French pianist Vincent Larderet inaugurates a definitive, four-volume series of the composer’s complete works for solo piano, signifying Vincent’s fulfilment of a decades-long devotion his compatriot. This first-ever Urtext compilation of Ravel’s complete works for solo piano is a landmark collection that embraces numerous world-premiere renditions. Many works, whilst familiar, are prepared and recorded from personal scores that were annotated by pianist and pedagogue Vlado Perlemuter during his private study and close collaboration with the composer between 1927 and 1929. These scores reveal invaluable insights to interpretation of such aspects as tempi, pedalling, phrasing and tonal colours. Through his tutelage under Perlemuter’s student Carlos Cebro, Vincent Larderet is a direct inheritor of Ravel’s ethos and interpretive style.

Volume 1 of Vincent’s Ravel survey includes original solo piano versions of the popular Valses nobles et sentimentales and Pavane pour une infante de´funte, alongside the five-movement suite Miroirs and Sonatine.

The world-premiere recording of the complete Violin Concerto in E Minor by Belgian virtuoso violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe has arrived! Following the recent discovery of a first movement, further manuscripts which complete the work have come to light – one a full orchestration, others for violin and piano – which were found on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Philippe Graffin’s close collaboration with Ysaÿe aficionado Xavier Falques led to a page-by-page analysis and painstaking reconstruction of the musical puzzle pieces, resulting in this recording of the full, three-movement concerto which displays Ysaÿe’s trademark ardour, intensity and originality.

For reasons unknown, Ysaÿe abandoned his Violin Concerto in E minor in 1885, but some years later embarked on another, Poème concertant, which was also recently discovered in manuscript form and is imbued with passion and the love Ysaÿe felt for his pupil Irma Sethe. Their love was mutual but their relationship could not endure, possibly sealing the fate of Poème concertant which lay undiscovered for over a century but is now brought back to life with this world-premiere recording.

Philippe rounds out the recording with three Ysaÿe gems for violin and piano: 2 Mazurkas de Salon, Op.10, works the violinist / composer frequently performed and gained popularity throughout Europe and Russia in his lifetime; and Rêve d’enfant (“A child’s dream”), which he dedicated to his youngest son Antoine.

The world-premiere recording of Canadian composer Christopher Tyler Nickel’s Requiem marries the placidity of plainchant to complex rhythmic energy, powerfully communicating an intensely personal listening experience.

“In my music, peace and restlessness co-exist continually”. So explains award-winning Canadian composer Christopher Tyler Nickel, describing his setting of the Requiem, which marries the placidity of plainchant to complex rhythms and meters. Scored for chamber orchestra, choir and solo soprano, and setting the complete standard Latin text, this world-premiere recording posseses a steady current of energy that propels the work ever-forward, whilst Chris’ contemplative musical language enhances a sense of intimacy that makes its communicative power feel intensely personal.

1883 was a fruitful year for cello composition as Christoph Croisé’s new recording reveals. That year marked Edvard Grieg’s return to composition after a period of conducting the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, with the Sonata in A minor, his only work for cello and piano. Also that year, Richard Strauss was writing for the same combination at the age of just 19, producing his Sonata in F. Gabriel Fauré embarked on a cello sonata in 1880; only the slow movement transpired and was published and premiered as the stand-alone piece Élégie in 1883. Christoph’s regular performing partner, Oxana Shevchenko, joins him in this beautifully balanced recording of works for cello and piano.

Valentine Michaud was the first ever saxophone soloist to perform with the Vienna Philharmonic. She and her regular collaborator, pianist Akvilé Silekaité, comprise the award-winning AKMI Duo. They debut on AVIE with Beyond the Wall, an album of contrasting 20th century sonatas linked by history and geography. Edison Denisov’s Soviet serialism, tinged with forbidden jazz influences, took a cue from the American modernism of William Albright. Austro-Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff embraced avant garde and jazz idioms, leading the Nazis to brand his music “degenerate”; he perished in the Wülzburg prison camp in 1942. Paul Hindemith fell in and out of favour with the Nazis, leading him to immigrate to Switzerland and later America. His popular Saxophone Sonata is by turns lyric and dramatic, imbued with irony and humour.

Saxophonist Pat Posey goes to extremes for his solo debut album, they/beast. Introducing the tubax – a German-invented, modified version of the contrabass saxophone – Pat plays deep, dark renditions of J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3, Melodies for Saxophone by Philip Glass, Bach-inspired Mo’ingus by Brooklyn-based composer-saxophonist Shelley Washington, and Pat’s own Hymn.

REVIEWS:

Pat Posey’s solo album they/beast displays the Tubax›s incredible sound with a wide variety of materials, from Bach cello suites to Philip Glass› Melodies for Saxophone. If listening to Paul Desmond’s alto sax is like sipping a fine white wine, Posey’s Tubax is like drinking a delicious porter. Its lows are glorious and Posey dexterously wrestles it through some very complex material. they/beast is a unique and sonically adventurous treat.

-- The Whole Note

The growling, guttural timbre and harmonic timbre and harmonic overtones are perfectly showcased…Posey displays colossal lung power and technique…fiendishly virtuosic…a dazzling, unsettling spectacle by a musician pushing the creative envelope.

