To the Rising Moon is Stephan Micus’ 26th solo album for ECM. It features instruments from Colombia, India, Xinjiang (China), Bavaria, Cambodia, Egypt and Borneo, but taking centre stage is the Colombian tiple, slightly smaller than an acoustic guitar. The sunny plucked sound of the tiples alternates with darker bowed strings which bring a more meditative mood. It’s only in the final track, "To the Rising Moon", that the two worlds of the plucked tiples and bowed strings finally come together. It’s like a hymn to something that is eternally up there in the night sky, something consistent while there is so much turbulence in the world below. Once again, Stephan Micus takes us on a unique musical journey to places unknown that couldn’t have been created or played by anyone else.

The album 1996 contains 12 pieces arranged for violin (Everton Nelson, David Nadien, or Barry Finclair), cello (Jaques Morelenbaum), and piano (Ryuichi Sakamoto), including both new compositions and music used in the soundtracks to The Last Emperor, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Sheltering Sky, and High Heels. The music is for the most part restrained and reflective, as Sakamoto makes use of the contrasting timbres of the chamber instrumentation, mixing melodic and rhythmic effects soothingly (the exceptions being the more quick-moving "M.A.Y. in the Backyard" and "1919," which uses a barely audible voice and staccato playing to stirring effect).

The Essential Philip Glass is a spectacularly comprehensive, deeply hypnotic, and historically monumental modern classical anthology masterfully surveying the defining Masterworks of the legendary American composer and minimalist pioneer Philip Glass, released in 2002 by the prestigious Sony Classical label. Spanning nearly 75 minutes across 13 brilliantly curated masterpieces, this high-fidelity archival document captures the absolute creative peak of Glass's revolutionary compositional architecture. Renowned for his complex interlocking rhythmic patterns, shifting modal geometries, and cascading arpeggios, Glass commands the vanguard of 20th-century avant-garde music. The compilation expertly structures a breathtaking journey through his most celebrated operatic triumphs, cinematic scores, and intimate solo frameworks. Listeners are treated to the soaring vocal tapestries of Lightning and Changing Opinion from "Songs From Liquid Days," the haunting saxophone textures of Façades, and monumental extracts from his historic portrait opera trilogy—including the driving choral forces of Satyagraha, the ancient brass-led majesty of Akhnaten, and the experimental rhythmic pulses of Einstein On The Beach. Concluding with the stark acoustic emotionalism of Metamorphosis Four and the brilliant, swirling strings of Closing, this definitive collection stands as a mandatory cornerstone and a prized collector's treasure for global purists of modern minimalism, elite avant-garde history, and essential contemporary classical art.

Arvo Pärt: Berliner Messe, Magnificat Antiphons and other works is a profoundly spiritual, luminous, and masterfully executed definitive recording of the Estonian master's holy minimalist sacred monuments, performed by the world-renowned choir Polyphony under the exquisite direction of conductor Stephen Layton, released in 2014 on the prestigious Hyperion label. Spanning over 73 minutes across 25 meticulously structured movements, this high-fidelity archive captures the ultimate vocal precision required to interpret Pärt's signature tintinnabuli style—a compositional method mimicking the ringing of bells. Layton guides the ensemble through these intensely quiet, meditative sonic landscapes with breathtaking control, allowing the vast silences and complex vocal overtones to bloom into brilliant geometric clarity. Organ virtuoso Andrew Lucas adds an immense, majestic foundation on the soaring structural pillars of the Berliner Messe and the massive, evolving organ solo masterpiece Annum Per Annum. From the cascading polyphonic layers of the 7 Magnificat-Antiphonen to the dark, simmering depths of De Profundis, the recording balances pristine acoustic space with intimate, absolute control of intonation. Exceptionally preserved in immaculate lossless audio quality with full booklet artwork scans, this magnificent Hyperion release stands as a mandatory cornerstone and an essential treasure for global purists of modern sacred classical music, definitive choral art, and avant-garde spiritual minimalism.

