Maya Beiser - TranceClassical (2016)

Maya Beiser, the "reigning queen of the avant-garde cello" (The Washington Post), presents this new release, TranceClassical. A very personal project, Maya says of this album, "TranceClassical started from a washed-out still photo in my mind- me, as a little girl curled with a blanket on my parents' sofa, hearing Bach for the first time, hanging on to every mysterious note coming out of the scratchy LP... the pieces I bring here give me a sense of trance- a reverie and meditation on his place in my heart." A varied program, the album opens with Maya's interpretation of Bach's Air on G, in which she channels the sound of an old vinyl record, spinning on some far-off turntable. Especially notable are Maya's arrangements of Imogene Heap's Hide and Seek and Hildegard von Bingen's O Virtus Sapientiae. "With virtuoso chops, rock-star charisma, and an appetite for pushing her instrument to the edge of avant-garde adventurousness, Maya Beiser is the post-modern diva of the cello." (The Boston Globe)

"Beiser plays with time and memory. She turns the clock back to her childhood - to the days of snuggling with a blanket on the sofa, hearing Bach's music for the first time off a scratchy old LP." --Tom Huizenga, NPR Music, June 23, 2016