# New Solo & Chamber Music Works



## Blancrocher

Hi Everyone,

This is a thread for solo instrumental and chamber works that you have recently discovered. I see it as an informational thread for people interested in new works--or new recordings of rare material. Before posting, please check an online seller to make sure that a given work is not already represented by multiple recordings. (If it is, you might consider posting in a Guestbook instead.)

A post should include an embedded video, and text indicating the work's composer and title (in case the embedded video expires). Feel free also to post links to interesting sites concerning the work in question that might contain such things as composer interviews, program notes, performers' reflections, etc. If you reply to another post, please only include their text--and not the embedded video--in your response.

I'd prefer that people keep evaluative comments to a bare minimum. If you're posting about a piece we'll assume that you recommend it. If you dislike what someone else has posted, please don't acknowledge it in any way.

Please only post one or two videos in a given day.

...

I'll start things off with a recent discovery of my own:






Thomas Adès: The Four Quarters, for string quartet, op. 28

Composed 2010; recorded 2015 (Calder Quartet)

I hope this thread will be fun for people--thanks in advance for participating.


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## Avey

Good new thread. I often stop by these parts just to find something new to listen to. This makes that process quick.

---

*E.J. Moeran, Quartet in A Minor*






I know there are a few Moeran fans in these parts, and per their suggestions over the years, I have occasionally explored his music. So, thanks to you people. His chamber music was immediately relevant, I found, and this quartet in particular is a highlight. I am consistently stunned with its nuance and beauty, even after the repeated listens.


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## Blancrocher

Unsuk Chin - Gougalon (Scenes from a Street Theater) (2009/2011)

Available as an MP3, performed by members of the New York Philharmonic: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HA0A38M/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp

According to the composer, "this piece is about an 'imaginary folk music' that is stylized, broken within itself, and only apparently primitive."

Further: http://www.boosey.com/cr/music/Unsuk-Chin-Gougalon/57868


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## tortkis

Sergey Akhunov: SOTTO VOCE (2016) for percussion, piano and string quartet




Percussion - Dmitry Schelkin
Piano - Yuri Polubelov
Violin I - Julia Igonina
Violin II - Elena Kharitonova
Viola - Mikhail Rudoi
Cello - Alexey Steblev
Sound - Alexander Volkov
recorded February 9, 2016


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## Blancrocher

Harrison Birtwistle - In Broken Images

Composed 2011; recorded in 2015 by the London Sinfonietta



> "The work's four instrumental groups - woodwind, brass, strings and percussion - echo and react to each other as though in a latter-day Gabrieli canzona. ...the way in which his blocks of musical material move in and out of focus, become submerged and resurface again in different forms, or just occasionally combine into gestures of seismic intensity, still seems the product of a mysterious ritual of which the audience only experiences one element."


http://www.boosey.com/cr/music/52742


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## Blancrocher

Aaron Jay Kernis - String Quartet #3 "River" (composed in 2015)

--live performance by Jasper Quartet (Portland, OR; June 29, 2015). The work has not yet been recorded.

From the composer:



> "This third string quartet ("River") is a departure from my earlier quartets, which looked to the distant past for form and inspiration. It dispenses with classical structure and influences, touching on change and flux instead. Literature also shaped the emotional tone of the music, prompting long reflections on composing at this time in my life.
> 
> "I returned to a novel of the early 20th century, beloved of my mother, Jean Christophe by French author Romain Rolland. The central character is a German composer of genius whose life is depicted from cradle to grave.
> 
> "Central as a recurring metaphor in this book is the Rhine River; whatever changes occur in Jean-Christophe's life, the river continues its inexorable flow.
> 
> "Also influential has been the recent autobiography, My Struggle by Norway's Karl Ove Knausgaard which details the flow of the everyday and meditates on the psychological underpinnings of his life.
> 
> "The five movements are roughly symmetrical in form, with the first and last six to seven minutes, the second and fourth three to four minutes, with the longest, nine minute movement in the middle. The outer movements are the most related but strongly contrast. The inner ones contrast speed (second) and lyricism (fourth), and the middle movement is the most varied and tough, inspired in its musical mirrors by mirrored flecks of light on water.
> 
> "The score is dedicated in loving memory of singer Julian Rodescu, and was written especially for the Jasper Quartet. It was generously commissioned by Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, Carnegie Hall and four other partners."


http://cmnw.org/music/aaron-jay-kernis/


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## Avey

*Copland, Elegies for Violin and Viola*

The rest of this album can be found through the Tube as well, which I recommend. 





