This new release from LAWO Classics features recordings of works bycontemporary composers Rolf Wallin, Klaus Lang and Richard Barrett,performed here by Norweigan contemporary music ensemble CikadaSeven Disobediences is my answer to the tradition of character pieces for piano, such as Debussy's Preludes and Grieg's Lyric Pieces; short, relatively simple but concise miniatures with a motto, and usually with one prevalent sentiment--like a musical short story. The title of each of the seven pieces is an imperative consisting of four letters: Seek! Push! Lean! Etc - Rolf Wallin.
Parthenon, or the construction of beauty. In my work as a composer, the twomain infuences were the Greek and the Japanese tradition of art and thought.Both traditions found ways of representing their world views in great pieces ofarchitecture. Architecture mirrors a world view. Parthenon is refecting basicassumptions of Greek aesthetics. 'Parthenon' is something like a photographicnegative of the Greek structure: In the Greek frieze, marble is used to represent ever changing life; my piece uses the most ephemeral material - sound - to represent architecture. - Klaus Lang.
One of the highlights of my compositional activity at the beginning of the 21stcentury was my collaboration with Cikada and Christian Eggen, which culminated in several runs of performances, and a CD recording, of the extended composition DARK MATTER, a collaboration also with installation artist Per Inge Bjorlo and the Elision Ensemble from Australia. The three pieces recorded here were written for Cikada and performed several times as a triptych. The performance at Huddersfeld was particularly memorable. - Richard Barrett
the whole package adds up to an attractive seventy-minute programme of gripping new music. [�] I fervently commend Klaus Lang's magisterial Parthenon to all-comers. � MusicWeb International
