This recording of Corigliano's chamber arrangement of Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan featuring soprano Laura Hynes, is coupled with Vincent Ho's virtuosic and mystical Gryphon Realms for piano trio. World premiere recordings. Corigliano's orchestration of Mr. Tambourine Man can be heard on 8.559331.

I had always heard, by reputation, of the high regard accorded the folk-ballad singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. But I was so engaged in developing my orchestral technique during the years when Dylan was heard by the rest of the world that I had never heard his songs. So I bought a collection of his texts, and found many of them to be every bit as beautiful and as immediate as I had heard – and surprisingly well-suited to my own musical language.

I chose seven poems for what became a thirty-five minute cycle. A Prelude: Mr. Tambourine Man, in a fantastic and exuberant manner, precedes five searching and reflective monologues that form the core of the piece; and Postlude: Forever Young makes a kind of folk-song benediction after the cycle’s close. Dramatically, the inner five songs trace a journey of emotional and civic maturation, from the innocence of Clothes Line through the beginnings of awareness of a wider world (Blowin’ in the Wind), through the political fury of Masters of War, to a premonition of an apocalyptic future (All Along the Watchtower), culminating in a vision of a victory of ideas (Chimes of Freedom). Several years after composing the vocal/piano score I orchestrated the work, and some years later transcribed it for Pierrot ensemble, a chamber group. This is the first recording of the chamber version. - John Corigliano

Gryphon Realms is a three-movement work, inspired by gryphon mythology, that explores the coloristic, virtuosic and expressive possibilities of the piano trio while highlighting my more personal musical language. - Vincent Ho

This album brings together all of Kodaly's extant pieces for organ, plus works by his contemporaries. They are performed on the Chancel Organ at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, Atlanta by the acclaimed Welsh organist Iain Quinn, professor of organ at Florida State University.

REVIEW:

The disc opens with Ernő Dohnányi’s quite substantial Fantasie in C minor which is listed as a world premiere recording. As is my preference when encountering unknown music, I listen before I read any of the detail, so my surprise as to why this work should sound so unlike this composer’s other music is easily explained, as it is a student work by a fifteen year old. For sure, there is talent and confidence and no little skill but this does sound rather like a test or exercise piece where some Bachian passages jostle with imposing hymn-like melodies and some rather broad-brush Romantic gestures.

Sandwiched between music by familiar composers are a couple of pieces by less well-known names. Bedřich Antonín Wiedermann's Pastorale dorico is another modest, rather unassuming work with a conservative outlook that belies its 1942 composition.

Kodály's set of nine Epigrammák are in fact transcriptions for solo organ made by Gábor Trajtler of songs by Kodály written originally in 1954. These are consciously unaffected and simple pieces. As a sequence they come across as a bit unvaried, but I cannot imagine a better case being made for them than here by Iain Quinn

Just in time the work around which the whole disc was planned arrives. This is Kodály’s quite wonderful Csendes mise. There is an immediate substance and stature to the music here. There is a variety of expressive and musical style that makes for a compelling experience – and this is most definitely a work that benefits from being heard complete.

The disc is completed by another unfamiliar name and work: Miloš Sokola’s Passacaglia quasi toccata na téma B-A-C-H. Dating from 1963 this work makes for an interesting and energetic ‘recessional’ piece for this program

— MusicWeb International

This second volume of George Walker's piano music joins its predecessor on Naxos 8.559916 (April 2024), together forming a unique complete piano works edition. On this new release, Steinway Artist Alexandre Dossin performs the cyclical Fourth Piano Sonata, which alternates between sections of virtuoso muscularity and lyrical repose, and the Piano Concerto, which integrates expansive Classical forms with inspiration derived from songs by Duke Ellington, something also cleverly hidden in Guido's Hand. The album closes with Walker's passionate Fifth Piano Sonata.

REVIEW:

Dossin makes much of the alternately moody and energetic first movement of the Piano Sonata No. 4. His ability to grasp the long line of Walker’s music is a really big factor in one’s enjoyment of his performances. The pianist's ability to use “space” in his interpretations makes these performances fascinating and ultimately rewarding.

— Art Music Lounge