This release brings together ALL of Morton Feldman’s compositions for cello and piano, including unpublished works and a first recording.

Together, these works tell the story of Feldman’s music. They span 35 years — over half his lifetime — from when he was searching for his voice as a student to when he was opening new doors in the last years of his life.

The album is bookended by two realizations of the graphic score “Durations 2” (1960), giving an opportunity to hear what the flexibility of graphic notation can bring.

The “Sonatina” (1946) is the earliest work here, and a first recording. Displaying the influence of Béla Bartók, Feldman wrote for the cello sound he loved without fully understanding the realities of playing the instrument. The resulting solo part is naively virtuosic and often even impossible to play. For this recording, Stephen Marotto keeps as close as possible to the written score, aiming to fulfill what Feldman heard in his mind’s ear.

By 1948, Feldman had been studying privately with the composer Stefan Wolpe for several years. The unpublished “Two Pieces,” from that year is a fluctuating music held together not by logic, but through its carefully poised gestures — what Wolpe called “shape.” While the emotional drama of this and other early works would soon disappear from Feldman’s music, it was above all the idea of “shape” that remained with him for the rest of his life.

In 1950, Feldman met John Cage, who shepherded him into the world of the New York avant-garde. The unpublished, compact “Composition for cello and piano” (1951) is a sudden breakthrough, yet it already contains the DNA of his very last works in its minimal material and blurred memories of sounds.

“For Stockhausen, Cage, Stravinsky, and Mary Sprinson” (1972) is an ephemeral, unpublished piece, a shard of music broken off from the main body of work Feldman was producing at the time. It consists of just two musical moments separated by silence — the same chord expressed in two different ways.

At almost 1 hour and 29 minutes, “Patterns in a Chromatic Field” (1981) is one of Feldman’s late, long-duration works, and it is perhaps the best known of the works recorded here.

Liner notes by Samuel Clay Birmaher.

In this, the final volume of his landmark survey of the piano works of Elisabeth Lutyens, pianist Martin Jones presents further world premiere recordings from this undeservedly neglected composer. Featuring works from across the span of Lutyen’s career, the earliest works to be included on this album are the short pieces Overture, Berceuse, Barcarolle and Dance Souvenance from 1944. The unpublished Holiday Diary from 1949, Helix from 1967, and Three Books of Bagatelles from 1979 complete the set.

Spanish percussionist Noè Rodrigo is one of the most talented musicians of his generation. Having performed all over Europe and the US at most major concert halls and festivals, he has premiered more than 50 pieces by composers of over 20 nationalities. His interpretations of the percussion “classics” have been described by critics and audiences as highly virtuosic, technically impeccable and musically complex while featuring a large palette of colours. With PARAULES, (Words) Rodrigo brings to life seven works by essential composers of the XXth Century: Xenakis, Sciarrino, Mantovani, Denisov, Spanish music never before recorded (Torres and Vallejo) alongside more recent pieces (Borzelli). Seventy minutes where the young artist is able to show a stunning versatility, embracing every aesthetic with intelligence and accuracy, aiming for unique interpretations. If in the beginning music was a verb, like singing, shortly after it became percussion: initially, doubling the prosody of the voice; later, introducing a growing range of rhythms and colours that have made it the most heterogeneous, surprising and multicultural of all the instrumental families. In Sciarrino’s words (PARAULES): 'a wooden percussion instrument can hardly sing, but at the same time I wonder if it cannot speak, shout, moan or murmur’.

Introducing "Michael Finnissy - Alternative Readings," a recording that brings together the visionary compositions of Michael Finnissy, one of the foremost composers of our time, and the exceptional artistry of the Marsyas Trio, mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean, and pianist Joseph Havlat. Finnissy's distinguished career, marked by British Composer Awards, prestigious teaching positions, and a Koussevitzky Foundation commission, is a testament to his unparalleled ability to weave together diverse musical idioms, embracing inspiration from literature, poetry, visual art, and global folk traditions.

Finnissy's music transcends conventional boundaries, challenging societal norms and acting as a catalyst for change. His compositions reflect a deep connection to humanity, with the voice playing a central role in conveying powerful narratives. This new release features the Marsyas Trio, renowned for their mission to revive classical repertoire and commission new works, alongside the captivating vocals of Lotte Betts-Dean and the masterful piano artistry of Joseph Havlat.

The album's centerpiece, "Wisdom," commissioned during the 2020 lockdown, delves into the collective human experience of isolation and connectivity. Lotte Betts-Dean's mesmerizing voice, accompanied by the Marsyas Trio, brings Finnissy's reflections on this unprecedented period to life. The album's symmetry unfolds around "Alternative Readings," a chamber work for flute, cello, and piano, presented in two unedited, distinct versions recorded on the same day, exploring the nuanced interplay of physical communication in music.

