New releases last two weeks: Classical

Review: This beautifully presented box set gathers all five albums from Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoti's V.I.R.U.S series, a collaborative project spanning five albums originally released between 2002 and 2011. Disc one (Vrioon) sets the tone, with Sakamoto's beautiful (and frequently effects-laden) piano motifs rising above glitchy minimalist rhythms and experimental ambient soundscapes. The albums that follow offer subtle shifts in their collaborative sound whilst retaining the same core artistic approach, with the pair frequently alternating between poignant, slow-burn minimalism and emotive, mood-enhancing ambient maximalism. Throughout, the pair beautifully balance hard-wired electronic experimentalism with classical musicality.

Review: Swedish composer Ellen Arkbro's Nightclouds is a deeply introspective and romantic turn that collects five solo organ improvisations recorded across Europe in 2023-24. Departing from installation-based compositions, Nightclouds explores slow, chordal improvisations rich in texture and atmosphere while drawing on sacred music, ECM jazz and minimalism. Along the way, Arkbro creates immersive soundscapes that balance austerity and emotional depth while shifting between meditative stillness and modernist tension with standout recordings like 'Morningclouds' and two variations on the title track. Through meticulous mic placement and tonal clarity, Arkbro draws you in with the intimacy and vastness of her sonic world.

Review: While he may well be best-known for his nostalgic, synthesiser-powered Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan project, Gordon Chapman-Fox has also put out some fine music under his given name - not least 2023's ambient opus on Castles In Space's 'Subscription Library' offshoot. On Very Quiet Music To Be Played Very Loudly, Chapman-Fox delivers four expansive ambient soundscapes. He sets the tone with the Vangelis-esque synth suspense and spacey creep of 'Components', before opting for sustained, almost neo-classical sweeps and delay-laden electronic string sounds on 'Fringe'. 'Emphasis' is immersive and quietly picturesque, while closing cut 'Singular' is dark, moody and quietly paganistic - a kind of imaginary soundtrack to a 21st century folk-horror movie.

Review: The soundtrack for Risk of Rain 2's Seekers of the Storm, is here making its vinyl debut, and it's an edition fans won't want to miss. Composed by Chris Christodoulou, with a special contribution from Stavros Markonis, this release brings some atmospheric and powerful music to life on a stunning looking record. The vinyl itself is a visual treat, featuring a striking blue, white, dark green, sky blue, and black marbled design. This soundtrack is housed in a beautifully crafted gatefold sleeve with artwork by Daniele Giardini. Christodoulou's compositions delve into new, unexplored territories with a blend of intense and emotive pieces. The use of a seven-string guitar adds a new layer of depth to the music, delivering some of the most elaborate and heavy tracks ever written for the series. Markonis' contribution introduces a fresh sound, seamlessly integrating into the Risk of Rain universe while also bringing something unique to the table. The recent uptick in soundtracks released on vinyl have really shown that fans love connecting with the music of many movies and TV shows. Even if you may not know the series, this is one the best in recent weeks for you to enjoy.

Review: Ambre Ciel is a Montreal-based composer and singer known for her dreamy, spacious soundscapes. Drawing from impressionism, American minimalism and contemporary classical music, her work blends layered violins, piano and ethereal vocals in both English and French so is a sophisticated and stylish sound. Coming from a family of artists, she began with violin at six, later experimenting with pedals, loops and harmonies. Her debut album Still, There is the Sea marks a delicate yet bold entry into her sonic world and is a deeply personal, atmospheric journey shaped by strings, acoustic textures and voice. It's an imperfect beginning, as she calls it, but one brimming with intention and beauty.

Review: Originally released in 2015, this reissue returns to the stunning debut full-length from Canadian electroacoustic composer Sarah Davachi, who is rapidly becoming a big deal in the world of experimental sounds. Emerging from brief but acclaimed releases on labels like Important Records' Cassauna and Full Spectrum, this album marked her as a unique voice within the world of minimalist and experimental sound. Trained at Mills College, Davachi's work reflects a deep understanding of synthesis and acoustic instrumentation, with a focus on patience, atmosphere and tone over flashy modular theatrics. Rather than overwhelming the listener with density, Davachi builds a deep listening album full of impressive tracks. Vintage synths like the Buchla 200, EMS Synthi and Prophet 5 provide an enveloping tonal palette that reveal the composer's intent to create a more intimate, hybrid sonic language. The opening track 'heliotrope' unfolds like smoke rising into a high ceiling, shimmering with evolving harmonic detail. 'wood green' moves from near-silence to a radiant calm. An album of introspection and careful design in a world of maximalist electronics, a rare piece of compositional grace. Its return in reissue form feels not only deserved but necessary.

