Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Commissioned in 2009 to celebrate the restoration of Trinity Cathedral in Columbia, South Carolina, John Fitz Rogers's Magna Mysteria is a seven-movement, 45-minute work for soprano, chorus and children's chorus, and chamber orchestra that delves into "great mysteries" (magna mysteria). Weaving together Latin biblical texts and poetic verse from the sixth-century philosopher Boethius, the composition explores ideas of home and the seeking of home, the elevation of home to a metaphorical or spiritual realm, and the nature of time. Magna Mysteria is at once complex yet accessible, rooted in tradition (from Brahms and Faure to Britten and Stravinsky) yet wholly contemporary. This encore performance recorded in 2014 features soprano Martha Guth, first prize winner at the 2007 Wigmore Hall Int'l Song Competition, as well as the combined adult and children's choirs of Trinity Cathedral, under the direction of conductor and choirmaster Jared Johnson.

Acclaimed as America's premier post-classical string quartet, Ethel presents a power-packed, sonic snapshot of the group's life in New York City in it's latest album Heavy. It's only fitting that after 14 years of performing, commissioning, composing, collaborating and living in New York City, Ethel celebrates the composers from NYC's music community. Recorded over an 18 month period by Cornelius Dufallo (violin), Dorothy Lawson (cello), Mary Rowell (violin), and Ralph Farris (viola), Heavy features works by eight celebrated contemporary composers: Don Byron, John Halle, Julia Wolfe, John King, Raz Mesinai, David Lang, Kenji Bunch, and Marcelo Zarvos. The album follows an organic progression from Don Byron's intense, jazz-influenced "String Quartet No. 2: Four Thoughts on Marvin Gaye" tracks to the engaging "Rounds" by Brazilian film composer Marcelo Zarvos. "Ethel has been playing most of these composers' works ever since the group's inception 14 years ago," says Ralph Farris, co-founder of Ethel. "These composers - this city - are so much a part of who we are as a group. This album serves as an homage to New York City, it's people, and it's music." "indefatigable and eclectic". - New York Times "vital and brilliant". - The New Yorker "fearless... pioneering" - Time Out New York.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by Henry Brant.

The Crossing offers a recording that is as virtuosic as it is emotional, resonating with recurring themes of desire and strength, peace, and longing. The ensemble’s affinity for the compositional style of David Lang is heard in his pro­vocative and humorous “this condition”, his wrenching “I live in pain” and the title track, “I want to live”.

Classical Music

If there’s one adverb-adjective combo that can describe composer/accordionist Guy Klucevsek, it’s unabashedly eclectic. Over the course of twenty-one releases, his music has combined the heart-pounding rhythms of eastern Europe with teeming contrapuntal passages, gorgeous melodies, and Klucevsek’s own “trailblazing virtuosity” [Wall Street Journal]. But his twenty-second release, The Multiple Personality Reunion Tour, might be his most ambitious yet. The Multiple Personality Reunion Tour is made possible by a United States Artists Collins Fellowship.

Although peaceful international dialogue may seem as elusive as ever, the shining exceptions are all the more heart-warming. Two Syrian and Chinese musicians met in Minnesota. The rest is history. Both artists came from lands going through political strife- Issam Rafea living through the recent war in Syria, and Gao Hong growing up during the Cultural Revolution. Now, they continue to pursue their musical visions in the United States. They both are performers and composers and love to improvise, just like they have had to navigate their lives to survive. They both use their hearts to play music, and both believe that music needs to come from their souls and deepest feelings. Life As Is is a reflection of both of their lives. It is their life stories, as reflected in the track titles. Both of them "Walking the Distance" to America to follow their dreams. They recorded the music on a rainy summer day, and even though they didn't talk about what "Summer Rain" should sound like, they shared the exact same feelings. Their lives have not always been easy, and that is expressed in "Undercurrent" and the uncertainty of their lives in "Up and Down." But even in their darkest hours, they still remained optimistic and hopeful, as if there were a "Hidden Dance" soon to appear. Sometimes, living so far away, they get "Homesick" and have a "Heavy Heart" as they miss their homelands and families, but they keep working hard and chasing their dreams as in "Chasing Butterflies."And they are thankful for the music they have made together in their "Chance Encounter." They share their happy "Childhood" stories in their music. So many wonderful stories, but they realize life is so short, just like a "Short Film." This is their life, these their tales- "Life As Is!"