-- BBC Music Magazine

The tubax has an amazing low register, and in the hands of a player like Pat Posey, it can be nimble and produce astonishing multiphonics … Posey’s own Hymn (2022), a real tour-de-force of inspiration, beauty, quirkiness, and earblowing sounds. Fantastic album.

-- American Record Guide

American-Australian harpist Emily Granger made an indelible impression with her solo debut recording, In Transit. She follows up with Something Like This, a beautiful collaboration with flautist Sally Walker, featuring original music for flute and harp alongside adaptations and arrangements for the instrumental combination. Woven among classics by J.S. Bach and Mozart are works by living composers including Australians Elena Kats-Chernin, Sally Greenaway, Lachlan Skipworth and Jessica Wells, and indigenous composer Christopher Sainsbury. 20th century works by Jacques Ibert and Witold Lutoslawski are juxtaposed with Erik Satie’s timeless Gymnopédies.

REVIEWS:

Something Like This is a beautifully programmed collection of well-known works performed in sumptuous style and ensemble by Walker and harpist Emily Granger.

In a superbly executed Bach Sonata in G Minor, Granger shines with sprightly and impeccable technique. As well, the slow movement from Mozart’s Concerto for flute and harp does not disappoint as one of the loveliest sounds you’ll hear. That’s until two Gymnopedies by Erik Satie, their simplicity and floaty-ness able to transport us to another realm entirely. 

[In] the fervently dramatic Three Fragments by Witold Lutoslawski. Walker’s tone is rich and indulgent, almost weeping in its expressiveness with Granger’s style full of colorful nuance, just as the music requires—its original intent was to accompany a play. Similarly, Jessica Well’s delightful Sati—Sanskrit for mindfulness—offers the duo room to experiment with shadings of hue, phrasing and musical line, sometimes at peace, other times menacing. Beginning mindfully serene, the piece explodes to an ecstatic reverie of sonorities. 

For just sheer beauty of line and tone, the three short Poems by Sally Greenway are astonishing miniatures. You dare not breathe in order not to miss a thing. The inspiration comes from the poem Roses du Soir by Pierre Louÿs which describes lovers finding a secret spot in the forest where a magical rose bush grows. Walker and Granger create a sound as if one instrument with delicate passion. This sensibility appears again in Christopher Sainsbury’s Djagamara, a work written to honor the life of a young indigenous friend.

-- The Harp Column

Hailed as Oregon’s “finest chamber ensemble” (ArtsWatch) the Delgani String Quartet’s first AVIE appearance was on Icarus, an album of chamber works by award-winning composer Elena Ruehr. A leading musical light of the Pacific Northwest, the Delganis devote their new release to music from south of the border. Soul of Brazil epitomises the adventurous, vibrant and passionate qualities of the South American country, blending classical and popular styles – the suave sounds of Grammy-nominated Clarice Assad’s vocals, piano and electronics, new music and arrangements of songs by Antônio Carlos Jobim, alongside the Sixth String Quartet of Heitor Villa-Lobos.

John Wilson brings us a double helping of Wild’s exquisite solo piano distillations following the Gershwin–Wild Virtuoso Etudes that featured on his AVIE Records debut (AV2458): ‘This album gives listeners a chance to hear singing – an art form at once simple and complex – carried in a different; very deftly crafted musical vehicle; that of Earl Wild’s skill as a transcriber.’

REVIEWS:

If the second solo album by young American pianist John Wilson had a title, it might well be “Virtuoso,” for that description permeates his musical selections as well as his dynamic interpretations. Wilson follows in the footsteps of previous pianistic giants Sergei Rachmaninoff, George Gershwin, and Earl Wild, all of whom have contributions on this new release – indeed the pedigree of these composer–arranger–pianists runs through Wilson’s musical DNA. Wild’s renowned re–workings of Gershwin’s music for the stage is represented here by the Fantasy on Porgy and Bess, alongside Gershwin’s own Three Preludes for solo piano. Wild also turned his hand to solo piano arrangements of Rachmaninoff’s soulful songs for which Wilson feels a close affinity thanks to his frequent collaborations with singers.

-- WFMT

Autumn 2020 offered Daniel-Ben Pienaar an opportunity, not because the world was in lockdown but rather for the benefit it provided. A professor at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Daniel-Ben was allowed overnight access to the RAM’s Angela Burgess Hall. Solitary, with a Steinway and a single pair of suspended omni-directional microphones, surrounded by silence and the darkness of the night, Daniel-Ben recorded this inspired eight-CD set of Haydn’s Piano Sonatas over a four-month period.

Daniel-Ben’s choice of Haydn’s 48 Piano Sonatas is based on his own meticulous research. The cycle comprises authenticated works plus earlier compositions presumed by scholars to be penned by Haydn. This deluxe box set follows in the footsteps of Daniel-Ben Pienaar’s acclaimed surveys of sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.

