Ecstatic Records of Torke's music launched(August 2003) Michael Torke's music can now be widely heard on disc again, thanks to the release of a collection of recordings on his own label, Ecstatic Records, available on sale from www.michaeltorke.com.
The catalogue centres on definitive Torke recordings issued originally on the Decca Argo label during the 1990s, supplemented by some new releases, with performers including the London Sinfonietta, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orkest de Volharding, Balanescu Quartet, Present Music and the Apollo Saxophone Quartet. Conductors on the discs include Kent Nagano, David Zinman, Edo de Waart, Lothar Zagrosek and David Allan Miller. Torke himself can be heard in multiple roles of composer, pianist and conductor. The Ecstatic Records releases include the key Torke works with which he burst onto the music scene in the mid-80s, including Ecstatic Orange for orchestra and Vanada for ensemble. These scores, together with The Yellow Pages (later expanded into The Telephone Book), Adjustable Wrench and Four Proverbs did much to define American post-minimalism, fusing the reductive rigour of the first generation of systems composers, with a broader palette of extrovert colours. The exuberance of Torke's music and his skills as an orchestrator were influential in moving minimalism into the symphonic mainstream. His athletically-driven Javelin is now among the most widely performed contemporary orchestral scores. Torke’s music has enjoyed great success with the dance community, and the newest release on Ecstatic Records is a premiere recording of music from his ballet The Contract, created with choreographer James Kudelka for the Canadian National Ballet, and premiered in Toronto in 2002. The Canadian National Post described how Torke's "rhythmically varied and complex" ballet score has "brilliant orchestral colours. Sometimes the music is jauntily syncopated, at other times it becomes almost hymnal and rhapsodic, with help from the angelic voice of a soprano." Future releases include a Torke box set of 6 CDs, collecting together all the Decca Argo albums from the 1990s. For full information visit www.michaeltorke.com. > Further information on Work: Javelin > News Search |
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