As the Trio reflected on their collaboration with Michael Finnissy, they unveiled the profound question that permeate his work: How can we interpret music and understand the inner mind of a composer? Finnissy's compositions encourage individuality and freedom, inviting performers and listeners alike on a journey through diverse cultural traditions, spanning centuries.

The program notes provide valuable insights into each composition, showcasing Finnissy's versatile style, from the intimate solo vocal pieces to the dynamic chamber works. This release is a testament to Finnissy's enduring legacy, offering a rich tapestry of musical exploration that transcends time and resonates with the shared experiences of humanity.

Max Richter's The Recomposed Four Seasons has become an iconic piece. Richter discarded about three quarters of Vivaldi's original and substituted his own music. The new version sounds a little hipper, lighter on its feet in places, darker and more cinematic in others. Artfully, but faithfully, Richter rearranges the notes on the page, revealing anew the radiant melodies and lush timbres of the music. This new recording enjoys the flamboyant fantasy and the technical prowess of Daniel Rowland as solo violin.

The Eastern Orthodox understanding of repentance doesn’t dwell on morose sorrow for past transgressions. Instead it focuses on deliverance and optimism: repentance, from the Greek metánoia, is a change of mind, a fundamentally positive redirection. This recording presents Arvo Pärt’s Orthodox choral works for the first time as a service (or office) of supplication (Greek paráklesis, Slavonic molében). The office is built around the singing of a Byzantine poem called a kanon, on this occasion three odes from Pärt’s monumental Kanon Pokajanen (Kanon of Repentance).

Compositions by Pärt likewise comprise the other elements of this office: a Gospel reading marks the center of the service (The Woman with the Alabaster Box) completed by psalmody, Orthodox hymns, and fervent prayers. Pärt’s transcendent “Prayer after the Kanon” eventually gives way to silence, to the prayer of the heart. Cappella Romana transforms hearts and minds through encounters with the sacred musical inheritance of the Christian East and West, bringing to life these ancient and diverse traditions, especially of Byzantium, and their interactions with other cultures. Cappella Romana is devoted to the stewardship of this precious jewel of world culture. Arvo Pärt: Odes of Repentance is Cappella Romana’s 31st release.

REVIEWS:

In this album, the stars, the galaxies, all the wonders of a distant universe seem to touch us through the medium of sound. Whether or not one is knowledgeable about Eastern sacred music, this is an album of supreme artistry to cherish, heed, and enjoy.

Under the direction of Alexander Lingas, Cappella Romana’s Odes of Repentance is a selection of Arvo Pärt’s Orthodox works woven into a service of public and private prayers of supplication and renewal. While Pärt is widely identified with works having an Eastern spiritual flavor, his pedagogical background derives from Western classical music and the musical traditions of the Roman Catholic church. However, since his conversion to Orthodoxy some 50 years ago, the public has come to associate Pärt with music as inspired by Eastern Christianity.

Odes consists of 12 spellbinding tracks which give voice to the human yearning to be cleansed of past mistakes and to make positive changes in one’s future life. As the excellent booklet notes in Church Slavonic and English tell us, these prayers are less an expression of sorrow than they are an affirmation of rebirth. This renascence is expressed eloquently through Pärt’s music in an imaginative flow of melodies, modal harmonies, unexpected twists and turns, and the composer’s unique tintinnabuli technique.

What I found most absorbing in this recording was the variety of musical utterances, the splendid multiplicity of sounds, rhythms and tremors. Something new is lurking around the corner of every measure, sometimes as puzzling as our own contemplated destinies.

The album begins with an Ode from the Triodion and two Slavic Psalms (Psalm 131, “Lord, my heart is not haughty” King James Version [KJV] and the Doxology Psalm 116). The Ode is the first of three in this recording from the Triodion, a liturgical book used in the Eastern Church during Lent. Seven selections from the Kanon of Repentance shine at the heart of the album.

These tracks could not be more different. Slow staccato notes tiptoe under a silvery upper register in the third track while an almost Western sensibility shapes the sound of the fourth (did I hear a touch of Mahler?). The swinging rhythms and unexpected pauses of Kanon Ode 9 remind us that “we aren’t in Kansas anymore”, but, rather, in a world that sometimes stretches far beyond the Western orientation of many listeners.

The album also includes a sung “reading” from the Gospel of Matthew, “The Woman with the Alabaster Box” (“There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.” KJV). Pärt’s music floats effortlessly from the ensemble and melts into the next selection, scattered with little discords.

This is Cappella Romana’s 31st album. While the group specializes in the sacred music of the Christian East and West, it is known largely for its stewardship of the music of Byzantium and the works of Arvo Pärt. Those of us raised in Western cultural traditions have missed much if we have ignored or been deprived of the legacy of Eastern sacred music, old or new. There is a core of authenticity in Pärt’s work that has endeared it, even in his lifetime, to millions around the world.

-- ConcertoNet