The two Brahms Sonatas for Viola and Piano are unquestionably two of the greatest chamber works for viola. Here we have the addition of a great arrangement for viola and piano of the Brahms Sonata for Cello & Piano in E minor, Op. 38. Violinist Manchin Zhang and pianist Albert Tiu are ideal performers for this literature. Zhang Manchin is Principal Violist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. She was formerly the first Asian player and youngest member in the history of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) when she was appointed Assistant Principal Viola by music director Neeme Järvi in 1994. Zhang has worked closely with conductors and soloists such as Claudio Abbado, Lorin Mazel, Simon Rattle, Zubin Metha, Michael Tilson Thomas Isaac Stern Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman Gil Shaham, Midori, and Emanuel Ax. During her tenure at the DSO, she was a resident artist at the Interlochen Center for the Arts a member of the DSO Chamber Music Ensemble and DSO String Quartet, and a participant and performer of the Chamber Music Festival at Blue Lake in Great Michigan area. Albert Tiu is the Associate Professor of Piano at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, he studied with Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School, with Michael Lewin at Boston Conservatory, and with Nita Abrogar-Quinto and Nelly Castro in the Philippines. A recipient of Juilliard’s William Petschek Award and a prizewinner of competitions in Calgary (Honens), Helsinki (Maj Lind) and Santander (Paloma O’Shea), he won the First Prize and two concerto prizes in the 1996 UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa.

Classical Music

ALL DECKS

Though Gary Versace’s discography has so far been mostly occupied with his B-3 recordings, here his new album, the 5th on SteepleChase is the very first strictly piano trio which reveals Versace’s intuitively intelligent touch and inventiveness on piano. Fellow pianist Andy LaVerne who is the author of the liner notes sums up his commentary in saying, “It’s gratifying and inspiring to witness the ascension of Gary’s musical endeavors and creativity from his wide ranging exemplary sideman work (which includes my piano/ organ trio with five SteepleChase releases), to assuming the helm of his own forward leaning piano trio.”

All For The King is a newly-formed ensemble that plays modern heavy hard rock. Journalist Mikael Good writes about the band’s debut: “In spite of a high average age of a debut band, it does not feel funky and old, but young and vital. With their routine and joy, they can easily play both the shirt and the tie of many younger bands. Erik Tilling…plays with a lot of pondus, delivering one heavy guitar riff after another…I think of riff champion Tony Iommi when I hear him play. But Erik does not plagiarize without finding his own personal expression and style. The singer Ricard Hulteke delivers the songs with his entire registry. He has his roots in soul, gospel, and praise, and is also a singer in the critically acclaimed hard rock band Empire 21. Although Ricard began singing hard rock late in life, he has already emerged as one of the best…”

Double vinyl LP pressing. All for You is Diana Krall's tribute to the Nat King Cole Trio of the 1940s, when Cole performed as both a singer and pianist. Krall, also a singer/pianist like her heroes Lena Horne and Carmen McRae, plays both roles on most of the songs here. She's able to link her singing to her piano, playing in sympathetic ways and projecting tremendous feeling through both. Verve's Acoustic Sounds Series utilizes the skills of top mastering engineers and the unsurpassed production craft of Quality Record Pressings.

Recorded in: St George's Church, Cambridge 11-13 August 1997 & 28 January 1998 Producer(s) Adrian Hunter Sound Engineer(s) Ben Connellan

All In represents Pieces of a Dream at their creative peak. Joined by superstar guitarist Rohn Lawreence and up and coming saxophonist Tony Watson Jr., the group has composed 10 brilliant originals that run the gamut from the 'in the pocket' R&B to the sensuous Smooth jazz jams that have made them legends.

A delightful collection of English songs from the 17th century, constructed around the major influence of the four seasons, and showcasing the great enthusiasm for music, particularly amateur music making, that took place during this era.

During the Commonwealth of England (c.1640–1660), music disappeared almost entirely from religious and court occasions. The use of instruments and music in churches was banned, and organs were destroyed by order of the regime – so the public turned to village and tavern musicians, country dances and new musical clubs for music making. Coinciding with the decline of the Elizabethan madrigal, folk music and settings of the famous poets of the day were popular; similarly, keyboard variations on dance tunes and romantic songs for voice and lute were all the rage, and this continued into the years of the Restoration under Charles II. The monarch’s influence can be detected in the French style of some of the later works, featuring oboe and large groups of strings.

This outpouring of inspired music is captured perfectly in this new collection, performed with insight and sensitivity by Ensemble Le Tendre Amour. Composers featured include Purcell, Playford, Morley, Croft, Lawes, Byrd, Eccles, Ravenscroft and, of course, many anonymous works. From bucolic country music to sophisticated pieces for a gentrified city audience, the music provides a vivid soundtrack to life in the turbulent world of 17th century England.