Frank Almond’s life is intertwined with that of his violin, the “Lipin´ski” Strad, an exceptional instrument named for the famed 19th-century Polish violinist Karol Lipin´ski and first owned by legendary 18th-century Italian composer-violinist Giuseppe Tartini, represented on A Violin’s Life, Volume 3 by his Sonata Prima in D, Op. 2, a trio sonata in all but name. The masterful Piano Trio in E flat by 19th-century Swedish virtuosa Amanda Meier connects with the instrument that had passed on to her future father-in-law Engelbert Ro¨ntgen. Another great Nordic composer, Edvard Grieg, opens the album with his great Sonata No. 3 in C minor.

The legend of the Lipin´ski Strad went viral in 2014 when, following a concert, walking towards his car, Frank Almond was tasered by an assailant and the prized instrument was stolen. An FBI pursuit resulted in the recovery of the instrument within weeks. International media ensued on the BBC, NPR, and a feature in Vanity Fair. An award-winning documentary film “Plucked” premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. Frank Almond’s critically acclaimed and chart-topping recordings of A Violin’s Life are now a trilogy. The “Lipin´ski” Strad lives on.

Cantata Collective, an ensemble “of San Francisco early music luminaries” (San Francisco Chronicle) inaugurates a major series of J. S. Bach’s choral works with a live recording of the composer’s St. John Passion. With celebrated conductor Nicholas McGegan, the toast of today’s new generation of vocal soloists and a three-to-a-part chamber choir, the Cantata Collective conveys the emotional intimacy and dramatic power of this monumental passion in a highly polished performance that led Early Music America to implore: “To the excellent musicians of Cantata Collective: More Bach Please!”

Christoph Croisé channels his prowess as a cellist – “he’s got it all – technical chops, impeccable musicianship and imaginative daring” (Gramophone) – into compositional ingenuity on the first album devoted entirely to his own works. Christoph draws inspiration from a variety of musical role models, including contemporary and centuries past, paying homage to the time-honoured evolution of classical music that has melded current conventions with popular styles. Traditional forms, such as sonata and concerto, are imbued with jazz, blues, bossa nova and improv to create, as Christoph puts it, “a musical and cultural melting pot.”

Christoph’s compositional urge was spurred by the pandemic and lockdown. The four works on Voyage Exotique were written between 2020 and 2022. He also cites current world events as a motivating influence. His first cello concerto, imbued with high-wire virtuosity that makes full use of the cello’s – and Christoph’s – capabilities, opens a programme that also includes an imaginary intergalactic journey in the form of a clarinet trio, and a sonata for cello and piano that is by turns pensive, agitated and longing, yet ultimately hopeful. The title track, a “Grand duo” for two cellos is, in the truest sense of the word, an “exotic journey” through foreign sound cultures and myriad cello effects.

REVIEW:

It is a bit difficult to categorize this release by cellist Christoph Croisé. The music borrows heavily from popular traditions, bossa nova and other tropical sounds, lots of jazz, and, in the finale of the grim, Ukraine-inspired Cello Sonata No. 1, Op. 9, Eastern European folk rhythms. Several pieces, most of all the Cello Concerto No. 1, are quite virtuosic, and this fits with the general concept; Croisé is adept at writing lines that show off his abilities on the cello, but he is also an alert chamber player who interacts well with the other musicians in the chamber pieces. A genuinely fresh album.

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

love & light celebrates the 10th anniversary of the inspirational girls choir iSing Silicon Valley, and features a diverse range of sacred music from Hildegard of Bingen to James MacMillan, new works by South Korean Guggenheim Fellow Sungji Hong, multi-disciplinary composer Kenyon Duncan, and many more. iSing Silicon Valley, the inspirational Bay Area-based girls choir, emerged from the darkness of the pandemic to find love & light in this recording of sacred music both ancient and new, music that transcends and heals, with glorious sonorities by turns rapturous and haunting.

iSing’s spirit of diversity shines through on love & light. From O Sapientie, the ecstatic chant by Hildegard of Bingen to Sir James MacMillan’s gravity defying Os Mutorum, Lux Aeterna by South Korean Guggenheim Fellow Sungji Hong and chorea lucis (dance of light) by California-based multi-disciplinary composer Kenyon Duncan – and many more – every work on love & light recalls an emotion, instinct or value that came to feel significant, even urgent, during the separation imposed during the pandemic. iSing’s collaborators on love & light are virtuosa harpist Cheryl Fulton, and the versatile GRAMMYâ Award winning, soprano Estelí Gomez (Roomful of Teeth). love & light is released in celebration of iSing’s 10th anniversary.

REVIEWS:

This is impressive. A largely contemporary, contemplative and often complex programme is performed with exceptional poise by the girls’ choir and harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton. Sungji Hong’s mesmeric Lux Aeterna is the pick of several highlights

-- BBC Music Magazine (★★★★★)

Jennah Delp Somers has fashioned an impressive program with iSing…If more communities had this kind of program for young people, that fosters connections but cedes nothing of musical excellence, think of what America’s support for the arts would look like. Recommended!

-- Sequenza 21

 

Multi-award-winning Canadian composer Christopher Tyler Nickel has created a truly unique magnum opus: The Gospel According to Mark, a seven-hour oratorio setting the disciple’s text from the King James bible in its entirety.