Review: Longfound Norweigan friends Erik Skodvin and Otto Totland pair as Deaf Center, a duo whose name plays cleverly on the notion of good hearing depending on a core of silence. Resurfacing from such nucleic muteness after five years, their new pair of extended pieces, Reverie, finds a disquiet daydream drawn from a rare live set transmitted in October 2024 at Morphine Raum, Berlin. Their first publication since 2019, it sees them in the fullest unconscious "zone", improvising, responding, encircling each other in real time. Smears of timestretched piano abound on 'Rev', while 'Erie' shoots for overtonal tension on an implied, rippling lakeshore. The music is at once gargantuan and contained, revolutionarily collapsing binaries of big and small.

Review: Deaf Center's debut LP gets a 20-year anniversary reissue on CD, pairing the original 2005 album with 20 minutes of unreleased material from the same sessions. Originally out on Type, Pale Ravine marked the first full-length by Erik K Skodvin and Otto A Totland, who've since carved solo paths via Sonic Pieces. Drifting between chamber composition, shadowy electronics and the hiss of old tape, the record draws on their Norwegian roots and personal family histories. Grainy textures, ghostly pianos and wind-blown field recordings conjure a mood somewhere between forgotten reels of silent film and weather-worn Nordic folklore.

Review: Brian Eno's career has always been about explorationiof sound, technology and the emotional power of music. After pioneering ambient music, Eno has consistently sought out new ways to blend different genres and voices and his latest collaboration with Beatie Wolfe continues this tradition. Wolfe, a British-American artist with an innovative approach to music and activism, complements Eno's atmospheric world with her emotive, alternative vocals. Their work, recorded in London, moves seamlessly from the meditative to the experimental, with tracks like 'Big Empty Country' offering stark contrasts between the brightness of the day and the shadows of the night. This release is not only a nod to Eno's sonic experimentation but also a testament to his lasting influence as an artist who always seeks to connect art with broader societal issues, especially the environment.

Review: Brian Eno, a towering figure in ambient music and a master of sonic landscapes, has shaped the contours of modern music through his production collaborations with iconic artists like David Bowie, Talking Heads and U2. His latest work with Beatie Wolfe, a conceptual artist from Los Angeles, encapsulates a career of endless reinvention. Recorded in London, the collaboration weaves together the worlds of alternative vocals and ambient soundscapes. 'Big Empty Country' serves as a vivid contrast between light and darkiits day and night versions embodying the very essence of Eno's immersive, evolving sound. Much like his work as part of Roxy Music and beyond, this release is both forward-thinking and introspective, grounded in a shared commitment to environmentalism and artistic exploration. It's a meditation on space, sound and feelingian unbroken thread in Eno's enduring legacy of artistic expression.

Review: Brian Eno, legendary master of ambient music and Beatie Wolfe, the LA-based conceptual artist known for her innovative blend of the physical and digital, unite for a collaborative sonic exploration. Throughout 2024, the two artists recorded material that bridges the boundary between deeply personal emotions and universal experiences, creating an evocative soundscape. The work pulses with the distinctive energy of Eno's ambient prowess, while Wolfe's haunting vocals add a layer of intimacy. On tracks like 'Milky Sleep' and 'Hopelessly At Ease', the listener is swept into a dreamlike state where time feels suspended. These moments of calm are balanced by the more urgent, yet still deeply meditative, 'Suddenly', which sways between serenity and tension. The delicate interplay between light and shadow becomes even more palpable on 'A Ceiling and Lifeboat', where the quiet sense of stillness gives way to a profound sense of rebirth. There's a sense of movement throughout the releaseiparticularly on 'Breath March', where rhythm and texture converge with palpable energy. Eno's atmospheric layers create space for Wolfe's voice to become a thread, guiding the listener through these reflective, almost sacred-feeling sonic spaces, where every note invites introspection and feeling.