Copland may not be known for his _explicit_ chamber works, but when you think about it, much of his material is either staged for or most appropriately applied to chamber settings -- _Appalachian_, _Quiet City_, _Clarinet Concerto_, _Piano Variations_. Maybe it is the singular/solo works that lay hidden.


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## Blancrocher

Harrison Birtwistle - Fantasia upon all the notes (composed 2011)

As yet there is no commercial recording, to my knowledge.

Some notes on the piece, including comments from the composer: https://violadodio.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/cm_premieres_birtwistle_120310.pdf


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## Blancrocher

G.F. Haas - Octet, for 8 trombones (2015)

Performed by the Trombone Unit Hannover, which commissioned the piece. As of yet, no recording is available.

From the composer:



> My involvement with audio tapes played by Giacinto Scelsi entailed a surprising realisation: that melodies - singable melodies in the traditional sense - are also possible in the smallest micro-intervallic steps. The comparatively rough transcriptions of Scelsi's works, most of which are notated no more precisely than in quarter-tones, made this quality of the music unrecognisable. (Unfortunately, the tapes are all but inaccessible to the public).
> 
> As with my Ninth String Quartet and my piece for solo trumpet I Can't Breathe, I am also attempting to compose micro-melodies in my Octet for eight trombones, almost didactically approaching quarter-tones and sixth-tones up to eighth-tone steps, which must be intonated meticulously.
> 
> The piece is composed for a space with a long reverberation time. The musicians must stand closely together so they can hear themselves precisely. The work is not conceived as a polyphonic tissue; rather, it is a largely homophonic mass of sound, only occasionally splitting up.
> 
> The Octet for Eight Trombones is dedicated to my partner Mollena Williams. Her energy, her vitality, the richness of her personality, have influenced the music (so I hope), along with the spirituality of our relationship.


http://www.universaledition.com/Georg-Friedrich-Haas/composers-and-works/composer/278/work/14708


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Here is "Byzantine theme & variations" for guitar & string quartet by Dusan Bogdanovic. (I think variation 2 is missing) I really hope to play this piece myself. The piece is recorded but not with string quartet and there might be more improvisation in that version, mr. Bogdanovic is an amazing improviser


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## Blancrocher

Kjetil Heggelund said:


> Here is "Byzantine theme & variations" for guitar & string quartet by Dusan Bogdanovic. (I think variation 2 is missing) I really hope to play this piece myself. The piece is recorded but not with string quartet and there might be more improvisation in that version, mr. Bogdanovic is an amazing improviser


I just listened to it a couple of times--a lovely piece. It reminds me of a new album I've recently heard that you may like--Lou Harrison & John Luther Adams: Works for Harp, Guitar & Percussion (performed by Just Strings). Most of the material appears for the first time on disk.

Here's the first of Adams' 5 Yup'ik Dances:






The other tracks for this piece are also online.









Notes for the album from MicroFest Records: http://microfestrecords.com/just-strings-notes/


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## tortkis

I love MicroFest records. I have most of the releases. Bill Alves's gamelan music is wonderful. John Schneider, one of the founders of the label, recorded some nice microtonal albums.


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## tortkis

Spiros Deligiannopoulos: String Quartet No. 2 (2002)




Members of The Greek Contemporary Ensemble for Music

Spiros Deligiannopoulos is a Greek composer, musicologist and pianist.
composer's web page: http://www.deligiannopoulos.com/

Discography
Music on Greek Poetry (2015)
String quartets 2 & 3 (2015)
Liquid Time [electroacoustic works]


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## Blancrocher

Peter V. Swendsen's "A Sound Does Not View Itself As Thought," for piano and ipad (2011).

