Introducing Beneath the Surface

Second Lute Song (I) – Gloriana by Jane Mackay – her visual response to Benjamin Britten's music, used with many thanks to the artist. Her Sounding Art website can be found here.

As a new year starts I am taking up a musical resolution, alongside the other writing about pop and classical that I'm doing. This is to listen to and review one new album per week of music – mostly classical – that is not often heard.

There are several reasons for this, and most lie in the spirit of discovery. In my experience the classical music that gets the most exposure does so because of a big name artist, a big name composer, a major record label – or a combination of those three. And yet a look at a mail order company such as MDT confirms there are several hundred classical CDs released every month. Many of these do not receive much coverage even in the specialist press and websites.

While new recordings and performances of Beethoven symphonies are without question valid and welcome, they often take the spotlight away from some of classical music's deserving lesser lights. Some of these reward further investigation and should have a much greater presence!

So this is what Beneath the Surface is all about – discovering new music through new releases. This can be either the work of a new composer or an unfamiliar work from an established composer. Even Beethoven has his dark corners!

I aim to listen to one new release over the course of a week and then write about it. This year I would like to include some of those composers enjoying anniversary years, so you can expect the symphonies of Andrej Panufnik, born 100 years ago, some C.P.E. Bach and Gluck (both born 300 years ago) and even a bit of the Russian composer Liadov, who died 100 years ago. Where possible I will provide links to streaming and further listening.

We begin tomorrow with the two cello concertos of Kabalevsky, but who knows where this listening enterprise could take us?

If you read this and have a composer or release you think would deserve closer inspection, please do not hesitate to get in touch! I'm keen to involve as many people as possible.