Back catalogue: Classical

Review: Released to acclaim in 1985, The Falcon and the Snowman recounts the extraordinary true story of Christopher Boyce (Timothy Hutton) and Andrew Daulton Lee (Sean Penn), childhood friends who betrayed their country by selling U.S. satellite secrets to the Soviets in the 70s. The film's score, crafted by jazz virtuoso Pat Metheny alongside pianist Lyle Mays, is a masterful blend of tension and melancholy, enriched by orchestral arrangements from the National Philharmonic Orchestra. The standout track, 'This Is Not America,' features lyrics by David Bowie and became one of his notable hits of the decade, reaching No. 14 in the UK. All in all, an exclusive collector's box set.

Review: Michaelangelo Antonioni's name will always be synonymous with incredibly beautiful cinema, even if those movies can be challenging at times. Pablo's Eye takes some inspiration from the visceral aesthetic qualities that defined many of the great auteur's work, and then distills this into soundscapes that are uniquely spectacular, deceptively polished and yet effortless and raw. Whether you'd really call this ambient is a question for another time and another place - The List Was Sharp Our Eyes Were Open certainly creates ambience. We might be cast adrift on a small dingy, the peril of being stranded in the ocean subsiding into a strange sense of calm and quiet, motifs and tracks passing by like island in the endless blue. But when getting lost feels this good, who needs saving?

Review: "I would beg listeners both animal and human to allow these beautiful landscapes I've created in collaboration with Mark Nelson to sing and speak and weep for themselves. Please. Forget about words. Just LISTEN," says Kramer of this latest exploration of sounds less familiar. Meanwhile, Nelson quotes the legendary Arthur Russell for his take on things: "If I could convince you these are words of love, the heartache would remain but the pain would be gone". The Chicago-based composer and performer certainly summarises this listening experience. There's pure bliss running through these serene ambient, almost New Age-style tracks, but within that a certain reflective sadness. Crystalline melodies refract and develop, ebb and flow, at times making pure harmonies, in other moments more atmospheric refrains. They make us long for things that were or may be, although there's still space here for taking stock and acknowledging what is.

Review: In celebration of Arvo Part's 90th year, his latest release showcases the Estonian composer's continued exploration of minimalist, spiritually charged sound . Part's work has always sought to blend the sacred with the secular, and this collection of new renditions brings forward the timeless resonance of his choral and orchestral compositions. Opening with 'Littlemore Tractus,' based on John Henry Newman's reflections, the piece sets the tone of quiet, introspective change that permeates the entire work. His music, a dialogue between sound and silence, invites profound contemplation, with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Tonu Kaljuste's direction offering nuanced, deeply attentive performances. Compositions like 'Vater unser,' showcase Part's ability to transform liturgical text into transcendent musical experience. There's an undeniable spiritual gravity in pieces such as 'Cantique des degres' and 'Sequentia,' where strings and vocals weave in delicate yet forceful patterns, revealing a steady undercurrent of renewal. The rich textures in these works evoke both a longing for and a reconciliation with the past, capturing Part's life-long exploration of sacred music's dialogue with the world. The album culminates with 'Vater unser,' an evocative reworking that brings together choir, strings, and piano, offering a meditative close to an album that is as much about reflection as it is about the continued forward momentum of Part's artistry. Recorded in Tallinn's Methodist Church, this latest chapter is a continuation of the Part-Eicher partnership that has defined so much of his career, expanding the legacy of albums like Tabula rasa and reinforcing Part's place as one of the most significant voices in contemporary classical music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Review: Parus is a Belarusian ethno-ambient project blending pagan songs with modern soundscapes and Zara is their debut album. Led by ethnographer and folk singer Hanna Silivonchyk, the record features traditional Belarusian songs in various dialects, all accompanied by synths and field recordings crafted by Anton Anishchanka. The tracks were gathered during ethnographic expeditions across Belarusian national parks, and songs like 'Soniejka' and the title cut offer intimate reflections on life, love and mythology. It connects to the past while maintaining a deep personal edge that makes Zara a fascinating exploration of Belarusian culture.

Review: The soundtrack to Graham Eatough's stage adaptation of David Keenan's novel, This Is Memorial Device, composed by Stephen Pastel - of Kurt Cobain faves The Pastels fame - and Gavin Thomson, offers a compelling third iteration of the book's myth. Fusing reworked home recordings from the era with expanded versions of music originally scored for the theatre production, the album captures the essence of Glasgow's post-punk scene from 1978 to 1986. Tracks like 'Introduction To Why I Did It' and 'We Have Sex' evoke a sense of youthful hope and creativity, reflecting the play's exploration of art, music, and romance in small-town Scotland. Directed by Julian House, the video for 'We Have Sex' adds a vibrant visual dimension to the DIY aesthetic of the era. This Is Memorial Device: Music from the Stage Play not only complements the book and stage adaptation but also stands on its own torch for the spirit of post-punk and the power of belief in the transformative potential of art.

