Genre: Chamber

CYCLES OF FORMATION from John Ritz presents varying degrees of prescribed musical material and open-form elements. Each piece explores the potential interactions between human performance and interactive computer signal processing algorithms within a particular musical context. Featuring jazz pianist Gabe Evens, and classical percussionist Greg Byrne, and Ritz himself as the album’s composer, cellist, and analog synthesist, this Ravello Records release delivers a stimulating world of electroacoustic sound, a smooth blend of suspense and innovation.

If you crave a deep dive into a new and exciting solar system of starry digital soundscapes, Jeffrey Hall’s EARMOVIE II is certain to take you on an interstellar ride. This digitally synthesized album is described by its composer as “the musical equivalent of science fiction,” and delivers in all aspects. Hall likes his listeners to think of his compositions as an EARMOVIE — a soundtrack to an imaginary film inside your head. In this way, Hall opens up the door for the listener to build their own understanding of EARMOVIE II; the titles of its movements are only a guideline to the experience; what the music truly evokes and tells is entirely up to you.

Deeply immersive electronic soundscapes and haunting harmonies stir the senses in THE BLEAK NIGHT from composer David Peoples. Featuring percussion, synthesizer, electronics, and electrophonic orchestra with narration and the manipulation thereof, Peoples captivates the ear and mind with suspenseful ostinatos that melt into entrancing waves of sound. A soothing beginning dissolves into hair raising junctures in Rock Me to Sleep, subtle grooves emerge amidst an ethereal atmosphere in Shinytastic, and tensions build to a boiling point before gently floating back down in The Bleak Night.

Stefan Poetzsch composer

Celestial Images From The New General Catalog Christopher J. Keyes composer

REFLECTED LIGHT was originally released in 1995 and features stunning performances by pianists Jerome Reed, Jeananne Albee, and Sibylle Dotzauer; cellist Mary Lou Rylands; harpsichordist Ursula Trede-Boettcher; clarinetist Markus Lucke; The Constitution Brass; and the Chamber Choir of the Staatliche Jochschule fur Musik.

On his debut release on Ravello Records, SONG OF THE CENTRAL TREE, enigmatic Australian composer Ron Nagorcka presents an eclectic collection of his chamber and electroacoustic works that highlight his affinity and aptitude for creating complex and asymmetrical rhythmic patterns, utilizing just intonation, and, in a number of works, reflecting the Australian landscape. Nagorcka’s intricate cross-rhythms, use of the didjeridu and microtonal melodies reflect the influence of Australian indigenous culture, while the theory behind the rich contrapuntal and harmonic textures he achieves using microtones has roots in ancient Greece and Asia as well as medieval and renaissance Europe.

Violinist Mikylah Myers and flutist Francesca Arnone perform diverse electroacoustic pieces on their first collaborative album REACT, released on Ravello Records. The works on this album demonstrate well the potential range of electroacoustic music in facilitating both experimental and traditional compositional ideas. The featured composers explore new ways of creating and organizing sound, and as performed with either computer or other interactive electronics, the violin and flute help construct unique sonic landscapes.

“We’re really trying to find a whole new language,” says harpist Heidi Krutzen, “and a new way of moving our instruments forward.” New languages and propulsive forward motion abound on MAXWELL, MUHLY, & COULOIR, the second Ravello Records release from the elegant, unusual duo COULOIR. Krutzen and cellist Ariel Barnes utilize their unconventional timbral combination to maximum effect in Serere by composer James B. Maxwell. Originally composed for the Canadian company Ballet Kelowna, the piece features gossamer, glacial sonorities as well as aggressive, pounding rhythmic structures, all bound together over the course of an epic sonic journey.

Innovative New Music trumpeter Stephen Ruppenthal commands attention right out the gate. Or perhaps, more specifically, he commands it right out the “NGate” – the subtitle of the opening track on FLAMETHROWER, his Ravello Records debut. The album contains world premieres of five pieces for trumpet, flugelhorn, voice, and crotale, composed specifically for Ruppenthal by Allen Strange, Bruno Liberda, Elainie Lillios, and Brian Belet.

Steven Kemper makes his debut on Ravello Records with his electroacoustic album MYTHICAL SPACES. Kemper combines acoustic instruments and electronics to create meditative compositions that explore the connections between real and imaginary worlds. Kemper writes that “myths represent traces of our collective imagination, and similarities between myths from different cultures point to a shared human experience.”

