MAYER WAKEFIELD speaks to Urielle Klein-Mekongo about activism, musical inspiration and the black British experience
Shimmering beauty, complexity and ambition
SIMON DUFF is enthralled by music inspired by Cantor dust, Sierpinski Gasket and intense concern for humanity
John Luther Adams on nocturne
[Donald Lee] 
KEVIN BRYAN reviews new releases by The Outlaws, Mark Radcliffe & David Boardman, Clarence White
BOB NEWLAND reviews a book that will take many back to the final years of apartheid in South Africa
GAVIN O’TOOLE examines the fatal relationship between environmental crimes and politics in Brazil and the inspiration provided by Indigenous people
MARIA DUARTE and LEO BOIX review Little Trouble Girls, Big Boys, The Roses, and Caught Stealing
MARY CONWAY admires a study of environmental idealism that aspires to Chekhov but is arrested in a deluge of middle-class opinion
Waves and Particles
John Luther Adams
(Cold Blue Music)
Simon Duff recommends a new string quartet work from one of America’s leading composers.
COLD BLUE MUSIC is a Southern Californian label releasing contemporary classical and experimental electro acoustic works. Founded by composer and producer Jim Fox in the early 1980s, with political and environmental concerns to the fore.
Composer John Luther Adams’s 11th album for the label is a work for strings performed by the Jack Quartet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnLVGZn_r0s. Set over six movements, it is inspired by quantum physics, fractal geometry and notions of sonic exploration, that the quartet are able realise to full force.
Like a lot of John Luther Adams music, central to his creative philosophy is an ability to seemingly stretch and play with time in a highly original manner.
More from this author
This is a concert of ambition and courage by organist and improviser Wayne Marshall, says SIMON DUFF
SIMON DUFF recommends an outstanding album of choral works that range from the 12th century to the present day
New releases from Nazar, Peter Gregson and Mesias Maiguashca
SIMON DUFF recommends a new album from renowned composer and oud player Anour Brahem.
