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Album reviews with Ben Lunn: November 22, 2021
New releases from iyatra Quartet, Various Artists (Between Music and Ritual) and Yannick Nezet-Seguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra
covers

iyatra Quartet
Break the Dawn
Self-produced
★★★

MADE UP of musicians playing clarinet(s), violin, cello and a small militia of percussion, the iyatra Quartet have self-released new album Break the Dawn, which blends curious knick-knacks of British history with more distant influences, including Arabic love songs and Indian ragas.

Traditionally, this album would fall into the “world music” bracket, but this term is slightly redundant, so it would almost be better described as “classical” music, since traditions such as ragas are as old (if not older) than most European musical institutions. The material is handled with care, but one still feels that it is treated with a certain distance.

Various Artists
Between Music and Ritual
Lithuanian Music Information Centre
★★★★★

My personal highlights are Juste Janulyte‘s The Colour of Water and Justina Repeckaite‘s Designation and Expulsion, music from two figures who are gaining huge international attention. The best suprise comes from the young Jura Elena Sedyte with her inspired Nekrosius Knus (music for headphones).
 
 

 
Yannick Nezet-Seguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra
Florence Price: Symphonies 1 and 3
Deutsche Grammophon
★★★★★

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