One should not take the title of Spirales: Snapshots of Contemporary Classical Music too literally, because this 10-CD survey goes back to the early 20th century, in addition to covering post-millennial fare. This box set has a strong representation of Danish composers, such as Vagn Holmboe, Niels Viggo Bentzon, Anders Nordentoft, Per Nørgård, Michael Nyvang, and Anders Koppel, among others, though the seemingly random inclusion of Francis Poulenc, Karol Szymanowski, Paul Hindemith, and Toru Takemitsu shows that it is not ...
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One should not take the title of Spirales: Snapshots of Contemporary Classical Music too literally, because this 10-CD survey goes back to the early 20th century, in addition to covering post-millennial fare. This box set has a strong representation of Danish composers, such as Vagn Holmboe, Niels Viggo Bentzon, Anders Nordentoft, Per Nørgård, Michael Nyvang, and Anders Koppel, among others, though the seemingly random inclusion of Francis Poulenc, Karol Szymanowski, Paul Hindemith, and Toru Takemitsu shows that it is not exclusive to one nation. Rather, these discs were previously released as single albums, for the most part between 2001 and 2006, and were compiled in 2011 for this collection, though the lack of clear session dates and original label information makes for a murky provenance. The genres of keyboard, choral, and chamber music are explored, with a variety of pieces for piano, organ, brass instruments, and small ensembles, and the music is fairly conservative in style, with a majority of...
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