The three sonatas on this recording were written at the behest of violinist Cho-Liang Lin, who worked closely with each composer at their premiere performance. Paul Schoenfeld's Violin Sonata references literary influences and the composer's past as well as his Jewish heritage in the work's final Freilach or 'joyous dance.' Steven Stucky acknowledged Debussy as the source of inspiration in his work, while the alchemy of John Harbison's style creates music that is simultaneously abstract and narrative. Wryly introduced as "crazy modern music," Bernstein's brief Canon for Aaron was composed for Copland's 70th birthday celebrations.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Following his delightful full-length ballet Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Christopher Wheeldon continues his highly successful collaboration with designer Bob Crowley and composer Joby Talbot to create his first ballet based on a Shakespeare play, the late romance The Winter’s Tale. The story follows the destruction of marriage through consuming jealousy, the abandonment of a child, and a seemingly hopeless love. Yet through remorse and regret–and after a statue comes miraculously to life–the ending is one of forgiveness and reconciliation. It is powerful material for ballet, with a story that allows for the portrayal of intense emotions between and within the characters, and the opportunity for the Company to create not just new central characters, but the whole world around them.

ACCLAIM
“Steven McRae and Sarah Lamb lead the company in flurries of joyful movement in a buoyant Act II, as the plot turns into a hugely enjoyable caper. By the time they’re in a chase across the high seas, you’ll be hooked.” - Evening Standard

“‘A game-changer for Wheeldon’ – Christopher Wheeldon rises to the challenge of translating Shakespeare into dance, creating one of most fully achieved story ballets to be staged at Covent Garden in years. Yet Christopher Wheeldon has turned these challenges into inspiration. Together with composer Joby Talbot and designer Bob Crowley (whose mix of video, light and set design vividly illuminates the story), Wheeldon has used this play to develop the most expressive and inventive dance language we’ve yet seen from him.” - The Guardian

For his second album for King's College, Cambridge, harpist and alumnus Parker Ramsay performs The Street by acclaimed composer Nico Muhly and librettist Alice Goodman, a dramatic new work for harp solo, narration and plainchant, based on the Fourteen Stations of the Cross. In it's complete form, The Street weaves together the three sonic elements of Parker's harp, Rosie Hilal's narration, and plainchant from the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, for a powerful presentation of the story of Jesus's final days in a uniquely beautiful way. An alternative version of the work for harp solo is also included. Following the success of Parker Ramsay's first album, J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations performed on the harp, the album also contains a performance of the Partita No.2 in C Minor, BWV 826.

Born in Mississippi in 1932, Herman "Junior" Parker moved with his family to Memphis in the '40s and grew up surrounded by the blues, learning harmonica and being mentored by the great Sonny Boy Williamson. He toured with Howlin' Wolf and then with B.B. King and Bobby Bland in The Beale Streeters before forming The Blue Flames, and being spotted by Ike Turner, who recorded him for Modern Records. He signed to Sam Phillips' Sun Records, before moving to the Duke label. He had developed what one critic called a "honeyed, velvet-smooth" voice, and as another writer said, "deserted downhome harmonica blues for uptown blues-soul music", having ten R&B and pop hits during the '50s and into the 1960s. This 50-track 2-CD set comprises all the A & B sides he released on the Modern, Sun and Duke labels in this era, and naturally features all his hits during this key first decade of his career, when he had all his Top 20 hits. It features the Top 10 R&B entries "Feelin' Good", "Next Time You See Me", "In The Dark", "Driving Wheel" and "Annie Get Yout Yo-Yo". It also includes his original version of "Mystery Train", recorded for Sun, which Elvis Presley recorded a couple of years later. It's a fine showcase for an artist who has not generally had the attention which he merits and who was a fine songwriter, as well as a top-class and distinctive blues stylist.

The Globe Theatre’s productions of William Shakespeare's As You Like It, Love's Labour's Lost and Romeo & Juliet are now available in this exclusive limited edition blu-ray box set from Opus Arte.Thea Sharrock’s production of As You Like It Shakespeare’s popular romantic comedy, stirs wit, sentiment, intrigue and love into a charming confection challenging the traditional rules of romance.In Love’s Labour Lost, the bard’s most intellectual comedy, the King of Navarre and his three courtiers forswear all pleasure – particularly of the female variety – in favor of a life of study, but the arrival of the Princess of France and her ladies plays havoc with their intentions.Dominic Dromgoole’s production of Romeo & Juliet brings refreshing clarity to one of Shakespeare’s best-loved tragedies, drawing out the contemporary relevance of this passionate teenage love story.

