This album of works by the prominent Norwegian composer Rolf Wallin (b. 1957), one of Scandinavia's leading composers, performed by the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra from Norway under Andris Poga includes new works with three outstanding soloists: Wallin's concerto for the traditional Chinese instrument sheng features award-winning artist Wu Wei, and his violin concerto rapidly-rising violin star Eldbjorg Hemsing. Wallin's 'Spirit' for electric bass guitar and orchestra was written to and here recorded by Ida Nielsen, voted as one of the most notable bass players in the world and known as Prince's bassist.

Outi Tarkiainen (b. 1985) has rapidly risen to the ranks of Finland’s internationally most successful composers. Born in Lapland, the landscape of this mystic Arctic region has proved a constant source of inspiration for her. This new album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Nicholas Collon featuring Nicholas Daniel as soloist, includes some of the composer’s most recent orchestral works, including Midnight Sun Variations commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic and by the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada, and premiered at the BBC Proms in 2019. Outi Tarkiainen’s works are marked by strong atmosphere and rich orchestral textures.

On her captivating journey, Susanne Frohlich explores not only the vast family of recorder but also their literature. She presents some of the results of her studies in her new GENUIN album, which features Japanese music from 400 years ago alongside contemporary compositions, including several world premiere recordings. Listeners will experience works by Markus Zahnhausen, Chaya Czernowin, Gerriet Krishna Sharma, Sarah Nemtsov, and even Susanne Frohlich herself. This album pushes the boundaries of recorders that have been technically enhanced, unveiling fascinating soundscapes like never before!

Nominated for a GRAMMY® Award!

Read our exclusive ArkivMusic interview with star Anthony Roth Costanzo

Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Gil Rose present the world premiere recording of The Lord of Cries, a breathtaking opera by John Corigliano and Mark Adamo. Telling the story of Euripides’s The Bacchae with the characters of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the piece explores the power of sexual desire and humans’ need to blame and attack others for what they can neither resist nor accept in themselves. Corigliano returns to opera for the first time since his The Ghosts of Versailles, introduced by the Metropolitan Opera, made an international sensation in 1992. The brilliant cast—most of whom introduced their parts in the world premiere in 2021—is led by star countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo in the title role. Multi-award winning composer John Corigliano’s music has been commissioned, performed, and recorded by many of the most prominent orchestras, soloists, and chamber musicians in the world. The Pentatone recording of The Ghost of Versailles, released in 2016, won two Grammy Awards. Composer-librettist Mark Adamo’s four previous operas, including Little Women (1998) have been staged, recorded, and broadcast hundreds of times on five continents. Under the leadership of conductor Gil Rose, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project has become an unsurpassed advocate for 20th and 21st century American music; they make their Pentatone debut with The Lord of Cries.

Composing has always formed an integral part of the artistic life of pianist-conductor Olli Mustonen. Mustonen studied composition under the direction of Einojuhani Rautavaara since the age of 8. His first compositions mainly consisted of chamber works, but in the early 2010s, Mustonen has emerged as a symphonist. This album contains two of his most latest symphonies. Mustonen’s dramatic symphonies are firmly rooted and continuing the tradition of the great classical composers and seek inspiration from multiple sources. The theme of Mustonen’s 2nd Symphony, ‘Johannes Angelos’ (2013), is Byzantium and the ancient city of Constantinople with its mysticism. Mustonen’s 3rd Symphony (2020) is based on the Songs 47-49 in the Finnish national epic Kalevala. This work has been inspired by the cosmic and shamanistic elements in Finnish mythology. In this recording, the solo part is sung by Ian Bostridge who also premiered the work.

GENUIN and Schola Heidelberg present world premiere recordings in Dolby Atmos on a new album featuring works by the internationally awarded composer Dániel Péter Biró, who teaches in Norway. The elite Heidelberg choir and the ensemble aisthesis, specializing in contemporary music, acquaint us with Biró's imaginative and multi-layered music, which reflects the thought-world of the eminent Dutch-Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza in sound and pours it into new contexts. A listening experience spanning cultures and epochs!

Bruno Maderna always ascribed great importance to insight and imagination, even during the period in which he followed the most rigorous serial procedures. Maderna’s preference for concreteness in sound images, his practical approach to composition problems, and his receptiveness to language diversity explain the extraordinary ascendancy he had over the Italian composers who visited Darmstadt in the Fifties and Sixties, including Nono, Berio, Donatoni, and Clementi. But they also explain his gradual withdrawal from the most radical experiments of the avantgarde, and his tendency, during the last decade, to pursue a constant osmosis between different styles and materials (also through frequent overflows between his own compositions), often ending up in theatrical forms.

The Hyperion has been described as a “Lyric in the form of a show”. It was presented in its first version as a mobile cycle of vocal, orchestral and electronic pieces based on fragments of Friedrich Hoelderlin’s novel "Hyperion, oder der Heremit in Griechenland" (“Hyperion, or the Hermit in Greece”), the only novel written by the German poet. This book, an epistolary novel, was published in various versions, so it somehow could be regarded as a “work in progress” too. This recording represents an important document of the live version, reduced and adapted by the great actor Carmelo Bene, flanked by the RAI Symphony Orchestra from Milan, directed by Maestro Marcello Panni.

