PRESS: news

Andrew Byrne (b. 1966) introduces the first three movements from White Bone Country, the nine movement work for piano and percussion which forms the crux of his first release on New World Records. He also talks his arrival in America and the influence of New York minimalists like Phill Niblock on his music.

Scott Fields
Music and Language

Composer and guitarist Scott Fields (b. 1956), alongside his work with mobile-like formal structures and rigorous, often guided, improvisations for large ensemble, has worked extensively on the creative use of text for composition. Most recently, he released Samuel on New World Records. The three compositions are based on a short monologue and two late pantomimes of Samuel Beckett. In his first New World podcast, he talks from his home in Cologne, Germany about the winding path from his youth in Chicago to his present work in Germany as an expatriate. He also provides some insight into the “songs without words” that make up his New World release.

We are pleased to announce the availability of the entire New World Records catalog on eMusic. Critic and radio host John Schaefer has contributed a great feature on our recordings:

eMusic Dozens Contemporary Classical from New World Records

Composers Recordings, Inc. Catalogue Officially
Acquired by New World Records

On-demand CD-Rs Now Available

The New York State Attorney General has formally approved the transfer of Composers Recordings, Inc. (CRI) to New World Records. CRI, a non-profit label devoted to works by American composers, shut its doors in 2003 due to mounting financial pressures, and its extensive back catalogue has since been largely unavailable. Founded in 1954 by composers Otto Luening and Douglas Moore, and Oliver Daniel of BMI, CRI issued nearly 800 recordings.

New World, also a non-profit specializing in American music, has begun preparing selected CRI back catalogue for re-release, and is now offering premium quality on-demand CD-Rs of the entire CRI CD catalogue.

In addition, the historic CRI catalogue of 400 LPs is being restored and transferred according to the highest preservation standards. One hundred titles will be available as on-demand CD-Rs by the end of 2007, and the balance by the end of 2008.

“CRI has a long and treasured history with American composers, and we are grateful to be able to include this wonderful catalogue alongside ours,” New World President Herman Krawitz said. “Although in some ways we were competitors, both companies remained dedicated to the cause of American music over the years, and specifically American composers. We are thrilled to be able to offer these recordings to the public once again.”

“New World is the ideal home for CRI’s priceless archive of American music,” CRI Chairman Frederick Jacobi said. “New World will not only carry out CRI’s unique mission of supporting innovative contemporary composers and making their records available in perpetuity. It will also insure this heritage by using the latest digital technology to preserve the masters of their works. The world of music owes a major debt of gratitude to New World.”

Thus far, New World Records has reissued four volumes Harry Partch’s works, several electronic music collections, and discs of music by Charles Ives, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and Morton Feldman.

New World-CRI on-demand CD-Rs include the original liner notes and cover art.

For further information, please contact:Paul Tai, New World Records, 75 Broad Street, Suite 2400, New York, NY 10004. Tel. 646-442-7933. Fax 212-290-1685.

Watch this space over the next few months for current New World Records news items.

In 1990 New York Times critic John Rockwell called Ben Johnston "one of the best nonfamous composers this country has to offer…." For years Johnston’s music has proved fascinating to theorists and musicologists because of its use of advanced compositional techniques (serialism with just intonation, for example). Frank Oteri's superb interview with Ben Johnston on NewMusicBox.com offers new insight into this important composer's extraordinary mind. NMB also includes an excerpt from Johnston's recently-published book of essays "Maximum Clarity" and Other Writings on Music.

Released in January of 2006, New World Records’s Ben Johnston: String Quartet Nos. 2, 3, 4, & 9 (NW 80637-2), features the Kepler Quartet and is the first of a series of three recordings, prepared with the composer’s support and supervision. This CD includes the first recorded performance of his String Quartet No. 3, "Verging."

From The New Yorker:

In the January 15 issue of The New Yorker composer and contributor Russell Platt posts his Best of 2006 recording list. In the number three slot is New World 80634, Sebastian Currier, Quartetset/Quiet Time. "Currier is a subtle yet potent artist whose impeccable craft never overshadows his gifts for lyricism and surprise. The Cassatt Quartet plays these unexpectedly moving works with all the nimbleness and warmth that they demand."

From Time Out New York :

Time Out New York's Steve Smith includes Ben Johnston String Quartets Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 9 (New World 80637) on his list of the Best Recordings for 2006. "The Kepler Quartet presses this American maverick's cause with the initial volume of a commanding complete run."

Sequenza21 's Jerry Bowles featured three New World recordings in his 2006 roundup of Best Recordings of the Year. In addition to the Johnston and Currier discs, he also included Thomas/Druckman/Hartke.

Britain's The Wire magazine lists Christian Wolff: 10 Exercises and Julius Eastman: Unjust Malaise among its fifty Records of the Year.

Finally, the January 2007 issue of Gramophone Magazine highlighted Works for Violin by George Antheil, Johanna Beyer, Henry Cowell, Ruth P. Crawford, Charles Dodge, David Mahler, Larry Polansky, Stefan Wolpe in its North American review section.