Review: Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe join forces on a dual release infusing two distinct musical visions rooted in shared environmental concern. Their new joint release unfolds across two sides, with Luminal offering a vocal-led collection leaning into alt-pop ambiances and timbres, before Lateral rears itself in counterpart as a seamless ambient composition, making up a study in contrast and connection. Recorded in London, the project reflects Eno's lifelong exploration of mood and atmosphere, alongside Wolfe's ongoing push to blur the lines of digital innovation and tactile experience. The project builds the activist art works of Wolfe, a British-American concept artist based in Los Angeles, named by WIRED as one of "22 people changing the world," and tracks the expression of music beyond language or form.

Review: Mississippi Recs provide yet another delta stream's worth of Ethio musics by nun and composer Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, presenting a remarkable body of work shaped by faith, solitude, and a deep reverence for sound. First self-released in 1972 and now enlarged over two formerly unheard piano pieces, this new curatorial crimp reveals Emahoy's profound engagement with the liturgical traditions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church: all laid to record across sacred spaces in Jerusalem, they hear her play piano, harmonium and organ, with tactful piano fingers assuring a chiming touch on 'Ave Maria' and 'Essay on Mahlet', both religious chants heard to echo against ancient stone. Also inside are two compositions from the near-lost album Der Sang Des Meeres (1963), salvaged from obscurity and restored here with equal reverence.

Review: Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru's deeply spiritual music has long remained a hidden gem and this release offers a rare chance to experience her most poignant works. Recorded in churches across Jerusalem, her performances on piano, harmonium and pipe organ transcend genre that blends Ethiopian Orthodox liturgy with the technical sophistication of her classical training. There's a serenity to these pieces, particularly in 'Ave Maria,' where her piano's crystalline chimes fill the sacred spaces, while 'Spring Ode - Meskerem' brings new life to familiar melodies, played through the rich drones of the harmonium. The collection moves from meditative to dramatic, with 'Essay on Mahlet' offering a slow, introspective journey as Emahoy translates the free verse of Orthodox liturgy into a delicate piano composition. The inclusion of 'The Storm' provides a moment of intense contrast, its stormy narrative unfolding through sharp, thunderous piano lines. Emahoy's ability to blend devotional themes with emotional depth is most apparent in 'Via Dolorosa,' where the music mirrors the weight of the stations of the cross with breathtaking gravity. Her music, though niche, stands out for its seamless fusion of Ethiopian spirituality with the grand traditions of Western classical music, feeling entirely distinct in its expression. The recordings, originally made in 1972, show a stark simplicity and restrained power that speaks directly to the soul. It's a rare treasure and an essential contribution to the world of spiritual music.

Review: Some 13 years have now passed since Mississippi Records started reissuing private press albums by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, an Ethiopian Orthodox nun, pianist and composer whose naturally religious-inspired works frequently took spiritual music to fascinating new places. Here the label turns its attention to 1972's Church of Kidane Mehret, notable not only for being recorded live in various churches across Jerusalem, but also for the use of harmonium and pipe organ as well as Emehoy's beloved piano. The original album, which in line with her other album features intricate and mood-enhancing solo translations of orthodox liturgies, has here been expanded via the inclusion of two further piano pieces from 1963's ultra-rare Der Sang Des Reeres - a set of which only 50 copies were ever produced.

Review: Producer and guitarist Yutaka Hirasaka enjoyed a peaceful career pitstop with Breath, one of many to top up the beatsmith and cassette artist's now towering discography, and which now comes released on vinyl for the first time. Hirasaka's approach to music covers ambient, beat-driven landscapes, a format which has led him both to immersive live performance work and commercial ends. The homely aesthetic of Hirasaka's sound is heard once more on the wordless, texturally unperturbed Breath, which clears our airways far better than any shop-bought nostrum ever could, be it via the deconstructed guitar pan-plays of 'Orion' or the marzipan piano maunders of 'Amaretto'.

Review: The Expanded Edition of Alan Howarth's They Live brings new life to the cult classic 1988 film's soundtrack. Howarth is well respected, not least for his collaborations with John Carpenter, and here captures the film's eerie tension and anti-consumerist themes with moody synths, bluesy motifs and minimalist sound design that is always hugely evocative. This expanded edition offers remastered audio and additional cues that heighten the mood and deepen the atmosphere. The music's hypnotic, slow-burning energy perfectly mirrors the paranoia and grit of the movie, so it's a landmark score in sci-fi and horror soundtracks.