Fireflight Mimmi Fulmer (soprano voice), Elizabeth Falconer (koto, bass koto), Dane Richeson (percussion), Les Thimmig (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet), Michael Kocour (piano) 'Taking of the World by Sturm' 'Bassist-composer Hans Sturm stirs up a torrent of creative virtuosity in his recent Innova release Fireflight: Sun Suite. The jazz/new music crossover album is permeated by the haunting sounds of Elizabeth Falconer's traditional and progressive koto playing, which is well nigh in the same league as Miya Masaoka's (in one stretch Falconer sounds remarkably like an oud). Mimmi Fulmer is the glowing and smoky soprano, and she sings wonderfully in consort with the innovative drummer Dane Richeson, who is comfortable with all manner of percussion East and West.' Mark Alburger, Journal of 21st Century Music 'At one moment it sounds like ancient tribal ritual music, and the next, it evokes scenes of natural phenomena - awe inspiring vistas and picturesque landscapes. This group paints pictures with sound that challenge the imagination and mind of the listener... a feast of musical textures and moods, and an imaginative approach to ensemble playing' Todd Coolman, Bass World I have frequently been inspired by a moving sunrise or sunset and was struck by the thought of what it might feel like to not just witness an event of such great beauty, but to be a physical part of it - as if one could become part of the air and light. This thought inspired a series of poems and stories exploring the idea of becoming a disembodied part of the atmosphere, somehow one with the day. These explorations raised the thought of how magical the various parts of the day must have been to early human observers left unburdened by scientific explanations, the incandescent light bulb, and climate controlled environments. Words suggested sounds and ultimately led to the creation of the Sun Suite depicting a single solar cycle. The Sun Suite is comprised of four sections; Sunrise, Daylight, Sunset, and Night which are in turn divided into a total of eight movements. The Sun Suite begins with an Invocation, starting softly with Tibetan Prayer Bowls and moving into a percussion and double bass improvisation that sets the mood for the composition. Invocation is followed by Habanero Sunrise. The Sunrise movement has a Latin American feel and likens the beginning of a hot day to sensuous images of the Sun both as a woman and as hot peppers. Sunrise segues into Fireflight, a movement featuring the bass koto, double bass and voice in a layered melody. The Fireflight movement attempts to impart sonic images of birds awakening in the early morning. Fireflight in turn segues into Daylight and Ellipse. These two short movements were written as duets for soprano and double bass. Sunset follows Ellipse and begins with an extended introduction featuring the Brazilian berimbau, then adding the double bass and finally the koto. This movement features four themes which are tossed about between the instruments and the voice in an effort to give the impression of the complex colorful air found at sunset. Starshower is an instrumental movement and features the clay udu drum along with koto and double bass. The final movement of the Sun Suite is the Night parable, a whimsical children's story about the moon which ends quite softly with the opening Latin vamp from Sunrise, completing the sun's cycle. If the Sun Suite is to be considered ethnic world music, then Smoke and Fire must be considered jazz inspired compositions. Written for soprano Mimmi Fulmer during the summer of 1996

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Time, silence, light, reflection and transcendence are all explored in Jane Antonia Cornish's new album, Into Silence. A breathless fragility on the precipice of liminal space imbues the album's six over-arching linear meditations; each work an inquiry into the transitory beauty of the unknown, through self-reflection and the conscious reorientation of perspective. These hallmarks of Cornish's aesthetic experience, along with the exquisitely balanced unfolding of her material, all contribute to a highly expressive and brave musical narrative that is unafraid, and, once heard, cannot be unheard. The six works featured here are not only unified conceptually, but also through their instrumentation; each features a subset of an aggregate ensemble of violin, piano, four cellos, and electronics. Throughout, Cornish brilliantly uses a carefully planned unveiling of instrumental sonorities to actuate and propel the over-arching design of the album's broader narrative. Memory of Time explores a distant nocturnal pathos as the solo violin's expressive presence floats, suspended, over the cello ensemble's irrevocable sighs. The titular Into Silence I incorporates piano and electronics into the sonic tableaux of the proceeding work, reorienting the seemingly unappesed yearning of the introductory material with a tender earthbound comfort. Scattered Light, scored for cello alone, expounds an unbridled moment of cadenza-like virtuosity. As the harmonic rhythm increases and intensifies the work concludes in an evaporated calmness. Elegia returns to the sound-world and material of the album's opening work, now examiend through the aperture of elegiac reflexivity. A meditation on solitude, Into Silence II, for piano solo, probes some of the album's most inner-directed moments of isolation. Luminescence is a culmination of the entire album's exploration of liminality. The electronic component returns with an exquisite and arresting subtly of hushed empyrean filigree. A solo cello momentarily transforms the sighing motif of the opening into a hopeful upward reach towards transcendence. The work ends in deliquesce silence, and the album concludes with a return of the opening motif, exemplifying the elegant notion that silence is the path to transformation.