What originated as an idea to distill the text, as most passion music does, Chris quickly became more interested in setting the complete prose. He chose to compose a work employing an English Protestant text, rather than the more traditional Latin or German, envisioning The Gospel According to Mark as a seven-hour-long prayer. With the text as Chris’ starting point, the musical motifs and melodies followed, setting concepts including the themes of teaching, healing, miracles, forgiveness, death, and resurrection.

The scope of the text is illuminated by scaled-down forces – chamber-sized string orchestra plus two horns, oboe (doubling oboe d’amore) and cor anglais (doubling bass oboe), with soprano, alto, tenor and bass solo voices. Unlike other oratorios, the singers do not represent any particular person but rather act as a chorus of storytellers. Chris explains, “This nebulous use of the voices, which sidesteps role assignment, keeps the vocal parts more abstract and hence the listener focused on the text.” With Chris’ faith as his guide, The Gospel According to Mark takes the listener a journey through the contrasts of peacefulness and agitation, darkness and light.

Beethoven wrote in his diary that he wanted “to show the British what a treasure they have in God Save the King”, a reference to his set of variations on the national anthem, composed in 1803. Sarah Beth Briggs recorded the virtuoso set precisely one month before the passing of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and the recording heralds the coronation of King Charles III in May 2023. The lesser-known Variations on an Original Theme in F major (1802) represent Beethoven the revolutionary. Uniquely, each variation was written in a different key which would have jarred the ears of the composer’s contemporaries. Sarah Beth Briggs’ collection of Variations underlines a lineage of the genre through the classical and Romantic eras. Opening the program is 9 Variations on a Minuet by Duport by Mozart, whom Beethoven greatly admired. The work takes a theme by cellist Jean-Pierre Duport, chamber music director of the court of the Prussian King, Friedrich Wilhelm II, from whom the composer hoped to gain favor. Mendelssohn’s Variations Serieuses was written as a tribute to Beethoven, and was included in an album of works that raised funds for the now famous bronze statue of Beethoven in Bonn. Mendelssohn’s near contemporary Brahms paid tribute to his troubled friend Robert Schumann, using a melody from Bunte Blätter (“Colorful Leaves”) in his poignant Variations on a Theme by Schumann.

REVIEWS:

Briggs’ execution is fluidly graceful and well-modulated. She approaches this repertoire with a studied care that betrays a love for the period and composers.

-- Wild Mercury Rhythm

All nine of Mozart’s Variations on a Theme by Jean-Pierre Duport, K 573 are quite delicate, sounding here almost as if they were played on a toy piano. Only the finale includes authoritative sounds. Beethoven’s 7 Variations on `God Save the King’ is sturdier; I especially enjoy the lively, witty, chordal IV. Also included is Beethoven’s 6 Variations on an Original Theme. In Variations Serieuses, Mendelssohn managed to write 17 imaginative ones. That number only slightly outdoes Brahms, who came up with 16 Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann. Lovely music, elegant playing.

-- American Record Guide

Multi-award-winning violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins is the entrepreneurial spirit behind Music Kitchen, the pioneering project that brings top classical music and musicians into homeless shelters, sharing the inspirational, therapeutic, and uplifting power of music with those experiencing homelessness. Founded in New York City, Music Kitchen has presented over 100 concerts to more than 30,000 homeless shelter clients coast to coast, including in Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Oakland, Rochester, and internationally in Paris, France. According to the New York Times, “The concerts have an air of authenticity and directness that sometimes does not exist in concert halls.”

Forgotten Voices is a song cycle commissioned by Music Kitchen – Food for the Soul, with support from Carnegie Hall, comprising works by 15 of today’s foremost composers featuring evocative and poignant texts by homeless shelter clients that have provided a profound source of inspiration and reverence. Forgotten Voices premiered to a sold-out Carnegie Hall audience in March 2022 and inspired a short film that has won multiple awards at festivals around the globe, including Winner: Best Cause-Driven Film and Finalist: Best Director and Best Documentary at the Cannes World Film Festival, Winner: Best Short Film at the Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival, and Winner: Best Short Documentary at the Berlin Indie Film Festival.

REVIEWS:

Violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins is the entrepreneurial spirit behind Music Kitchen and the composer of one of the songs. She and 5 other string players, supply accompaniment to the 4 singers. I presume it is she who plays so nimbly in `Music Kitchen Interplay’ by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich with a text from a client who is amazed at what a violin can do and who gives thanks for how Music Kitchen “was a blessing to my hungry body and soul”.

The longest song of the album, Jeffrey Scott’s `Für Mein Vater’, is a setting of the poet’s fond remembrance of his father’s love of Mozart and Brahms, which was rekindled by hearing Music Kitchen perform it. It is sung sensitively by Allison Charney. Each time I listen to these songs I hear something new to like.

The program ends sublimely with Paul Moravec’s `Music is Love’. The words offer a strong statement about the values of this project and of music itself: “Music is love. It’s freedom, awakening. Music is universal. Music unites us all. Music expands our horizons. Classical music enables you to discover yourself.” After about a 20-second pause the song is repeated in a longer version for all four singers in harmony. I suspect this was sung as an encore at the concert. These final two tracks are especially lovely.