Music For Museum Gift Shops by Lullatone is a beautifully understated ambient piano collection that captures the quiet emotional details of everyday life through delicate minimalist compositions. Released in 2019 as a self-released project, the double album presents a large selection of intimate piano pieces inspired by fleeting moments, nostalgic memories, seasonal imagery, and gentle human experiences. Known for their soft and comforting sound design, Lullatone creates a warm sonic atmosphere filled with simplicity, calmness, and subtle emotional depth. Each composition feels like a small musical snapshot, often accompanied by poetic titles that enhance the reflective mood of the album. The stripped-down piano arrangements emphasize melody and emotional texture over complexity, making the album ideal for relaxation, studying, reading, or peaceful background listening. Across both discs, the music maintains a consistent sense of warmth and innocence while exploring themes of memory, nature, childhood, and quiet introspection. Music For Museum Gift Shops stands as one of Lullatone’s most immersive and emotionally resonant releases, offering listeners a comforting and deeply personal ambient experience.

Division By Zero is an electronic and synth-driven album by File Not Found, released in 2005 on Etoile Records. The record explores a cold, minimal aesthetic built around precise programming, restrained melodies, and atmospheric electronic textures. Across its runtime, the album moves between sparse electro structures and more melodic synth-pop moments, maintaining a consistent futuristic and slightly detached tone. The production emphasizes clarity and repetition, with rhythmic elements often taking priority over dense harmonic layering. Tracks such as “Gated,” “No, Nothing, Never,” and “Division By Zero” highlight the project’s focus on minimal composition and conceptual electronic sound design. The album’s overall mood blends introspection with digital sterility, reflecting themes of isolation, systems, and abstraction through a clean and controlled sonic palette typical of mid-2000s minimal electro and synth-pop

The hook for this terrific recording of three of Steve Reich's most attractive works is the use of alternate versions of the several pieces that differ from the original recordings on Nonesuch. This recording has Reich's imprimatur; he enthusiastically recommends the performances in a program note. The most radical departure from the original version is Piano Counterpoint, Vincent Corver's arrangement of Six Pianos for a single live pianist with the other five parts prerecorded. This allows the piece to fit nicely into Reich's "Counterpoint" series, which includes Vermont Counterpoint for flutes and New York Counterpoint for clarinets. Corver also speeds up the tempo so the piece has an even more propulsive aural energy, although in live performance it's hard to beat the visceral excitement of six pianists on-stage. The London Steve Reich Ensemble version of the Triple Quartet, unlike the Kronos Quartet's premiere recording, uses three live quartets, and is one of three performance options that Reich specified in the score, the third being an orchestral version with 36 players. This is the first commercial recording of this version.

It’s often said that the distilled essence of composers can be heard in their string quartets. And so it is with Glass, whose quartets here show a craftsman of considerable invention. String Quartet No. 6 begins as a bustling burst of dense energy, its second movement beautifully meandering, rich, and complex. The single-movement String Quartet No. 7 is almost Beethovenian in its restless questioning. Arranged for string quartet (with two violas), the Saxophone Quartet is warmly scored and yet shows Glass at his most forensic, with each bar stunningly sculpted.

In 2001, Philip Glass composed the music for the film Naqoyqatsi: Life as War. It was the last film in a trilogy by director Godfrey Reggio that featured only images and music. When the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra invited Glass to be a creative director for its Boundless Series during the 2011-12 season, Glass thought of his cello concerto and its possible life beyond film. The CSO commissioned the Cello Concerto No.2 - Naqoyqatsi and gave the composer the opportunity to have it reborn as a proper concerto. The resulting recording is drawn from the live performances. This dynamic seven-movement work is conducted here by long-time Glass champion Dennis Russell Davies with soloist Matt Haimovitz.

Bill Frisell, Kenny Wollesen, and Carol Emanuel are The Gnostic Trio and their unique blend of minimalism, early music, and jazz has resulted in some of the loveliest music Zorn has ever created. Sing Me Now Asleep is their first CD in over five years and not surprisingly it explores some unexpected new directions - notably two ambient-influenced pieces in the spirit of Zorn's Absinthe and Redbird, and a dramatic long form composition in the style of his cinematic file card works. Enhanced by the moody electronics of Ikue Mori on one hypnotic track, this ninth CD in the legacy of The Gnostic Trio is their most gentle and soothing to date, and heralds a striking new musical direction for this beloved super group.

