“New Music Review Lounge” is an initiative of Miso Music Portugal and the Portuguese Music Research & Information Centre. It constitutes a forum for open and free critique, where uncompromising opinions, tastes and new tendencies in music can be discussed in both breadth and depth. It is a place dedicated to contemporary music phenomena and their relation to other areas such as visual arts, dance, architecture, literature, new technologies, psychology or sociology. Our aim is to open a vivid discussion and rejoin contemporary music with other art forms and disciplines of human activity.
In our opinion music constitutes a potent social force. A critic, although frequently expressing his / her own subjective opinions, is a mediator between the composer, performer and the audience. Therefore our reviews intend to analyze and mention the technical elements and expressive aspects of composition and performance as well as their possible impact on the public. We will publish regularly creative descriptions and analysis of 20th century and contemporary musical works, performances and events, with special focus on Portuguese creation.
Nowadays music has no boundaries and there are dozens of interesting music phenomena waiting to be described and discussed.
LATEST REVIEWS
2012.04.23
On April 19th and 20th Pedro Amaral’s music came back to the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation with the premiere performances of his new work for orchestra, “Transmutations pour orchestre – La bibliothèque en feu” (n.º 5.3), commissioned by the Matosinhos Municipality in 2005 and inspired by a painting of Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, “La bibliothèque en feu”, which belongs to the collection of the Foundation’s Modern Art Centre. “Transmutations pour orchestre” was performed by the Gulbenkian Orchestra, under the young French conductor, Lionel Bringuier, within, so to speak, a “classical” programme: “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune” by Claude Debussy and Symphony no. 1 by Johannes Brahms.
2011.12.15
Portuguese Works/Adventures of Sound and Electricity”
Between the 14th and 17th of November (2011), the Miso Records released a CD dedicated to Portuguese music for clarinet and electronics, performed by clarinettist Nuno Pinto. The CD was presented on several public occasions (Porto, Aveiro, Lisbon) and is part of an initiative developed by the Miso Music Portugal in order to disseminate contemporary music by Portuguese composers. Several soloists of the Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble collaborate in the project and a special emphasis is given to pieces, which explore the relationship/interaction between acoustic instrumentation and electronic sound generation.
