Hearing It Getting Dark is the debut album of original music. By composer Reinaldo Moya. The album features 4 chamber works, written between 2012-2017: a time which represented Moya's shift from being a student to developing his own fully realized individual style as a composer. Walking Shadow (2012), began it's life as a piece for dance, and it was one of the last things written as a student. It begins in a claustrophobic manner, with an insistent motive, and ends in a much more open, gentle, and direct way. This would turn out to signal a turn in Moya's writing towards a style more focused on storytelling, lyricism and clarity.

Crossings: New Music for Cello, performed by Kate Dillingham, cellist, and Amir Khosrowpour, pianist, is a collection of contemporary compositions for solo cello and cello and piano. This is a premiere recording for many of the composers and the fourth for Ms. Dillingham. The musical expression varies widely: From driving rhythms to expansive, contemplative phrases; long, lyrical lines to compelling displays of virtuosity; simple musical statements to bow hair-shredding technical challenges. Ms. Dillingham worked directly with many of the composers during the creative process.

Furious Artisans marks the first recording of works devoted to composer Matthew Greenbaum (b. 1950). The album starts off with the canonic Venerable Canons, for flute & violin. Wild Rose, Lily, Dry Vanilla sets a revealing bit of Emerson's nature poetry. Chaconne by Attrition, written for and performed by Miranda Cuckson is a virtuosic solo work that exposes some of Greenbaum's favorite textures. The album culminates with the epic Nameless, described by the composer as a work of Jewish sacred music, that features three sopranos, the Momenta String Quartet and the Cygnus Ensemble.

The music of Richard Cameron-Wolfe is not intrinsically abstract, instead residing in various realms of non-abstraction - each composition's seed-ideas emanating from an extra-musical impulse. Here we find, for example, psychodrama (three micro-operas), sound-portraits (Inventory, Lilith), esoteric symbolism, and ritual processes - all articulated in macro- and micro-structures based on the irrational elasticity of the prime-number series. The repertoire of this release brings together musicians from New York City and Los Angeles - eight outstanding performing artists with a deep understanding of contemporary music styles, vocabularies, and rhetoric. In addition, Cameron-Wolfe's long-time friend, the distinguished actor Kevin Kline, makes a special "under the radar" guest appearance as poet-narrator in the micro-opera Sound-Shroud.

January is the premiere composition album by Mark Rimple. In addition to being an esteemed composer, Rimple is also a lutenist and countertenor. The pieces featured here include new music for archlute, harpsichord, viola da gamba, and countertenor.

Virtuoso Czech violinist Barbora Kolarova releases her debut recording of solo violin works, including the premiere recording of Pascal Le Boeuf's title track, alongside rarely heard works by Jean Francaix and Moravian composer Klement Slavicky. Barbora Kol�rov� is recognized as one of the foremost young violinists to emerge from the Czech Republic, having received widespread acclaim for her ability to move audiences with her passionate performance, inherent musicality and comfortable command on stage. Co-founder and Artistic Director/General Manager of the Lake George Music Festival, Barbora is a Manhattan Concert artist, Lincoln Center Stage artist and a visiting Co- Principal Second Violin of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Barbora Kol�rov� holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. Her major teachers include Pavel Prantl, Charles Avsharian, Ida Kavafian, Arnold Steinhardt and Ani Kavafian.

The String Orchestra of Brooklyn releases "Afterimage," an album featuring two works written for the ensemble by Christopher Cerrone and Jacob Cooper that respond to older works by Paganini and Pergolesi respectively. Featuring the Argus Quartet and vocal soloists Mellissa Hughes and Kate Maroney, "Afterimage" refracts older repertoire through a modern lens using a familiar and time-honored format, the string orchestra. The String Orchestra of Brooklyn (SOB) is a unique community of musicians who come together in a supportive environment to enrich the life of our communities through music. Embracing an inclusive approach to music-making, the SOB seeks to democratize both the production and reception of concert music. Founded in 2007 by artistic director Eli Spindel, the String Orchestra of Brooklyn is “quickly solidifying its role as a major orchestral figure in the borough” (I Care if You Listen), providing an enriching creative outlet to hundreds of musicians, and accessible, adventurous programming to thousands of concertgoers and community members.

Pianist Jacob Greenberg curates recordings that possess deep insight into the repertoire, casting familiar works in a new context and presenting new works within the a larger trajectory. His newest release draws a long arc connecting the music of Haydn and Mozart through Ravel and Stravinsky and all the way to Carter and his longtime colleague Phyllis Chen. Tying all these works together is, in Greenberg's words, "a rejection of opulence and indulgence in sound, and an orientation towards form, transparency, and concision." Jacob Greenberg's work as a soloist and chamber musician has received worldwide acclaim. As a longtime member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), he has performed throughout the Americas and Europe. His solo concert series, Music at Close Range, shows his equal commitment to classics of the repertoire. A leading pianist of modern song, he has toured extensively with soprano Tony Arnold; their 2013 recording of Olivier Messiaen's Harawi has been singled out by critics. Other ensemble performances include MusicNOW, with members of the Chicago Symphony, and Contempo at the University of Chicago. As an orchestral player, he has also appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, and Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Mirage is a collection of sonic illusions, allusions, and transformations that celebrate the piano’s unique capability to imitate, echo and morph into other instruments. These compositions reveal and free a broad spectrum of sounds inherent in the instrument, inviting it to take on the roles of a traveler and a polyglot. The collection provides both a path to deepening our relationship with the piano and an opportunity to examine its place within a wider musical sphere. The album title points to the illusive and elusive aspects of the various transformative processes and their results, as well as to the ongoing conversation between tradition and innovation in the never-ending search for the many possibilities the instrument has to offer.

