Time Out recognition for contemporary classical music album

A classical music album co-produced and recorded by an award-winning University of Plymouth musician has received major backing from a leading American magazine. Cortical Songs – which features remixes from Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and Simon Tong of The Verve – was chosen as the fifth-best classical music record of the year by Time Out in Chicago. The album, by John Matthias and London-based composer Nick Ryan, fuses traditional classical music with pop and dance and has now been shortlisted for the prestigious Independent Music Awards, also in America. John, who is a lecturer in Sonic Arts at the University and plays the violin on the album, said: “We are delighted to have been recognised by such a prestigious magazine. We produced the piece for the University’s Contemporary Music Festival in 2007, and then worked with the likes of Thom and John Maclean from the Beta Band on some remixes. “Nick and I are very interested in exploring different genres and this goes to show what is possible when you open up classical music to more popular influences such as pop and dance. The concept for Cortical Songs was inspired by the workings of the cerebral cortex; one where melodies and textures are generated like the firing pattern of signals in the brain.