On her Cantaloupe debut, Rebekah Heller explores the full range of capabilities of the bassoon-not just as a solo instrument, but also, through careful and precise multi-tracking, as a percussive and regenerative source of sound that suggests infinite musical possibilities. The album opens with a blistering take on Julius Eastman's legendary The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc, which Heller arranged for ten bassoons based on the painstaking transcription of Eastman's 1981 live performance at The Kitchen (NYC) by cellist and composer Clarice Jensen. From there, Steve Reich's original Cello Counterpoint is reworked into Grand Street Counterpoint-again, for ten bassoons, with bassoon soloist-with Reich himself collaborating as co-producer. Heller also commissioned three composers, all of whom have explored the modern intersection of avant-garde, jazz, experimental, and classical music, to contribute their distinctive voices to the project. Jessie Cox's Sonic Cartographies and Fay Victor's Nurture (for Ingram) both tap into a wellspring of deep inspiration (with Cox drawing from his fascination with sound and movement, and Victor from her poignant memories of jazz musician Ingram Washington), while Green's piece Righteous Rage gives the album it's title: a fiery and fierce exposition on the world we're leaving for the next generation.

In a triumph of creative teamwork, the UK's Phaedra Ensemble presents the group's Cantaloupe Music debut Realms - recorded and produced in collaboration with renowned composer and singer Meredith Monk. The album collects, for the first time, Monk's only stand-alone string quartet (Stringsongs), together with one of her rarely performed instrumental works for small ensemble (Backlight), and the multi-layered Realm Variations, scored for six voices and mixed ensemble.

Field Recordings collects the Bang on a Can All-Stars' interpretations of newly commissioned works by Tyondai Braxton, Mira Calix, Anna Clyne, Bryce Dessner, Florent Ghys, Michael Gordon, Jóhann Jóhannsson, David Lang, Christian Marclay, Steve Reich, Todd Reynolds, Julia Wolfe and Nick Zammuto. In the words of composer David Lang, "Field Recordings is a kind of ghost story. We asked composers from different parts of the music world to find a recording of something that already exists -- a voice, a sound, a faded scrap of melody -- and then write a new piece around it. And so they did." A double-disc multimedia project featuring five videos on DVD, Field Recordings highlights the astonishing versatility of the All-Stars, whose grasp of musical styles ranging from classical to rock to musique concrete has helped redefine the term "new music."

For his latest feat of magic in the studio, composer and bassist Florent Ghys presents Télévision — an epic foray into classical forms, musique concrète, samples and sci-fi that warps the very edges of contemporary music. + As Ghys himself describes it, “Télévision is about weather reports, digital music, plastic beauty, synesthesia and dance.” + All 13 pieces were composed, played, recorded, filmed and mixed by Ghys — and we say filmed, because Ghys has taken the extraordinary step of creating a video to accompany each piece, in playful tribute to the medium that inspired the message.

When it comes to seminal alternative rock albums, Pixies’ 1988 debut Surfer Rosa qualifies as a true game-changer. + With strong production and even stronger songs, the album tore a rift in the rock ‘n roll continuum, influencing everyone from Kurt Cobain to Radiohead. + That influence remains as steadfast as ever among the feverish minds behind Asphalt Orchestra, the 12-piece New York-based marching band with an eclectic ear for new music, unpredictable repertoire and boundary-blurring arrangements. + AOPP remains true to the punkish attitude of the original.

Conceived and realized in partnership with Q2 Music's Peabody award-winning podcast Meet the Composer, Splitting Adams is Alarm Will Sound's tribute to American composer John Adams, and in particular to his works Chamber Symphony (1992) and Son of Chamber Symphony (2007). Presented with commentary tracks from MTC's host Nadia Sirota, Alarm Will Sound's artistic director Alan Pierson, and the composer himself, the podcast-plus-performance conveys a rare sense of interaction for the listener; not only does the music, performed in all its lush detail by the 17 musicians in AWS, capture and connect the long trajectory between the two works, but the commentary also shines a revealing light on the story behind the music.

When Michael Gordon's Timber, scored for six amplified wooden 2-by-4s, premiered in 2009, it brought the physicality and endurance of percussion performance to a new level. In the liner notes for Slagwerk Den Haag's recording of the piece, released on Cataloupe Music in 2011, Gordon described a connection to the work of shamanist author Carlos Castaneda, whose self-imposed spirit journey in the desert could wipe the brain clean and "bring on visions." Newly recorded by Mantra Percussion and reworked by an A-list of producers and DJs, Gordon's deep exploration into the extreme possibilities of rhythm gets the full electronic treatment on Timber Remixed. This album contains six key remixes by Squarepusher, Oneohtrix Point Never, Tim Hecker, Johann Johannsson, Fennesz and Hauschka.

The Day was commissioned for Maya Beiser by the University of Iowa/Hancher Auditorium, and is dedicated to Maya. It premiered at SFJAZZ in San Francisco, California, in August 2016. World To Come was commissioned for Maya Beiser by Commissioning Music/USA, The Carnegie Hall Corporation, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing arts, and several other arts organizations. It premiered in 2003 in New York City. Cellist Maya Beiser performs both of these works by David Lang with a sparkling interpretation that assures the listener they were tailor-made just for her bow.Cellist Maya Beiser defies categories. Passionately forging a career path through uncharted territories, she has captivated audiences worldwide with her virtuosity, eclectic repertoire, and relentless quest to redefine her instrument’s boundaries. The Boston Globe declares, “With virtuoso chops, rock-star charisma, and an appetite for pushing her instrument to the edge of avant-garde adventurousness, Maya Beiser is the post-modern diva of the cello,” while Rolling Stone calls her a “cello rock star.”

[Ziporyn's] whole career has been about making US see and hear that music is one world. - the Boston Globe Following the critically acclaimed Frog's Eye (CA21040, 2006) Big Grenadilla/Mumbai marks the second Cantaloupe Music collaboration between composer/clarinetist Evan Ziporyn and Gil Rose's Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP). It is also the second time that Evan has teamed up with world-renowned tabla player Sandeep Das - a member of the Silk Road Ensemble - thus forging together a non-western master musician with a premiere western orchestra. Commissioned and premiered by the American Composers Orchestra in 2006, Big Grenadilla features Evan Ziporyn on bass clarinet and is named for the wood from which clarinets are made and the "big" orchestra, magnifying and framing. Wanting to highlight and amplify what he likes to do best on his instrument, Evan calls the piece "an attempt at ancestor worship, on two levels: The instrument dreams of it's living, rooted reality, with the orchestra playing the role of it's environs." Mumbai is a memorial to and meditation on the terrorist bombings in that city in 2008. Mumbai was commissioned by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and premiered alongside with Grammy nominated soloist Sandeep Das on May 27, 2011.

Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo and Russian pianist Anton Batagov first met through their mutual friendship with famed choreographer Bill T. Jones, so it's only natural that their first musical collaboration is based on movement and improvisation. Tayatha traces a journey of spiritual transformation, invoking the universal themes of love, family, faith and renewal.