French musician, harpsichordist, and composer Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre was born on March 17, 1665 into a family of musicians and master instrument makers. Rather than just teach her brothers, Elisabeth’s father, a master harpsichord maker, taught her as well. She was one of the few well-known female composers of her time. She mastered many forms in her compositions. The present release showcases the three violin sonatas that she composed in 1707. The artists featured here – violinist Dana Maiben, gambist Sarah Cunningham, and harpsichordist Lisa Goode Crawford- are experts in historical performance practice and give these works the life they deserve.

REVIEW:

These are among the first violin sonatas in which the harpsichord makes the move from being part of the continuo, towards an obbligato role, becoming a true partner of the violin, which would eventually reach its zenith in the publication 34 years later of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concerts.

These are wonderful performances, with Dana Maiben playing a beautifully-sounding Nicola Amati violin of 1658, Sarah Cunningham on viola da gamba, and Lisa Goode Crawford on harpsichord. This performance was recorded more than five years ago, in July 2017, but I don’t believe it’s been published in any other form. This is an important disc of important music, and the sense of occasion that comes when one listens to it makes it clear that it was definitely worth the wait.

-- Music for Several Instruments

Assistant Professor of Double Bass George Speed enjoys a career that combines teaching with solo, chamber, and orchestral performing. He joins the College of Music faculty after 14 years as Associate Professor of Double Bass at Oklahoma State University, where he received the 2009 Wise-Diggs-Berry Award for Teaching Excellence. For the past four summers, Mr. Speed has served on the artist faculty of the Brevard Music Center in Brevard, North Carolina. He joins with pianist Heidi Louise Williams for this new release, showcasing a program of Bass favorites and transcriptions, including works by Beethoven, Boccherini, Dragonetti, and Sperger.

Hailed for his passionate and virtuosic piano playing by the East Hampton Star, internationally acclaimed pianist Stijn De Cock maintains an active musical career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teaching artist in the US and abroad. His playing has been described as “alternating between the stormy and sublime, while getting to the heart of the music” and was praised for its ability to create “a most compelling musical narrative (Amalfi Festival concert review).” On this new release he presents a program of works by Bach, Copland, Liszt, Mendelssohn, and Scriabin.

Blue Violet Duo "excel at both extremes, from the nuanced and restrained to the incandescent and extravagant" (Stringendo magazine). Formed in 2013, the Chicago based duo was born of a friendship and musical kinship and enjoyed immediate recognition, winning a competition that led to their performance in Carnegie's Weill Hall in New York in February of 2014. Their 2018 debut album, American Souvenirs, received critical recognition and was selected as WFMT's "New Release of the Day" in October 2018. They have been invited for repeat performances at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, most recently in January 2022. They enjoy bringing to light lesser-known, engaging works to surprise and delight audiences everywhere.

The Richter Uzur Duo approaches the concert stage with effortless virtuosity, soulful musicality and self-effacing humor. Trained in two of the world's most lauded musical institutions — The Royal College of Music and The Moscow Conservatory, respectively — guitarist Brad Richter and cellist Viktor Uzur are consummate performers and accomplished composers, each having played around the globe to critical acclaim and international awards. Together, the Richter Uzur Duo combines elements of classical music, rock, indigenous American music and Eastern European folk, all played with a native sense of vernacular, integrity and charm, producing a sound that is all their own.

This new release from The Caladium Trio features Trios by Camille Saint-Saëns, Walter Piston, and Alexander Zemlinsky.

Violinist Lin He is now serving as the Associate Professor of Violin at the Louisiana State University School of Music and the Associate Concertmaster of the Baton Rouge Symphony. During the summer, he teaches at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, InterHarmony International Summer Music Festival, Montecito International Music Festival and BayView Music Festival.