Composer Rodion Shchedrin (1932-2025) was one of the leading figures of post-war Soviet music. This album by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Olli Mustonen brings together four of his works, including music from his ballet The Lady with the Lapdog, as well as a viola concerto, Concerto dolce, performed by Lawrence Power, one of the greatest violists of our time. Rodion Shchedrin passed away while this album - a monument to the unique friendship and artistic collaboration that Olli Mustonen and Rodion Shchedrin cultivated over the course of three decades - was in preparation.

The music of this album derives from the stage work SEMMELWEIS, whose initial creation and development came about with the generous help of the American Opera Project, Budapest Operetta Theater, The Bartok Plusz Opera Festival, the Charles P. Sloan Foundation, Ensemble Studio Theater, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Edward Andrews, Dr. Laszlo Rosivall, Dr. Ana Berlin, Dr. Warren Widmann, and many others listed in the thank-you section. It premiered at the Bartok Plusz Opera Festival in a production directed by Martin Boross, which ran in Budapest and toured throughout Hungary. The music of SEMMELWEIS underwent significant artistic development with help from director Martin Boross, music director Dániel Dinyés, dramaturg Diána Eszter Mátrai, and assistant director Julia Jakubowska. This album has deep roots and owes it's thanks to so many who have supported it, informed it, encouraged it, critiqued it, coached it, lent a listening ear to it, brought it to stages, performed in earlier live versions of it, helped find opportunities for it, etc. Much gratitude to: Ana Berlin, Eva Berlin-Lustig, Dr. Daniel Seidman, Luigi Porto, Matt Gray, Dániel Dinyés, Mila Henry, Charity Wicks, Hans Tashjian, Peter Thall, Tara Khozein, Troy Germanow Alejandro Berlin, András Tucker, Audrey Jakab, Bartók Béla Chamber Chorus of Szolnok, Carola Timmel, Chaitanya Sangco, Charles Jarden, Conrad Cummings, Daisy Press, EMI Ferguson, Erwin Maas, Éva Molnár, György Lorinczy, Hermann Szabolcs, John Corigliano, Joy Tamayo, Karmina Šilec, Katelan Terrell, Nina Colosi, Ryan McAdams, Sandcastle New Music, Szilveszter P. Szabó, The Streaming Museum, Veronika Nádasi, Maryna Abigail Fisher, Ákos Podráczky, Alice Lustig, Amy Justman, András Juhász, Angel Orensanz Center, Balassi Institute, Bill Jones, Brett Umlauf, Brian Meece, Bryan P. Hurley, Ph.D., Carolyn Stem, Catherine Hancock, Charlotte Dobbs, Christopher Botta, Dániel Patkós, Dina Rose Rivera, Dora Halas, Dóra Tési, Dr. Bernhard Küenburg, Dr. Jonathan Miller, Dr. Sherwin Nuland, Edward Bilous, Elaine Larson, Elena Kieffer, Elena Kowalsky, Eniko Lévai, Eszter Nemethi, Evan Fein, Ferenc Kumin, Gábor Csonka, Galapagos Art Space, Gary Shapiro, Gertrúd Andrási, Glenn Fleshler, Glimmerglass Opera, Greg Knowles, Greta Berman, Guadalupe Peraza, Guy Coolen, Howard Lieberman, Ildiko Eri, Inge Ivchenko, James Paulk, James Schaeffer, Jennifer Panara, Jenny Horváth, Jessica Miller-Rausch, Jessica Savage, JoAnn Dolan, Joanna Ebenstein, Joel Kalow, Joerg Ahlgrimm, John Brown, Mary Brown, John Lustig, Joseph Keckler, Josh Mertz, Júlia Hadi, Julianne Zahl, Julie Nagel, Kate Maroney, Kelly Horsted, Kendall Briggs, Kerry B. Grennan, N.P., Kiara Duran, Laura Kaminsky, Lee Streby, Lili Raubinek, Lisa Romain, Luke Canterella, Maeve Höglund, Marcy Richardson, Marguerite French, Martin Verdrager, Matthew Curran, McGinn Educational Center at Staten Island University Hospital, Megan Schubert, Michael Marcotte, Michelle DiBucci, Miron Kováts, Moirae Ensemble, Molly and Marvin Brooks, Music Theater Now, Musiktheatertage Wien, National Arts Club, Ned Canty, New York Academy of Medicine, Nissa Kahle, Norman Ryan, Opera Grows in Brooklyn, Opera on Tap, Operadagen Rotterdam, Patricia Price, Patrick Porter, Paul Dolan, Paul Haas, Paul Schneider, Paula Mlyn, Peter Flint, Phil Simmons, Raymond Lustig Sr., Regina Lustig, Robert E. Lee III, Ryan Andes, Samantha Martin, Samuel Katz, Samuel Zyman, Sára Zalányi, Sarah Small, Sophie Delphis, Stephanie Griffin, Steven Osgood, Susan Jakab, Tamás Keller, Tara Geer, Thomas Campbell Jackson, Thomas Desi, Tünde Frankó, Zita Vadasz, Gerd Kühl, Ildikó Barabás, József Dreiszker, Kelly Guerra, Marton Szegedi, Máté Vincze, Megan Ketch, Olivia Baseman.

