| The Alchemist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 2014 | |||
| Genre | Avant-garde, contemporary classical music | |||
| Length | 33:04 | |||
| Label | Tzadik TZ 8314 | |||
| Producer | John Zorn | |||
| John Zorn chronology | ||||
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The Alchemist is an album composed by John Zorn and featuring two new compositions, one for string quartet and another for female voices, recorded in New York City in 2013 and released on the Tzadik label in February 2014. [1] [2] [3]
All compositions by John Zorn
John Zorn is an American composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist. He has composed, performed, and produced music across genres that include, but are not limited to, jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. Zorn incorporates diverse styles and compositional methods in his works, which he identifies as avant-garde or experimental. In 2013, Down Beat described Zorn as "one of our most important composers".
The Circle Maker is a double album by John Zorn featuring Zorn's Masada compositions performed by the Masada String Trio and the Bar Kokhba Sextet which was released in 1998 on the Tzadik label.
IAO is an album by John Zorn released in 2002 on the Tzadik label. The album was inspired by Aleister Crowley and his follower, filmmaker Kenneth Anger and draws its title from the Kabbalistic identity of IAO, the initials of Isis, Apophis and Osiris, used as a magical formula in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and in Aleister Crowley's Gnostic Mass.
Archery is an album by John Zorn featuring his early "game piece" composition of the same name. The album was first released on Parachute Records in 1982 and later released on Tzadik Records with additional rehearsal takes as a part of The Parachute Years Box Set in 1997 and as a triple CD set in 2001.
Pool is an album by John Zorn featuring his early "game piece" composition of the same name which was first released on vinyl on Parachute Records in 1980 as a double album including the composition "Hockey". The album was released on CD on Tzadik Records with an additional bonus track featuring a test recording of Archery as part of The Parachute Years Box Set in 1997 and as a single CD in 2000. The album was the first released solely under Zorn's name following his collaboration with Eugene Chadbourne, School (1978).
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.
Duras: Duchamp is an album of contemporary classical music by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn consisting two tribute compositions for Marguerite Duras and Marcel Duchamp.
Angelus Novus is an album of contemporary classical music by American composer and alto saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn including compositions written in 1972 ("Christabel"), and 1983.
Madness, Love and Mysticism is an album of contemporary classical music by American composer John Zorn released in 2001 on the Tzadik label.
Lemma is an album composed by John Zorn and featuring violinists David Fulmer, Chris Otto and Pauline Kim which as recorded in New York City in 2012 and released on the Tzadik label in February 2013.
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 is rumoured to be the last in Zorn's Filmworks series.
The Satyr's Play / Cerberus is an album composed by John Zorn which as recorded in New York City in January and April 2010 and released on the Tzadik label in April 2011. Zorn signed and numbered 666 copies of the CD and produced 66 copies of a limited edition book version which were individualised and hand bound in black goat skin.
On the Torment of Saints, the Casting of Spells and the Evocation of Spirits is an album of contemporary classical music by John Zorn, written in 2012, recorded in New York City in March & July 2013, and released on the Tzadik label in November 2013. The album features compositions inspired by William Shakespeare, Halloween and Anthony the Great and the cover art features paintings by Salvador Dali, Goya and Michelangelo.
Shir Hashirim is an album of vocal music by John Zorn, written in 2008, recorded in New York City in September 2010, and released on the Tzadik label in December 2013. The album features compositions inspired by the Song of Songs and cover art by Auguste Rodin.
In Lambeth is an album composed by John Zorn and performed by the Gnostic Trio, recorded in New York City in April 2013 and released on the Tzadik label in December 2013. The album is the third by the trio following The Gnostic Preludes (2012) and The Mysteries (2013). Its title quotes from William Blake's poem Jerusalem.
Psychomagia is the second album by Abraxas, led by Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, performing compositions written by John Zorn, which was recorded in December 2013 and released on the Tzadik label.
Adramelech: Book of Angels Volume 22 is the second album by Zion80, a musical ensemble led by guitarist Jon Madof, which was released in 2014 on John Zorn's Tzadik Records. It is part of the Zorn's Book of Angels Series, a songbook of Zorn compositions performed by a wide range of performers.
On Leaves of Grass is an album composed by John Zorn inspired by the works of Walt Whitman and performed by the Nova Quartet, John Medeski, Kenny Wollesen, Trevor Dunn, and Joey Baron, which was recorded in New York City in March 2014 and released on the Tzadik label. The album is the fourth by the quartet following 2011's Nova Express and At the Gates of Paradise and 2013's Dreamachines.
Myth and Mythopoeia is an album of contemporary classical music composed by John Zorn and featuring a piece for string quartet and soprano, one for solo cello, one for a trio of piano, violin and cello, one for a duo of violin and cello and one for full ensemble, which was released on the Tzadik label in June 2014.