Vykintas Baltakas:
(co)ro(na) for ensemble
Rebecca Saunders:
cinnabar. Double concerto for violin and trumpet, ensemble, music boxes and conductor
Magnus Lindberg:
Joy for large ensemble
Iannis Xenakis:
Thallein for 14 musicians

Our focus with the CD "Coronation" is not on blue blood or kingly power. In processes that are positively vegetal, the music on this CD sends up its shoots and produces blossoms like crowns.

"(co)ro(na)", by Vykintas Baltakas, springs from a cascade of motivic branchings, its roots in a cycle of works named after the alchemical Ouroboros, a snake that swallows its own tail. Its “dragon’s blood,” so the legends say, is cinnabar red – like the hue that shines in "cinnabar" by Rebecca Saunders. Magnus Lindberg’s "Joy" expresses itself through its profligacy with spectral harmonies and the resonant snapping of the strings of a demolished piano. Iannis Xenakis creates sieves that proliferate until they transform into archaic dances, refulgent with the brass tones characteristic of so many musical moments: This is the sound that crowns the affair.