Pacific Triptych for piano was completed in August of 2019. It is based on an earlier unperformed version for full orchestra completed in 2006. So, the piano version recorded here acts as a premiere. As implied by the title, it's a three-movement score based on contrasting sections that reflect the majesty of the Pacific Coast, especially the drama of the ocean and the endless sky above. Seven Nuggets was completed on April 25, 2023. It was inspired by a group of uncut, yet brilliant gemstones. Each "nugget" or movement ends with a low bass note. Those same notes are then played in sequence - at mid-range - at the end of the seventh nugget before being resolved into a sixth chord in the final nine bars. An American Travelogue (Book 1) was completed on May 3, 2023. This four-movement piano suite was inspired by various American locations in the western, southwestern, and Gulf Coast of the United States. (Book 2 continues this exploration in locations in the rest of the country.) - P S L Peter Scott Lewis is a San Francisco based, yet internationally active composer of modern classical music. His music has been published by Lapis Island Press and Theodore Presser Company and includes an extensive catalog of solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral music. His numerous recordings have been released by Sono Luminus, Naxos - American Classics, New Albion, and Lapis Island Records. He also plays the piano and has recorded as both a conductor and guitar soloist. Blair McMillen is a prominent soloist, recording artist, new music specialist, ensemble leader, music festival director, and educator. He is known for his passionate advocacy of living composers and contemporary music, as well as championing very early keyboard music and more recent neglected masterpieces. McMillen has toured and recorded with, among others, The Knights, International Contemporary Ensemble, the New York Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Albany Symphony. Blair McMillen, piano Peter Scott Lewis, composer Recorded at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, NY May 19-20, 2024 Producer: Peter Scott Lewis Recording, Mixing, & Editing Engineer: Ryan Streber Mastering Engineer: Daniel Shores Piano Technician: Brigitte Sims Cover Art: Collin J Rae & Joshua Frey Layout: Joshua Frey Photo of PSL: Thomas Heinser © 2023 Instrument: 1987 Hamburg Steinway D 9' concert grand. Rebuilt by Klavierhaus and Arlan Harris in 2009. Published by Lapis Island Press (Subito Distribution)