Daniel Cassin has enjoyed a rewarding and varied career as teacher, performer and producer. As cellist of the Valcour String Quartet, Mr. Cassin has performed in numerous concerts, competitions, master classes and educational programs. He is currently serving as Associate Principal Cellist of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, where he has been a member since 1982.

Constance Carroll has received acclaim throughout the nation for her performances as a recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral soloist. The featured artist at conventions of the state Music Teachers Associations of many states across America, she has also given lecture recitals at the national MTNA conventions in Houston, and most recently, in Kansas City. Equally adept as a teacher and lecturer, she numbers among her students winners of local and regional competitions, and has presented recitals, master classes and lectures at numerous universities and colleges throughout the country

Maria Briggs is joined on this album by pianist Drew Quiring, and violin/violist Limor Toren-immerman, where together they present a selection of songs by composers including Anton Rubinstein, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Mikhail Glinka, and more. Dr. Briggs-Okunev is a Russian-born, Australian soprano. She earned her Bachelor degree in piano performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Dr. Briggs then attained Masters in vocal performance, Newcastle Conservatorium and DMA from Sydney University and Royal Northern College of Music, UK. Her research is focused on training and development of young opera singers. Her published thesis on tertiary opera training is available online.

From the Heart of Ra, a work for viola and piano, was written for violist Leslie Perna, who plays the work here. It is in six sections, each representing how ancient Egyptians thought of the soul and its journey in the afterlife. The album also includes Six Bagatelles for String Trio, Seven Musical Portraits for Two Violas, and Three Musical Meditations for String Trio. Leslie Perna, violist, has appeared as a teacher, performer and recording artist (Albany, Aquebis, Berklee, Capstone, Centaur and CRI labels) across the Americas, Europe and Asia. After earning a Bachelor of Music degree from Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory and a graduate degree from Boston University, she studied chamber music at the Chautauqua and Blossom music festivals, and with members of the Cleveland, Emerson, Kolisch and Muir quartets. Her performances have been broadcast internationally on radio and television in the Americas and Canada, including National Public Radio, public radio stations across the country, Brazil's Radio and TV MEC, and ABC's Nightly News with Peter Jennings.

These are three of the greatest works for cello and piano, beautifully performed by Paul York, cello, and Dror Biran, piano. Recently hailed by The New York Times for his “warm-toned” performance of Lutosławski’s Grave (Metamorphoses), cellist Paul York is an accomplished soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. He currently serves on the string faculty at the University of Louisville, where he maintains an active teaching and performing schedule. Dror Biran is a professor of piano at the University of Louisville. He has developed a teaching philosophy that aims at student-centered mentoring, interactive approaches to interpretation and performance, the study of chamber music, and the creation of both short-term and long-term goals.

On his new release, pianist Charles Foreman presents a program of sonatas by Beethoven. Pianist Charles Foreman made his debut in 1972 with the Chicago Civic Orchestra conducted by David Gilbert, playing the Brahms B-flat Concerto. Since then, he has won prizes in Canadian and U.S. piano competitions, received two Canada Council grants for study and performance in Europe, performed over 30 times with orchestras in North America (including eight repeat engagements with the Calgary Philharmonic), under conductors such as Edmond Agopian, Mario Bernardi, Rolf Bertsch, Boris Brott, Stephen Franse, Stewart Grant, Arpad Joo, and Gerhardt Zimmermann, and played over 750 solo and chamber recitals in Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, and the U.S. He has been equally praised for his superb musicianship, his formidable technique, his vast repertoire, and his imaginative programming. He has premiered works by composers as diverse as Istvan Anhalt, George Crumb, Stewart Grant, Oskar Morawetz, Violet Archer, Gerhard Wuensch, and William Jordan. His multi-faceted career has included professional broadcasting, professional acting, musical direction, and arts administration.