Each of the songs brings a message of gratitude or hope even in the midst of personal struggle. Collectively the album conveys consolation and the healing power of love. The songs call for excellent string playing, and these folks produce it brilliantly. The two sopranos sing with great expression and are especially poignant in their softer singing...Blumberg...begins the program with a tender reading of Steve Sandberg’s `Thank You’. Songs texts are included, though they are hardly needed—the singers’ diction is very clear most of the time. I find the songs appealing. I find the mission of Music Kitchen even more appealing.

-- American Record Guide

Superstar violinist Anne Akiko Meyers’ imagination and ingenuity knows no bounds. Her idea to persuade leading living composer Morten Lauridsen to transform his choral masterpiece, O Magnum Mysterium, into a work for violin and choir is a masterstroke. Teaming up with conductor Grant Gershon – who first collaborated with Anne as chamber musicians over 40 years ago – and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, for whom Lauridsen was their first Composer in Residence, Anne rounds out this 4-track EP with three other arrangements for violin and chorus of ever-popular works by J.S. Bach.

Pianist-composer Bruce Wolosoff is a musical alchemist, organically mixing his multiple experiences in the worlds of jazz, rock, blues and classical music. His new solo album, Memento, melds the evolution of Wolosoff’s performance and compositional style into a genre that is all his own and true to himself. Wolosoff is a “formidable pianist” (Gramophone) who can tackle the great romantics like Busoni and Liszt. He can improvise like Bach and Beethoven as well as today’s jazz greats. His contemporary compositions are informed by his past whilst imbued with his current belief in “the primacy of lyricism and melody.” Memento takes the listener on a journey imbued by various genres. Throughout, Wolosoff opens his heart. His inner voice is his guide, and all his own.

New York City-based The Dessoff Choirs, instrumental in re-establishing the music of 20th-century African American composer Margaret Bonds with the world-premiere recording of her Christmas oratorio, The Ballad of the Brown King, present two more Bonds premieres: new orchestrations of her cantata, Simon Bore the Cross, created with long-time collaborator and friend Langston Hughes, and the large-scale Credo set to prose by W.E.B. Du Bois. Akin to The Ballad of the Brown King, which centered around the dark-skinned king Balthazar who journeyed to Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus Christ, Bonds' and Hughes' North African Simon carried Jesus's cross on the way to Calvary, giving African American audiences an opportunity to see themselves within the biblical canon. Credo bears Bonds' evocative vocal writing style infused with elements from various black musical genres. The first complete performance of the work was given in 1973, to rave reviews: "Credo verified her talent, her sensitivity, her proficiency as orchestrator and her concern for the Negro spiritual" (Los Angeles Times). Written during the last decade of Bonds' life, neither work was performed in its entirety during the composer's lifetime. With this release – coinciding with Black History Month – conductor Malcolm J. Merriweather, The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra and soloists, soprano Janinah Burnett and bass-baritone Dashon Burton, bring Margaret Bonds' beautiful and spiritual music back to life, conveying a powerful message that remains poignant and relevant for music lovers today.

REVIEWS:

The Dessoff Choirs have been at the center of New York cultural life since 1924 and they have done us a service with this release. Bass Baritone Dashon Burton and soprano Janinah Burnett don’t so much sing this music as champion it, turning that noun into a verb with every note of every phrase. (Ms Burnett sounds like a young Leontyne Price.) Malcolm Merriweather, who also conducts the New York Philharmonic Choir, brings all the moving parts together nicely...I am envious of their experience and would have been proud to add my voice to theirs.

-- American Record Guide

The youthful sounding choir is actually very good indeed singing with good ensemble and attack but also sensitivity when required. The recording was made for/by the choir and licensed to Avie for distribution...

...I can imagine the second work – Simon Bore the Cross – being popular amongst choral societies of every country and continent. This is written for organ, strings and harp alongside the choir and is a substantial work in eight sections running just shy of 40 minutes. This tells the story of the crucifixion from Jesus’ trial through to his death and in a Postlude, the Resurrection. For the text Bonds turned to Langston Hughes who was the source and guiding influence for many of her works. In the fourth and fifth sections; Who is that man? And Don’t you know, Mary? Langston explicitly underlines the belief that Simon of Cyrene [a city in Northern Africa] was Black – the latter movement includes the text; “black men will share the pain of the cross, black men will share the pain, in a world… that’s filled with trials and troubles.” The following Walkin’ to Calvary has rather moving echoes of the meditative chorales in the great Bach settings of the Passions with Burnett joining the chorus to touchingly sing; “Thank you, brother Simon, Thank you for helping brother Jesus”. This culminates in penultimate movement The Cruxifixion a powerful setting of an existing Spiritual. Here and throughout the work the organ makes a rather thunderous but impressive contribution and the simpler instrumentation of strings and harp alone alongside the organ works rather well.