I am writing these words while the Middle East, my place of birth, my roots, is bleeding. There are no words that can describe the pain, loss and suffering I see in the land and it's people on a daily basis. Like me, my friends, family, and neighbors who live on the other side of these fences that were built to divide us, carry an excruciating pain that grows deeper as the wars continue - pain that will live in hearts and souls for generations to come. I wanted this project to bring people together through music. My grandfather, born in Syria and shaped by hardship, believed in peace until his last day. Because of him, I believe in peace, and I hope this is one belief I will never have to grieve. The sonic landscape of conflict-the sudden silence after chaos, the irregular heartbeat of distant artillery, that unnatural quiet following destruction-has inevitably found it's way into my musical language. These experiences of personal loss, collective grief, and enduring hope became the foundation for the music in this album, each piece exploring different sides and shades of mourning. Shades of Mourning This album began, unknowingly, at my grandmother's deathbed. I didn't realize then that the piece I wrote while she was taking her last breaths would grow into an album, nor did I yet know I was a composer. The room was dark and hushed, air hanging motionless as though time itself had paused. Outside, the world continued it's rhythms, but in that space, existence narrowed to the shallow rise and fall of her chest. "Shades of Mourning, " which opened this collection of compositions centered around the process of grief, is a passacaglia - a farewell to a woman who shaped my life in ways I'm still uncovering. It opened a door to composing as a form of grief, reflection, and memory-and became the foundation of this entire work. Roots While grieving my personal loss, I found myself reflecting on my family's history and how it shaped both my identity and my music. When composing "Roots, " I wanted to create something that contrasted with the first piece - something wild, unexpected, unapologetic. I wanted to capture that visceral feeling of blood connecting to soil, of heritage running deep in our ground. Each note seemed to carry the weight of stories passed down through generations, a lineage both heard and felt, resonant as ancient memory. I asked myself: what do our roots mean to us, and to others? How much of our history lives in our cells, and how much is rewritten with each generation? Intermezzo A few months after my grandmother's death, I found myself at an artist residency in the Catskills. After being so close to her in her final moments, I experienced a privilege that many don't get to experience - breathing fresh air amid some of the world's most beautiful scenery. The garden welcomed me with meticulous care, an explosion of green against the blue sky. Flowers nodded in gentle breezes, while the sunlight warmed my skin. My ears filled with nature's music - birdsong trilling above the steady, the murmur of the Hudson River flowing past. There, surrounded by life's persistent beauty, I found a stark contrast between loss and renewal. It was here that I met Purcell Palmer, the founder of the residency, who became a dear friend. She passed away just months later. I wish she knew how profoundly she and her home affected me, how much healing I found in the sanctuary she created. I dedicate "Intermezzo" to her memory. And Maybe You Never Used to Be As time passed, grief evolved beyond my personal loss to become a central theme in my life, as it has for so many others around the world. I found myself processing not just the death of loved ones, but the loss of friendships, ideas, ideologies, and deeply held values. Inspired by Philip Glass's minimalist works, I created this four-movement string trio to explore these different dimensions of loss. "And maybe you never used to be" - my first chamber music work - opens the collection with a question: what happens when the things we thought were certain begin to shatter? My Clouds of Grief During grieving, there comes a stage when you wake each day under a dark, inescapable cloud. It follows you-pressing down on your chest, shadowing every breath. The weight settles into your bones, as if colors drain from the world around you; food loses it's taste, becoming nothing but texture. Even laughter from passing strangers sounds distant and hollow, as though filtered through thick glass. I wanted the music to envelope listeners in this heaviness, to let them experience how it feels when grief becomes your constant companion, surrounding you in it's seemingly infinite darkness. The End of Times Perhaps the most delicate and lush movement of this collection. Through the subtle effects of mutes, I explored the strings' capacity to create delicate colors and textures, searching for sounds that could capture an existential question: What does the end of times feel like? At a certain point, it felt as though I was living through such an ending. In this movement, I grapple with uncertainty - will we find relief in our final moments, or will pain be our lasting legacy? The music whispers these questions through veiled tones and gentle dissonances. Imaginary World While wars, conflicts, and unthinkable violence continue to plague our world, I find myself seeking refuge in imagination. Grief, pain, and sorrow are collective human experiences that touch every aspect of our lives, appearing in different shades and meanings, leaving lasting imprints on our souls. In my imaginary world, no living creature suffers. We exist side by side, caring for each other despite our disagreements and painful histories, working together to leave this world better than we found it. Inspired by the Mishima Quartet, whose music offered me solace during dark times, I created this movement. May it bring you the same joy and comfort that this music brought me. Prelude & In My Blue How do we conclude this journey through love, loss and grief? "Prelude" opens the path to the final track "In My Blue." "In My Blue, " based on the theme of it's Prelude, travels through harmonic changes and rhythms, much like the way grief transforms over time. The music creates a sensation of gentle vertigo, as if the room slowly revolves around you-a melancholy dance in darkened space where shadows become partners and notes hang in the air like suspended memories. During my darkest moments, I found unexpected solace in music - not just in creating or practicing it, but in letting it become my sanctuary. Inspired by Chet Baker's 'Almost Blue' and referring to the gentle sway of Bossa Nova, I imagined a love story between people who know deep pain intimately, yet still find the courage to dance together. I wanted to end this album not in sorrow, but with the same quiet hope that music has always given me - the possibility that even after profound loss, we can still move forward. Together. Tamar Sagiv is a cellist and composer whose musical language bridges classical tradition with contemporary expression. Her work explores themes of memory, identity, and emotional resonance, often drawing on personal experiences to create sound worlds that feel both intimate and universal. Her original composition Roots-a reflection on heritage and belonging-was premiered at her Carnegie Hall debut in May 2023, and performed alongside her mentor, acclaimed cellist Matt Haimovitz, at the Cello Biennale Festival in Amsterdam. Originally from Northern Israel, Sagiv began her musical training at the Kfar Blum Music Center with Uri Chen and continued at the Israeli Arts and Science Academy in Jerusalem with Prof. Hillel Zori. She earned her Bachelor's Degree from the Buchmann Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, and completed both her Master's and Professional Diploma (PDPL) at the Mannes School of Music in New York City under Prof. Haimovitz's guidance. As a performer, she has appeared as soloist with orchestras in Israel and Germany, and played at venues including Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, National Bohemian Hall, and the New York Public Library. Her music has been broadcast on Israeli National Radio since she was 16. Sagiv has participated in masterclasses with Steven Isserlis, Ralph Kirshbaum, Gary Hoffman, and Frans Helmerson, and attended festivals across Israel, Europe, and the U.S. Her achievements have been recognized by awards from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the Ronen Foundation, and a Certificate of Honor from Maestro Zubin Mehta. In 2022, she performed the music of composer James Simon-who perished in Auschwitz-at Carnegie Hall. Her debut album on Sono Luminus highlights her distinctive compositional voice and virtuosic playing, establishing her as a powerful new voice in contemporary classical music. Acknowledgements I extend my deepest gratitude to my husband, my mom and family for their unwavering belief and support throughout my musical journey, especially during moments when I struggled to believe in myself. I am profoundly thankful to my teachers who have shaped me as a cellist and musician: Matt Haimovitz, Felix Nemirovsky, Justus Grimm, Chagit Glaser, Hillel Zori, and Uri Chen. They opened my heart and ears, teaching me how to truly listen and nurturing my artistic growth. Special thanks to Leerone Hakami and Ella Bukszpan for their beautiful playing, artistic contributions, and cherished friendship throughout this project. To Michael Winger, whose guidance is invaluable to my development. To Noam Rappaport, my trusted confidant with whom I could share my mind and inner musical world-your friendship and insights have been immeasurable. I am grateful to Michael Lahr and Gregoij von Leitis from Elysium - Between Two Continents for their cherished friendship and support and for the Catwalk Institute for providing me with the creative space needed to compose these works. My sincere appreciation goes to Yaffa Ronen and the Ronen Foundation for their continued support of my career and artistic development. Special thanks to Sono Luminus for believing in this project, and to Simone Dinnerstein, Paola Prestini, and Pavlina Dokovska for their inspiration, guidance and encouragement through the years. Recording, Editing, & Mixing Engineer: Wei Wang Mastering Engineer: Daniel Shores Producer: Tamar Sagiv Recorded at Skillman Music - Brooklyn, NY 11211 January 31 - February 13, 2024 Tamar Sagiv - Cello, Composition Leerone Hakami - Violin (Tracks 4, 5, 6, 7) (left) Ella Bukszpan - Viola (Tracks 4, 5, 6, 7) (right) Photo credits: Zan Wang & Apar Pokharel Liner Notes: Tamar Sagiv Layout: Joshua Frey Executive Producer: Collin J. Rae