Review: Jameszoo aka Mitchel van Dinther returns with a cinematic journey blending jazz and contemporary classical. Written for Dutch ensemble Asko Schonberg, percussion group HIIIT, and Jameszoo's trio, Music for 17 Musicians explores themes from his 2022 work Blind. Central is a self-governing player piano controlled by custom algorithms creating autonomous musical decisions which add a unique, experimental edge. The music reflects van Dinther's fascination with detaching composer identity to invite active, unbiased listening. It is packed with rich orchestration and smart electronic interplay that nods to Steve Reich's classic while pushing onto new frontiers.

Review: You don't sell 5.27 million copies of anything without doing something right. Winner of the E3 Game Critics award for Best Platform Game in 1999, to name just one of countless nominations and awards, Donkey Kong 64 was one of the best loved titles on the iconic Nintendo 64, and represented two years of programming, coding and designing on the part of legendary software house, Rare. Amazingly, considering this was almost three decades ago and cartridge-based titles are usually regarded as the stronghold of chip music, Grant Kirkhope's score is anything but and still sounds fresh. From aptly titled opener, 'DK Rap', to the meandering jazz closer 'Candy Kong', featuring David Leo Kemp on sax, via 'Angry Aztec' and its Indiana Jones vibe, and the John Williams-esque 'Mine Cart', it's all so enjoyable.

Review: Dominique Baumard's 2025 detective comedy drama, Les Regles de l'art, is a chuckle-inducing exploration of art theft and scandal, reenacting a legendary pilfering of paintings from the Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris in 2010. The plot centres on the trio of thieves who stole €100 million worth of works of art by Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani; they were sentenced to prison, but the paintings were never found. Now the OST by soundtrack artists Lionel LimiNana (more known for his chanson-adjacent project The LimiNanas) and David Menke (more associated with experimental electronica) surfaces. An intermixing of suspenseful legato syntheses and humoured pizzicati help them nail an eternal artistic conundrum - the tradeoff between authenticity of artifice.

Review: Marking the beginning of Austro-Bohemian romantic-era classical composer Mahler's deep engagement with themes of resurrection and transcendence, Symphony No. 2 stands as his first fully personal statement in the form. Claudio Abbado's recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra remains one of the most striking interpretations available; spanning the breadth of Mahler's vision, from the luminous serenity of the softer passages to the thunderous force of its climaxes. This new edition revisits the original four-track tapes, offering a freshly remixed and recut version.

Review: The legendary film composer is back with a reissue of one of his most haunting and suspenseful i a perfect canvas for Morricone's groundbreaking score. Morricone's contribution to the thriller genre remains unparalleled, blending haunting lyricism with avant-garde experimentation. This score is no exception. From the eerie waltz of the main title, performed by the ethereal Edda Dell'Orso, to the unsettling dissonance that creeps beneath the surface, every note is designed to disturb and captivate. The music mirrors the film's dark narrative of a journalist trapped inside his own lifeless body, racing against time to solve a chilling conspiracy. Originally intended for a vinyl release in 1971, the full score was shelved until a limited CD surfaced in 1998, followed by an expanded 2009 edition that quickly sold out. This newly remastered release by Chris Malone is a great way to experience Morricone's work, offering a pristine listening experience for both avid collectors and newcomers. Accompanied by insightful liner notes from Miguel Angel OrdoNez, it stands as a great addition to any film score collection.

Review: Daniel O Sullivan, known as a producer for the likes of Tim Burgess and for his astounding art pop band Grumbling Fur, makes his first foray into classically informed chamber music. With some sort of superhuman genius mind, the unassuming Mancunian wrote these arrangements for a 14-piece ensemble and nailed it. 'Golden Verses' is stately, pastoral, yet menacing. Another highlight, 'Painting Rose' is some of the most psychedelic classical music you'll ever hear. So, if you're looking for chamber music that spans eras, genres and takes you on a transcendent journey, then look no further.

Review: Pianist Rachel Grimes is Rachel's and their sophomore album Music for Egon Schiele was originally released in 1996 on Quarterstick Records as a live score for a theatrical production about the titular Austrian painter. The performance of it was premiered in 1995 by Chicago's Itinerant Theater Guild with Grimes and two string players. The music is intimate and emotionally rich material that is stripped down to chamber pieces that rise and fall with real intensity. More focused than their debut Handwriting, this album blends melancholy, romance and beauty into a deeply affecting narrative that lingers long after the final note.

