Masterpieces of contemporary (art) music. Recommended popular pieces.

Chorale VI-Cantus-Song of AeolusKarl Jenkins

Adiemus-Chorale VI-Cantus-Song of Aeolus

For anyone hearing it for the first time, the mystical chorus sung in a fictional language called “Adiemus,” based on African languages, coupled with expansive rhythms and grand orchestration that seem to evoke a kind of religious experience, may well have been astonishing.

This piece—also known by its Japanese title “Kaze no Kami no Uta” (Song of the Wind God), used in a 2017 Toyota Prius PHV commercial featuring Satomi Ishihara—is included on the 1997 album Adiemus II: Cantata Mundi by the group Adiemus.

Adiemus is a musical unit formed around Welsh-born Karl Jenkins.

Jenkins received academic musical training at a conservatory and, after graduating, joined jazz-rock groups such as Nucleus and Soft Machine.

It was in the 1990s that he launched Adiemus.

As an avant-garde classical music unit, they can be regarded as one of the forces that sparked a worldwide healing-music boom, including in Japan.

expand_lessRaise the rankingexpand_morelower

KOH-1

Report a problem

Porz GoretYann Tiersen

Yann Tiersen – Porz Goret (Official Video)

Yann Tiersen, the composer who became widely known for scoring the film Amélie—released in 2001 and a smash hit not only in his native France but also in Japan—has a talent that defies any single category, spanning everything from contemporary and minimal music to the avant-garde.

This time, I’d like to introduce Porz Goret, included on his 2016 solo piano album EUSA.

While grounded in a classical sound, it carries a nostalgic, pastoral melody that opens up vivid, cinematic imagery for the listener.

The music video, featuring Tiersen playing piano on Ouessant Island—the namesake of the album—has easily surpassed 10 million views on YouTube.

expand_lessRaise the rankingexpand_morelower

KOH-1

Report a problem

Violin Concerto: “Maninyas,” Movement IIIRoss Edwards

Ross Edwards “Maninyas” Violin Concerto movt 3

It’s a violin concerto that’s modern yet has an approachable side.

In recent years Australia has been producing a steady stream of fine composers, and the elusive sense of phrasing they seem to share makes me wonder what influences have been blended to create it.

Berg, Violin ConcertoAkiko Suwanai

[Concerto] Berg, Violin Concerto [Akiko Suwanai, Pierre Boulez, Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra

The violin concerto, completed just before the composer’s sudden death, was written in mourning for the daughter of a close acquaintance.

Unusually for a concerto, it is in two movements.

Its austere tone admits no easy compromise from the listener, yet it has often been included in the repertoire by popular violinists.

Pie JesuAndrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sarah Brightman, Paul Miles-Kingston – Pie Jesu

If you’re a fan of musicals, you’ve probably come across the name Andrew Lloyd Webber at least once.

He is a British composer of worldwide renown who wrote the music for celebrated masterpieces like Jesus Christ Superstar and The Phantom of the Opera.

Often called a modern-day Mozart, Webber is a prodigious composer who graduated from the prestigious Royal College of Music, while also being deeply influenced by avant-garde contemporary composers.

The piece introduced here, Pie Jesu, is one movement from a pure Requiem composed by Webber in 1985, and it is a work quite different in character from his dazzling musical theater scores.

The performance by Webber’s former wife, the internationally acclaimed singer Sarah Brightman, together with boy soprano Paul Miles-Kingston, envelops us in a cleansing beauty that seems to wash over the heart just by listening.

expand_lessRaise the rankingexpand_morelower

KOH-1

Report a problem

English Country TunesMichael Finnissy

M Finnissy’s English Country Tunes – Green Meadows – Part 1/2 Audio + Sheet Music

8 Concert Etudes, Op. 40 No. 5: ScherzoNikolay Kapustin

Kapustin: Eight Concert Etudes, Op. 40 – No. 5 "Raillery"