OTHER INFORMATION:
• Recording made in June 2011.
• Includes extensive booklet notes and complete sung texts.

REVIEWS:

"What an enchanting promenade through a musical garden – full of colour – a splendid sound - lively and high-spirited dances, not to mention the tender rendition of gentle love songs. Also truly splendid were the seven soloists of the ensemble, especially heard were: Sébastien Perrin (traverso), Adriana Alcaide (violin), and Nina Akerblom Nielsen (soprano). The result: an enchanting excursion to a baroque garden, glorious!" - Niederösterreichisches Nachrichten, St. Pölten, Austria.

"Closing the 10th Samobor music festival this year was a performance by early music ensemble Le Tendre Amour from Barcelona with the program “All in a Garden Green,” which caused great audience approval in the Samobor Franciscan church. Various combinations of instrumentation, a creative selection of repertoire, refined performance, and passionately dedicated members of this specialized ensemble, opened a rich array of emotional and spiritual nuances of beautiful music to the listener. The ensemble was as rich and inexhaustible as the interesting artistic periods themselves." - Radio Samobor, Croatia.

All In Good Time is the latest step in Monika Herzig's ongoing mission to elevate women composers, players and bandleaders. This fourth outing under the banner Sheroes, an all-female band spearheaded by pianist, prolific composer and arranger Herzig, is simultaneously a celebration of the group's 10th anniversary and a salute to their perseverance. "This group has pushed quite a few boundaries and inspired similar formations and initiatives," said Herzig. "However, change takes time and we're seeing small steps forward in those 10 years, but we remain patient." - Back in 2014, her idea was to bring together fellow women jazz musicians with the goal of presenting powerful role models on stage as a way of breaking some lingering stereotypes; a path initially paved by Sherri Maricle and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra in the '90s. That groups like Artemis and others have followed the trail that Sheroes helped blaze is proof of efforts paying off. On All In Good Time, Herzig is once again joined by Sheroes charter members Jamie Baum on flute, Reut Regev on trombone and Leni Stern on guitar. Drummer Rosa Avila returns from her appearances on 2018's Sheroes and 2020's Eternal Dance, while newcomers Camille Thurman on tenor sax and vocals (a former member of the DIVA Jazz Orchestra and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra) and bassist-composer Gina Schwarz fill out this current potent lineup. Together their chemistry is undeniable, as they skillfully navigate the demanding originals by Herzig and Schwarz - and one surprising cover - while delivering impassioned improvisations along the way. They open with the elaborate title track, full of intricate counterpoint between flute and trombone and fueled by drummer Avila's grooving backbeat and indelible hookup with Schwarz's deep, syncopated bass lines. Composed by Herzig shortly after Chick Corea's passing in February 2021, it finds the leader outlining the moving harmony on Fender Rhodes electric piano.

Father & son duke it out on B-3 organs on this funky family fued, recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's place, feat. Bootsie Barnes, Houston Person, Melvin Sparks & Byron Landham

The Big DooWopper is a blind street musician who travels with his keyboard to play in the Chicago subway train system - you can find him on weekdays in the tunnel between the Red & Blue lines near Washington & State; his 9 nine originals reflect many blues influences, and he does a soul/blues cover of Prince's "Purple Rain"

A look at the final days of William ShakespeareMusic by Academy Awards Nominee Patrick Doyle (Murder on the Orient Express, Hamlet, Sense and Sensibility)Directed by Oscar-Nominee Kenneth BranaghStarring Oscar-Winner Judi Dench & Oscar Nominee Ian McKellenABOUT THE COMPOSERPatrick Doyle is a classically trained composer of film, television, theatre and radio. He graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in 1975 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in 2001. Doyle has been commissioned to score over 50 international feature films, including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Gosford Park, Sense and Sensibility, Indochine, Carlito’s Way and A Little Princess.His work has led to collaborations with some of the most acclaimed directors in the world, such as Régis Wargnier, Brian De Palma, Alfonso Cuarón, Ang Lee, Chen Kaige, Mike Newell and Robert Altman.Doyle's creative relationship with director Kenneth Branagh has resulted in many of his best-known scores over the past 25+ years, for films such as Henry V, Hamlet, Frankenstein and Thor.Doyle has received two Oscar® nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, and two Cesar nominations, and won the 1989 Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Theme for Henry V. He has also been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Scottish BAFTA and the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award.

Berger & Holland were two of the first Europeans to find musical homes for themselves deep in American free jazz, and these improvised duets from 1976 show just how comfortable they were. Berger plays piano, vibraphone & balafon, while Holland plays bass. The compositions are tonal, and as the title insists, it's all about time. It's roots go deep, all the way to Africa, and the overlapping of rhythms suggest the minimalism of Reich, Riley & Glass. Berger's forte is rhythmic dialogue, and the subtle time shifts that are often a music's undercurrent are fore-grounded here.