Romantic era quotations and styles are combined with electronic sounds.

From the recent compilation album, "Toward the Curve," performed by Thomas Rosenkranz (2015)


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## Pugg

​
Pavel Haas; String Quartet No. 2, Op. 7 'From the Monkey Mountains'

Wonderful music and superb playing :tiphat:


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## jegreenwood

Blancrocher said:


> Aaron Jay Kernis - String Quartet #3 "River" (composed in 2015)
> 
> --live performance by Jasper Quartet (Portland, OR; June 29, 2015). The work has not yet been recorded.
> 
> From the composer:
> 
> http://cmnw.org/music/aaron-jay-kernis/


I have several discs of music by Kernis including an earlier quartet. I'm pretty certain I attended the world premiere of his Symphony in Waves.


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## Blancrocher

Michael Finnissy - "Judith Weir" (2004), a work in honor of the composer after whom the work is named.

The work has not yet been recorded.


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## Avey

Big fan of Schuman's orchestral works, but who knew the quartets?






Not many available "new" recordings out there, however. I am on the hunt for a decent record with his quartets.


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## chesapeake bay

this one might fit the bill









oops wrong schumann at first though his quartets are very nice as well


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## tortkis

Marc Sabat (b 1965): Jean-Philippe Rameau (2012) - Quartet version





biography, worklist, scores: http://www.marcsabat.com/


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## Cosmos

Slowly getting more aquatinted with Bohuslav Martinu. He wrote a great set of variations for cello and piano "on a Slovak folk song", which I discovered from one of my recent album purchases. And to think, it's one of the end works, indicating "filler" status


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Listened a bit to Krzystof Meyer cello sonatas. I think he is to be regarded as a veteran but he's new to me


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## Pugg

​
*Mendelssohn: Songs without Words*

_Javier Perianes_:tiphat:


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## tortkis

Bryn Harrison: Surface forms (repeating) (2009) for mezzo soprano, flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, baroque triple harp, vibraphone, viola, violoncello and tape playback





http://www.brynharrison.com/index.html


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## Avey

Wholly unfamiliar with Mennin, but pretty stunning piece. Need to delve further.


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## Bluecrab

Here's a very nice piano/cello duet, _Couple_, by Bruce Adolphe, performed by real-life couple David Finckel and Wu Han. (Link is to Movement 1 of 4; all 4 are available on youtube). Also available as a recording.


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## tortkis

Molly Herron: Full Blood Moon (2014) for double bass and overtone harp





Lisa Dowling, double bass
Molly Herron, overtone harp (keyboard)
Amy Garapic, overtone harp (tactile)

http://mollyherron.com/full-blood-moon
_This overtone harp, created by Andy Cavatorta, is the harp of a baby grand piano set upright in a new frame with a new soundboard and fixed with a bank of thirty electro- magnets. The electro-magnets are controlled by a Midi keyboard, which can be used to stimulate each string at its fundamental pitch or up to its 8th partial depending on the rate at which the electromagnets are turned off and on._


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## worov

Just discovered this Hovhaness piece :






Amazing stuff !


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## Blancrocher

Sebastian Currier - Cadence, Fugue, Fade (2013), for brass quintet.

From the composer:



> When I started to think about writing a brass quintet, the first sound that came to mind was that of brass music of the late renaissance and early baroque, with its rich, full-bodied sound, weaving between polyphonic and chordal textures. One of the most important instrumental forms of the time was the canzona. The canzona is generally seen as an important forerunner of the sonata as well as a significant antecedent to the fugue. It's a sectional form, that changes character, mood, tempo, and texture. In Cadence, Fugue, Fade I wished to conjure, albeit in an indirect way, some of the aspects both of the sound and formal delineations of this wonderful chapter in music. Like a canzona, the piece is one continuous flow of sound, but divided into various sections of contrasting characters. The title refers to the three predominant types of material. The pieces opens with a cadence, which is of course normally associated with a sign of closure, either of phrase or section. The cadence, which begins in a way not unlike a cadential pattern one might encounter in the late renaissance, quickly subverts this pattern, ending the phrase, not with a feeling of conclusion, but with one of open-endedness. The fugue is the centerpiece of the work. Repeated-note chords, which pass material between the instruments in a hocket-like fashion, form Fade, which brings the work to a close as it slowly fades away to nothing. The piece was written for the American Brass Quintet.


