ECM New Series: 2025 Year-End Review
ECM New Series: 2025 Year-End Review
Alexander Knaifel – Chapter Eight | March 14, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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Best New Albums Out March 14, 2025 – All Songs Considered, NPR Music
“[Alexander Knaifel] called the work 'a community prayer,' to be realized 'in the most reverberant church acoustics.' This recording from 2009, made in the Jesuitenkirche in Luzern, Switzerland, certainly fills the bill, and credit goes to the ECM label's engineers, in a difficult live situation, for giving the music the desired sense of growing out of the walls.” – James Manheim, All Music
Chapter Eight: Canticum Canticorum is among the most remarkable compositions of composer Alexander Knaifel. A slowly moving piece that acquires a cumulative power with enveloping and radiant atmosphere, it proposes what Knaifel referred to as a “non-concerto situation.” As the work progresses, the cellist is called upon to renounce the soloist’s role of leadership and to surrender to the total sound at the nexus of the choirs, arranged in cross formation inside the church. Here the cellist is Patrick Demenga who, together with his brother Thomas, made the first of ECM’s recordings of Knaifel’s music in 1998 with Lux Aeterna. The premiere performance of Chapter Eight took place in Washington’s National Cathedral in 1995, with Mstislav Rostropovich in the cellist’s role.
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Olari Elts – ÆRIS | May 23, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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“highly expressive and colourful music.” – James McCarthy, Gramophone
“Certainly this is challenging music, and just as certainly, it is beautifully recorded by ECM at the Estonian Concert Hall in Tallinn.” – James Manheim, All Music
Best New Albums Out May 23, 2025 – All Songs Considered, NPR Music
Aeris is the ninth ECM New Series album to feature the vibrant and highly expressive music of Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür. Olari Elts, a long-time champion of Tüür’s work, conducts the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in compelling, intensely-focused performances of Phantasma, De Profundis and Tüür’s tenth symphony “ÆRIS”, which is scored for horn quartet and orchestra.
In Latin, Tüür notes, “æris” means brass while “aeris” means air, “and without this essential element, not a sound would come out of brass instruments. Thus, the title of my tenth symphony focuses mainly on the brass sound that carries the weight of this composition.” Written at the urging of the ensemble German Hornsound in 2022, the symphony is a vast drama of shifting energies and interactions, with the horns effectively “messengers from beyond the horizon, bringing prophecies of imminent irreversible changes.”
Arvo Pärt – Tractus (Limited Edition Heavyweight 2-LP) | May 30, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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“An original and intriguing collection of works, this, with beautiful recorded sound, as always, and outstanding performances of passion and precision guided by the presiding genius of Tõnu Kaljuste.” – Ivan Moody, Gramophone
“Tractus, seems to put an arm around you and whisper, 'In troubled times, music can help.'” – Tom Huizenga, NPR Music
Tractus emphasizes Arvo Pärt compositions that blend the timbres of string orchestra and choir. New versions predominate, with focused performances from the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Tõnu Kaljuste’s direction that invite alert and concentrated listening. From the opening composition Littlemore Tractus, which takes as its starting point consoling reflections from a sermon by John Henry Newman, the idea of change, transfiguration and renewal resonates, setting a tone for a recording whose character is one of summing up, looking inward, and reconciling with the past. Compositions included are Littlemore Tractus, Greater Antiphons, Cantique des degrés, Sequentia, L’abbé Agathon, These Words… and Veni creator. An evocative reworking of Vater unser for choir, strings and piano concludes this album.
The compositions included on Tractus are based upon or inspired by scriptural, liturgical or other Christian texts. “The text is independent of us,” Pärt once said. “It awaits us. Everyone needs his own time to come to it. The encounter occurs when the text is no longer treated as literature or artwork but as reference point or model.”
Signum Quartett – A Dark Flaring | July 18, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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"genuinely new experiences for many hearers" – James Manheim, All Music
“On the evidence of this beautifully played and presented programme, string quartet composition is alive and well in Southern Africa.” – Guy Rickards, Gramophone
“The six pieces included on this enthralling album reflect as many different ways of reconciling that most Western European art form – the string quartet – with the heritage of South African culture and history.” – Carlos Maria Solare, The Strad
“I strongly urge you to seek out this release if you are interested in the string quartet and/or the meeting of cultural traditions. It’s been a profoundly refreshing and educative experience.” – Dominic Hartley, Musicweb International
A Dark Flaring marks the Signum Quartett’s return to ECM’s New Series after debuting for the label with striking performances on Erkki-Sven Tüür’s acclaimed chamber music recording Lost Prayers (2020). Here, the quartet has put together a unique programme dedicated to South African composers, born in the 20th century, whose works for string quartet are united by the way they blend respect for the past with an instinct for the future in a wide-flung idiomatic scope. The grid of references unravelled between the six composers here – their dates of birth span from 1903 to 1983 – is as geographically wide as it is idiomatically deep, with large musical bridges connecting inspirations ranging from South African Xhosa and Zulu traditions through the late Renaissance to 19th century Romanticism as well as 20th century impressionists and minimalists. There’s even a nod to popular culture, as Matthijs van Dijk’s (rage) rage against the borrows inspiration for its title from the rock group Rage Against The Machine.