Whilst the influence of popular music in general and spirituals in particular is very evident there is something in the vocal writing; lyrical lush and grateful to sing that brought to mind John Rutter’s style of communicative composing. In essence this is not complex music but neither does it intend to be – it carries an extra-musical message that is best conveyed in direct, intelligible and engaging music. Again the committed singing of the Dessoff choirs adds to the overall impact of the work. The liner lists conductor Malcolm J. Merriweather as having edited and arranged Simon Bore the Cross but there is no further elaboration as to exactly what or how much he had to do to bring the work to the performance we hear here. But again it is a good indication of the level of engagement and belief in this music by the performers.

Full texts in English only are provided along with the usual artist biographies and performer lists of both choirs and orchestra. Overall this is an impressive presentation of two major scores by a composer who is gradually becoming recognised for her contribution to both the field of music and social equality – the liner quotes a letter from Bonds to Langston Hughes; “Together Simon Bore the Cross and Credo encourage all to embrace the true concept of Brotherhood toward people of color throughout the world”.

-- MusicWeb International

Daniel-Ben Pienaar continues his campaign of performing early music on a modern piano with an abundant selection of Pavans & Galliards, Variations & Grounds by William Byrd. The 16th-century composer’s finest sets of dances and variations, featuring some of the Elizabethan era’s most popular tunes, set the standard for English keyboard music for generations to come. With astonishing virtuosity, Daniel-Ben elicits a wealth of color and textures from his Steinway model D. Two-and-a-half hours of music spread over two albums, this is most substantial survey of Byrd’s keyboard music ever recorded on a modern piano, and ranges from frequently-heard works such as the First Pavan and Sellinger's Round to little-known gems like Callino Casturame and the late, great Quadran Pavan and Galliard.

REVIEWS:

With Bach, pianists have ever determined his music too important to be left just to harpsichord or other period instruments. Not with Byrd. Daniel-Ben Pienaar’s 2-CD set of 28 keyboard pieces appearing in the quatercentenary year of Byrd’s death is its largest album presentation on piano, with 13 items, noted in the contents list at the end of this review, recorded on piano for the first time. Its title, ‘Pavans & Galliards, Variations & Grounds’ shows Pienaar concentrates on the two categories in which Byrd was most prolific.

Pienaar’s Pavan & Galliard in C minor (CD1, tr. 1) begins with a Pavan of majestic beauty and breadth, the opening four chords spaciously arpeggiated...The Galliard (tr. 2) is livelier and more robust, with more bounce from Pienaar and clipped shorter notes.

The Pavan & Galliard in A minor is surprisingly gorgeous: the Pavan of underlying sadness with enough gleams of light to allow also a calmness, breadth and sublimity in Pienaar’s presentation...The Galliard is from Pienaar rampant verve, the repeats of all three strains with constant running quavers in either treble or bass.

The Pavan, Galliard & Second Galliard, The Earl of Salisbury is well-known, perhaps because short and straightforward. Pienaar plays the Pavan with an easy familiarity, like welcoming an old friend. It manages to be both dignified and convivial, its first phrase confidently shaped...In the Galliard the emphasis of its first phrase is on bold, rising motifs in constant interplay between treble and tenor voices.

Go from my window (CD2, tr. 10) is simple, cheery and folksy. Pienaar presents it with an attractive lilt and feel of cheekiness as the short theme gradually rises in sequences to climax and then quickly recover its opening position...Pienaar makes it enchantingly effective.

[In the Walsingham Variations] Pienaar conveys a new airiness and sense of fantasy extension of the dance...Pienaar breathtakingly conveys this work’s ever new discoveries and dimensions around the theme’s secure return as mantra in, as Pienaar has written, “its range of mood from sober exposition to ecstatic culmination.”

My Lady Nevell’s Ground (CD2, tr. 3) is another where the melody above is the chief feature...lengthy semiquaver flourishes [are] deliciously lightly realized by Pienaar, like chancing on a byway of imaginative fantasy. I love the sparkle of his fast arpeggiation of the final chord, the byway terminated.

-- MusicWeb International

Billboard chart-topping and Grammy-winning Jeannette Sorrell, baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire, soprano Amanda Forsythe and the music of J. S. Bach create a divine musical partnership. Heavenly Bach pairs two of the composer’s most popular cantatas, interspersed with two sublime arias from the St. John Passion. In Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen! (“Shout to joy for God in every land!), Forsythe’s dazzling virtuosity hits the high notes – she “sets arias on fire” according to BBC Music Magazine – whilst the secular “Wedding Cantata” exudes a joyous and evocative marriage in springtime, for a result that is heavenly indeed.

REVIEW:

Soprano Amanda Forsythe is among today’s most delightful vocalists and a fine, dedicated musician. Her sparkling Baroque performances with specialist groups and leading orchestras have brought contented smiles to many listeners. She has a bright, clean timbre that can execute rapid passagework and sustain long phrases with remarkable aplomb, and she never seems to stray from pitch. I have friends in Boston I can interest in attending a performance with the words, “Amanda Forsythe’s in it.” Here, she collaborates with another extraordinary artist, the conductor Jeannette Sorrell, who deployed the soprano in her 2021 New York Philharmonic debut, an arrestingly theatrical Messiah.

