Journeys in Modern Classical – Stationary Travels
Join me for a new modern classical listening journey on a beautiful Autumn Sunday surveying another globe-spanning selection of music. The piano lies at the heart of all of these albums but each showcases the instrument in a different way from duets to ensembles and subtle electronic treatments. Featuring Adrian Lane, Aija Alsina, Bruno Bavota, Eydís Evensen, Goldmund, and Lena Natalia.
Adrian Lane – Where Once We Danced
https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/where-once-we-danced
Based on England’s south-eastern coast, composer and visual artist Adrian Lane once again shows his penchant for blending emotive neo-classical compositions with elegant minimalism on Where Once We Danced. The kernel of inspiration for this one goes back to a time when a problem with his car stereo found him relying on BBC Radio 3 for musical company during a stint of long commutes. This serendipitous period of immersion in more traditional classical music by composers like Chopin and Schubert sparked a desire to write what he considers his most classically oriented record to date while featuring noteworthy guest performances by clarinetist Bryan Styles. To help frame the atomspheric mood and underlying themes of the record, Lane created the artwork for it using mixed media collage techniques using vintage books, newspapers, magazines and acrylic paint.
Where Once We Danced is available from Whitelabrecs in a limited vinyl-effect CD edition as well as digital & streaming. The album was mastered by James Edward Armstrong.
Aija Alsina – Lightkeeper
https://aijaalsina.bandcamp.com/album/lightkeeper
Aija Alsina is an independent composer from Latvia who writes music for films, television, commercials and other media. According to Alsina, her new album Lightkeeper was “born from the quiet battle between motherhood, artistry, and self-doubt”. The music exemplifies her approach to blending of classical and neoclassical styles using the piano along with occasional accompaniment by the NŌNA String Quartet. In essence it is a kind of contemplative soundtrack to her meditations on these important aspects in her own life abstracted into a form capable of resonating with her listeners.
Each of its ten wordless pieces traces the tension of loving two worlds you cannot fully give yourself to — the children who will always come first, and the music that calls you just as deeply. Beneath it all is the constant question: does my art matter enough to keep going? Even when the dream feels out of reach, these compositions hold the light steady — a beacon for love, for longing, and for the fragile hope that creativity still has a place in my life.
Aija Alsina
Lightkeeper is available directly from the artist in a limited magenta vinyl LP edition as well as digital & streaming. The album was mastered by Martyn Heyne and features artwork by Linda Valere.
Bruna Bavota – I’m Losing You
https://oscarson.bandcamp.com/album/im-losing-you
I’m Losing You once again finds Italian pianist & composer Bruno Bavota in collaborative mode working here with violinist Laura Masotto to create a meditation on loss that is both eloquent and melancholic. Though it is a different sort of project, the duet approach once again works a treat here as it did when he collaborated with Chantal Acda on the outstanding 2022 release A Closer Distance. Bavota and Masotto are both expressive musicians capable of harmoniously conveying heartfelt emotion through their instruments while staying true to the more subdued atmosphere the album inhabits.
I’m Losing You is available from Oscarson Label in two vinyl LP editions (standard and deluxe) as well as digital & streaming. The album was mastered by Emilio Pozzolini.
Eydís Evensen – Oceanic Mirror
https://eydisevensen.lnk.to/oceanicmirrorAY
Oceanic Mirror is the third album from Icelandic pianist and composer Eydís Evensen. The sprawling album’s 13 tracks seek to do no less than capture a sense of the ocean “in all its power, movement and contradictions” and to “speak to truths which transcend language”. While that may seem ambitious, it is very much in character for an artist who we learned on her debut began writing music as a child and who would stare out into Iceland’s wild Westfjords and pretend to conduct the clouds. Indeed, the album spans a breadth of moods as varied as its inpiration – some bright & sunny, others stormy and dark, some tender and intimate, some epic in their scope. Highlights also include lovely guest artist contributions including those by Ari Kárason, Ásgeir, and Janus Rasmussen.
Oceanic Mirror is available for download and streaming via XXIM Records.
Goldmund – Layers of Afternoon
https://lnk.to/layersofafternoon
The latest from Keith Kenniff aka Goldmund is another lovely example of the power of the duet format featuring Kenniff’s piano accompanied by Scott Moore on violin. The music on the album, we are told, is meant to reflect “a certain experience of time”, a purposefully vague reference to patterns that we retain in our memories and periodically revisit whether consciously or subconsciously. Each song paints a scene and creates a space where emotions can resonate freely through the music.
My aim for the music in Layers of Afternoon was to find this in-between place and write from there, hoping to communicate my experience of the world as ideal—free from goals, musical training, or emotional complexity. I wanted to visit this space and let the moments float freely within the act of creation
Keith Kenniff
Layers of Afternoon is available from Western Vinyl on both limited-edition vinyl LP and CD as well as digital & streaming. The album was mastered by Stephan Mathieu and features cover art by Nick Prideux.
Lena Natalia – The Time Before Us
https://lenanatalia.bandcamp.com/album/the-time-before-us
The Time Before Us is the eighth studio album from American pianist, composer, & producer Lena Natalia. While the themes and settings of her music have changed over the course of her records, Natalia has consistently remained a storyteller at heart with her piano as the primary instrument of her narration. Peruse her Bandcamp site and you will not find extensive notes written about any of her albums. In fact in some cases, you may find none at all. But the stories are there waiting to be discovered through their melodic progressions, subtle electronic atmospheres, and evocative song titles like “Afternoon in Oslo”, “At the Waterfront”, “Rocking Chair”, or “At the End”. This is another very enjoyable outing.
The Time Before Us is available directly from the artists on limited edition CD as well as digital & streaming.
