This release is a celebration of the successful relationship between ETHEL and Native American musician, instrument builder, and Grammy Award-winner, Robert Mirabal. The River is a live performance, which immerses the listener in a seamless flow of music, narrative, and ritual. Ethel and Mirabal created this program exclusively for this recording, calling upon traditional Native American traditions and exploring the bounds of contemporary artistry. ETHEL, which was founded in New York City in 1998, earned a reputation for being one of America’s most adventurous string quartets. They quickly immersed themselves in the culture of young artists who blended together conservatory musicianship with boundary pushing, genre-bending compositions. Robert Mirabal is a best-selling artist, and in addition to the instruments he builds and the music he composes, he is an accomplished painter, playwright, and poet. In addition to three Grammy awards, he has also received a National Endowment for the Arts Award.

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At the Center of All Things brings together the expressive, early-music influenced string quartets of Stanley Grill with the intense, visceral sound of the Diderot Quartet’s gut-stringed instruments. A composer for whom the string quartet is the perfect medium to express, in a modern idiom, his passion for the contemplative aspects of Renaissance vocal music, the album includes three of Stanley Grill’s many string quartets: American landscapes, Lonely Voices and the title track, At the Center of All Things. Raised in New York City, Stanley Grill has spent a lifetime composing music as an act of translation, trying to understand the world and convey that understanding in musical terms. Two main themes carry through in his work- music composed as a reflection of the physical world and music composed to inspire and promote world peace. These themes are at the heart of all three works included on At the Center of All Things. The unique sound that emerges from the Diderot Quartet’s period instruments is ideal for these three introspective and intensely personal works. On this album, the Diderot gives a brilliant, evocative performance that perfectly captures the nature of the composer’s work- music that is completely contemporary while simultaneously looking back in time to the beauty and harmony of early vocal music.

With Burning Bridge composer/violinist Jason Kao Hwang sets the boundaries of aesthetic sensibilities cultural assumptions and his personal history ablaze. Burning Bridge features members of his quartet EDGE (Taylor Ho Bynum Andrew Drury and Ken Filiano) with the addition of Joseph Daley Sun LI and Wang Guowei.

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FELDMAN Clarinet and String Quartet. BABBITT Clarinet Quintet • Mark Lieb (cl); Phoenix Ensemble • INNOVA 746 (62:35)


By reputation, such ideologically distinct composers would seem to be an awkward pairing as discmates—Morton Feldman’s abstract expressionist-influenced, intuitive, repetitively detailed formal design versus Milton Babbitt’s mathematically abstracted, reason-induced, labyrinthine methodology—and yet the individual virtues of each seem to emphasize and illuminate the dramatic character of the other. The contrast between these two works is both revealing and satisfying.


Feldman’s Clarinet and String Quartet (1983) is constructed around repeated, subtly altered, and juxtaposed melodic and textural patterns; the music’s progress is like a stationary view of a single shape (the combined colors and often divided attacks of the clarinet and strings) until it is replaced by a new shape, so there is continual forward motion, but not conventional rhythmic momentum. The effect is not passive, but intently active—the melodic outline expands and contracts, as natural as breathing—circumscribing an emotional voice that is muted, but nevertheless capable of suggesting moments of sadness, inquisitiveness, mystery, and fascination.


Though linked together seamlessly, the patterns of Feldman’s compositional design are on display continuously, so the structure is transparently audible. On the other hand, Babbitt’s Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet (1996) is swept along on an animated elaboration of melody, and the internal complexity of its form is of no concern. Details drive the music forward—twisting clarinet contours, contrapuntal string maneuvers, an unexpected sequence of pizzicato, sudden dynamic displacements, impulsive bursts of energy. The quintet’s extended linear development is in some ways reminiscent of Babbitt’s teacher, Roger Sessions, and what Sessions derived from Schoenberg, but given added oomph by the verve and scintillation of Babbitt’s wit.


Clarinetist Mark Lieb and his cohorts do a brilliant job in capturing the specific character of such radically different pieces of music. The Babbitt, by the way, receives its premiere recording—one wonders why such an exhilarating piece was neglected for so long. Highly recommended.


FANFARE: Art Lange


Those familiar with Morton Feldman’s music will know what to expect from his Clarinet Quintet: austere minimalist textures, rigorous logical structuring, detached but sonorous consonant chords, repeating but continually set off-kilter by asymmetric time signatures. They might be more surprised by the fact that there is room on the CD for another work, and that the work in question is by Milton Babbitt, a composer at the maximalist end of the American new music spectrum.
 
In fact, the pairing works very well. The Feldman work is far from ambient and requires the same kind of focused attention that listeners would expect to pay to Babbitt. The Feldman is process music to a degree, yet the processes are regularly subjected to human intervention. Motifs are introduced by, for example, scoring a bar of 5/4 as an accumulating chord, one instrument starting the bar, the next entering on the second beat, and so on until the final note is a chord made up of the motif. It’s a neat way of marrying harmony and melody, and it is far from the only textural device in the work, but all the others are of a similar level of simplicity. The clarinet stands out from the strings although less than you might expect: more of a guiding voice through the textures than a true soloist. Mark Lieb stresses the simplicity of the line in his clarinet playing. His stamina and evenness of tone are remarkable assets here. The work is currently available on two other commercial recordings, one in the Feldman Edition on the Mode label (Mode 119) with clarinettist Carol Robinson, the other on Metier with Roger Heaton (MSV 92082). This recording has the edge over both, thanks to the performance and the sound. Much of the music is at a very low dynamic, and the precision of the recording allows each of the detached, attenuated sounds to appear with the utmost clarity, and from a crystalline silence. Similarly, the disciplined precision of the string quartet is fully attuned to Feldman’s stern aesthetic. The few articulations that he indicates are never exaggerated to the point of disturbing his uneasy, but ultimately unbroken, continuum.
 