Sorrell’s Cleveland-based period instrument ensemble Apollo’s Fire, twenty-five in strength, here accompany Forsythe with delectable precision and tonal appeal in two of Bach’s most popular cantatas, plus two arias from the St. John Passion. The recordings, all technically first-rate, date from different sessions—the arias from 2016, the so-called Wedding Cantata from two years later and Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen! from 2021. Forsythe’s fresh-timbred singing proves a joy throughout.

In the Johannes-Passion, the contemplative “Zerfliese, mein Herz” finds the lamenting vocalist encircled by oboe and flute, a contrast in tone to “Ich folge dir gleichfalls,” with its delightful pair of flutes following the resolute if challenging soprano line. Forsythe and Sorrell’s instrumental soloists limn well the shifting moods of the five-aria Weichet Nur, Betrübte Schatten, a secular cantata evoking spring as well as Classical deities (Amor, Flora and Phoebus). Steven Marquardt is the excellent trumpeter in the bravura BWV 51, the title aria and famous concluding Alleluja movement, which Sorrell and Forsythe take at an enjoyably bracing clip. René Schiffer’s cello continuo aptly receives major billing in Avie’s helpful booklet.

-- Opera News

The first time I heard soprano Amanda Forsythe was on a CD of Handel arias. Searching for virtuosity, I found it and much more: a creamy, clear, lyric soprano, pinpoint coloratura, and enough color in the voice to delineate character and take me through adventures. The voice, the artistry remain the same on this new Bach recital, but the program feels less fulfilling.

Opening with Cantata No. 51, everyone’s madcap duel between soprano and trumpet at breakneck speed, you almost feel concern for articulation, pitch, and, well, everything but speed. But it’s a razzle-dazzle run-through, and it’s great fun. The Chorale “Sei Lob und Preis” disappoints somewhat; Forsythe and conductor Jeanette Sorrell seem to miss the strutting rhythm, but Forsythe’s middle octave, featured here, is as smooth as silk. The “Alleluia” made me want to dance.

I suspect no one’s favorite Bach cantata is No. 202, the so-called Wedding Cantata. The sweet text revolves around nature, then more nature, then flowers, then the sun, then Cupid on the prowl, and finally, good wishes to a couple. No religion, no depth, no tension, just plenty of room for Forsythe’s gorgeous middle voice, so smooth, so easily produced. And a fine oboe obbligato early on; later a nice cello, and a solo violin.

The two arias from the St. John Passion present two moods. “Zerfliesse, mein Herze”, featuring a combination of oboe da caccia and flute, with the voice used, often, as a third woodwind, is an emotional reaction to the death of Jesus: heartfelt and moving, with repeated notes signifying weeping. “Ich folge dir gleichfalls” finds the soprano following Jesus, with two lovely flutes as backup.

Jeannette Sorrell accompanies handsomely, only once or twice covering the voice. This is a release that will enchant, but at 49 minutes will also leave you hungry. Amanda Forsythe remains a star.  

-- ClassicsToday.com

Cellist Inbal Segev’s inspirational commissioning project, 20 for 2020, originally released as four digital EPs, brings all 20 compositions together in a 2-album deluxe digipack, capped by the premiere of Inbal’s own work, Behold for cello quartet. The convergence of cataclysmic events of 2020 spurred cellist Inbal Segev to conceive an ambitious and inspirational commissioning project, 20 for 2020, for which she asked 20 composers to document in music their responses to the challenges posed by the pandemic and social unrest. The result is an utterly moving and immensely varied palette of strong and distinctive compositional voices spanning a range of ages, genders and cultures. Originally released over time as four digital EPs, all 20 compositions come together for the first time in a 2-album deluxe digipack, and are capped by the premiere of Inbal’s own work, Behold for cello quartet. When Inbal conceived 20 for 2020, she could not have foreseen the scope of musical imagination from the 20 composers she asked to write works for her. Further pronouncing her passion for promoting new works for her instrument: “Art needs to move forward, otherwise it will die.” Collectively these compositions celebrate a stunning array of music for the soulful sound of the cello in the 21st century.

The soulful sounds of the oboe and oboe d’amore infuse the expressive, lyrical new album of solo and chamber works by award-winning Canadian composer Christopher Tyler Nickel. The star of the show is Seattle Symphony principal Mary Lynch VanderKolk, whose artistry plays a vital role in Chris’ compositional process. He explains, “I find ways to incorporate her strengths and personality into expressing the music’s emotions.” The Oboe Sonata, dedicated to Mary, is by turns haunting and pastoral, navigating the full three-octave range of the instrument. The Sonata for Oboe d’amore demonstrates the large timbral and emotional range of the oboe’s lower-pitched cousin, from darkness to light.

Undaunted by the historic canon of iconic solo instrumental works already in existence, Chris – an oboist himself – created a tour de force with his Suite for Unaccompanied Oboe, a work Mary describes as “more cinematic” than his other concert works, not surprising perhaps given his countless award-winning TV, film, and theatrical scores. The album concludes with what is surely the only Oboe d’amore Quintet ever composed. The instrument’s plaintive tone takes center stage against the backdrop of string quartet, as the work moves from serenity, melancholy, and nostalgia, before ending with an invigorating finale that brings the inspiring album to a close.

