“Never stop or falter, always play loud. Stay together as long as you can, but if you get lost, stay lost. Do not try to find your way back into the fold.” That’s the instruction legendary composer Frederic Rzewski gave for his 1968 piece Les Moutons de Panurge.

Songs of Insurrection (2016) is Rzewski’s sequel to his masterwork The People United Will Never Be Defeated. The piece is presented here in its first recording by composer/pianist Thomas Kotcheff - member of piano spheres and the virtuosic piano duo HOCKET - alongside essays reflecting on the current moment, and photographs from protests taking place across the US.

With pieces including “Die Moorsoldaten” (The Song of the Deported) written by prisoners of the Börgermoor concentration camp, American civil rights hymn “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” and “Oh Bird, Oh Bird, Oh Roller” from the Korean Peasant Rebellion of Donghak, Songs of Insurrection transcends the world of contemporary music and takes you on a journey through uprising.