Dorothy Hindman: Tightly Wound (Innova)

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2261721

Fueled by a unique blend of punk, postmodern, and spectral techniques, Dorothy Hindman’s music sings and screams, breathes and howls, leaving a lasting impression like none other. Her second solo release, Tightly Wound, a double album showcasing her music for strings, stakes a solid claim for her position as one of the more fearless voices in chamber music today. Hindman’s works have a raw power — such as Heroic Measures, Taut and Needlepoint, three perspectives on the ravages of cancer, or Setting Century, an elegy on how losing a parent clarifies our own mortality. Other pieces are lighter in substance but no less personal: Time Management on the impossibility of balancing marriage, children and career, Monumenti and centro on the challenges of life, language, and customs in a different country, and Sound|Water on climate change and sea level rise in her native Miami. Over a two-decade span of works, Hindman’s driving rhythms, meticulous development, and sparkling timbral imagination show her commitment to connecting music and life to a thrilling degree. Enter with caution.

 Tightly Wound features a string of stellar performers, including cellist Craig Hultgren, guitarist Paul Bowman, double bassist Robert Black, PULSE, Corona Guitar Kvartet, Amernet String Quartet, Duo 46, and many more.

 The album is the winner of a Gold Medal at the 2017 Global Music Awards.

 DOROTHY HINDMAN’s music has been described as “bright with energy and a lilting lyricism” (New York Classical Review), “dramatic, highly strung” (Fanfare), “varied, utterly rich and sung with purpose and heart” (Huffington Post), “powerful and skillfully conceived” (The Miami Herald), “music of terrific romantic gesture” (The Buffalo News) and “one of the hopes of the present chamber music” (Kulturni Magazin UNI). She is Associate Professor of Composition at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami, Florida.

Juraj Kojs: Ceaseless Beauty (Centaur) features the Deering Estate Chamber Ensemble and Kimberly Soby, soprano.

Four pieces presented on this CD explore the musical sensitivities inspired by the Slovakian folk music and nature. In the mountains and valleys, the daily and magical have accompanied generations of my ancestors in their paths through life. The music echoes their longings, their joys and their meditations. Original poems accompany the music.

“…surprise of the year… Common features of all pieces is their surprising freshness and carefully built and carefully timed expressivity, precisely framed dynamic, tempo and harmonic territories…The composer writes seemingly in traditional spirit, however, his intelligent musical thinking is thoroughly contemporary…Juraj Kojs uniquely combines Slovak folk music reminiscences with the Central-European skepticism and American straightforwardness….above all, he doesn’t take himself dead seriously…” Jozef Červenka, Ars Musica, Radio Devin.

JURAJ KOJS (Slovakia/USA). Miami New Times described his muscle-powered multimedia Neraissance as “striking and unforgettable,” MiamiArtzine called his Signals “enthralling and immersive,” and Miami Herald praised his Bang for the Train as “the most profound…unexpected and enjoyable.”

Kojs’s commissions for acoustic, electroacoustic, multimedia and installation pieces include Meet the Composer, Harvestworks New York, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Deering Estate, Miami Light Project, Miami Theater Center and MDC Live Arts. His works received awards at Europe—A Sound Panorama, Miami New Times Best Off Award, Eastman Electroacoustic Composition and Performance Competition and the Digital Art Award. His research articles are published in Organized Sound, Leonardo Music Journal, Computer Music Journal and Journal of New Music Research. Kojs directs Foundation for Emerging Technologies and Arts (FETA) and teaches at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.

With the support of Foundation of Emerging Technologies and Arts, Harold Golen Gallery and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.