Review: Secret Garden is the Norwegian-Irish duo of Rolf Lovland and violinist Fionnuala Sherry and here they celebrate the 30th anniversary of their iconic debut, Songs from a Secret Garden. First released in 1995, the album won over global audiences with its blend of classical and folk, laced with Celtic and Norwegian emotion and some subtle new age undertones. It features the Eurovision-winning track 'Nocturne', which helped launch the duo into international acclaim. Elsewhere, there are whimsical melodies, ancient flutes, Lord of the Rings style Middle Age soundscapes, heartfelt emotions and plenty of clean, serene and timeless sounds that still offer great catharsis three decades on.

Review: SoiSong, the collaborative project of Ivan Pavlov (CoH) and Brit industrial music royalty Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson (Throbbing Gristle, Coil), was a brief but enduring exploration of electronica's least charted realms. Coming to in 2007, the duo fused Pavlov's raw digital landscapes and Christopherson's dark, whimsical touch, bringing a bold debut and stark break from convention, blending artificial vocals with live drums, jazz noir with tropical textures, and synthetic sounds. The boundaries of genre are brushed up against, with tracks like 'Dtorumi' and 'J3z' pushing the limits of post-90s electronic experimentation. A new mix of 'Lom Tum Lai Kwee', meanwhile, adds a hallucinatory grandeur, while the closer, 'Ti-Di-Ti Naoo', evokes transformations from rehearsal to performance.

Review: Mark Springer - long a restless force in post-punk, free jazz and modern composition - joins Neil Tennant for a cool-headed meeting of minds, fusing Springer's jagged piano suites with Tennant's metrical lyricism and raw delivery. The pair orbit very different creative poles: Springer, known for his time in London punk funksters Rip, Rig and Panic, often works in extremes; whereas Tennant brings a crisped, measured sensibility honed over decades of pop songcraft. Here they land somewhere unexpected, in a padded set of chamber-style pieces for piano, quartet and quintet, wrapped in a dry mist of vocals trading in reflection, dislocation and dream logic.

Review: Southend's These New Puritans have a rare ability to create goosebump-inducing music. A big part of is is Jack Barnett's voice, which is truly up there with the likes of Thom Yorke and Hayden Thorpe's in terms of being able to tug at the heartstrings and create grandiose spellbinding atmospheres. Plus, the arrangements that accompany it are of elite level and taste. This new album is their fifth studio album since forming in 2006 and offers plenty in the way of diversity. 'A Season In Hell' is a wild mix of industrial, organ music, trip-hop and choir sounds. Elsewhere, 'Bells' is less intense and let's the atmosphere form gradually and luxuriously. If you want a record to properly blow your socks off, let it be this.

Review: If Inside the Rose, the fourth album from These New Puritans, was a long-winded production process - spanning six years of work - but saw the Essex outfit return with immediate force, the follow up is much more of a slow-burner at the consumption end. It's a stranger, more experimental and, arguably, visionary example of what these guys do best. And it couldn't feel more engrossing. Deep, immersive, almost ceremonial, powerfully uplifting ('Bells' is particularly life-affirming stuff), it saturates you in gorgeous emotional indie-choral-chimes, and sucks you into these gripping narratives that fall somewhere between swooning electronic, drummy alternative rock and a place which is really only These New Puritans.

Review: The Eyes Wide Shut soundtrack was released in 1999 and weaves together haunting classical pieces, jazz standards and eerie original compositions by Jocelyn Pook. Her track 'Masked Ball' stands out as a chilling centrepiece that add to the film's surreal and unsettling mood. The inclusion of Chris Isaak's sultry 'Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing' and Shostakovich's haunting 'Waltz 2' deepens the psychological tension. The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media so was essential to the film's mysterious atmosphere. Pook's work, paired with Ligeti, Liszt and jazz legends still stands up as a great mix of seduction and suspense.

Review: One of the flagship albums by Aaron Funk aka. Venetian Snares (alongside Songs About Cats, Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006, Winnipeg Is A Frozen Shithole and The Chocolate Wheelchair Album), Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett marks itself out in his sonography as a breakcore album which, aside from its lobotomising breaks, features mostly classical strings and brass. Gloomy and melancholic, the album's title translates from Hungarian to "Born Under A Bad Star", i.e. "cursed from birth", and the record transmits a superstitious chain of influence, with track 3 covering Budapest composer Rezso Seress' 'Gloomy Sunday', which was said to have inspired the suicide of the original musician's own girlfriend. Renditions of Mahler, Stravinsky, Paganini, Prokofiev and Edward Elgar all follow in morose but energetic fashion, demonstrating the Canadian IDM artist's quirkily sized collection of drill bits.