Living Language is pianist Jacob Greenberg’s consideration of musical style and evolving cultural legacy, across a broad range of pieces. This disc explores how composers build on their history with a highly personal creative vocabulary, bringing their work forward into the present; these artists give thoughtful tribute while also seeking renewal. The program features Béla Bartók’s virtuosic Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs, the boogie-woogie and stride piano-inspired Endless Shout by George Lewis, Chopin’s patriotic and wistful op. 41 Mazurkas, Wang Lu’s modernized guqin music titled Constellations Apart (a premiere recording), and Leoš Janáček’s kaleidoscopic suite In the Mists, rooted in the rhythms of spoken Czech and marked by profound grief.

Ma is an ancient Japanese concept concerning space and time, which literally means “interval” or “gap” in Japanese. It is a beautiful and philosophically nuanced word, which carries the implication of movements within silence or “empty” spaces. In a polarized world where differences are often the focal point, Kawamura's program seeks to highlight similarities between seemingly contrasting compositions by Joseph Haydn, Lei Liang, Katharina Rosenberger, Toru Takemitsu, and Iannis Xenakis by uncovering the inherent ma-like structures contained within music from outside of Japan’s sphere of influence.

The NY Licorice Ensemble, an ensemble of twelve female clarinetists of Japanese heritage led by Ayako Oshima & Michiyo Suzuki releases Licorice Rhapsody, a collection of arrangements and original music for clarinets in ensemble on Furious Artisans. The album features arrangements of George Gershwin's major works, Summertime, Three Preludes, and Rhapsody in Blue (arranged by up-and-coming Japanese composer Satoshi Ipponjima), as well as Leonard Bernstein's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano. Contemporary works by Gene Pritsker, Valerie Coleman and Dan Cooper are also featured.

Cygnus releases “Entertwined: Compositions by Robert Pollock from 5 Decades”, featuring guitarist William Anderson, Cygnus, and the NJ Percussion Ensemble. The album begins with "Revolution", commissioned for the US bicentennial, and from there, traces Pollock’s remarkable development. Pollock's voice is as distinct as his sound world featuring plucked strings and percussion. Paul Griffiths, in The NY Times, reviewed the NY premiere of Pollock's work for tutti Cygnus, saying, “Robert Pollock's luscious “Cygnature Piece,”... full of beautiful blendings, empty of expressive cliche, splendid and sonorous ...." Robert Pollock is a critically acclaimed pianist and composer, awards including NEA, Guggenheim, ISCM. He toured the world with the Cygnus Ensemble, the NJ Percussion Ensemble, and as a concert pianist. He has been and remains a tireless proponent of the music of his contemporaries, founding the Composers Guild of New Jersey and Ebb & Flow Arts in Hawai'i.

icarus Quartet’s debut album, BIG THINGS, is comprised of three substantial works by composers Michael Laurello, Brad Lubman, and Paul Lansky that have helped catalyze the unmistakable aesthetic of this half piano/half percussion group. The album opens with Michael Laurello’s rhythmically driving “Big Things,” an arrangement dedicated to icarus Quartet. Brad Lubman’s “Tangents” eschews any given or predictable narrative in favor of a nonsensical dreamworld that also inspired the pancake-themed album art. Paul Lansky’s eight-movement work “Textures” celebrates the multifarious sonic potential of percussion and piano together. Laurello, Lubman, and Lansky have each been elemental to the existence of the ensemble and it is with great pleasure that icarus Quartet shares their music on this energetic 60-minute tour de force.

How would you re-imagine Brahms? What does transformation sound like? Pianist Ann DuHamel posed these questions to five composers—the result is her debut album Rückblick, a wide-ranging anthology of new piano music. Edie Hill’s intimate title track borrows from early and late piano works of Brahms to create a nostalgic piece that looks forward and backward in time. The miniatures of Joseph Dangerfield and Luke Dahn’s “Letters”—musical postcards from one composer to the other—pay homage to Brahms’s relationships with Joseph Joachim and Clara Schumann. Jocelyn Hagen’s lyrical variations evoke the transformations of grief. And Marc Chan’s humor and wit is on full display in his inventive re-imaginings of Brahms waltzes. Pianist Ann DuHamel’s performances have been praised as poetic and “... a delight for the ears and the soul” (Encuentro Universitario Internacional de Saxofón, Mexico City). She’s performed in sixteen countries, including concerts at Sala Verdi in Milan, Italy; the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland; and Trinity College in Oxford, England. A champion of contemporary works, she has commissioned works by Tyler Kline and J. David Moore in addition to the composers featured on this album. In demand as a collaborative pianist, Ann has performed chamber music with members of both the Grammy Award-winning Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as with Martha Councell-Vargas, flute; Preston Duncan, saxophone; and Clara Osowski, mezzo-soprano.