Antonio Marti takes us on a Spanish journey with works by Manuel de Falla, Agustin Ramos, Pascual Piqueras Cabanillas, Salvador Chulia Hernandez, and Juan J. Colomer. Antonio Martí was appointed Principal Trumpet with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in Charleston, South Carolina in May 2015. Born in Valencia, Spain, Martí started playing music at eight years old. His father was a musician, and when they moved to the Canary Islands, he began studies at the Tenerife Superior Conservatory with Francisco Ramos (principal trumpet of the Municipal Band of Tenerife), and Agustin Ramos (trumpet professor at Tenerife Conservatory). After graduating with honors in 1998, he moved to New York City, where he studied at the Mannes College of Music with Vincent Penzarella (assistant principal trumpet, New York Philharmonic.) He graduated with a Bachelor of Music with honors in 2003. He is joined by pianist Chee-Hang See.

This is an album of works by American composer David Loeb, with works composed over more than four decades. David Loeb’s catalog of compositions is unusually extensive and diverse. In addition to the expected assortment of works for orchestra, various chamber combinations, soloists, and voice, he has also written many pieces for Asian instruments (in addition to Japanese, some for Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Mongol) and for early Western instruments (in addition to viols, some for lute, harpsichord, and recorder). He has often brought these instruments together in unique combinations, such as four shakuhachi and four viols; flute, guitar, koto, and shakuhachi; and khaen, flute, guitar, cello, and percussion.

More than one hundred of his compositions have been recorded in an anthology of 22 albums on the Vienna Modern Masters label (including the three pieces referenced above), and about thirty other pieces appear on various other labels. Fifteen of his compositions (mostly for piccolo) are published by ALRY, several other pieces (an orchestra piece and viol pieces) have been published by PRB. Additional pieces were published by the Viola da Gamba Societies of the US and Japan.

Cellist Scott Kluksdahl and harpsichordist Hedi Salanki present this new release featuring the music of Neapolitan master Giulio de Ruvo. Scott Kluksdahl serves as Professor of Cello at the University of South Florida, where he has been on the faculty since 1991. He is a designated Theodore and Venette Askounes-Ashford Distinguished Scholar, and has presented master classes in such institutions as Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, Boston Conservatory, Northwestern University, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He teaches summers at the Brancaleoni International and the ARIA International Summer Festivals, as well as at the Cello Seminar at the Brown Farm in Salem, New York. Dr. Hedi Salanki-Rubardt, Distinguished University Professor and director of piano and chamber music, teaches piano and harpsichord performance, keyboard interpretation, musical structure and style, and chamber music. She is also recognized as a Yamaha Artist. Salanki-Rubardt has gained worldwide recognition for her diverse repertoire of solo and chamber music for the piano and harpsichord. Her playing has been distinguished by its naturalness, grace and a feeling of flow.

On this release, pianist Lorna Griffitt and violinist Haroutune Bedelian present a program of works by Robert and Clara Schumann.

Dr. Lorna Griffitt began her performing career at 16 as a soloist with the Louisville Orchestra under the direction of Robert Whitney. She received her doctorate from Indiana University under the tutelage of Menahem Pressler. Dr. Griffitt enjoys an active career as soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue both in the United States and in South America, Europe, and the Middle East. Her performances include appearances in New York at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, a live broadcast from Washington DC on NPR’s Performance Today, and a solo recital at Indiana University’s Auer Hall in Bloomington, Indiana.

Violinist Haroutune Bedelian is a professor at the University of California at Irvine, and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London. He has performed in major cities, festivals and concert halls throughout North and South America, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East and has appeared in numerous radio and television broadcasts.

This is an album of music set to poems of Ursula K. Le Guin, the great fantasy writer of books and poems. The composer, Elinor, had a nearly 40-year friendship with the great writer. Widely performed throughout the U.S. and abroad, Elinor Armer’s music reflects her persona in its high-hearted originality. It includes solo, chamber, orchestral, vocal and choral works, and is marked by harmonic beauty, strong narrative line, rhythmic energy, sensitivity to language, emotional expressiveness, and humor.