NMCのデビュー・ディスク・シリーズの最新作は、作曲家、指揮者、教師、芸術顧問など、現代音楽界の第一人者として活躍するリチャード・ベイカーの作品集が登場。本アルバムには、1994年から2022年までに作曲された室内楽作品が集成されており、いくつかの作品は、ベイカーと、1987年にバーミンガム市交響楽団の音楽家たちによって設立されたバーミンガム・コンテンポラリー・ミュージック・グループとの近年の密接な関係から生まれた作品です。
東京エムプラス

発売・販売元 提供資料 （2024/03/27）

This release offers an introduction to the music of British contemporary composer Richard Baker, featuring various performers with whom he has been associated. Baker was a student of Louis Andriessen, to whose music the title The Tyranny of Fun seems appropriate; "fun" is a word that could rarely be applied to Andriessen. Yet, not only that work but also Learning to Fly (sample the "Boisterous" movement) and some of the other pieces might indeed qualify as fun; Bakers angular rhythms can take on a humorous or lyrical guise that allows a Welsh inflection in Hwyl fawr ffrindiau. Is Baker a kinder, gentler Andriessen? The jury is out on that, but sample To Keep a True Lent, sung by the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge, where Bakers rhythmic idiom transfers effectively to the comfortable collegiate choral sound. Several pieces feature the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, for whom Bakers music is a specialty, and all the performers bring commitment and enthusiasm to the project. All the pieces except for the mysterious Angelus (2004) were newly recorded in 2022 and 2023. Recommended for those who enjoy the contemporary avant-garde, this album made classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2024. ~ James Manheim

Rovi