Talbot: The Winter's Tale

A gorgeous soul-jazz organ quartet album that hearkens back to early-mid 60s sessions of similar form; fully revitalized by William Parker's indelible compositions and the generous musical gifts of Darryl Foster, Cooper-Moore and Gerald Cleaver. This very special project was produced by Parker for his own Centering Records imprint. Dedicated to his Aunt Carrie Lee & Uncle Joe (pictured on album cover), it was created to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary in 2010. Released on CD edition back then, this is a newly mastered-for-vinyl first-time/one-time Centering Records LP issue, released in Spring 2024. "A family thing. And a lot more than that: one of the great bassist's most joyful, sunshine-filled records. An album of very accessible creative jazz with irresistible grooves. A federating record. A gem." -Monsieur D�lire "Though mysticism and spirituality play a hand in his expansive aesthetic, so do earthly concerns like social justice and family. A deeply personal offering from a musician whose role as a scene leader and social activist is as significant as his instrumental prowess." -All About Jazz "For a guy who's rightly regarded as a load-bearing column holding up much of the New York avant-jazz scene, bassist William Parker records some remarkably mainstream-friendly albums. Don't let this pass you by. It's emotional, hard-grooving, occasionally abstract but often raw and bluesy music that shakes hands with the past before striding confidently into the future." -Burning Ambulance

William Parker's Universal Tonality documents an epic performance which brings his titular concept to full, vibrant life. An exquisite example of this system in practice, it features a truly once-in-a-lifetime assembly of creative music luminaries and legends. Clocking in at nearly two hours and featuring six extended pieces flowing across two discs, this Universal Tonality happening took place in December 2002. Parker invited 16 musicians of various ages, cultures and musical backgrounds - to join him in an experiment of "breathing together." Many of them met on stage for the first time that evening. While he provided a score (wonderfully illustrated pages from same are included in the package), all were advised that there need not be adherence to it. Parker's hope with this approach is that each musician will trust their own instincts - and those of the musicians around them - enough to let the sound find it's shape in real time. Ranging from roof-raising big band to intimate cross-cultural exchanges, that constant current of inspiration, and open, receptive communication was wholly present at Roulette that night, and is on full display on this magical recording. Lyrics and personal writings by Parker - which Leena Conquest sings, recites, or dramatically interprets - also play a key role in this work. Parker gave Conquest the same freedom of choice he afforded the instrumentalists, supplying her with materials to draw on as she saw fit. When discussing or writing on his Universal Tonality concept as a whole (as on the enclosed, extensive liner notes), Parker can sound like he's outlining a life philosophy. It is both telling and fitting that author Cisco Bradley chose to title his 2021 biography of William Parker after this concept. The results of this one-night-only communion can now take their place among Parker's many landmark works spanning the past three decades, including previously released Universal Tonality-driven pieces like Double Sunrise Over Neptune, and Red Giraffe with Dreadlocks (released on the box set For Those Who Are, Still).

Trance Map+ is an electro-acoustic formation in constant motion. Founded by electronic musician, turntable player and sound designer Matt Wright and saxophonist Evan Parker, the band is in a constant process of transformation, renewal and expansion, both conceptually and also due to fluctuations in personnel. Etching the Ether features star trumpeter Peter Evans and percussionist Mark Nauseef. This new musical adventure began with a trio recording by Parker, Wright and Evans, with Evan Parker asking Mark Nauseef for "intro, interludes and a coda", material which was added in post-production. "What arises in the process is a determinedly plural space, a temporal cubism, a dream time that's omnidirectional. Reverb is less an effect than a new relationship, echoing 'back' as it moves forward", writes Stuart Broomer in the liner notes.