Pressed between bodies heaving to the pulse. The room inside the drum: each of us within it's envelope. Sent elsewhere. Stamped to distant locales but together in this resonating box. My wrists were broken. My mind screwed on tight. I wake next to a reflecting pool. An inlet. The water here is cool, shaded by trees that lean in to listen, swaying lightly with the gentle breeze, the hairs on my neck alive. I start my own religion here. But I ask of the sea: long to see it's waves crashing. As I approach, the blue-green colors of my oasis dull to a metallic blur. The wind a knife's edge into my bleared eyes. From below the surface, shafts of artificial light emerge. Power indicators of unseen machines from another time, rising endlessly... narrow spotlights pushing into the sky. My heart quickens. These climbing pixels build a hard-edged latticework of digital snow, blinding me. I try to tune it. I look for the one of one. No wiser, I exhale and step into a clearing among the trees: an orderly garden path. I pace slowly among the carefully selected native plants... am I yet awake? Each turn reveals that these rows lead into a deep forest. The roots intertwine with a soil rich in jumbled wiring, broken monitors, cables to outdated devices. The path opens suddenly onto an outcropping above the sea. From this new vantage, each square of color in the water pollutes it's surface with 8-bit splendor. I spin back into the forest, the roots and limbs now formed of telephone cords, drive thru bank tubes, and strings of LED lights. They whirl me into a dance: a rite of doubt and self-abdication. Awakening from the depths of this wood: a giant stone head. Looming. Impassive. It's face in a half-smile of cool knowing. It's surface like a freshly cut tree trunk, brindled with geological age and the scars of it's removal from the earth. I am lifted up and held against it: a familiar texture, it's rough beard streaked with aquamarine moss. A deep calm comes over me: of the kind one feels when giving in to the weight of a midday slumber or a powerful drug. A kept beast that loves it's strict, heavy-handed trainer. Below this effigy, an entry to the junkyard earth. I walk myself dutifully down the mossy stairs to my resting place, each step echoing with a memory of an imagined golden age. "Activity involving in a single process the many, turning them, even though some seem to be opposites, towards oneness, contributes to a good way of life." - John Cage

Hik Hail to the hesitation Hik is an old Icelandic word for hesitation. Hesitation is the moment of pause or delay before saying or doing something. It is a glimpse in time filled with uncertainty, even doubt. "A feeling of uncertainty, doubt or indecisiveness facing difficult decision or situation. A state of being reluctant or hesitant to act, speak, or make a choice." This album is in many ways an ode to hesitation. It is composed by improvisation, and as a conversation between the violin and the organ, reacting and coexisting in sound and metrum. The feeling of hesitation is that glorious moment before playing on, lingering on an overtone or diving into next phrase. It can feel endless, wonderful, natural, weird, distressing or impossible, but mostly exciting, hopeful and mysterious. These pieces were composed in Laugarneskirkja in Reykjavi´k where we also recorded: August 7th, Hik and Tango These pieces were composed in Reykholtskirkja in West - Iceland, very close to where Una ´s grandmother was born on the farm Rauthsgil in 1905: Disclosure 1, Disclosure 2, Fuga in G, Skylight 1 and Skylight 2.

