues with Postscript that serve here as an epilogue, leave the outcome open, leading the way to Schubert, Wagner and beyond.

  • Helene Grimaud

    Memory

    Pianist Hélène Grimaud is set to release her new album Memory on September 21th on Deutsche Grammophon. The album explores the nature of recollection through a series of exquisite pianistic miniatures, with a choice of repertoire embracing everything from impressionistic reveries by Chopin and Debussy to the timeless, folk-like melodies of Valentin Silvestrov. The French pianist's latest Deutsche Grammophon recording addresses music's unique ability to bring images of the past back to life in the present moment, to conjure up vivid evocations of time and place. 

    Memory and music make perfect partners. Both are fleeting, never fixed, always subject to interpretation. Our identities are formed from memories, just as so many of our most enduring experiences are rooted in music. Hélène Grimaud wanted to explore the universal nature of memory, its place in the lives of us all. Memory, she explains, uses music to probe the many levels of human consciousness.

  • Helene Grimaud

    Perspectives

    Grimaud's challenging, eloquent artistry runs throughout Perspectives, a personal selection of highlights from her Deutsche Grammophon catalog that offers a strong flavor of the pianist's penetrating insights into landmarks of her instrument's repertoire. The double-disc album, scheduled for release on 7 April 2017, embraces the composers and compositions that have left the deepest impressions on her soul. It features both extracts from monumental concertos by such titans as Beethoven, Brahms and Bartók, and transcendent solo scores by Bach, Mozart and Chopin among others. Each disc is rounded off by a delightful "encore" – Brahms's Waltz in A flat and Sgambati's arrangement of Gluck's "Dance of the Blessed Spirits," respectively – both pieces enjoying their first CD/streaming release on this album.

    15 NEW  36 TOTAL
    SYND:     Classical 24
    Direct: MOOD
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Detroit, New Orleans, Denver, New Orleans, Minneapolis, Seattle, Austin, Boulder, AL(Statewide), SC(Statewide), Canada
    Online: AccuRadio

  • Helene Grimaud

    Water

    Hélène Grimaud's latest album for Deutsche Grammophon, produced by Nitin Sawhney, was inspired by her abiding fascination with Nature's most precious gift. Water is set for worldwide release on February 5, 2016 and conveys imaginative responses to everything from mighty oceans and great lakes to raindrops and snowflakes as well as inviting listeners to contemplate the mounting threats to the safety, security and supply of this essential resource. 

    55 NEW   77 TOTAL
    SYND:     NPR/ATC, PRI/C24, CBC, Classical Music Indy
    Direct: SiriusXM, Music Choice, MOOD
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Atlanta, Dallas, Cleveland, Houston, Seattle, Minneapolis, Baltimore, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Portland, Buffalo, Louisville, Honolulu
    Online: Taintradio, AccuRadio, HuffPost, Passion Musique et Culture, Epoch Times, axs, Sinfini Music  

  • Helene Grimaud

    Brahms Piano Concertos No. 1&2

    With inimitable passion and spiritual dedication, Hélène Grimaud has climbed the Mount Everest of the romantic piano repertoire, performing The Brahms No. 1 and No. 2 Piano Concertos with Andris Nelsons conducting which will be released as a dual disc by Deutsche Grammophon on September 30, 2013.  Believed to be the first woman pianist of the 21st century to release both the Brahms piano concertos, Grimaud recorded the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, op. 15 live with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra) at Munich's Herkulessaal; and the Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, op. 83 with the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic) in Vienna's legendary Musikverein.  It is Grimaud's first recording with the Vienna Philharmonic.

    25 New 'ON'  91 Total
    SYND:     APM/Performance Today, PRI/Classical 24
    Direct: SiriusXM, Music Choice, MOOD
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas, Cleveland, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle, Minneapolis, Baltimore, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Portland, Albuquerque, Memphis, San Antonio, Buffalo, Louisville, Honolulu
    Online: Taintradio