Contemporary classics
Elizabeth Kerr picks three of the best classical releases of the past year.
CLASSICAL
Yo-Yo Ma will perform in New Zealand next year for the first time, playing all six Solo Cello Suites by JS Bach. “The Bach Project” is Ma’s journey to six continents for 36 concerts and he talks of using the music to start a “global conversation” to unite people. This release is his third of the Suites and the 62-year-old virtuoso offers his most magical interpretation yet of these works of contrapuntal genius.
Six Evolutions - Bach: Cello Suites Yo-Yo Ma (Sony Classical)
EXPERIMENTAL
The 30 tracks of Landfall flow like the black floodwaters of Hurricane Sandy that overwhelmed New York City, inundating sound artist Laurie Anderson’s basement. Song titles tell the story: The Water Rises, Our Street is a Black River, Helicopters Hang
Over Downtown. Anderson’s atmospheric vocals and electronic instrumentals combine with elegiac, meditative textures from the Kronos Quartet in chamber music for our time. Landfall - Laurie Anderson/Kronos Quartet (Nonesuch)
NEW ZEALAND
Inventive surprises and exuberant music-making from the mates of Eve de Castro-Robinson, who bravely handed over nine compositions for creative re-imagining by musicians as diverse as Don McGlashan, Nathan Haines,
Mere Boynton and Ashley Brown. Her matching of artists to music is inspired –there’s gristle, skin, bone, laughter, sweat and tears in this Tui award-winning project with improvisation at its heart.
The Gristle of Knuckles - Eve de Castro-Robinson (Rattle)