The complicated historical and in the same breath cultural backdrop that goes hand in hand with musical repertory composed over this specific period, in the South African context, is not only impossible to ignore but moreover serves as catalyst, canvas and disrupter – sometimes all at once – for most of the music presented here. The album was recorded at Sendesaal Bremen in March 2022. The CD includes liner notes by South African journalist and music critic Shirley Apthorp.
Rolf Lislevand – Libro primo | August 29, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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“Full of rich expressivity and gleaming virtuosity, Libro Primo from Rolf Lislevand is a beautiful listen. It’s also a valuable contribution to our understanding of music from a period that classical music presenters often overlook.” – Jon Sobel, Blogcritics
On his newest recording for ECM’s New Series, lute virtuoso Rolf Lislevand turns to the revolutionary Baroque literature for archlute and chitarrone, interpreting the works of some of the most significant 16th-17th century lute composers. In striking solo performances, the Norwegian lute player explores the progressive nature of pieces by Johann Hieronymous Kapsberger, Giovanni Paolo Foscarini, Bernardo Gianoncelli and Diego Ortiz. Lislevand takes historically informed liberties in his interpretations throughout the programme, improvising frequently, as was custom at the time, and even contributes his own personal study of the challenging Passacaglia form with his “Passacaglia al modo mio”. Delving deeper into the musical fabric of the time, he also decided on a different tuning for the archlute than is commonly used today, “giving the music an adventurous timbre, more in line with the nuove musiche.”
The modernity of this music’s melodic and rhythmic sensibility throughout can be surprising, not only substantiating Lislevand’s deeper dive into this repertoire, but also revealing a broad idiomatic reach that can still sound highly contemporary today.
Arvo Pärt, Vox Clamantis; Jaan-Eik Tulve, Conductor – And I heard a voice | September 5, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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“The music helps create this supernatural portal between this world and the next and how Arvo Pärt depicts it, is with the utmost wonder and reverence.” Tom Huizenga, – All Songs Considered, NPR Music
“Some of the most outstanding performances I have attended in my life have featured vocal music by Estonian composers performed by Estonian choirs in the acoustic marvel that is Estonian churches – and Vox Clamantis’ new album of works by Arvo Pärt recorded in Haapsalu Cathedral is equally magnificent.” – Amanda Cook, I Care If You Listen
“This superb collection of music for choir composed by Pärt concludes with ‘And I heard a voice’, notable as the only composition by the Estonian composer in which he has set sacred text in his native language, using a translation into Estonian of the Book of Revelation. To the text Pärt has written music that perfectly blends the past with the present, and to which Vox Clamantis bring a gravitas that acknowledges both the compositions and the composer.” – Nick Lea, Jazz Views
And I heard a voice, recorded in Haapsalu Cathedral, Estonia, and released as Arvo Pärt turns 90, shows that the rapport between the choir, Vox Clamantis – conducted by Jaan-Eik Tulve – and composer, rooted in a shared feeling for both ancient plainchant and contemporary music, continues to deepen.
The new album, focusing primarily on recent compositions by Pärt, also reaches back to embrace the Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen, written in 1988, and based upon the scriptural verses intoned in the Roman Catholic liturgy during evening prayers in the week before Christmas. In the liner notes, Kristina Kõrver indicates how Pärt allows the character of each text to influence his settings of it. Thus, reference to the Laws of Moses in O Adonai are expressed in a “more archaic sound and ascetic expression”, while Jesse (O Sproß aus Isais Wurzel) incorporates dissonance “like a little flower pushing its way through the pavement”, as Pärt once said.e created a fascinating interplay between the pristine European piano tradition and the American poetry of the Beat Generation.
