Continuing the contemporary CanCon theme I’ve been listening to Bestiaries; a CD of music by Bekah Simms.  I first heard her music at the TSO in June and liked it enough to want to explore further.  There are three pieces on the CD; each a little over ten minutes long.  The first, Foreverdark, is a 2018 piece for solo cello, chamber orchestra and live electronics.  It’s inspired by the compose and cellist Amahl Arulanandam shared love for metal and quotes from iconic metal albums.  I’m not a metal fan but I am intrigued to hear younger composers using ideas drawn from more popular genres.  Think Missy Mazzoli and electronic dance music.  It’s no different really from Ralph Vaughan Williams using folk songs or Michael Tippett aking ideas from blues music.  The result here is heavy textured, weird and chaotic with Arulanandam using all parts of the cello and acoustic instruments of the orchestra (the Cryptid Ensemble conducted by Brian Current) made to sound like electric, amplified ones with all the effects one usually gets from electronic manipulation generated acoustically. Continue reading →