Those Modern Classicists

Earlier this year I came across the music of Dustin O’Halloran. It might easily have been somewhere like last.fm, where he’d have been sharing the company of contemporaries like Max Richter, Ólafur Arnalds and Peter Broderick whose piano and string compositions bring their instruments up to date with often moving effect. There’s no valedictory moment etched in a mental calendar, just a small sense of reward from discovering an artist whose music brings a measure of genuine pleasure.

Now his 2010 live piano recital Vorleben is playing and I find my thoughts drifting again, just as they do with this year’s bestringed Lumiere and A Winged Victory For the Sullen collaboration with Adam Wiltzie.

Best to just listen. Here’s a lovely piece (that also features on the live disc) with a hint of Erik Satie and, as you’ll see, the most charming animation.

And purely by coincidence I’m sure, the aforementioned Ólafur Arnalds started his Living Room Songs project on Monday, creating and releasing a new song each day for a week that’s recorded and filmed live in his Reykjavík apartment.

Here’s today’s piece, Film Credits, which may well be the best so far. You can follow his progress and download the mp3s for free at http://livingroomsongs.olafurarnalds.com.