Back in stock: Modern Classical

Review: Tricatel presents a stunning gatefold vinyl release featuring Bertrand Burgalat’s lavish compositions for this series. Known for his sophisticated and genre-blurring approach to music, crafts a score that balances classic revue traditions with a fresh, contemporary sensibility. Marc Fitoussi, having worked with Burgalat on Les Apparences, recognised his ability to create authentic cabaret-style music reminiscent of legendary venues like Paradis Latin and Alcazar while also capturing the energy of modern nightlife. The result is a soundtrack that fluidly moves between vintage theatrical elegance and contemporary dancefloor charm, mirroring the series' exploration of performance and reinvention. The score's connection to the rich tradition of backstage musicals, from 42nd Street to Chorus Line is fully evident. Much like these classics, Ça, c'est Paris! follows a troupe striving to put on a show against all odds. Burgalat’s compositions encapsulate this spirit, infusing his signature harmonic complexity and inventive tonal shifts to bring Fitoussi’s vision to life. His music not only underscores the drama but also breathes new vitality into the time-honored genre.

Review: Lawrence Englsh's new album was born out of a commission by curator Jonathan Wilson to create a sound environment for the Naala Badu building at the Art Gallery of NSW. It is a deeply atmospheric album that explores the relationship between sound and architecture and reflects the building's design, with its name meaning "seeing water" in the Gadigal language. The piece was crafted with a collaborative spirit by incorporating contributions from a diverse group of artists including Amby Downs, Claire Rousay and Jim O'Rourke. The resulting composition blends ambient textures and long-form sound prompts that capture the essence of place as an evolving, subjective experience. It's a work that highlights the porous nature of sound, and as a standalone work also succeeds in sinking you in deep.

Review: Alice Sara Ott is a German-Japanese pianist and her new album finds her sinking herself down deep into the world of John Field, the creator of the beloved 'Nocturne' sound. The Nocturne is a widely cherished musical form yet its creator remains largely unknown today. An Irish composer who lived during Beethoven's time, Field's work profoundly influenced Chopin and generations of musicians since and with this album, Ott highlights Field's historical significance as well as offering up a standing album full of merit. It is a great way to get into the origins of the Nocturne."

Review: The 2002 film The Hours starred hefty Hollywood talents Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, and the original score was composed by no lesser titan of his industry than Philip Glass. It is a masterful work from the legendary minimal composer and is here presented across four sides of vinyl by the Nonesuch label. It has plenty of thick, lush strings and lots of tonal suspension with cool piano parts, plenty of heavily pregnant silences and cascading scales that all add plenty to the film itself as well as being a great standalone listen.

Review: To say there's a meditative quality to Golem Mecanique's third album would be like saying air is something we breathe. The nom de plume of French multi-instrumental Karen Jebane, the album title directly quotes the final comments made by Pier Paolo Pasolini in his last ever interview, given just days before his body was found on an Italian beach after being brutally murdered. "We are all in danger", he quipped. From what, or who, we are still trying to figure out, 50 years on. Siamo Tutti In Pericolo doesn't look to answer the great mystery of what happened to the great filmmaker and auteur. But it does look to feelings of tension, quiet unease, and opaque mystery for its incredibly atmospheric tomes. This is deep dive stuff, reliant on a combination of refrained notes, echoes, and sombre, spiritual voices inviting us to push through into some other state of consciousness. Whether that will shed any light on anything is, of course, the real question we need to answer.

Review: Mary Lattimore's standing as one of the foremost harpists in active service is without doubt at this stage, but even by her considerable reputation this record is a standout moment in a glittering career. Over the course of two years, the dedicated improviser committed herself to focused sessions and collaborated with an impressive cast of characters from The Cure's Lol Tolhurst to Slowdive's Rachel Goswell. The over-arching theme is one of the inescapable nature of change, as crystallised in the crumbling Croatian hotel Lattimore references in the album title. It goes without saying the musical results are achingly beautiful, nuanced and fathoms deep.

Review: Yumiko Morioka's Resonance was originally released in 1987 on Akira Ito's Green & Water imprint. Album, artist and label would all trifect to help along the enviro-ambient sound of which Ito was to become a part. For its quiescent but heartrending chamber pianos, Resonance was known for its use mostly in documentaries and as background music for spas, which hardly befitted the weight of Morioka's actual achievement at the time. By 1994, Morioka had moved to California, where she had shifted her focus to family life, unaware that Resonance had gained a new following outside Japan via online platforms. In 2017, when Morioka learned of this, she was recovering from a devastating California wildfire that destroyed her home and belongings. Despite the tragedy, she returned to Japan, worked in commercial music, and later opened a chocolate shop in Tokyo. Resonance, recorded on a Bosendorfer grand, blends improvisation with calm, introspective beauty, influenced by both Japanese environmental music and Western composers such as Erik Satie. The album was remastered in 2023, preserving its serene quality.

Review: Estonian contemporary classical musician Arvo Part is by now perhaps best known for his devastating opus 'Spiegel Im Spiegel'. But to focus solely on this ascendant piece would be to do a disservice to the best of his works, of which there is not only much, but also a personally idiosyncratic method that suggests genius. Mississippi Records expand on this elusive and fascinating musician's oeuvre, helping disseminate a new collection of renditions by Boston-based chamber orchestra A Far Cry. Part's music is ternary, and he is responsible for the use of the term "tintinnabular" in music theory: a far cry from the bell-related meaning of the term, tintinnabular music refers to a specific compositional style in which one hand arpeggiates the tonic triad (plays notes 1, 3 and 5), while the other hand ascends the remaining notes of the scale in stepwise motion. Decidedly minimalist, then, the versions of 'Silentium' and 'Vater Unser' in particular render Part's technique in full naked technicolour, with their thin strings building to gobsmacking, tearjerking heights. No wonder that, so famously, of his sparse compositions, Part had this to say: "I have nothing to say... It is dangerous to say anything, because if I've said it already in words there might be nothing left for my music."

Review: Recorded at the legendary Eglise du Saint-Esprit in Paris, Blue Veil is the very first time we've been given a record fully dedicated to the incredible solo cello work of Lucy Railton. A spectacularly talented composer who is a master of the world's most mournful-yet-beautiful instrument, this is as much of a heart-stopping performance as it is a concept work of art. In many ways, Blue Veil is an experiment in resonance. If it were synthesised, we might refer to it as drone, although by nature the label infers a level of dullness. Here, we're talking about the natural refrains of an orchestral sunrise, the ebb and flow of contemporary classical tides. We're invited in, hypnotised, lulled and then let go. Free to wander back into the world after a brief respite from its relentless pace.

Review: The music from Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize and 12-Oscar-winning film encompasses the original score by Gabriel Yared with the haunting vocals of Marta Sebestyen and Fred Astaire. It is a story which has successfully made its mark on every medium that counts a - a classic to beat all classics. It's a cathartic journey that explores identity, fidelity, and fate amid the chaos of World War II. Shot against the majestic backdrop of the Northern Sahara and Italy, Yared's score blends Hungarian folk tunes, baroque themes, and romantic orchestration and mirrors the emotion of the film's characters without relying on visuals. Period tracks by Fred Astaire, Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman complement the emotional depth of the story.