2020 release. Though he invited in collaborators for this project, Parker is very much a solo artist on Suite for Max Brown. He constructs a digital bed of beats and samples; lays down tracks of his own on guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion, and occasionally voice; then invites musician friends to play and improvise over his melodies. But unlike a traditional jazz session, Parker doesn't assemble a full band in the studio for a day or two of live takes. His accompanists are often working alone with Parker, reacting to what Parker has provided them, and then Parker uses those individual parts to layer and assemble into his final tracks. The process may be relatively solitary and cerebral, but the results feel like in-the-moment jams-warm-hearted, human, alive. Suite for Max Brown brims with personality, boasting the rhythmic flow of hip hop and the soulful swing of jazz.

Two unique jazz guitarists collaborate on "Song Songs Song." Jeff Parker's previous Delmark CD, "Like-Coping" (DMK #543), his first as leader, was more rooted in the classic jazz tradition compared to his other work with Tortoise, Isotope 217, Chicago Underground or Tricolor. The music on "Song Songs Song" is free and stylistically similar to Scott Fields' first Delmark CD. Jazziz Magazine described Fields' music as: "open-ended, freeform sound-scapes filled with noises that are alternately weird, discomfiting and stimulating" - (reviewing "Mamet," DMK #527). "Parker turns in one cogent but disarming performance after another" - Top Ten best jazz recordings 2003 - Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune.

BRIGHT LIGHT IN WINTER is the long-awaited third album by Chicago guitarist Jeff Parker. With his associates Chris Lopes (bass) and Chad Taylor (drums), this trio continues their examination of our post-modern musical universe via tuneful compositions by all three members, and an elastic, dynamic approach to improvisation and group interplay - rooted in our familiar musical traditions, but also searching for the new ones. Recorded and mixed by Bundy K. Brown. Also available: Jeff Parker, Like-Coping (DMK 543). "Jeff Parker is arguably the most exciting and thoughtful jazz guitarist of the past two decades, a masterful free improviser who's also fluent in everything from postbop to post rock." - Chicago Reader.

BIRD IN TIME 1940-1947

Cereal Music is bassist-composer-leader-poet William Parker's first spoken word album -observations from a profound life devoted to the path of finding truth in beauty & speaking truth to power. Parker's words are further illuminated by deeply sensitive sound design created by likewise devoted artist on the same path, producer and singer Ellen Christi. William Parker's music -in it's vast scope & range of form- has been an elemental nutrient of countless listeners lives for nigh on five decades. William's words -whether published on page or spoken from the stage- are part of that music. They speak on the beauty of life itself, amplifying the light of life ever-present, even in exceptionally difficult circumstance. As his first artistic expression, Parker began writing as a young person growing up in the South Bronx projects, presenting an alternate perception of often bleak surroundings and living conditions in the neighborhood. This early awareness that there was another way of being in the world, has suffused his development into a singularly generous artist and human being. Ellen Christi's singing brings that same affirmation in the beauty of life. She & Parker's previous work together, The Majesty of Jah, is a tremendous feature for her voice. That album also includes the track, "Baldwin", w/ his ever-powerful words and voice resonating even more profoundly within the sonic architecture created around them by Christi. Here, she does the same for the words & voice of William Parker. Jacket printed on reverse board. Includes insert w/ illuminating notes & full-res download card w/ 3 bonus tracks.

The new double-album from master bassist-composer-improviser-bandleader William Parker, recorded live with one of his core flagship groups & presenting all-new compositions including the five-part suite "Eternal Is The Voice Of Love", along with a new iteration of the band's elemental theme. Featuring pianist Cooper-Moore, alto saxophonist Rob Brown and drummer Hamid Drake, In Order To Survive is one of the great jazz groups of the past quarter century. Launched in 1993, In Order To Survive was Parker's first dedicated small group. It has always featured Cooper-Moore & Rob Brown, together with a series of drummers (including Denis Charles & Susie Ibarra) and occasional additional brass/reeds. A top live draw in New York during that heady decade, their initial phase culminated on record with the double-album, The Peach Orchard, an era-defining work released in 1998. The dawn of this century saw the launch of a new William Parker Quartet, featuring Brown, trumpeter Lewis Barnes & drummer Hamid Drake. The impeccable albums O'Neal's Porch, Sound Unity, Corn Meal Dance and Petit Oiseau were all created during that first decade.