Dobrinka Tabakova – Sun Triptych | September 26, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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The Best New Albums Out September 26, 2025 – All Songs Considered, NPR Music
“superb new album” – Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché
“Her harmonic shifts quite simply melt into each other and leave an imprint on the soul.” – Jean-Yves Duperron, Classical Music Sentinel
Dobrinka Tabakova’s ECM New Series debut, String Paths, made an immediate impact on its release in 2013. Sun Triptych, produced by Manfred Eicher, brings back some of the String Paths ensemble, including close associates violist Maxim Rysanov, violinist Roman Mints, and cellist Kristine Blaumane. Friends and colleagues since conservatory days at the Guildhall School, all now leading soloists in their own right, they have grown up with the expressive language and colors of Tabakova’s music and are among its ideal interpreters.
Dobrinka Tabakova was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1980 and moved with her family to the UK in 1991; she has lived in London since then. She studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music Junior Department and at the age of 14 won the Jean-Frédéric Perrenoud composition prize at the Vienna International Music Competition. Tabakova graduated from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and King’s College London, and also participated in master classes with composers including Iannis Xenakis, John Adams and Louis Andriessen.
Zehetmair Quartett – Johannes Brahms: String Quartets, Op. 51 | October 17, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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“wonderful new recording...outstanding performances.” – Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché
“[T]he Zehetmair Quartett offer an impassioned and intrepid take on the material, from the throbbing high line of the violins and curved arch of the cello which characterise the opening phrases of the very first movement to the spare romance.” – Christopher Laws, Culturedarm
A central fixture in the world of string quartets for the past thirty years, the Zehetmair Quartett’s ECM recordings of Schumann, Hindemith, Bartók and Hartmann have received luminous praise – Gramophone lauded their Schumann as “Record of the Year”, while The Sunday Times described their Hindemith and Bartók performances as “playing of huge finesse in both pieces,” calling them “a real benchmark”.
For this newest entry into their New Series catalogue, the ensemble turns to Johannes Brahms’s first two string quartets, Op. 51 Nos. 1 and 2 – works of mature reflection and dramatic urgency that reveal Brahms’s mastery of form. Recorded with the Zehetmair Quartett’s characteristic intensity and richly expressive depth, the performances capture fresh and deeply felt readings of these cornerstone chamber works.
Meredith Monk – Cellular Songs | October 10, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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“[Cellular Songs] is non-narrative stuff — sung in no language, just the experimental vocalise that [Meredith] Monk has perfected over decades. Yet in partnership with her regular percussionist and vocalists (one of whom doubles on violin and piano), Monk shows she’s still capable of fashioning sonic surprise and resolution.” – Seth Colter Walls, The New York Times
“While each of these Cellular Songs carry their own patterns of internal logic, the album conceived as a whole tends to prove resolutely defiant, as Monk is joined variously by Ellen Fisher, Katie Geissinger, Joanna Lynn-Jacobs and Allison Sniffin, each utilising their voice and playing body percussion while Sniffin also adds strains on the violin and piano and John Hollenbeck accentuates their patter through a deft blend of vibraphone, percussion and crotales.” – Christopher Laws, Culturedarm
“Meredith Monk’s music still has the ability to surprise, and with Cellular Songs the composer is still looking to push the boundaries and explore the possibilities available with the human voice.” – Nick Lea, Jazz Views
Cellular Songs is the first Meredith Monk release with ECM since the extensive box-set Meredith Monk: The Recordings in 2022 and the first recording of new music since 2016’s On Behalf of Nature. It is also the second part of an interdisciplinary trilogy of performance works by Meredith Monk that began with On Behalf of Nature, a meditation on the precarious state of our global ecology.
Cellular Songs turns attention to the very fabric of life itself, and evokes such biological processes as layering, replication, division and mutation. Monk drew inspiration, she has noted, from reading The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by physician and Pulitzer Prizewinning author Siddhartha Mukherjee, struck by the notion that “a cell is like a miraculous prototype of cooperation, offering an alternative culture or template of human behavior to one of competition and destruction.”
Wu Wei, Martin Stegner, Janne Saksala – Pur ti miro | November 21, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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On ECM New Series release, Pur ti miro, sheng player Wu Wei, violist Martin Stegner, and bassist Janne Saksala play Claude Monteverdi’s Si dolce è’l tormento and Pur ti miro from L’incoronazione di Poppea, J. S. Bach’s organ trio sonatas Nos 1 and 4, and Antonio Vivaldi’s D minor Trio Sonata, in a program completed by “Buremarsj frå Beiarn”, a bridal march from Norwegian folk tradition. “Over time our programme kept growing, even though it’s a challenge to arrange works for this unusual combination of sounds,” says Stenger. “We don’t aim to interpret early music in a strictly historically correct way. All of us come from different musical and cultural backgrounds and it is precisely this diversity that consciously flows into our interpretations.”