http://www.sebastiancurrier.com/cadence-fugue-fade.html


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Christophe Dejour, ladies and gentlemen! He's the MAN  He transcribed Alban Berg piano sonata before and now: BARTOK! Love it


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## jurianbai

Excellent topic. I love chamber music and almost exclusively listen to chamber music only. My favorite form is of course the string quartet, I create this topic since 2008 and received years of input since then.

As for this, I will share my other parallel universe I just enter which is the flute chamber music.

Listen to this first recommendation for your discoveries:

Haydn London Trio for Flute - 2nd Flute (actually it was for violin) and cello in C Major


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## jurianbai

I discovered Boccherini's Fandago many years ago, this video remind me how great chamber music is. Seeing how well percussion do in classical music I wonder why so few pieces employed this instruments in their chamber music.


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## chesapeake bay

jurianbai said:


> I discovered Boccherini's Fandago many years ago, this video remind me how great chamber music is. Seeing how well percussion do in classical music I wonder why so few pieces employed this instruments in their chamber music.


This is a nice piece., I never realized Boccherini had Spanish influence in his music, very cool.


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## Vaneyes

I've mentioned this work on other threads. For those who may've missed, *Prokofiev* Quintet in G minor, Op. 39 (1924), scored for Oboe, Clarinet, Violin, Viola, Double Bass.

Pic of the Arte Nova recording I like. Other options incl. Praga, Australian Eloquence, harmonia mundi. :tiphat:


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## jurianbai

chesapeake bay said:


> This is a nice piece., I never realized Boccherini had Spanish influence in his music, very cool.


Yes, he has quite number of music with Spanish influence. the other Italiano that stayed in Espanyol was Gaettano Brunetti, but he even lesser known.


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## worov

Just discovered this Toccata by Jaan Raats :


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## worov




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## tortkis

Éric Gaudibert: Piano Sonata (1978/82) - Hayk Melikyan





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Éric_Gaudibert
Éric Gaudibert (1936-2012) was a Swiss composer, studied piano and composition with Bidal, Haug, Cortot, Dutilleux, and Nadia Boulanger. He _"pursued a tradition led by Béla Bartók, Arnold Schoenberg and Olivier Messiaen, and over time developed a personal style embracing electronics and the media, poetry, visual art (specifically that by Paul Klee), and literature in a specific spatial, timbral and philosophical inquiry on music."_


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## Marinera

Andriessen's Intermezzo for flute and harp






Joseph Jongen Dance lente; flute and harp






Both of these works are here but performed with Aiolos Duo; album: Danse Lente: Music for Flute and Harp


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## tortkis

David Toub: this piece intentionally left blank (2006)





_"this piece intentionally left blank" came about as an improvisation, and is virtually unchanged other than a few minor tweaks. [...] It can be performed by any keyboard, although it could also be performed for any group of instruments. The work is dedicated to Kel Smith._

free download album including 6 versions of the work








https://dtoub.bandcamp.com/album/this-piece-intentionally-left-blank

The composer's website
http://dbtmusic.wordpress.com/


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## worov

Just discovered this :


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## Blancrocher

Georg Friedrich Haas, String Quartet #8

Composed in 2014, and available in a live performance by the JACK Quartet; it is available as a CD-R:

https://www.discogs.com/JACK-Quarte...pudium-String-Quartet-No-3-St/release/7038851

Haas' birthday today, btw.


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## Omicron9

Britten solo cello suites:


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Nikolaj Roslavets! Is it a bit like Scriabin maybe? Just recently heard about him. It seems he was very unpopular with the Russian government. Lets bring him back


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## Blancrocher

Benjamin Sabey - Winter Shore (Arditti Quartet etc.) - released in 2015.