David Taddie’s new album FANCY COLORS blurs the spectrum between acoustic and electronic music into an unorthodox wave of sound. In contrast to the primary characteristics of each type of music, Taddie creates sophisticated, complex compositions by blending the sounds of string and woodwind instruments with the influence of computer-generated effects. Written and recorded over two decades, FANCY COLORS is the result of Taddie’s exploration of timbre and space using the electronic medium. The eight tracks on the album expand the boundaries of the otherwise conventional sounds of instruments like the flute and piano to a grandiose level.

WAKING THE SPARROW, the premiere recording on PARMA RECORDINGS from classical and baroque guitarist Robert Nathanson and soprano Nancy King, performing as Duo Sureño, is the result of a twenty-year long journey exploring the grandeur of the human voice blended with the vibrancy of the guitar. Interpreting the work of five notable modern composers who were, in turn, inspired by the words of poets throughout the ages, Nathanson and King deliver a stunning performance that is rich in its variety and impressive in scope.

MIND & MACHINE is the first of two electro-acoustic compilations to be released on RAVELLO RECORDS. Featuring the work of seven composers on six tracks, MIND & MACHINE explores the incredible range of works that can be categorized as electro-acoustic, a music in which styles are dictated by the technology that is at the heart of its performance. As far-ranging as are the works themselves are the composers of these pieces.

MIND & MACHINE VOL. 2 is the second electro-acoustic compilation to be released on Ravello Records. Each of the seven composers featured on MIND & MACHINE VOL. 2 offers his or her own striking exploration into the means by which technology can be used to alter time and form to create entirely new musical experiences. This diverse assortment of composers have all taken different paths to reach that goal. The sounds of nature are manipulated or integrated into pieces such as Tom Prescott’s The Singing Forest and Jennifer Bernard Merkowitz’s Les Crapauds de la Fontaine, while Joshua Tomlinson’s Convergences utilizes the natural elements of metal and wood.

INTERFACES explores the different ways a computer can fit in a modern jazz ensemble and still be true to itself. Technology performer Jeff Morris is joined by free jazz icon Karl Berger on vibes and piano as well as innovative New York percussionist Joe Hertenstein. Morris takes sounds from his partners live in the moment and transforms them into his own musical voice with the DNA of acoustic sounds and the fingerprints of digital processing. This live sampling improvisation results in expressively shifting quasi-loops and glitchy melodic gestures, drawn from music that just happened and influencing what the performers will do next.

Clarinetist Andrea Cheeseman infuses every note of her performances with a sense of passion and purpose. It is with this intentionality that she approaches Ravello Records’ SOMEWHERE, an album of electroacoustic works that expand the clarinet repertoire to new heights while also showcasing Cheeseman in the genre where she feels most at home.

Jeff Morris presents his fourth Ravello Records release, this one focusing on woodwinds and employing his characteristic live sampling and electronics. CLOSE REEDING is the latest since HEARING VOICES, an album which set its sights on the most fundamentally-human musical instrument: the human voice. Now, Morris turns his attention to woodwind instruments, which he terms the “next most human” family of instruments. By way of digital manipulation and live improvisation, Morris gives this thesis a convincing exposition.

James Dashow’s double album SONGS FROM A SPIRAL TREE—new from Ravello Records—collects many of Dashow’s vocal works into an abundant two-disk set. The album presents his compositions for voice, with instruments and electronic sounds, setting poems by Theodore Roethke, John Ashbery, John Berryman and Gian Giacomo Menon.

SYNCHRONIES, James Dashow's second double album on Ravello Records, offers a selection of the composer's work for traditional instruments with and without electronic sounds. His approach to these two musical resources combines the intimacy and flexibility of beautifully designed chamber music with full scale sonorous constructions: some achieved by finely textured orchestrations of the classical instrumental ensemble, others by the symphonic use of rich electronic timbres that are characteristic of the composer's music. Dashow's unique sound is immediately recognizable, enhanced by his ground-breaking ideas on the spatialization of sound, where the location and movement of musical events in space are now fundamental elements of his compositional practice. The performers in these pieces are true virtuosi of contemporary art music; their artistry and subtle understanding of these works yield deeply expressive interpretations that resonate with both listeners and performers alike.