Vinyl includes 4 of the 6 CD tracks & includes download card featuring all 6 tracks. Following the release of Migration of Silence Into and Out of The Tone World: Volumes 1-10 (Centering Records) and his first book-length biography, Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker (Duke University Press) earlier this year, composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, griot, improviser and community leader William Parker will present a pair of brand new trio albums which further expound on his vision. One of the iconic and enduring music leaders to emerge in the world over the last half century, William Parker continues to raise the bar higher.�Mayan Space Station is his first electric guitar trio album, and features Ava Mendoza - electric guitar, Gerald Cleaver - drums, and Parker on bass. Cosmic multi-hued blues, perfect for space and time travel. The unparalleled rhythmic firmament created by Parker & Cleaver is matched by Mendoza in full flight. All of the promise imagined by a trio recording of these musicians with compositions by Parker is delivered to the fullest. �� Regarding the album title, Parker offers: "Mayan Space Station�is a conduit for peace and inspiration. It is an oasis where sound and silence navigators stop for sustenance to replenish their imaginations. It is a fictional reality that is important to the myth structure of the Tone World chronicle. In a way, musicians, and definitely these particular musicians, Ava Mendoza and Gerald Cleaver, belong to the blood line of sonic travelers who, as Sun Ra described it, 'travel the space ways.' Re-inventing the process, allowing music to flow through their instruments."

FOR THOSE WHO ARE STILL

RAINING ON THE MOON / GREAT SPIRIT

PLANETARY UNKNOWN

LP includes 4 of the 5 CD tracks & includes download card featuring all 5 tracks / stickered noting this. Painters Winter features the trio of William Parker - bass, trombonium, shakuhachi; Daniel Carter - reeds, trumpet, flute; and Hamid Drake - drums. Carter & Parker have been perpetual space-ways traveling companions since first meeting & immediately beginning to channel music together in early 1970s NYC. Their work together in Other Dimensions In Music with Roy Campbell & Rashid Bakr for well over two decades manifest in bountiful music for the ages. They have recently been featured together in similar majestic open form on the album, Seraphic Light. Here, Carter again brings the full assembly of instruments he has for decades been a master of: trumpet, alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet and flute. Likewise, Hamid Drake is a musician's musician; one of the most in-demand drummers in the world. He is in command of a vast lexicon of drum languages, learned and absorbed directly. Drake & Parker launched their devoted "two-man big band" partnership in 2000 and haven't stopped since. In trio with Daniel Carter, they've created one previous album together, Painters Spring, released that same year. Regarding this album's title, Parker elucidates, "It speaks to those who paint with sound, in different landscapes, to celebrate the coming of the seasons: winter spring summer and autumn. Acknowledging the entire universe of world jazz music. Discovering the undiscovered." And from his liner notes, "The music on this album is a tribute to the flow of rhythm as melody and pulsation. Laced with the joy and the bounce, the dance and the heartbeat. Giving a nod to all the music that has ever passed through us. Sounds we both listened to while breezes and big green kites we called leaves sailed above the trees."

PETIT OISEAU

William Parker's new album expands on the ancient DNA/cultural codex that connects West Africa to Middle America, combining mesmerizing group work (bass, baritone sax, alto sax, doson'ngoni, congo, guiro, timbale, accordion) and solo pieces on bass and doson'ngoni. AUM. 2006.

I PLAN TO STAY A BELIEVER: INSIDE SONGS OF CURTIS

BASS DUO

Heart Trio features three lifelong-devoted fellow travelers on the path of healing through sound. World-renowned & revered bassist-composer-leader William Parker has performed and recorded extensively with both Cooper-Moore & Hamid Drake over the past 30+ years. And, the three of them are the core since 2012 in Parker's reborn In Order To Survive quartet. Heart Trio is, remarkably then, their debut as a trio on record.

William here plays doson ngoni, dudek, and flutes of bamboo, cedar & walnut. Cooper-Moore on his hand-crafted ashimba and harp; Hamid Drake on frame drum and drum kit. All of this music was collectively composed at the time of it's creation. This is music for sunrise and sunset. Daily music. Healing, centering, mantra, heart music. From William's notes included with the release: "The theory behind this music is the music itself. Empty and fill the heart and soul with sound, letting it dance. Without pretense. We are trying to get to a flow-Earth, sky, and flowing water sounds that jump out of the painting." William Parker received Lifetime of Achievement Honors at Vision 2024.