Kali Malone's anticipated new album "All Life Long" is a collection of music for pipe organ, choir, and brass quintet composed by Kali Malone, 2020 - 2023. Choral music performed by Macadam Ensemble and conducted by Etienne Ferschaud at Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-L'Immacul�e-Conception in Nantes. Brass quintet music performed by Anima Brass at The Bunker Studio in New York City. Organ music performed by Kali Malone and Stephen O'Malley on the historical meantone tempered pipe organs at �glise Saint-Fran�ois in Lausanne, Orgelpark in Amsterdam, and Malm� Konstmuseum in Sweden. Kali Malone composes with a rare clarity of vision. Her music is patient and focused, built on a foundation of evolving harmonic cycles that draw out latent emotional resonances. Time is a crucial factor: letting go of expectations of duration and breadth offers a chance to find a space of reflection and contemplation. In her hands, experimental reinterpretations of centuries-old polyphonic compositional methods become portals to new ways of perceiving sound, structure, and introspection. Though awe-inspiring in scope, the most remarkable thing about Malone's music is the intimacy stirred by the close listening it encourages. Malone's new album All Life Long, created between 2020 - 2023, presents her first compositions for organ since 2019's breakthrough album The Sacrificial Code alongside interrelated pieces for voice and brass performed by Macadam Ensemble and Anima Brass. Over the course of twelve pieces, harmonic themes and patterns recur, presented in altered forms and for varied instrumentation. They emerge and reemerge like echoes of their former selves, making the familiar uncanny. Propelled by lungs and breath rather than bellows and oscillators, Malone's compositions for choir and brass take on expressive qualities that complicate the austerity that has defined her work, introducing lyricism and the beauty of human fallibility into music that has been driven by mechanical processes. At the same time, the works for organ, performed by Malone with additional accompaniment by Stephen O'Malley on four different organs dating from the 15th to 17th centuries, underscore the mighty, spectral power that those rigorous operations can achieve. All Life Long simmers in an ever-shifting tension between repetition and variation. The pieces for brass, organ, and voice are alternated asymmetrically, providing nearly continuous timbral fluctuation across it's 78-minute runtime even as thematic material reiterates. Each composition's internal framework of fractal pattern permutations has the paradoxical effect of creating anticipated keystone moments of dramatic reverie and lulling the listener into believing in an illusory endlessness. On an even more granular level, the historical meantone tuning systems of each organ used, and the variable intonation of brass and voice, provide further points of emotional excavation within the harmony. The titular composition "All Life Long" appears twice on the album, first as an extended canon for organ and again in the final quarter, compactly arranged for voice. In the latter, Malone pairs the music with "The Crying Water" by Arthur Symons, a poem steeped in language of mourning and eternity. For organ, "All Life Long" moves with a patient stateliness, the drama concentrated in moments when shifting tonalities generate and release dissonance and ecstasy. For voice, each word is saturated with feeling, the singers swooping gracefully downward to capture the melancholy of the narrator's relationship to the timeless tears of the sea. "Passage Through The Spheres," the album's opening piece, contains lyrics in Italian pulled from Giorgio Agamban's essay In Praise of Profanation. In it, Agamban defines profanation as, in part, the act of bringing back to communal, secular use that which has been segregated to the realm of the sacred, a process Malone enacts each time she performs on church organs. This is not music of praise, or of spiritual revelation, but it is an artistic enactment of translating the indescribable. It carries the gravity of liturgical chant, and it's fixation on the infinite, but draws it's weight from the earthly realm of human experience. A music that draws the listener into the present moment where they can discover themselves within the interwoven musical patterns that can come to resemble the passage of days, weeks, years, a lifetime.

For the first time the large clavicytherium of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (Nuremberg) – a kind of vertical harpsichord built by an anonymous German master during the late sixteenth century – is recorded here on album. The present instrument is undoubtedly a pinnacle of the art of instrument making, with unusual timbres and an astonishingly complex action. Bernhard Klapprott, a former pupil of Bob van Asperen and today Professor of Harpsichord in Weimar, has selected appropriate music for this rare instrument: to be heard are delicate polyphonic works as well as full-voiced adaptations of popular songs of the time by South-German composers such as Hassler, Erbach, Paix, and Staden. The unique instrument and the special repertoire are described in detail in the extensive booklet. In addition, Bernhard Klapprott explains the special background of the historical ornamentation employed.

