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In the racks

Moderna Records

By 12 June 2016June 20th, 2016No Comments

The jazz lovers like to explore musical territories other than the jazz. It frequently happens that they listen, from time to time, classical music.

To give you an example, the fans of the German label ECM, can sometimes turn to the classical subsidiary of this label towards ECM New Series. In a similar approach, I would like to introduce you a new label from Montréal Moderna Records.

Pianist, composer, music lover and now founder of the label Moderna Records, Évolène Lüthi is a very busy man. He’s a classical music enthusiast and an electronic music specialist . He found a reason to share his passion in one place, with his famous label Moderna Records founded in March 2015. Like a messenger, he recruits musicians from everywhere in the world and he offers them a digital platform to join sophisticated customers. The the instrumental electronic  music  stage which is halfway between the classical and contemporary music has been a phenomenon expanding for several years in Europe, especially in Germany. Lüthi devours this kind of music, he believes that time perhaps had just developed this market in North America.

Moderna Records was not born at once. Previously, Lüthi was the confidence agent of several independent labels. He always delivered a good work. He is a professional. He works hard to be experiment. With the many contacts established with artists and studio professionals, he felt that the moment had just flown of its own wings. With the technologies and digital networks, it is now possible to work with people on all the continents without any problem.

At the era of fast consumption and sound pollution, the will of the artists of Moderna Records is to continue in time. It is not question here of presenting meaningless things. All is to create for we took the time to listen. After a personal exploration in the sound catalogue of the label, I note that we are in the presence of works important not to underestimate.

Moderna Records is initially a history of love with the king of the instruments, the piano. We find it in the music of the majority of the artists of this label. We find also the presence of string quartet on some parts and especially, of the sculptors of sound who use digital technologies to handle them. Neo-classic music, minimalist, mets the accent on environment and climate. The sequences of notes are played slowly and they are repetitive. The melodies are usually melancholic persons and they invite the listener to travel inside itself. This kind of music lends itself well to screens of background musics and with can be easily integrated in artistic installations (contemporary art, ballets, theatres, etc)

By now, Moderna Records supports eight artists work :

Kirill Chernegin is introduced as a young Russian composer.  Mark Harris is a Master of the “Phasing”.  Like a sculptor, he plays with the matter (sounds), handles them and gives them a single aspect. Harris’ name is especially associated in visual arts world. Holkham is an artist who began working with sounds while he was a student in an art school in Norway. Its first album entitled “Komatta Saru” appeared Expanding Records label, in 2004.

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Julien Marchal is a composer, a pianist and a sound sculptor. He studied jazz and modern music in France. Teaching is for him a mean to push his limits further. During his stay at the University, he discovered a musical branch which was ignored to him : the minimalism. Fascinated by this movement, he adheres to it completely.

Lorenzo Masotto was born in Vérona (Italy). He is a composer and a pianist. He designed a major work for Estravagorio Teatro. Masotto works on this occasion with his sister, the violonist Laura Masotto. Tambour is the name of a project that join a pianist (Simon P. Castonguay) and a string quartet. The violoncellist Veroníque Vaka, born in Montréal, lives in Iceland. Starting from her new environment, she takes as a starting point this mythical place to compose. The pianist Jacob David is the very last artist hooked by this label. Its more recent album “omkuld” is already admired by criticism.

Astonishing fact, the label is only eight months old and already, seems to be part of our landscape.

https://youtu.be/9cFd4T4f09A

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