New Century Brings New New-Age Music

courtesy of Naxos of America

Those that have been following this site for some time probably associate the Profil label, distributed by Edition Günter Hänssler, with archival anthologies. (Most of my recent listening has focused on the series of collections of recordings of the Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter.) However, last month Profil released a new “original” album entitled Secret Places. The recording consists of thirteen relatively short works, each by a different composer, all written for a violin duo and performed by The Twiolins. The performers themselves are the siblings Marie-Louise and Christoph Dingler.

The pair’s Web site describes them as “the pioneers of the new wave of ‘progressive classical music.’” They summarize that genre in the following sentence:

Ear pleasing harmonies, broad melodic lines and eccentric pulsating rhythms are the trademarks of their music, merging classical, avant-garde, minimalist music and pop-art-pop into a new sonic sound universe.

In 2009 they founded a composition competition to build up their repertoire, which has attracted more than 500 participants from 55 countries. Twelve of the thirteen tracks on Secret Places were written for the 2015 competition.

I have been unable to find the ages of these two siblings. However, I would say that it is a fair guess that both of them were born after the new-age music movement had experienced its rise (beginning in the mid-Sixties) and decline that preceded the new century. The new-age genre had emerged with influences from minimalism, electronic music, and, to some extent, progressive rock. Many associated the music with meditation involved with freeing the mind of the stresses of the modern world, but the more cynical saw that activity as little more than mindlessness without purpose. In the early years of the movement, I was interested in how it was more accessible than the minimalist techniques explored by composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass or the process-based synthesis approach taken by Brian Eno. However, it did not take long for me to recognize that the genre had succumbed to mind-numbing sameness and little more.

Well, as Peter Allen sang in the movie All That Jazz, “Everything Old is New Again.” Sadly, there is little in the newness of Secret Places that does not remind me of new-age at its most vapid. Yes, there are times when I am inclined to a meditative approach to clearing the mind. However, when such an occasion arises, I much prefer spending time with a recording of Balinese gamelan than listening to David Hykes’ Windhorse Riders (even though the latter enjoyed the imprimatur of New Albion Records). Nevertheless, I suppose that the younger generations have to figure out where the minimalist path leads without any assistance from their elders.