WHITTINGTON, STEPHEN - Final Fragments - Piano Music of David Kotlowy

"2021 release. Final Fragments is the first album dedicated to the music of quiet revolutionary David Kotlowy, and surveys his piano music from the early '90s to the '00s. Kotlowy's music is often extremely delicate, sometimes straddles the threshold of audibility, and creates pregnant silences, producing a maximum effect from a limited amount of material. Among the selections on this record are examples of his gorgeous and original "breath pieces", in which the duration of musical notes and gestures are determined exclusively by the performer's unhurried breathing. Stephen Whittington's performances of new piano music have long been celebrated worldwide, but until now he has been extremely elusive on disc. De la Catessen Records presents his first commercial album as solo pianist. Since the 1970s, he has shaped the development of new music by giving the first performances in Australia of works by Morton Feldman, Cornelius Cardew, James Tenney, and many others.

"Radically beautiful, and perhaps, most of all, radically human (...) Throughout, I am struck by the music's poetics, its capacity to still the moment, and its ability to balance rigor of praxis with gentleness of touch" --Jon Dale." - De La Catessen Records.