Review: If its predecessor shook up the formula for what a superhero animation could be, Spiderman: Across The Spider Verse blew the game wide open in a dazzling display of shape-shifting visual style, heartfelt narrative and spellbinding action. Daniel Pemberton returned to the project to score the sequel and as he explained to Rolling Stone he followed the versatile approach to animation as a guide for how he composed the music. From archaic medieval bombast to grunge inspired squall on to the synthetic sheen of techno, the soundtrack is as wild a ride as the world-flipping action in the film.

Review: Perila returns with a reflective spiritual successor to her 2022 album that comes on Vaagner's sister label A Sunken Mall. The album takes in eight tracks produced between 2021 and 2023 and they all do a fine job of conveying a serene vulnerability with its drifting, ethereal soundscapes smeared with echoing voices, droning guitars and resonant textures. It's like a whispered conversation during quiet moments and once again makes for a world that doesn't need to be understood, only felt. The Air Outside Feels Crazy Right Now reminds us that finding inner peace through music can counter the chaos of the external world and help turn fragility into strength.

Review: Piero Piccioni's score for Ti Ho Sposato Per Allegria (1967) offers a delightful and sophisticated accompaniment to Luciano Salce's comedy, based on Natalia Ginzburg's play. The film's narrative follows a serious lawyer who marries a whimsical and scatterbrained girl with a troubled past, just a month after meeting her. The story's charm lies in its light-hearted approach to serious themes like abortion, death, separation, and marital communication issues. Piccioni's music, released on vinyl by Musica Per Immagini, perfectly complements the film's whimsical tone. His score blends moods and aesthetic elements from his earlier works while introducing the unmistakable sound of bossa nova, funk, and lounge that would come to define much of his 70s output. The Turin-born composer's ability to simplify complex harmonic structures, infused with jazz elements, results in melodies that are both memorable and classy. Key to this soundtrack are its buoyant spirit and refined elegance. Piccioni's compositions achieve a perfect balance between catchy themes and intricate musical textures. Piccioni's talent for creating music is both light-hearted and artistically rich, making this a standout in his extensive catalog.

Review: Celebrates the 50th anniversary of Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto (which is better known in Engish as Swept Away) with the ultimate edition of this classic soundtrack from Decca. Piero Piccioni's iconic score perfectly captures the 1974 film's exotic ambience with samba, bossa nova and lounge music sounds all enriched by Nora Orlandi's wordless vocals. Fully remastered from the original archive master tape, this version comes on double vinyl and tastefully honours Piccioni's remarkable contribution to Italian cinema.

Review: Pianist. Conductor. Composer. Impressario. Extraordinaire. We could probably leave it at that with Piero Piccioni, but for the sake of clarity let's get clear. One of Italy's most prolific film composers of the mid-late-20th Century, this monolith of big band and jazz wrote more than 300 movie scores in his career, and also lays claim to membership of 013, the first jazz outfit broadcast in his home country following the fall of Fascism in 1944. Born in Turin, one of the epicentres of Italian music, Cadaveri Eccellenti was a 1977 crime thriller about Lino Ventura, Italy's top homicide detective, who is investigating the assassination of a judge. Full of intrigue, mystery, and tension, not to mention that underlying sense of sexiness which seems to pervade European flicks of this era, by now you can probably imagine how cool the score is.

Review: If you've not seen Des Morts then buckle up and prepare for something you'll never, ever forget. The critically acclaimed documentary is one of very few films to directly deal with the unspeakable of life - death. During the course of the running time, you encounter doctors desperately trying to save a stab victim, a body melting in the heat of a crematorium chamber, the execution of a Philippine guerrilla, people who are about to be no more, and those they will leave behind.
Fear of all this is a largely Western condition, but humans have a universal obsession with death that stays with us until all questions are eventually answered when we finally die. Composer Alain Pierre does his best to convey this mystery, awe, and unknowing via a soundtrack that runs between outtakes from the film, synthesiser overtures, field recordings, religious chants and more.

Review: The Undreamt-of Centre is the fourth solo album by esteemed Australian drummer, composer, and producer Laurence Pike and it offers a modern reimagining of the requiem mass. This evocative work blends influences from modern classical music, Japanese environmental ambient, fourth-world electronics, free jazz, and Estonian choral traditions that are inspired by Tallinn-based composer Tonu Korvits. Collaborating with the VOX Sydney Philharmonia Choir and conducted by Pike's childhood friend, the composer Sam Lipman, this wonderful record was recorded in a 19th-century Gothic church which has helped to create a haunting and atmospheric soundscape that pays homage to diverse musical traditions while pushing the boundaries of contemporary composition.