MEDITATION / RESURRECTION

SOUND UNITY

CD digipak features liner notes by William Parker. Painters Winter features the trio of William Parker - bass, trombonium, shakuhachi; Daniel Carter - reeds, trumpet, flute; and Hamid Drake - drums. Carter & Parker have been perpetual space-ways traveling companions since first meeting & immediately beginning to channel music together in early 1970s NYC. Their work together in Other Dimensions In Music with Roy Campbell & Rashid Bakr for well over two decades manifest in bountiful music for the ages. They have recently been featured together in similar majestic open form on the album, Seraphic Light. Here, Carter again brings the full assembly of instruments he has for decades been a master of: trumpet, alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet and flute. Likewise, Hamid Drake is a musician's musician; one of the most in-demand drummers in the world. He is in command of a vast lexicon of drum languages, learned and absorbed directly. Drake & Parker launched their devoted "two-man big band" partnership in 2000 and haven't stopped since. In trio with Daniel Carter, they've created one previous album together, Painters Spring, released that same year. Regarding this album's title, Parker elucidates, "It speaks to those who paint with sound, in different landscapes, to celebrate the coming of the seasons: winter spring summer and autumn. Acknowledging the entire universe of world jazz music. Discovering the undiscovered." And from his liner notes, "The music on this album is a tribute to the flow of rhythm as melody and pulsation. Laced with the joy and the bounce, the dance and the heartbeat. Giving a nod to all the music that has ever passed through us. Sounds we both listened to while breezes and big green kites we called leaves sailed above the trees."

Following the release of Migration of Silence Into and Out of The Tone World: Volumes 1-10 (Centering Records) and his first book-length biography, Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker (Duke University Press) earlier this year, composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, griot, improviser and community leader William Parker will present a pair of brand new trio albums which further expound on his vision. One of the iconic and enduring music leaders to emerge in the world over the last half century, William Parker continues to raise the bar higher.�Mayan Space Station is his first electric guitar trio album, and features Ava Mendoza - electric guitar, Gerald Cleaver - drums, and Parker on bass. Cosmic multi-hued blues, perfect for space and time travel. The unparalleled rhythmic firmament created by Parker & Cleaver is matched by Mendoza in full flight. All of the promise imagined by a trio recording of these musicians with compositions by Parker is delivered to the fullest. �� Regarding the album title, Parker offers: "Mayan Space Station�is a conduit for peace and inspiration. It is an oasis where sound and silence navigators stop for sustenance to replenish their imaginations. It is a fictional reality that is important to the myth structure of the Tone World chronicle. In a way, musicians, and definitely these particular musicians, Ava Mendoza and Gerald Cleaver, belong to the blood line of sonic travelers who, as Sun Ra described it, 'travel the space ways.' Re-inventing the process, allowing music to flow through their instruments."

Cereal Music is bassist-composer-leader-poet William Parker's first spoken word album -observations from a profound life devoted to the path of finding truth in beauty & speaking truth to power. Parker's words are further illuminated by deeply sensitive sound design created by likewise devoted artist on the same path, producer and singer Ellen Christi. William Parker's music - in it's vast scope & range of form - has been an elemental nutrient of countless listeners lives for nigh on five decades. William's words - whether published on page or spoken from the stage- are part of that music. They speak on the beauty of life itself, amplifying the light of life ever-present, even in exceptionally difficult circumstance.

As his first artistic expression, Parker began writing as a young person growing up in the South Bronx projects, presenting an alternate perception of often bleak surroundings and living conditions in the neighborhood. This early awareness that there was another way of being in the world, has suffused his development into a singularly generous artist and human being. Ellen Christi's singing brings that same affirmation in the beauty of life. She & Parker's previous work together, The Majesty of Jah, is a tremendous feature for her voice. That album also includes the track, "Baldwin", w/ his ever-powerful words and voice resonating even more profoundly within the sonic architecture created around them by Christi. Here, she does the same for the words & voice of William Parker.