A transformation During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the world shut down and many lives were lost or changed forever, I experienced a serious transformation. A commitment to sobriety unleashed new creative forces. The world's new normal of quiet and introspection led me to return to a more formal branch of my musical upbringing: fully-inked acoustic music. Untethered from the backbeats and lead sheets of my career in jazz and pop music, I once again immersed myself in scores and music literature. An exciting new sense of freedom filled me with inspiration. I discovered a wellspring of patience and subsequent understanding and became obsessed with form. Hyper-focussed and pencil in hand, I wrote tirelessly from dawn until dusk. When I spoke about this newfound passion with one of the biggest supporters of my lifetime, my Dad, he told me it sounded like I had "seen the light" - a remarkable turn of events during an otherwise difficult time for us all. About the music... String Quartet No. 1 "The Orphans" (2023) The idea of writing a string quartet began to haunt me as this hallowed format can be intimidating. After what initially seemed like fruitless labor, I sidelined this ambition to work on some other music. Then one day while walking in a forest preserve in Chicago, a tune popped into my head which later developed into a promising base movement for a string quartet. Despite a failed attempt at a second movement, my confidence grew, and again inspired by nature, movements I, II and III were written with the base movement now as IV. Just when I thought the whole piece was done, the inspiration for another, shorter, livelier, and more cohesive movement came to me, and outdoors no less! Following my intuition I completely abandoned the germ of it all, the mother of this string quartet, for four of her offspring. It was an unpredictable process. Three Poe Excerpts (2022) While writing my first opera, The Bells of Fortunato, adapted from Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado, I became transfixed by Poe's writing. I discovered more stories of his with moments full of life and beauty that seemed to be wonderful opportunities for songs. I ended up taking a break from Fortunato to work on the songs that became Three Poe Excerpts. "Even as it Was" came first followed by "A Feeling for Which I Have No Name." These both came fairly easily and with much joy, but I wasn't satisfied with just the two. Although initially skeptical of the music that became "To the Right and Left," something told me to stay the course, and I am happy with the result. I thought the three songs could use some sort of set up, and the image of a hand opening an oversized book like in the beginning of old fairytale movies came to mind. This inspired the foreword and afterword. The Thousand Injuries (2023) A section of one of my prior works, a fantasie called Outside Motion in Stillness, gave me the idea to try my hand at an opera. I read through many plays, poems, and stories until landing on the right one. I believe there have been at least a couple of operas based on The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe, but that didn't stop me from writing my own adaptation, The Bells of Fortunato. The Carnival scene was the perfect fit for the music I had brewing. Poe's writing is wonderfully succinct and illustrative, and I found myself so intrigued that the rest of the music came without much hesitation. After a musical introduction which includes a chorus singing "nemo me impune lacesset" ("no one attacks me with impunity"), we meet our protagonist Montresor, played by a soprano, who sings the only aria from the opera. "The Thousand Injuries" informs us of her contempt for the entitled Fortunato. The musicians and the studio... I can't speak highly enough of the musicians on this album. The dedication to great performance from each individual is heard in every moment. I am truly honored to have made this with you all. I'd like to express my deepest gratitude to Doyle for assembling this dream of a string quartet to help bring "The Orphans" to life with such finesse and conviction. Thanks to Steve of SHIRK studios for the hard work, perpetual coolness, and professional atmosphere that is consistently provided. Special thanks to Matt Reed, Stu Mindeman, Margaret Casey, and Tom Palmer. All my love to Al and Ray. In memory of Tom Doherty. Rest easy Thos.

Diego Conti's recent composition for string quartet/quintet can be placed in the aesthetic context which can be roughly defined, given any inevitable historical and conceptual adjustments, as post-modern. There is a multitude of approaches to sound, according to various different and diverging strategies (ranging from the prolongation of serial combinatorial rows on material and stylistic morphology in Ligeti to modulation/pluri-linguistic modelling in Berio, from the synthesis of minimal iteration and tonal orders in figures such as John Adams or Louis Andriessen to the clearance of practices and languages of other creative-musical areas). Seventies' art music has gradually abandoned the teleological, progressive tendency of it's historical path. The language of composition has ceased to recognize the essential reference point in it's most advanced frontier and has become a complex macro-area at it's core, widely accessible, and able to be explored in all it's domains even as far as the confines of the avant-garde frontier thanks, above all, to an interplay involving many possible directions, crossings, and even multiple settlements. The recording is the result of the collaboration between the composer and the Chaos String Quartet, which was formed within the student environment of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, one of the most prestigious international musical institutions.

At once sensual and existential, this collection of songs-composed across 125 years-meditates on nature and nostalgia, sex and love, the ephemerality of the human spirit, and the eternal, transformative power of art. These song cycles of Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy, George Crumb, and Robert Spano coalesce into a testament to the limitless potency and fragility of love-both it's resplendent joys and it's tender sorrows. Despite love's transience and riskiness, the album compels us to ruminate on Rilke's witticism that "for one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks...' Each of the cycles presents us with existential questions of life and death, love and loss, but the album is structured in couplets. Debussy and Spano draw upon Ancient Greece, Grieg and Crumb draw upon enchantments of nature, the temporality of love, life, and memory. Claude Debussy's ethereal Chansons de Bilitis (1899) evokes a lusty, Grecian fever dream where the tumescence of love and desire comes to the fore. Robert Spano's Sonnets to Orpheus (2020) lends voice to Rilke's enigmatic eponymous poetry. Spano's setting of the songs-the intimate conversation between piano and soprano-"draws one voice out of two separate strings." Meanwhile, George Crumb's Three Early Songs (1947) emerge as whispered secrets, darkly-hued odes to impermanent nature-night, a flower, and wind. The songs lead us to ponder the difference between the actual and the seeming. Chansons de Bilitis is a sensual, sultry tease in more ways than one. The poetry penned by Pierre Louÿs is a literary forgery. Louÿs, in an introduction to his original poems, claimed that the verses were found in the tomb of a sixth-century (fictional) poetess named Bilitis. She was made out to be a contemporary of Sappho and the poems were written as pastiches in the style of Sapphic erotism. This deception only fueled the work's popularity. And although Debussy only sets three poems, Louÿs wrote 143 poems separated into three volumes that span scenes of pastoral youth (Book I: Bucoliques en Pamphylie), to burgeoning Lesbian-referring both to same-sex attraction and to acts associated with the isle of Lesbos-sexuality (Book II: elegies à Mytilene), and to life as a courtesan at the employ of Aphrodite (Book III: Epigrammes dans l'île de Chypre). In this way, maturation narratives-bildungsroman-form a motif throughout this album. Louÿs was inspired by sex tourism, to be blunt. At the insistence of friend and fellow writer, Andre Gide, Louÿs traveled to Algeria to indulge in sensual exoticism (and orientalism). A young Arab woman, Meriem, had come highly recommended by Gide who wrote of her and her music as something that "stupefied me like an opiate" as it "drowsily and voluptuously benumbed my thoughts." Meriem would become the muse for Chansons, which Louÿs began to draft in Algeria; the dedication of the collection reads "in memory of Meriem ben Atala." The turn of the twentieth century was rife with literary and musical games-anagrams, witticisms, forgeries, and puns. Louÿs even includes a fake scholar in the introduction to his work named G. Heim, meaning "mysterious" in German. And the title seems to me to be a play on words suggesting the feebleness, the feeblemindedness, debilite (de Bilitis) of love, sex, and the trickery of artistry. Exoticism too was par for the fin de siecle course-just think of the Orientalism of Delibes's Lakme (1883), Ravel's Sheherazade (1898/1902), and Debussy's own "Pagodas" from his piano suite, Estampes (1903). Each piece relies on coded musical identifiers that suggest otherness-nonconventional percussion instruments, incessant and layered rhythms, and sonic chinoiserie. For those sonic elements, Louÿs called upon his dear friend, Debussy, to orchestrate music to underscore his poetry. Debussy complained that the turnaround time was too short. Nevertheless, he was hard up and needed the money.