Owl, for string quartet: 



Ecstatic Aspen, for piano: 



Phoenix, for violin and electronics: 



Espejismo, for guitar and electronics: 



Arc Flicker, for flute: 



Winter Shore, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano & percussion: 




Generally spare and atmospheric pieces featuring different instrumental ensembles and electronics. I particularly liked the blend of guitar and electronics in Espejismo.

The composer's website: http://www.benjaminsabey.com/#benjamin-sabey


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## Blancrocher

Giuliano d'Angiolini - Notturno in progressione

A string quartet "following strict rules of indeterminacy." Quiet, repetitive, enjoyable piece.

From Simmetrie di Ritorno, released in 2010:










There are also samples of pieces from his new album, Cantilena, on Youtube:


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## Blancrocher

Andy Akiho, "Karakurenai" for steel pan and marimba

The Youtube page includes a longish introduction to the composer.

Another clip, from the title track of his first studio album, "NO one To kNOW one" (2011):






Has some minimalism/pop-crossover aspects - enjoyed it.


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## tortkis

Andrius Žlabys: Movement for String Quartet and Piano (2016)





Beethovenian riff and expressive romanticism interweave.

http://www.andriuszlabys.com/


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## Blancrocher

Brett Dean - String Quintet ''Epitaphs'' (2010)

Composer's notes included with clip.


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## Blancrocher

Vijay Iyer with the Brentano Quartet: Mutations VI IX and X ( Waves, Descent and Time)

The pieces are on the album "Mutations," which appeared in 2014.


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## Pugg

​
*Kreisler*: Preghiera (Prayer) on theme from Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto for violin & piano

*Rachmaninov*: Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor, Op. post.

Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė (cello)

Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor, Op. 9

Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė (cello)

_Gidon Kremer (violin) & Daniil Trifonov (piano)_

I just received this one earlier today......must have for all chamber music lovers.


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## Heliogabo

Pugg said:


> ​
> *Kreisler*: Preghiera (Prayer) on theme from Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto for violin & piano
> 
> *Rachmaninov*: Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor, Op. post.
> 
> Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė (cello)
> 
> Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor, Op. 9
> 
> Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė (cello)
> 
> _Gidon Kremer (violin) & Daniil Trifonov (piano)_
> 
> I just received this one earlier today......must have for all chamber music lovers.


I'm listening to it on spotify. Truly a great recording. Hope arrives to my country soon.


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## silentio

Wow, *Haydn *never ceases to amaze me.

His piano sonata No.31 in A-flat major is simply transcending.

I'm more and more in the camp of classicism these days:


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## Hurbi

thought I should put in some actual music that isn't just noise for balance haha :tiphat:


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## Blancrocher

I enjoy some of the music posted above, but just a reminder that this thread is intended for new music and music that has not previously been recorded. There is an explanation in the original post. The following thread is a better home for posts about music that is already considered part of the repertoire:

http://www.talkclassical.com/30292-pieces-have-blown-you.html

p.s. I've had the title of this thread changed to make its intent clearer.


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## tortkis

Troy Herion: Music for the Radio IV






http://www.troyherion.com/

__
https://soundcloud.com/

_Troy Herion is a NYC based composer for film, theater, dance, and experimental arts_

_As far as "old music" is concerned, I count Beethoven, Rameau, and Debussy as a few of my favorite composers - who continue to teach me about the possibilities of musical momentum, the shape of great melodies, and how to evoke an image with sound._


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## tortkis

Marc Sabat: Euler Lattice Spirals Scenery (2011) - Jack Quartet (excerpt)





from Harmony (Another Timbre), Chamber music for strings using Just Intonation tuning.
http://www.anothertimbre.com/sabatharmony.html

http://www.marcsabat.com/ - The composer's page

Finally released the recordings of Marc Sabat's compositions.


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## tortkis

Shoichi Yabuta: Billow II (2015) for vibraphone - Mizuki Aita





with score


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