Casablancas / Lee / Ensemble New Babylon - Siete Haikus / Pastoral / Albumblatt Fur Arriaga Music CD

Benet Casablancas' distinguished career spans over four decades, his music prized for it's intensely individual harmonic palette, highly developed sense of dramatic and narrative form and, as with the chamber works on this recording, his tightly woven and intimately evocative statements both miniature and monumental. The playful, virtuosic energy of the Siete Haikus complements the shimmering Seis Glosas which are part meditation and part evocation, while the improvisatory Aria contrasts with the chamber concerto interactions of Pastoral, all performed by musicians from the versatile and sophisticated Ensemble New Babylon. Ensemble New Babylon's debut concert was in November 2012 under the patronage of the mayor of Bremen, with the aim of reintroducing contemporary music to the cultural life of the city, and since it's foundation it has performed over 40 world premieres. An integral part of the ensemble's concept is devising around specific themes and unusual performance spaces, and as a result it has received numerous awards from the Deutscher Musikrat for projects such as collaboration with funk group Watson's Mother in 2013, a 48 hour non-stop spectacle 'The show must go on' at the Theater Bremen in 2016 and a collaboration with TanzKollektivBremen at the Tanz Bremen International festival for contemporary dance in 2017.