Musical Instrument Digital Interface (aka MIDI) has such a pervasive presence in the musical landscape that it’s easy to take it for granted. Yet, when it first appeared in the early 1980s, the standard felt miraculous. Back when technology was more meaningful, MIDI’s ability to bridge physical and digital domains meant that devices like synthesizers and keyboards were suddenly able to talk both to each other and to computer programs. The protocol has countless applications today, many of them purely software-based, but this particular facet remains its most fascinating, even serving as a core aesthetic principle for acts like Berlin’s Gamut Inc.
Since the early 2010s, Aggregate Festival founders Marion Wörle and Maciej Śledziecki…
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Stirrings Still was Samuel Beckett’s last message in prose, completed in 1987, and first published the following year. More monologue than story, it comes from a narrator on the edge between life and what lies beyond, which might be a vast wheatfield seen in black-and-white, or might be a swirl of stumbling memories. Beckett cherished music, in particular the songs and string quartets of Franz Schubert. His writing is musical, in its meticulous phrasing, its use of repetition, and often its form. Stirrings Still is an example: a composition of interweavings and developments.
Sam Shepherd studied classical piano before he started making brainy dance music as 
The word invictus was with us long before Prince Harry founded his Invictus Games in 2014.
The Will of Tongues, the latest record by performer-composer 
When an artist breaks away from the path they know best, there are two expected directions they can take: either they’ll continue to make the same kinds of music they’ve always made, or they’ll sprint in the opposite direction. When the robots known as 
Yolanda Kondonassis’s dual role as both harpist and percussionist across this album’s centerpiece concerto represents the performance’s most distinctive interpretive challenge. Navigating between two fundamentally different instrumental identities within a single extended work demands not only technical facility but genuine musical adaptability. The harpist meets this challenge with evident command, moving between the harp’s sustained resonance and percussion’s rhythmic impact without suggesting interpretive inconsistency. Andrew Grams coordinates the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra around the soloist with consistent responsiveness, permitting the ensemble to contribute meaningful orchestral dialogue rather than mere accompaniment.
Anthony Hopkins, it turns out, has been composing music all his life. Now, at the age of 88, the Welsh-born Hollywood actor makes his Decca debut, securing the services of LA Philharmonic’s outgoing music director Gustavo Dudamel to bring his music to life.
John Williams’ place in the canon of film music, Hollywood history and American popular culture is well solidified. The 94-year-old composer just saw the release of Disclosure Day, his 30th soundtrack for director Steven Spielberg – a collaboration that’s yielded three Oscar-winning scores in 
When not leading the Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra or fulfilling her duties as concertmaster of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (ISO), violinist Una Sveinbjarnardóttir (b. 1975) performs and records with artists such as Björk, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Sigur Rós, Ben Frost, and Víkingur Ólafsson. She’s also a founding member of 
This album presents Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberger Symphoniker in the complete cycle of 
Included in the booklet for The Planned Child is a personal note by its creator, Amsterdam-based Avishai Darash that, while brief, casts an illuminating light on the solo piano pieces presented on the 45-minute release. Conspicuous by its absence, however, is anything bio-related, which is perhaps surprising when his professional background is so varied and extensive. Reviewing the experiences he’s had allows for an enhanced appreciation of the music he created for the release. By his own admission, The Planned Child came together over the past year, but “has been more than sixteen years in the making.” It makes sense, then, to first acquire some impression of what happened in the time leading up to the album’s creation before turning to its contents.
The multi-talented musician, bandleader, and entertainer Jon Batiste gets so much acclaim as a pop-jazz headliner that his piano talents are sometimes overlooked. Yet, this four-part series of solo piano recordings has already begun to change those perceptions. Batiste issued his first volume, the highly acclaimed and top-charted 
Getting ahead of next year’s 90th birthday celebrations, American pianist Simone Dinnerstein presents two works by 
Arvo Pärt’s four symphonies occupy a distinctive place within his output. Written over a span of 45 years, they chart not so much a linear evolution as a series of aesthetic ruptures, from the serial experimentation of the 1960s to the austere spirituality of the Fourth Symphony. By bringing together the complete cycle on a single recording, Eva Ollikainen and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra offer a compelling survey that emphasizes the striking contrasts between the works rather than imposing an artificial sense of continuity. The album joins a still relatively modest discography, long dominated by the various recordings from the Järvi family and Tõnu Kaljuste’s complete cycle. From the opening bars of the First Symphony, Ollikainen adopts an approach…