Dzmitry Ulasiuk is a splendid pianist, emerging on the American scene after winning over audiences in Europe with his ferocious technical skills yet quietly refined ability to coax every detail, every note, every lyrical phrase out of the keyboard. Dzmitry has a zest for life that transfers into musical panache. He has amazed audiences since 1998, performing solo recitals in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Belarus, Estonia, and Croatia as well as in China, Japan, Spain, Costa Rica and the United States. Soft-spoken and humble, Dzmitry has a fast-growing reputation for electrifying performances, prodigious technique, and evocative interpretations. The present release is a showcase of works by Alexander Scriabin.

As a guitarist, Brad DeRoche has explored a wide variety of musical styles ranging from classical masterpieces to modern works by living composers. He is an active concert artist, appearing as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral soloist. He is passionate about the music of Bach and Spanish composers and often includes them in his concert programs. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in classical guitar performance from the Eastman School of Music where his principal instructor was Nicholas Goluses. In addition, he participated in many masterclasses with prominent concert guitarists including David Russell, Raphaëlla Smits, Paul Galbraith, Fabio Zanon, Denis Azabagic, Scott Tennant, and many others. The present release is a showcase of Spanish guitar music, including works by Isaac Albéniz, Julian Arcas, Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados, Joaquin Malats, and Antonio Jiménez Manjon.

A traditionalist who honored his German musical heritage, Reger was nonetheless recognized as a formal innovator by modernists such as Arnold Schoenberg. Reger’s own keyboard skills were considerable. These pieces were composed when he was living in Munich in 1904. Ksenia Nosikova probes the depths of these works with insight and sensitivity. Pianist Ksenia Nosikova, praised as “First rate” (Germany’s Fono Forum), “Full of dramatic intensity” (London’s International Piano), “Subtle and expressive” (France’s Journal L’Alsace) “Impressive musicianship, musically very poetic” (Boston Globe), and “Refined sensibility and exquisite pianism” (New York Concert Reviews), has performed extensively in Europe, Asia, Russia, USA, Canada, and South America. The scope of her concert engagements expands from prestigious professional concert venues, such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall in New York City, and Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, to major academic institutions world-wide, including over 180 American universities’ guest artist series. She performed in various music festivals including Amalfi Coast (Italy), Schlern (Italy), Rimini (Italy), Munster (France), and Novi Sad (Serbia), as well as the Aspen and Sarasota Music Festivals in the United States. Her diverse and extensive repertoire list consists of masterworks and lesser-known pieces, as well as over 30 piano concertos. Ksenia Nosikova has recorded for Profil Medien, Albany Records, Centaur Records, and Capstone Records labels.

REVIEW:

Ksenia Nosikova plays the music with affection, lightness of touch, and a smile. It makes all the difference. These small character pieces were Reger’s response to those he called “ignoramuses” for criticizing the complexity of so much of his music. Their style occasionally recalls the piano music of other composers (Chopin’s Berceuse is referenced in the final entry in the First Book of the diaries, which was completed in 1904). Book 2 followed in 1906, Books 3 and 4 in 1912. There is little stylistic development over that span. Reger’s admiration for Bach is evident in some of the pieces, like the Prelude and Fugue that open Book 4 and a Gavotte in Book 3, but even there the style is more Romantic than neo-Baroque.

This lovely collection makes for very pleasant listening, whether in short snippets or even over a longer span. Virtually every one of the 35 miniatures would be an attractive addition to the piano repertoire. A warm, natural piano sound and informative notes by Marian Wilson Kimber round out this fine set. Nosikova’s ability to depict a wide range of moods and colors in this music makes this a happy recommendation.

-- Fanfare (Henry Fogel)

Thornton Edge, previously known as the Contemporary Music Ensemble, was founded in 1976 by Robert Wojciak at the University of Southern California. Since 1984, the group has been under the direction of Donald Crockett. Composed of some of the finest student musicians of the USC Thornton School of Music, Edge has presented an annual series of concerts at USC for many years. It has been a guest at the long-standing Los Angeles series Monday Evening Concerts and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella series. Its players have performed as soloists with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the ensemble has presented concert tours in Berlin, Paris and Lyons. Under Donald Crockett, Edge has presented numerous premieres and has been coached and/or conducted by such composers as Witold Lutoslawski, John Harbison, Henryk Górecki, Joan Tower, Steven Stucky, Judith Weir and the members of the USC Thornton composition faculty. Edge received the 2004 LA Weekly Award for Outstanding Classical Soloist/Ensemble. The present release features works by Frederick Lesemann.

This new release features the music of composer Joseph Summer. Composer Joseph Summer began playing French horn at the age of seven. While attending the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina at age fourteen he studied composition with the eminent Czech composer Karel Husa. At age 15 he was accepted at Oberlin Conservatory, studied with Richard Hoffmann, Schönberg’s amanuensis, and graduated with a BM in Music Composition in 1976. Recruited by Robert Page, Dean of the Music Department at Carnegie Mellon University, Joseph taught music theory at CMU before leaving to pursue composition full time. For the next twenty years Joseph Summer concentrated his efforts composing a series of comic operas based on the bawdy stories of Boccaccio’s The Decameron. Summer is currently composing his ever expanding collection of settings of the bard’s ever living texts, which he titles The Oxford Songs, (titled thus due to Summer’s support of Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as the likely identity of the author also known as William Shakespeare.)

The Chinook Winds is the resident wind quintet of the Great Falls Symphony in Montana. Their programs include classic wind quintet literature, works featuring local composers and artists, and unique arrangements of popular songs—all executed with a captivating sense of energy that keeps audiences riveted. Whether the group is playing an overture to a Rossini opera, exploring the textures and colors of Ravel, or bringing down the house with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, the Chinook Winds delivers their art with sincere, joyous enthusiasm and with energy and precision that astounds the ear. The present program features works by Leonard Bernstein, Arni Eglisson, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Haflioi Hallgrimsson.