Stephanie Lamprea - "14 R​é​citations" album review

 Stephanie Lamprea - 14 R​é​citations by Georges Aperghis

Stephanie Lamprea is a true tour de force in the field of contemporary vocal music, having tackled almost all major works in the genre. Her latest album, a complete rendition of Georges Aperghis' 14 Récitations, redefines the theatrical and timbral expectations of a traditional soprano. The concert-length song cycle for unaccompanied female voice presents the soloist as insane, futilely attempting to communicate with an unseen audience. Lamprea's dramatic range comes to the forefront in her recording, making the ultra-modernist work interesting even in its non-staged format, uncommon in much of Aperghis' rarely recorded works. The 14 Récitations, with Aperghis' background being in experimental theatre, are theatrical in nature, and Lamprea's approach to the entire cycle will certainly be the defining recording for decades to come.

14 Récitations is released by New Focus Recordings.
Listen to the entire album on Bandcamp here.

Be sure to like, follow us, and comment your own thoughts!


© 2023 Brutal New Music Reviews
originally written and published 26 February 2023

please send any and all questions/comments/complaints/suggestions to:

brutalnewmusicreviews@gmail.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fatrin Krajka - "The Space In Between" album review

Image
 Fatrin Krajka - The Space In Between   album review Krajka focuses on approachability in his simple and tonal music, relying on harmonic cliches to evoke a melancholic emotional response. Albanian-American composer and pianist, Fatrin Krajka , is known for his film scores and continued approach to classically inspired minimalism. His latest album release, The Space In Between , intimately connects individual perspectives with a sense of communal emotion. The Space In Between is a full-length album for piano and strings divided up into 4-5 minute long tracks. Within his exploration of the short-form piece, Krajka solidly focuses on approachability in his simple and tonal music, relying on harmonic cliches to evoke a melancholic emotional response from the listener. There is a negligible difference in his approach to scoring for film and this album of more traditional classical music. While I would have appreciated some experimentation and variation within Krajka's minimal...
Read more

Constellation Men's Ensemble - "Man Up / Man Down" album review

Image
 Constellation Men's Ensemble - Man Up / Man Down Constellation's impeccable blend and intonation brings out a resonant beauty for the duration of the album. After ten years, Constellation Men's Ensemble  has released their debut album, Man Up / Man Down  on the Sono Luminus label. The album's longer and intense titular work is bookended by two shorter bursts of peaceful reflection, Home and manifesto . Constellation's impeccable blend and intonation brings out a resonant beauty for the duration of the album, and are becoming a prominent force within the new music vocal community. Jeffrey Derus ' Home , setting text by Carl Sandburg, opens the album with beauty and tonal simplicity. Derus' music is drawn from his personal experience with choirs, resulting in Constellation creating a beautiful resonance with stellar intonation. Home is in a traditional three-part form, with the middle section in a pulsating quintuple meter. Derus' repetitive text setting...
Read more

Pathos Trio - "Polarity" album review

Image
 Pathos Trio - Polarity album review Polarity  is such a highly polished example of how rewarding it can be to merge contemporary classical music with electronica. Released September 15th on the Imaginary Animals label, Polarity wedges itself in a specific niche between contemporary classical music and electronica. The collaborative album combines the performance capabilities of  Pathos Trio with six composers, all of whom have written pieces specifically for the trio, and Four/Ten Media , which is creating accompanying music videos for each track. With the only unifying feature being the implementation of electronics, it is quite impressive how the six new works form such a cohesive collection. Pathos Trio, made up of two percussionists and a pianist, completely reimagines the idiom of the chamber ensemble, embracing the possibilities of electronic integration within live performance. For many non-classical audiences, these instruments and setup may already be com...
Read more