Isaac Duquette - The Madness Ascends Isaac Duquette is a young composer and horn player currently studying at Temple University . I recently stumbled across his latest work for string quartet, The Madness Ascends . This work was recorded by the Argus Quartet earlier this month, and you can listen/watch Duquette's score follower video here . The Madness Ascends  is a relatively well-composed work, although at times Duquette seems to fall into many of the same pitfalls young artists do. The opening three minutes, a significant chunk of a short, five-minute work, is spun out of a repeating thirteen-measure canon, with the first entrance in the cello, then slowly ascending up the quartet. The cello entrance starts on a low E, and plays around for the most part in E aeolian. Duquette then very academically stacks the entrances up by thirds to outline a seventh chord, with the viola entering on a G, violin II a B, and violin I a D. He also introduces them in fourteen-measure incr...

 Joseph Warner - alon:es - album trailer Joseph Warner's new album, alon:es , is a required listen for any contemporary double bassist or performer interested in the beautiful possibilities of new music. Joseph Warner , a double bassist, composer and poet, recently uploaded a video trailer of his album alon:es (watch it on YouTube  here ). I was lucky enough to be sent this video by Warner, greatly enjoyed his trailer, and cannot wait until I can listen to the entire album. alon:es , Warner's album of unaccompanied bass music explores the  complete sound world of the double bass. It released earlier this month by TonkunstManufaktur , a German independent record company focused on releasing contemporary music. The album was recorded in Goldschmiedekapell (the Goldsmith's Chapel) of St. Anna Augsburg. The natural reverb in the hall allowed for Warner to exploit the sound possibilities of extended techniques. These were also helped by the incredible video and sound productio...

 Jonathan Ragonese -  Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Wind Ensemble Jonathan Ragonese , recently appointed director of jazz studies and professor of saxophone at the  West Chester University of PA 's Wells School of Music, premiered his own fifteen-minute concerto composed for himself on soprano saxophone and the university's wind ensemble. The ensemble, under the regimented baton of  Dr. Andrew Yozviak , is incredibly well-accomplished for a mostly undergraduate group, with previous performances in several major venues and multiple premieres of faculty works. Ragonese's  Concerto  (list en and watch the full performance  here ) takes the form of three movements, in the standard order of fast - slow - fast, with an  Interstice  starting  the work and separating each of the movements. The soprano saxophone is tacet during each of these Interstices , as they each act as a breath of calm prior to each movement. Ragonese titles the moveme...

  Michael Standard -   Ice Climbers The University of North Georgia's ( UNG )  5th Annual Research on Contemporary Composition (ROCC) Conference , 30-31 October 2021, allowed young composers and scholars to present new works, papers, and research to both in-person and  virtual audiences.  Michael Standard  is a composer and percussionist based in Tampa, FL. He is currently on faculty at the University of Tampa where he teaches Contemporary Technology and directs the UT Interactive Arts Ensemble. His 2020 work, Ice Climbers , was premiered at the Tampa Homegrown New Music Concert Series at the Tampa Museum of Art by violinist Michelle Kim-Painter and cellist Eduard Teregulov  (listen and watch the recording here ). We were lucky enough to listen to the original performers who both came up from Florida for the conference.  This short duet for violin and cello is an enjoyable work which does exactly as it promises. Standard describes the w...

   Ania Vu  -   Sept Vignettes The University of North Georgia's ( UNG )  5th Annual Research on Contemporary Composition (ROCC) Conference , 30-31 October 2021, allowed young composers and scholars to present new works, papers, and research to both in-person and  virtual audiences.  Ania Vu , a Vietnamese-Polish pianist/composer, is currently a Ph.D. candidate in music composition at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work for unaccompanied contrabass, Sept Vignettes , was originally composed in 2020 for bassist Andres Vela at the Tanglewood Music Center 2020. The piece was later edited in 2021 and performed by Maggie Cox (video recording available here ). Vu was fortunate enough to have the updated version of this complex piece prepared and performed by bassist Dr. Luca Lombardi , professor of double bass at UNG. The work demands a significant amount of control from the player, and Dr. Lombardi executed this with great ease. Sept Vignettes...

 Connor Gibbs  -  Tenparu The University of North Georgia's ( UNG )  5th Annual Research on Contemporary Composition (ROCC) Conference , 30-31 October 2021, allowed young composers and scholars to present new works, papers, and research to both in-person and  virtual audiences.  Connor Gibbs , a young composer currently studying at  Bowling Green State University, had an incredibly well-prepared performance of his new work Tenparu  (2021) for solo soprano saxophone. Tenparu  is an excellent example of what the saxophone can achieve as an unaccompanied instrument. Dr. Bart Adam Walters , professor of saxophone at UNG, gave quite the convincing performance of a difficult piece, making sense of the vast array of extended techniques and awkward sounds Gibbs asks of the instrument. Calling for the already unstableness of the soprano saxophone, Gibbs really asks for a high level of technique from the performer, and Dr. Walters brought his all ...

 Max Richter - Flowers of Herself  "Speaking in complete and utter honesty, "Flowers of Herself" has been the most engaging orchestral work I've heard come out of the contemporary classical music scene in years."     " Flowers of Herself " is the opening track on Richter's recent album Exiles .  A work which celebrates the hustle and bustle of a heavily populated city may seen untimely considering the past year and a half. However, the beautifully inspired work actually celebrates the business of walking through downtown London and feels completely natural and comfortable the entire time. The work is meant to musically accompany the first five pages from Virginia Woolf's famous 1925 novel, Mrs. Dalloway , which by the way conveniently entered public domain in the United States earlier this year. The complete album is available for free streaming in both audio and video formats and I highly recommend taking the time to listen and experience the ...