Release Date: 28 April 2023
Label: Neos
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 4260063122262
Genres: Classical Contemporary Classical
Description
"This album is a partial survey of the vocal works of the generation of composers born in the 1950s or 1960s and immersed in a European scene that was embracing a more confident aesthetic pluralism. In their different ways, these composers all manage to reconcile the natural lyricism of the voice with the mid-century rejection of the recent historical burdens of that same lyricism.
The voice, here, seems to sing across time. It pivots to deliver echoes of Renaissance polyphony one moment, to usher in the future with other-worldly sounds the next, to conjure up the intimacy of a whisper in an ear and then deliver the full drama of an impassioned bel canto cry. This is what excites me. The voice is fully embodied, connected and integrated within its actual history and its potential legacy." - Juliet Fraser
Soprano Juliet Fraser specialises in the gnarly edges of contemporary classical music. Internationally recognised as a committed interpreter of new music, Juliet regularly appears as a guest soloist with renowned ensembles, as a duo with pianist Mark Knoop, or in solo programmes for voice and electronics. She also remains a core member of EXAUDI vocal ensemble, which she co-founded with composer and conductor James Weeks in 2002.
Her discography spans Renaissance polyphony, madrigals old and new with EXAUDI, fresh interpretations of Morton Feldman's Three Voices and Milton Babbitt's Philomel, and brand-new solo works written for her. She has delivered masterclasses or short courses and is also active as a writer and speaker. She is the founder and artistic director of the eavesdropping festival in London.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM:
"What of Words and What of Song [...] provides a perfect showcase for Fraser's gifts as an interpreter – not only her technical mastery, but also her seemingly instinctive ability to inhabit the musical worlds of stylistically very different composers with total conviction and understanding" – The Guardian (4 STARS)
"At a difficult time for UK new music...what a welcome relief this album is, the engrossing solo debut by Juliet Fraser, one of England's premiere contemporary musicians. All the better that it opens with music as uncompromisingly out-there as Rebecca Saunders's O." – Gramophone
Tracklisting
Claude Lenners, Noise Watchers Unlimited Ensemble
Munchener Kammerorchester, Ilan Volkov, Jessica Niles, Tobias Vogelmann
Tobias Eduard Schick
Cuarteto Ornati
Festival Strings Lucerne Chamber Players
Klara Tomljanovic, Alberto Carretero, Marton Illes, Vito Zuraj, Steingrimur Rohloff, Nikolaus Brass, Detlef Heusinger
Ensemble Musikfabrik, Carl Rosman, Patrick Stadler
lovemusic & Santiago Diez Fischer
Juliet Fraser
