| Femina | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 27, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | December 16–18, 2008 | |||
| Genre | Avant-garde, contemporary classical, avant-garde jazz, noise | |||
| Length | 35:24 | |||
| Label | Tzadik TZ 7377 | |||
| Producer | John Zorn | |||
| John Zorn chronology | ||||
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Femina is the eleventh album by John Zorn recorded in New York City in December 2008 and released on the Tzadik label in October 2009. [1] The album is a tribute to the artistic creativity of women.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [2] |
Allmusic said "The music is among Zorn's most immediately engaging. It still consists of the juxtaposition of brief, sometimes jarringly disjunct musical ideas that has been a characteristic of much of his work, but while there are still some grindingly dissonant sections, the tone is predominantly lyrical... Femina is an album that reveals yet another facet of the composer's multifarious creative personality and is one that could attract new listeners to his work. Highly recommended". [2] All About Jazz stated "The lyrical 35-minute piece lurches briskly from one mood to the next, vacillating from wispy introspective glissandos and airy impressionistic swells to concise thickets of caterwauling frenzy... In terms of aesthetics, Femina hearkens back to Zorn's early jump-cut style of writing and composing, bolstered by his current fascination with conventionally tuneful melodies and harmonies". [3]
All compositions by John Zorn
John Zorn is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". His avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, contemporary, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and world music. In 2013, Down Beat described Zorn as "one of our most important composers" and in 2020 Rolling Stone noted that "[alt]hough Zorn has operated almost entirely outside the mainstream, he's gradually asserted himself as one of the most influential musicians of our time".
Masada is a musical group with rotating personnel led by American saxophonist and composer John Zorn since the early 1990s.
The Gift is an album by John Zorn released in 2001 on the Tzadik label as the third volume of his Music Romance Series and described as an album "for lovers only".
The Classic Guide to Strategy is a compilation album by John Zorn featuring his two early solo records The Classic Guide to Strategy Volume One (1983), (tracks 1-2) and the Classic Guide to Strategy Volume Two (1986), (tracks 3-8). The albums were first released on vinyl on Lumina Records in and later re-released on Tzadik Records in 1996 as a single CD. The second track is inspired by the work of Carl Stalling and tracks 3-8 are named after avant-garde Japanese artists. The Classic Guide to Strategy Volume Two also contained the track "Yano Akiko" (5:20) which does not appear on the CD re-release.
Filmworks XI: Secret Lives features a score for film by John Zorn performed by the Masada String Trio with guest appearances from Vanessa Saft on vocals and Jamie Saft on piano. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2002 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII, a documentary on Jewish children hidden during the Second World War directed by Aviva Slesin. The documentary was originally to be titled Under the Wing and several sources still refer to the soundtrack under this name.
Filmworks XIV: Hiding and Seeking features a score for film by John Zorn. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2003 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for, Hiding and Seeking (2003), a documentary directed by Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky.
50th Birthday Celebration Volume 10 is a live album of improvised music by Yamataka Eye and John Zorn documenting their performance at Tonic in September 2003 as part of John Zorn's month-long 50th Birthday Celebration concert series. Guitarist Fred Frith also appears on one track.
First Recordings 1973 is a compilation album by John Zorn featuring recordings that he made while still a student between 1973 and 1974 which was released on the Tzadik label in 1995.
Zaebos: Book of Angels Volume 11 is an album of compositions by John Zorn released in 2008 by experimental jazz fusion trio Medeski Martin & Wood performing compositions from John Zorn's second Masada book, "The Book of Angels" on the Tzadik label.
Asmodeus: Book of Angels Volume 7 is an album by Marc Ribot performing compositions from John Zorn's second Masada book, The Book of Angels.
Chimeras is an album of contemporary classical music by American composer John Zorn featuring a 12 part piece inspired by Arnold Schoenberg's atonal composition "Pierrot Lunaire". In 2010 the album was revised and re-recorded, with an additional "Postlude".
The Crucible is an album by John Zorn. It is the fourth album to feature the "Moonchild Trio" of Mike Patton, Joey Baron and Trevor Dunn, following Moonchild: Songs Without Words (2005), Astronome (2006) and Six Litanies for Heliogabalus (2007). It also features Marc Ribot on guitar and Zorn on alto saxophone.
Dictée/Liber Novus is the twelfth studio album by John Zorn which features two compositions: Dictée and Liber Novus.
In Search of the Miraculous is an album by composer John Zorn released as a part of Tzadik's Archival series in 2010.
The Gnostic Preludes is an album composed by John Zorn and released on the Tzadik label in March 2012. It was the first album by Carol Emanuel, Bill Frisell, and Kenny Wollesen who became known as The Gnostic Trio.
Nosferatu is the sixteenth studio album by John Zorn released on the Tzadik label in April 2012 on the 100th Anniversary of Bram Stoker's death. Zorn wrote the score as a commission for a Polish theatre group's adaption of Stoker's novel Dracula.
Filmworks XXIII: El General is a film score by American composer John Zorn for Natalia Almada's documentary El General which depicts Mexican politician Plutarco Elías Calles. It is the twenty-third album of Zorn's Filmworks series.
Dreamachines is an album by John Zorn recorded in New York City in April 2013 and released on the Tzadik label in July 2013. The album is inspired by the works of William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin.
The Mysteries is an album composed by John Zorn and performed by Bill Frisell, Carol Emanuel and Kenny Wollesen which was recorded in New York City in December 2012 and released on the Tzadik label in March 2013. The album is the second by the trio following 2012's The Gnostic Preludes.
Filmworks XXV: City of Slaughter/Schmatta/Beyond the Infinite is an album of solo piano pieces composed by John Zorn and performed by Zorn, Omri Mor and Rob Burger which was recorded in New York City in 2009 and 2012 and released on the Tzadik label in January 2013. The album was the last in Zorn's Filmworks series.