Review: KUM explores the work of Giusto Pio from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, which was a period of intense sound experimentation. The album features four pieces-'Rappel,' 'Alla Corte di Nefertiti,' 'MeDeA' and 'A.D.A.M. Ubi Es' which are all linked by Pio's collaboration with Franco Battiato. Their creative exchange helped shape Pio's post-avant-garde vision and blend new musical fragments and "astral counterpoints in frequencies and colours in time." Nearly 50 years later, KUM offers a philological perspective on these intertwined artistic paths that highlights the innovative approach that defined Pio's unique exploration of sound and composition.

Review: This new one from our favourite US ambient outlet takes the form of a selection of long-form compositions from artists who are close to the label. As such it's a perfect reflection of its signature sound - deeply immersive soundscapes, slowly shifting synths and meditative moods made with a mix of hardware tools, guitars, pedals and even baritone vocals. It's named after a Norwegian term for warmth and intimacy, which certainly plays out from the evolving loops of 'A Whisper' to the textured melancholy of 'Canaan' and the reverberant drift of 'Coronation Ring'.

Review: Enji and Popp are Squama label regulars of and here they unite for their debut LP, Nant, under the Poeji alias. It finds them expanding beyond post-dub and downtempo and building on their 2022 EP, 031921 5.24 5.53, which was a limited run of dubplates, to showcase their innovation in the studio. The duo employs minimal initial ideas and relies on non-verbal cues to shape their sound in the studio and Enji's vocals, subtly integrated with reverb and guitar effects, complement Popp's intricate use of wooden and metal percussion perfectly. It's layered with tape echoes and analogue delays so Nant offers great moments of fleeting musical beauty.

Review: In a first-time collaboration, psychedelic trance godhead Simon Posford (best known as Hallucinogen and a founding member of Shpongle) teams up with fellow hippie and flutist Raja Ram (Ronald Rothfield) on a welling improvisatory record, Improvisations For Piano And Flute. Though both are highly esteemed artists in their respective micro-corners of the electronic music scene, Posford and Rothfield both depart significantly from their usually danceable ends for a living-room recorded set of ambiences. With a synth placed atop an antique Bluthner piano, Raj and Simon would join in after the other first begun playing, delivering a 44-minute effluence for the spontaneous soul.

Review: John Powell could almost be seen as the Hans Zimmer of animated movies. His oeuvre to date includes Antz, The Road To Eldorado, Chicken Run, Shrek, Robots, Ice Age 2 and 4, Happy Feet, Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, the first two Kung Fu Panda films, and Mars Needs Moms, among many others. Including the entire How To Train Your Dragon trilogy.
Hugely successful, the action packed adventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III - a young Viking and heir to the throne of Berk - really needs equally exciting music to accompany it. That's exactly what we get here, with a classically-inspired swashbuckling score doing more than setting the scene: some tracks hark back to the golden days of kids movie soundtracks, when the songs themselves told large chunks of the narrative.

Review: Strange Gardens, or Effroyables Jardins, tells the story of a French clown whose son is embarrassed by him, but this tomfoolery has a serious past - antics saved the street performer and his friend, Andre, both members of the French Resistance during the war, from certain death at the hands of the Nazis. It's an intimate and, at times, troubling exploration of innocence, persecution, identity, friendship, loyalty and escapism in the most harrowing circumstances. Not to mention the short memories of mankind and the prejudices we unfairly develop when truths are committed to faded sepia photographs. Zbignieuw Preisner encapsulates this thoughtful atmosphere beautifully, providing a piano and string score that's tender, poignant, emotional, and musically captivating. A record that can just as easily stand alone as it can next to its visual brethren.

Review: Akira Yamaoka, Marcin Przybylowicz and PT Adamczyk's original soundtrack for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners hears original OST numbers written for the award-winning anime series set within the futuristic dystopian world of Cyberpunk 2077, which originally spawned as the offshoot of the video game of the same name. Fitting for the music's breathy progressive house and electro oeuvre, which is interspersed with more traditional expressionist orchestral climaxes and builds, the Edgerunners series centres on a crack team of cyberpunk renegades, as they traverse the beastly underbelly of Night City, located in a futuristic vision of LA, navigating a world replete with corruption, gang violence, and cybernetic addiction. A note for fans: this vinyl edition includes unused, never-before-heard tracks composed by Yamaoka for Edgerunners, but which does not appear in the series.