Roberto Fabbriciani is an essential reference point for flutists and composers over the past decades. The list of renowned masters he has collaborated with is nothing short of impressive: Berio, Boulez, Bussotti, Cage, Carter, Castiglioni, Clementi, Dallapiccola, de Pablo, Donatoni, Ferneyhough, Gaslini, Huber, Krenek, Kurtag, Maderna, Messiaen, Morricone, Petrassi, Pousseur, Rihm, Rota, Sciarrino, Stockhausen, Takemitsu, Yun, and many others, to name only the historical figures! Fabbriciani has not only innovated flute technique but has also contributed to updating compositional strategies, as the instrument has consistently been placed at the service of composition. "The goal," Fabbriciani has stated, "is to bring art music to a wider audience. Technology has enabled a new leap forward, but composition doesn't arise from the availability of new tools, it emerges because innovative musical thinking requires these tools to express itself." This CD focuses on music dedicated to Fabbriciani (with the exception of Maderna's piece). Tackling such a diverse range of works by different composers is no small feat; it requires the ability to delve expressively into vastly different styles. Alongside technical skill, it demands a refined sensitivity. Fabbriciani excels not only in mastering the stylistic diversity of contemporary composers but also in interpreting the works of the past. Indeed, Fabbriciani is not merely the highly esteemed interpreter of contemporary music that we all recognize; he is also an outstanding performer of traditional repertoire, boasting an extensive discography that spans from Vivaldi to Bach, Respighi to Piazzolla, and beyond. The past nourishes the present, and the present holds the seeds of the future, as is evident in these recordings.

Thomas' imagination for Bebop Riddle IV - Hummingbird Jamboree was inspired by the vibrant, dazzling technique, flair, spirit for adventure, and musicality of the Akropolis Reed Quintet. When composing, playing, and hearing Bebop Riddle IV, the virtuosity, flexibility, and energy of superstar jazz artists leaps to ear and mind. These forces, when intersected with other specific musical perfumes, formulate a unique sonic palette. A working image for this composition is that of a hummingbird jamboree-animated, sprightly, energized hummingbirds zipping around in all directions. Hummingbirds hover at rapid wing-flapping rates, which are signified by the trills in the composition. Hummingbirds are the only vertebrates capable of sustained hovering and can fly backwards and upside-down, which inspired the music's whimsical and dexterous turns of flight.

Aequora? aequor aequoris neuter noun? [AEQUUS] a smooth or level surface, expanse, surface; a level stretch of ground, plain; inmensumne noctis aequor confecimus? have we made it across the vast plain of night? the surface of the sea especially as considered as calm and flat, a part of the sea; per aperta volans aequora soaring over open sea; the waters of a river, lake, sea; tibi rident aequari ponti the waters of the sea laugh up at you. Gajic and Carrettin have performed under the moniker "Mystery Sonata" when performing new work and non-classical music styles. AEQUORA is the first album recorded under the name Mystery Sonata and reflects the duo's commitment to performing contemporary music alongside their work with ancient music, historical instruments, improvisation, and electric instrument collaborations with contemporary and aerial dance.