REVIEWS:

Featuring the talents of oboist Mary Lynch VanderKolk, the new album Christopher Tyler Nickel: Sonatas and Chamber Music for Oboe and Oboe d’amore masterfully explores the full range and lyrical aspects of the oboe while spiritedly challenging its technical capabilities. Opening with the Oboe Sonata specifically composed for VanderKolk, Nickel’s own familiarity with the oboe is clearly demonstrated as he insightfully captures the strengths of the player – creating beautifully sweeping lines that showcase VanderKolk’s colourful and lyrical capabilities as she artfully navigates the dynamic and rhythmic passages in a way that only the most consummate performer could. Imagining the pensive sadness of the lone instrument at twilight is what one may experience as they listen to Nickel’s second piece of this collection, the Oboe d’amore Sonata.

The album concludes with the Quintet for Oboe d’amore for the namesake instrument and string quartet in a uniquely distinctive composition drawing the listener in with the dark, melancholic timbre of the double-reed instrument traditionally only heard in Baroque music, making this piece the first of its kind and a true testament to this Canadian composer’s proclivity for the oboe family and ability to fashion narrowly defined aspects of both music and the instrument into a broader phenomenon.

-- The Whole Note

Pianist John Wilson, like his mentor Michael Tilson Thomas, is a servant of the music rather than its dictator and he knows both when and how to step back and let it speak.

The dynamic young American pianist John Wilson first encountered Michael Tilson Thomas (affectionately known as "MTT") in 2015 when he was a fellow with the New World Symphony. John’s protégé status quickly evolved to that of close confidant and collaborator, leading to this solo debut album featuring the world-premiere recording of the title track, MTT’s three-movement suite for piano, Upon Further Reflection. MTT explains innumerable influences that are embedded throughout the work, including the piano music of Debussy and Schumann, bossa nova, gamelan, ragas, Monteverdi, Berg, and Peggy Lee’s rendition of the song "Alley Cat," all of which “flowed together in a way that seemed completely natural... to me anyway.” In 2019, John premiered a portion of Upon Further Reflection that was broadcast live on MediciTV to an audience of over 50,000. John embellishes the album’s Americana theme with two titans of the solo piano repertoire – Aaron Copland’s early Piano Sonata – a work lesser-heard than the composer’s other works for solo piano – and Earl Wild’s virtuoso arrangements of seven of George Gershwin’s most iconic tunes.

REVIEW:

Given the scope and versatility of his long conducting career, it’s no surprise that Michael Tilson Thomas’s work as a composer has, until now, largely passed under the radar. In recent years, though, it’s begun to emerge. MTT’s latest champion is the pianist John Wilson, a former fellow with the conductor’s New World Symphony and a brilliantly gifted pianist.

His new album, Upon Further Reflection takes its cue from Tilson Thomas: the title track is a three-movement meditation on the artist’s early life, while subsequent selections by Earl Wild and Aaron Copland draw out different strands of MTT’s personality and long career. Taken together, the program paints an affecting portrait.

Upon Further Reflection is an ingratiating piece. Its freshness derives partly from its eclecticism – echoes of jazz, bossa nova, and Broadway collide with more abstracted, nostalgic expressivity – and partly from its wild virtuosity. Indeed, no small part of the thrill of Wilson’s performance is hearing the terrific dexterity with which the pianist dispatches its busiest textures (particularly the concluding “You Come Here Often?,” its material adapted from an aborted 1977 musical).

While Wilson’s just as comfortable with the music’s more ruminative moments – the reflective and somewhat brooding outer thirds in “Sunset Soliloquy (Whitsett Avenue 1963)” are tenderly shaped – much of this piece, like MTT, is smartly extroverted. The profile of the refrains in “Bygone Beguine (1973)” grow in intensity and definition as the movement proceeds, but they never lose their soulful vibe.

Filling out the disc are Wild’s 7 Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin and Copland’s Piano Sonata.

The Wild set, with their knowing adaptations of familiar tunes, fit smartly alongside Reflection. And Wilson, whose playing is magnificently secure and flawlessly balanced, gives a reading that rivals Wild’s own for character; it exceeds it for recorded quality.

Wilson’s account of Copland’s Piano Sonata is shaped with similar thoughtfulness. This 1942 score is years removed from the populist composer of that day – its harmonic acerbity recalls the Piano Variations of 1930 much more than Rodeo or Appalachian Spring. Regardless, it’s a powerfully-structured work whose three movements chart a course from turbulence to nervous peace.

The pianist has got real sympathy for this music: how it’s structured, how the melodic line develops, its drama is paced, the shifting tone colors, and so on. His control of dynamic contrasts and balances in the first movement are masterful, as is his transition in to the driving Allegro. In the central Vivace, the music shimmers, while the stentorian, oracular gestures at the start of the finale simply melt into the movement’s concluding diatonic counterpoint.

True, that transition provides one of the most powerful contrasts on this disc – and it’s more a compositional accomplishment than an interpretive one. But Wilson, like his mentor MTT, is a servant of the music rather than its dictator and he knows both when and how to step back and let it speak. The result is a performance of raw power and touching beauty.

-- The Arts Fuse (Jonathan Blumhofer)