Brad Mehldau's After Bach is due March 9, 2018, on Nonesuch. The album comprises the pianist/composer's recordings of selections from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, each followed by a piece written by Mehldau and inspired by its WTC mate. "There have always been elements of Mehldau's style that recall Bach," writes Timo Andres in the liner note. "After Bach surveys their shared ground as keyboardists, improvisers, and composers, making implicit parallels explicit.” Pre-order After Bach for an instant download of the track "After Bach: Rondo," which can be heard here.
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Brad Mehldau's After Bach is due March 9, 2018, on Nonesuch Records. The album comprises the pianist/composer's recordings of four preludes and one fugue from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, each followed by an After Bach piece written by Mehldau and inspired by its WTC mate. The album begins with Mehldau's own "Before Bach: Benediction" and ends with his "Prayer for Healing."
Pre-orders of After Bach are available now at iTunes and in the Nonesuch Store and include an instant download of the album track "After Bach: Rondo," which can be heard on Apple Music, Spotify and here:
As Mehldau's label mate Timo Andres says in his After Bach liner note, "As a professional organist, much of Bach's work took the form of improvisation, and during his lifetime it was the virtuosity and complexity of these improvisations for which he was most admired … Some three centuries after the fact, Brad Mehldau takes up this tradition and applies it to a frustratingly unknowable aspect of Bach's art."
Andres continues, "There have always been elements of Mehldau's style that recall Bach, especially his densely-woven voicing—but he's not striving to imitate or play dress-up. Rather, After Bach surveys their shared ground as keyboardists, improvisers, and composers, making implicit parallels explicit."
After Bach originated in a work Mehldau first performed in 2015—commissioned by Carnegie Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, The National Concert Hall, and Wigmore Hall—called Three Pieces After Bach.
Brad Mehldau's "After Bach" Due March 9 on Nonesuch Records
Brad Mehldau's After Bach is due March 9, 2018, on Nonesuch Records. The album comprises the pianist/composer's recordings of four preludes and one fugue from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, each followed by an After Bach piece written by Mehldau and inspired by its WTC mate. The album begins with Mehldau's own "Before Bach: Benediction" and ends with his "Prayer for Healing."
Pre-orders of After Bach are available now at iTunes and in the Nonesuch Store and include an instant download of the album track "After Bach: Rondo," which can be heard on Apple Music, Spotify and here:
As Mehldau's label mate Timo Andres says in his After Bach liner note, "As a professional organist, much of Bach's work took the form of improvisation, and during his lifetime it was the virtuosity and complexity of these improvisations for which he was most admired … Some three centuries after the fact, Brad Mehldau takes up this tradition and applies it to a frustratingly unknowable aspect of Bach's art."
Andres continues, "There have always been elements of Mehldau's style that recall Bach, especially his densely-woven voicing—but he's not striving to imitate or play dress-up. Rather, After Bach surveys their shared ground as keyboardists, improvisers, and composers, making implicit parallels explicit."
After Bach originated in a work Mehldau first performed in 2015—commissioned by Carnegie Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, The National Concert Hall, and Wigmore Hall—called Three Pieces After Bach.
Brad Mehldau's "After Bach" Due March 9 on Nonesuch Records
Brad Mehldau's After Bach is due March 9, 2018, on Nonesuch Records. The album comprises the pianist/composer's recordings of four preludes and one fugue from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, each followed by an After Bach piece written by Mehldau and inspired by its WTC mate. The album begins with Mehldau's own "Before Bach: Benediction" and ends with his "Prayer for Healing."
Pre-orders of After Bach are available now at iTunes and in the Nonesuch Store and include an instant download of the album track "After Bach: Rondo," which can be heard on Apple Music, Spotify and here:
As Mehldau's label mate Timo Andres says in his After Bach liner note, "As a professional organist, much of Bach's work took the form of improvisation, and during his lifetime it was the virtuosity and complexity of these improvisations for which he was most admired … Some three centuries after the fact, Brad Mehldau takes up this tradition and applies it to a frustratingly unknowable aspect of Bach's art."
Andres continues, "There have always been elements of Mehldau's style that recall Bach, especially his densely-woven voicing—but he's not striving to imitate or play dress-up. Rather, After Bach surveys their shared ground as keyboardists, improvisers, and composers, making implicit parallels explicit."
After Bach originated in a work Mehldau first performed in 2015—commissioned by Carnegie Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, The National Concert Hall, and Wigmore Hall—called Three Pieces After Bach.
Lady on the Bike—the debut album from cinematic electro-pop duo Ringdown, featuring Danni Lee Parpan and Pulitzer and Grammy winner Caroline Shaw—is out now. The album celebrates the feeling of possibility in myriad forms: the possibility of love; the possibility of creating connection and community in a world trying to pull those things apart; the possibility of making music in new ways. The songs were collaboratively written and recorded by the duo. New Body Electric members Leah Vautar and Aaron K Peterson perform on and help produce several songs; Sō Percussion is featured on a new version of Ringdown’s previously released single “Ghost.” Take a look inside in a vinyl unboxing video here.
An album comprising the first recordings of Steve Reich’s two latest works—Jacob’s Ladder (2023) and Traveler’s Prayer (2020)—is due July 11 on Nonesuch. Jacob's Ladder, performed by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Jaap van Zweden, and Synergy Vocals, was made during its October 2023 world premiere at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall. “Lovely and refreshing," says the New York Classical Review. "Superb." Traveler's Prayer, performed by Colin Currie Group and Synergy Vocals, was made at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall in 2023. "The tone of its score, from first note to last, is sustained sublimity," says the Los Angeles Times. The two pieces were first released earlier this year digitally and as part of the 27-disc box set Steve Reich Collected Works.