Reed Wolfe Archive

Maya Beiser, cello – “Transclassical” = Works of BACH, REED, WOLFE, HILDEGARD VON BINGEN & Others – Innova

by Audiophile Audition | Jul 7, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

Maya Beiser, “Transclassical” = J.S. BACH: Air; MICHAEL GORDON: All Vows; IMOGEN HEAP: Hide and Seek; GLENN KOTCHE: Three Parts Wisdom; LOU REED: Heroin; JULIA WOLFE: Emunah; MOHAMMED FAIROUZ: Kol Nidrei; DAVID T. LITTLE: Hellhound; HILDEGARD von BINGEN: O Virtus Sapientae – Maya Beiser, cello, vocal, electronics – Innova 952 [Distr. by Naxos], 65:41, (6/29/16) ****: Marvelous cello playing in some amazing new solo rep. Press releases have referred to Maya Beiser as the “reigning queen of avant-garde cello.”  That is probably so but this album proves definitively that not everything she plays is what most people would consider “avant-garde” and that she is, more properly, one of the world’s great young cellists in any genre right now. All the music here is for solo cello, sometimes with vocalizations and electronics added; all done by Maya Beiser herself. The two ‘bookend’ works in this collection; the Bach and the Hildegard von Bingen, are familiar melodies played beautifully and feel fresh in this solo cello format. The real star here are the new works for solo cello written for Beiser or arranged by her. However, the clever catch to the Bach is that Beiser plays this iconic work through some electronics […]