Retrograde
Mari Tamaki composer
Sirius Quartet
RETROGRADE by Sirius Quartet is a collection of innovative string works from Mari Tamaki. Tamaki, a Japanese cellist, composer, performer, and producer, conjures up drama through intense dissonances and delicate tonal harmonies throughout. The result is elegant and dynamic, drawing on Tamaki’s classical, improvisational, and avant-garde influences. The album features works like parallel realities, an ode to a cross-dimensional world that quite possibly exists. It also includes sneak into the Q-city, named after a work by Japanese painter Iori Mamiya depicting a psychedelic journey into one’s own mind. Contrary to what its title suggests, RETROGRADE is forward-thinking and intellectually captivating.
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Track Listing & Credits
| # | Title | Composer | Performer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | against the river stream | Mari Tamaki | Sirius Quartet | Fung Chern Hwei, violin; Gregor Huebner, violin; Sunjay Jayaram, viola; Jeremy Harman, cello | 8:09 |
| 02 | parallel realities | Mari Tamaki | Sirius Quartet | Fung Chern Hwei, violin; Gregor Huebner, violin; Sunjay Jayaram, viola; Jeremy Harman, cello | 8:36 |
| 03 | sneak into the Q-city | Mari Tamaki | Sirius Quartet | Fung Chern Hwei, violin; Gregor Huebner, violin; Ron Lawrence, viola; Jeremy Harman, cello | 7:31 |
Cover Painting Iori Mamiya
against the river stream, parallel realities
Recorded June 6-7, 2023 at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon NY
Session Producer Brad Michel
Session Engineer Edwin Huet
sneak into the Q-city
Recorded March 5, 2019 at Oktaven Audio in Mt Vernon NY
Session Producer Brad Michel
Session Engineer Ryan Streber
Assisstant Engineer Teng Chen
Recording Sessions Manager Levi Brown
Recording Sessions Assistant Emma Terrell
Editing, Mixing & Mastering Brad Michel
Executive Producer Bob Lord
A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
Production Manager Martina Watzková
Production Assistant Adam Lysák
VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Chelsea Kornago
Artist Information
Mari Tamaki
Mari Tamaki is a Japanese cellist, composer, performer, and producer whose great improvisational and compositional skills create fascinating music, fluidly crossing genres both classical and contemporary. As a composer, she has successfully created works in a variety of styles, including classical music, progressive rock, free improvisation, avant-garde, and collaboration with the Butoh dance form. In her pieces, she skillfully transitions from tense dissonance to complete harmonization by the end. She employs a lyrical style while emphasizing dissonance.
Sirius Quartet
Sirius Quartet combines exhilarating repertoire with unequaled improvisational fire. These conservatory-trained performer-composers shine with precision, soul and raw energy, championing a forward-thinking, genre-defying approach. Since their debut concert at the original Knitting Factory in New York City, Sirius has played some of the most important venues in the world, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Beijing Music Festival, the Cologne Music Triennale, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Stuttgart Jazz, Musique Actuelle in Canada, the Taichung Jazz Fest — Taiwan’s biggest jazz event — and many others.
Notes
Recording session with Mari Tamaki
Sirius Quartet in recording session at Oktaven Audio
