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New Recordings from Lei Liang and Kenneth Hesketh Now Available

Jan. 04, 2013

New Recordings from Lei Liang and Kenneth Hesketh Now Available

Naxos has just released a new portrait CD of the music of Lei Liang, and the ensemble Psappha has recorded a major collection of the music of Kenneth Hesketh, Theatre of Attractions, now available on iTunes. The Liang portrait album, which marks the composer's fourth portrait disc and features Verge for string orchestra and Tremors of a Memory Chord for piano and grand Chinese orchestra, was recently featured as Album of the Week on New York Public Radio’s Q2 contemporary music program. Daniel Stephen Johnson writes:

Verge, for string orchestra, seems at first forbiddingly crystalline — here, a series of jagged profusions of percussive noise; there, cool, transparent prisms of sound — but gives in, ultimately, and slides comfortingly into a folkloric sense of melody.

Tremors of a Memory Chord… is a revelation. The combination of high-modern textural effects and the slightly alien (to Western ears) sonorities of Chinese instruments is at times unearthly, like tape music from one of Stockhausen's especially extra-terrestrial moods, and at times positively uncanny, as if the Chinese musical tradition had been melted down and poured into surreal new shapes, while yet retaining familiar features of the original style... The performances here are, without question, stellar.

On Kenneth Hesketh’s new album, Theatre of Attractions, the British composer has collaborated with one of Europe’s leading ensembles, Psappha, to produce an inspired and diverse record of Hesketh’s music.  The new disc features his Dei Destini Incrociati for six players, Aphorisms for solo clarinet, Fra Duri Scogli for six players, Three Pieces in the Shape of a Shoe for oboe, bassoon and piano, and Theatre of Attractions for ensemble. Paul Griffiths writes:

The thrill of sound must lie partly in this, that it puts us in places we could never otherwise reach: emotional, geographical, historical, fantastical – and, at times, comical. Kenneth Hesketh is a composer who knows all about such magic.

Hesketh and Psappha are currently collaborating on another project, Forms entangled, Shapes collided, a touring dance project with music composed by Hesketh, commissioned by the ensemble and Phoenix Dance Theatre with funding from The RPS Drummond Fund.

Theatre of Attractions is available for download only, and can be found on amazon.

Purchase Lei Liang’s new Naxos CD also at amazon.

Visit www.schott-music.com to learn more on Lei Liang  and Kenneth Hesketh.

Lei Liang
Verge (2009)

for 18 solo strings

ca. 12

Tremors of a Memory Chord (2011)
for piano and grand Chinese orchestra
2bangdi.2qudi.soprano sheng.alto sheng.bass sheng.2soprano suona.2alto shuona.tenor suona.2yangqin.3pipa.2liuqin.3zhongruan.2daruan.zheng-6perc(30tempbl, 2datanggu, danpigu, 2nanbangzi, bianzi, bangzi, 4paigu, xiaotanggu, xiaoluo, daluo, 2pengling, 2tom-t, 2zhuban, 2bongo)-2gaohu.2erhu.zhonghu.gehu.bgehu
18’

Kenneth Hesketh
Theatre of Attractions (2007)
for ensemble
fl(pic, afl).cl(Ebcl, bcl)-hn(fly fishing reel)-perc-pno(mounted wdbl)-vn(marac).vc
22’

Dei Destini Incrociati (2002)
for six players
fl(pic).cl-perc-pno-vn.vc
11’

Fra Duri Scogli (2002)
for six players
fl.cl-perc-pno-vn.vc
5’

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