Classical Music

Peter Asplund is one of Swedens foremost trumpet players. Or why not say it like it is? He is one of Europes or even the worlds foremost trumpeters. Why draw a line when there is no need to? Jazz is not limited by any national borders. It has been written: ""A fantastic musician who always plays straight from the heart"" - and to which we can all readily agree! Over the years he has developed his dynamic and energy-loaded, slightly melancholic and melodic trumpet style until he can express what he feels when he feels. This applies when he plays a standard by, say, George Gershwin, Cole Porter or Duke Ellington. And it also applies when he plays some of his own original compositions, tunes with a distinct accent on melody, my own standards he calls them. Of his new release, he writes: I was born in September. There is something special about that month. The light, the air, the scent of nature. For many it is a beginning of something, for others, an end. You reminisce. You look forward in time. You pause and regard the present. Wherever you happen to be, September brings forth both feelings and thoughts on life. These are mine. All My Septembers stay with me forever.

‘All My Sins’, the 2009 debut album from Glasgow’s rising star Maeve O’Boyle, is a master class in melodic, folk-tinged pop and showcases Maeve’s poignant, personal and deeply meaningful self-penned songs. Her unique blend of melodic pop, folk and rock won the acclaim of many established musicians and the press upon its release. Ms. O'Boyle first came to prominence in 2006 when she won a Danny award at Celtic Connections. Testament to her mounting status was an entry into The Scotsman ‘Scots Women of the Year’ in 2007 and a recommendation by the Daily Record showbiz editors as ‘One to Watch For’.

All Night Long

Blues guitarist worked w. many of the greats - Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf & others, but it's the 12 originals here that show the world who Byther Smith really is.

All Of Me

Magnificently iconic tenor player to come out of the post-Swing Era Eddie Lockjaw Davis (1922-1986) cut two albums for SteepleChase during his late years. This album was recorded in 1983 in Copenhagen, which earned superlative reviews all over the world. “Tenorman Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis had already been a potent force in jazz for 35 years when he recorded this set but as it turned out his SteepleChase date (his next-to-last session) was one of the strongest of his career. Accompanied by a trio led by pianist Kenny Drew, Lockjaw really tears into these standards which are highlighted by "I Only Have Eyes for You," "There Is No Greater Love" (the alternate version was released for the first time on its CD reissue), "Four" and the title cut. Davis was at the peak of his powers during this recording, making this SteepleChase outing one of his very best.” (Scott Yanow – AllMusic) “Nothing valedictory about this date. No signs of decline. It’s hard to believe it was Jaw’s last album as a leader. Just the thing if you didn’t miss your water until your well went dry.” (Cadence) 180g Audiophile Vinyl

Deluxe four CD box set, the first comprehensive multi-label overview to span the singer/songwriter's prolific career, 1964 to 1997. Includes six previously unreleased tracks, demos, promo rarities, live performances, limited edition and private pressings, and more! Packaged in a 10-panel oversize softpak with an expansive, 32-page booklet exploring Denver's diverse and far-reaching appeal, with memorabilia and rare photos, a new in depth essay by G. Brown (former Denver Post music critic and currently Director at the Colorado Music Hall Of Fame) including first-hand interviews. A 'far out' must have for all John Denver fans.

All Of Three

Gregory Porter, the best-selling contemporary Jazz/Soul artist with over 3 million album sales, returns with All Rise, his sixth studio album. It marks a return to his beloved songwriting - heart-on-sleeve lyrics imbued with everyday philosophy, set to a stirring mix of jazz, soul, blues and gospel. All Rise represents his artistic revolution to something even more emphatic and intimate. It brims with songs about irrepressible love, plus a little protest, because the road to healing is bumpy.

The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century. Program #3 the New World and It's Music Inspired by American dreams and legends, Dvor�k created some of his greatest works while living in the United States, above all the 'New World' Symphony. This program illuminates the multiple stories and influences Native American, African-American and Czech that Dvor�k transformed in his most beloved work. Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Avanti! Offers a contemporary interpretation of the American archetype of 'moving on.' Program #4 Politics and Art Music has sometimes reflected, and at other times challenged repressive ideologies. Shostakovich abandoned the premiere of his challenging 4th symphony for fear of reprisals from the Stalinist government. His triumphant 5th Symphony was next, and the authorities were pleased. To this day the 5th is Shostakovich's most popular symphony. What is it's message? What does 'political music' mean today?

The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century. Program #5 Relationships in Music Robert Schumann's wife Clara was herself a gifted pianist and composer. She became a lifelong friend and source of inspiration for Schumann's prot�g� Johannes Brahms. This program will explore the turbulent musical and emotional relationships between these three, and the masterpieces that they produced. Program #6 the Living Art Form This program explores the creation of new concertos and the artistic process. Outstanding young soloists and leading American composers are featured in performance and in interviews.

All-Star Tenors Salute the World

Following two successful albums (SCCD 31629 Stained Glass and SCCD 31643 Thrive) with his inventive group Cotangent, Bill Gerhardt on this new CD is at the Fazioli grand piano all by himself to offer us an immensely attractive solo recital.