Released on the occasion of the Swedish Radio Choir's centenary, this recording brings together works that testify to the richness and the vitality of the internationally acclaimed Swedish choral tradition. The programme features twelve extremely varied works, demonstrating the openness, versatility and flexibility of the Swedish Radio Choir and it's multi-award-winning conductor, Kaspars Putnins. It also pays tribute to the pioneering work of the choir's long-standing choirmaster Eric Ericson, whose work has influenced and inspired composers from many generations. The older works, by Ivar Wideen, Lars Johan Werle, Lars Edlund and Ingvar Lidholm, draw on ancient, secular and religious traditions, from Gregorian chant and madrigals, and combine clear melodic lines, glissandos, chants, whispers and traditional harmonies to create a language that is both modern and accessible. More modern works by Anders Hillborg, Britta Bystrom and Johannes Pollak and explore the human voice and it's possibilities in every conceivable way. Staffan Storm, Ulrika Emanuelsson and Anna-Karin Klockar pay tribute to the great Swedish Romantic Hugo Alfven in pieces composed for the 150th anniversary of his birth. Finally, Arne Lundmark and Jan Sandstrom adapt existing folk and religious pieces and 'expand' the musical content, offering a vision that is both personal and respectful of the original work. The Swedish Radio Choir and Kaspars Putnins invite you to celebrate a century of Swedish musical history.

Serbian-Swedish Djuro Živkovic has quickly established himself as one of Europe’s leading young composers. His musical style is strongly marked by Byzantine Orthodox music – spiritual, mystical and characterized by fantastic narration, virtuosic instrumentation and a stylistic, highly profiled sound. Živkovic’s music presents a profound and abstract space to reflect on the subject matter of mystery, ecstasy and transcendence. Citadel of Love is a highly personal ensemble work which manages to create a mystical aural experience. The narrative voice of the piano together with the other six instruments, subtly adding voices as well as percussion instruments, carries the listener from beginning to end through an inner drama of intensity and fullness of soundscapes.

I Shall Contemplate… II is an intimate chamber piece for viola and small ensemble, stylistically similar to a sacred cantata, in which improvisatory techniques contribute to the free and unencumbered compositional process. Here, Živkovic’s use of ancient scales creates an archaic, echoing space. The text, spoken by the soloist, comes from old Byzantine mystical books. Finally, Night Music is a fascinating crossover work in which piano works by Alexander Scriabin are mixed with newly composed musical layers, thus adding to the Russian composer an absurd fantasy, estranged passion and exotic illusions.

PERSIST In celebration of the courage, patience and resilience displayed by people in times of great difficulty, Ethel, the GRAMMY®-winning, genre-defying string quartet, joins forces with Allison Loggins-Hull, composer, flutist, producer, and Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow to the Cleveland Orchestra. Together, they have elicited new commissions from four brilliant early-career composers: Migiwa "Miggy" Miyajima, Xavier Muzik, Sam Wu, and 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist, Leilehua Lanzilotti. Loggins-Hull herself contributed her own masterwork to the project. Passionate, committed, hopeful and inspiring, each piece contributes to an experience which surpasses the sum of it's parts.  Taking it's title from Loggins-Hull's quintet, Persist marks the fifth iteration of HomeBaked, Ethel's commissioning program for early-career composers. The initiative, begun in 2010, has commissioned and debuted 20 works by 16 early-career artists. Loggins-Hull teamed with Ethel to solicit, select, and collaborate with composers from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Supported by two NEA grants, the program was premiered in 2022 at Brooklyn Public Library, and tours in 2024/25.

UBIQUE lives on the border between enigmatic lyricism and atmospheric distortion. Through a combination of sounds, pitches, and textural nuances, low deep drones envelop lyrical materials and harmonies that breathe in and out of focus throughout the progress of the piece. The flow of the music is primarily guided by continuous expansion and contraction - of various kinds and durations - as it streams with subtle interruptions and frictions but ever moving forward in the overall structure. The work is inspired by the notion of being everywhere at the same time, an enveloping omnipresence, while simultaneously focusing on details within the density of each particle, echoed in various forms of fragmentation and interruption and in the sustain of certain elements of a sound beyond their natural resonance - throughout the piece, sounds are both reduced to their smallest particles and their atmospheric presence expanded towards the infinite. As with my music generally, the inspiration is not something I am trying to describe through the music as such - it is a way to intuitively approach and work with the core energy, structure, atmosphere and material of the piece. UBIQUE is 45 minutes in duration and is written in 11 parts, for flutes, grand piano, 2 cellos and pre-constructed electronics. - Anna Thorvaldsdottir

In a society where standardization is a prevalent issue, the release of an album that deviates from the usual music centered around the established repertoire to present an original program should be welcomed with enthusiasm. This same enthusiasm is evident in the two performers' dedication to discovering new repertoires, and delivering passionate, meticulous performances. This discographic project, aims to interpret and promote original music written for violin and saxophone by both past and contemporary composers. Works from the 20th century, (compositions by Adolf Busch and Pierre Max Dubois, included here as tributes to those who recognized the potential of the unusual violin and saxophone duo), are juxtaposed, with compositions by contemporary authors specifically written for Scarpa-Pigato. The variety of styles, unfolds through post-tonal compositions, (Paolo Paglia, and Luca Moscardi), serial works, (Antonio Pessetto), and evocative pieces, (Alberto Piazza). The unusual timbral combination of the violin, and the diverse colors of the saxophone family, creates an innovative and surprising sonic impact. The fervor that the performers bring to their interpretations, is the elusive quality contemporary music has long sought. Dedication to meticulous work, combined with interpretative excitement is a winning combination.

Upon Wings of Words is a setting of Emily Dickinson for mezzo-soprano and string quartet. Dickinson continues to inspire composers over 130 years since her death, and here it is the tense, springy rhythms of her poems that Read Thomas responds to.