Piano is Philip Glass’ primary instrument (he also studied violin and flute); he composes at the keyboard. With its seemingly contradictory elements of lyricism and percussiveness, it is in some ways the ideal medium for Glass’ musical language. With its deep roots in tradition (spanning the Classical, Romantic and Modern eras), the instrument embodies the composer’s desire to merge new ideas with classic forms. It is perhaps via piano (and, by extension, keyboard) that performers and listeners can make the most direct and personal contact with Glass’ musical genius. Nicolas Horvath is an unusual artist with an unconventional résumé. He began his music studies at the Académie de Musique Prince Rainier III de Monaco, and at the age 16, he caught the attention of the American conductor Lawrence Foster who helped him to secure a three-year scholarship from the Princess Grace Foundation in order to further his studies. His mentors include a number of distinguished international pianists. Known for his boundary-less musical explorations, Horvath is an enthusiastic promoter of contemporary music. He has commissioned numerous works and collaborated with leading contemporary composers from around the world including Philip Glass.

On October 19, 1999, Nonesuch Records released The John Adams Earbox, a 10-CD box set retrospective, representing nearly all of John Adams’s recorded output for the label. The set includes all of the composer’s major works with which Adams has redefined contemporary classical music over the previous two decades. All recordings on The John Adams Earbox were supervised by the composer, and many were conducted or performed by Adams as well. All but four works on the Earbox were originally released on Nonesuch as first recordings. The John Adams Earbox includes examples from every phase of Adams’s career, from his earliest orchestral pieces such as Grand Pianola Music (1982), Harmonielehre (1985), and Harmonium (1980), to the widely hailed operas Nixon in China (1985-86) and The Death of Klinghoffer (1990-91), to works of this decade including Chamber Symphony (1992), Violin Concerto (1993), John’s Book of Alleged Dances (written for Kronos Quartet in 1994), Gnarly Buttons (1995) and the 1995 stagework I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky.

The opening moments of this seminal disc encapsulate Bryars in a nutshell: restrained yet so full of life. A murky prologue drags us through reverberant waters, never quite breaking the waves of percussion above. Like the tides, sustained tones caress the coasts of our attention with invisible rhythm. If one were to record a wind chime, slow it down to a languid crawl, and submerge it in a tank, and if we were outside that tank with our ears pressed against the glass, straining to feel the vibrations with every inch our bodies, we might approach an analogous sound. Despite the lack of discernable melody, the mood is thick, fading into the silence whence it came.

Orange Mountain Music presents this new limited edition 11 disc boxed set - The Symphonies by Philip Glass. This collection features conductor Dennis Russell Davies who has arranged the commission of nine of ten Glass symphonies, leading the orchestras over which he has presided during the past 15 years including the Bruckner Orchester Linz, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel, and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. This collection is the fruit of a 20 year collaboration between Glass and Davies and showcases a wide variety within this surprising body of work by Glass.

Since their first encounter in May 2011, Lavinia Meijer has worked with some frequency with Philip Glass, even though he has never written solo works specifically for the harp. However, many of his piano works and piano transcriptions, after minor adjustments, prove to be well suited to the modern pedal harp. Initially, Lavinia Meijer added Glass's five movement Metamorphosis to her repertoire, on the instigation of the undersigned, the Amsterdam gallery owner Robert Malasch and the American composer himself. After a first and successful performance (in the composer's presence) in the Amsterdam 'pop temple' The Melkweg, a first official recording was made for Channel Classics in June 2011 in the Dutch town of Schiedam. Since this recording was exclusively intended for a brief national marketing campaign, it has now been followed up by this complete Glass CD for international distribution. Lavinia Meijer is recognized worldwide as one of the most successful rising stars. Besides performing the standard harp repertoire Lavinia Meijer is very keen on playing modern music.