Innova Recordings was founded in 1982 by an organization called the American Composers Forum so that composers, that most embattled and consistently maligned species of contemporary music makers, would be able to record the forward-thinking, fresh and visceral music they were making. This was music that had a firm foothold in no markets — not pop, not rock, not even traditional classical. This is music that defines itself by all of the things it isn't, or only sort of is: classical, but not old; modern, but not Modernist; melodic, but not Pop. It slips under or beneath every classification crack there is. When you are faced with a lack of labels as severe as this, you can almost start to understand why people go around calling it ridiculous things like "art music" or "serious music" — anything to give it a name and to draw people's attention to it.

The American Composers Forum just called it "music" — and recorded it in volume. When it began, the Saint Paul, Minnesota-based group had a very narrow, pragmatic focus: It recorded Minnesota composers who had been awarded the prestigious McKnight Fellowship. Since 1994, however, as its purview has grown, it has matured into… read more »