Milton Babbitt’s Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet is another extended single span of music: a paradoxical combination of expansive form and minutely detailed construction. But much about Milton Babbitt is paradoxical, not least the fact that his career at the cutting edge of serialist Modernism grew out of jazzy and folky roots. According to the liner-notes - and this was news to me - jazz and popular song have always been a part of the composer’s musical psyche. In his early days, he even wrote a Broadway musical entitled Fabulous Voyage. Less surprisingly, Broadway wasn’t interested. The Quintet dates from 1995-6, the far end of the composer’s career, but the jazzy rhythms on the clarinet are an important part of its musical identity. Alex Ross wrote of the work when he heard its premiere that it was ‘a delight to the senses, a fast flow of lovely chords and spry rhythms, a thing of sweetness and light.’ I’m not prepared to go quite that far, but the combination of lively rhythms and widely-spaced chordal textures gives the work a feeling of openness that is often absent from the composer’s more mathematical constructions. The counterpoint is very much in the serialist mould, with spaces in the texture appearing through the seemingly arbitrary and coincidental absences of notes in the individual parts.
 
If I were to describe the work as an indicator of the composer mellowing with age, it would be with the proviso that even Babbitt’s take on mellowness will seem violently aggressive to most listeners. But it is a rewarding listen, the composer’s ear for timbral and harmonic - or at least vertical - detail shines through in every bar. And there are surprises along the way, continually nudging the listener out of any sense of complacency at having fully digested a texture or contrapuntal construction. As with the Feldman, the formidable difficulties are expertly handled by the ensemble, which is fully attuned to Babbitt’s musical methods, and whose performance here is apparently endorsed by the composer. This is the first commercial recording of the work, and should serve as an excellent benchmark for future performers.
 
-- Gavin Dixon, MusicWeb International
 

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Born of an international broadcast for Public Radio International, and inspired by a commissioned premiere on a familiar Christmas tune, Christmas Daybreak captures the honest clarity and thoughtful artistry of The Crossing. In the world premiere recording of James MacMillan's dramatic motet 'Alpha and Omega,' the choir soars and celebrates, while in the contemplative works of Andrew Gant, Edwin Fissinger, and Gabriel Jackson (featured on four tracks) the hallmark warmth and care of their singing is heard. Premiere recordings of two works featuring beloved tunes in creative contemporary arrangements center this collection: Benjamin C.S. Boyle's the Carols for Wintertide (featuring Lo, how a rose) and Zachary Wadsworth's Gabriel's Message (on the familiar Basque tune) - both feature Scott Dettra at the colorful organ of St. Paul's Church, Chestnut Hill, whose choir joins The Crossing for Wadsorth's new opus.

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This DVD features a hand drawn pictographic score consisting of 12 panels (totaling 70 feet in length), 2 hanging mobiles, and absolutely no verbal or written instructions. It was commissioned by the Cantor Arts Center Museum at Stanford University.

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“Eleven Short Stories” is a set of nearly a dozen atmospheric vignettes for prepared piano, paying homage to some of Erdem Helvacioglu’s favorite film directors: Kim Ki-Duk, David Lynch, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Theodoros Angelopoulos, Jane Campion, Anthony Minghella, Ang Lee, Atom Egoyan, Darren Aronofsky, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Steven Soderberg. Erdem Helvacioglu (b.1975) is one of the most renowned contemporary composers of his generation in Turkey. His music has been called “revolutionary,” “groundbreaking,” “emotionally evocative soundscapes with remarkable beauty,” “uncommonly deep, intelligent, and beautiful cinematic compositions”, “luscious and unique,” and “completely arresting and disarmingly beautiful.” Erdem has received awards from the Luigi Russolo, MUSICA NOVA, Insulae Electronicae Electroacoustic Music Competitions. He has been commissioned by numerous entities, from the 2006 World Soccer Championship to the Bang on a Can-All Stars. He won the “Best Original Soundtrack” award in the 2006 Mostramundo Film Festival, and his film scores have been heard at Cannes, Sarajevo, Locarno, Seoul, Sao Paulo, and Sydney film festivals.

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Documerica originally a multimedia concert presentation that premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2013, powerfully presented by the string quartet ETHEL and taking the same name as the 1972-77 Documerica project, in which the then newly formed Environmental Protection Agency asked 70 freelance photographers to travel the U.S. with the edict to capture their impressions of Americans interacting with their environments. These eight compositions, both original and commissioned by ETHEL provided the musical annotation to the backdrop of imagery and here stand alone brilliantly in this exuberant and visceral collection that indeed suggests the sprawl of this America with composers including Mary Ellen Childs, Grammy Award winning jazz drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., Chickasaw Nation's Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate and James Kimo Williams contributing works that filtered through ETHEL's inclusive ethos become a post modern 21st century classic.

Award-winning composer Jane Antonia Cornish, having already made her award-winning mark in film scoring, is shown in her concert mood, still lush and atmospheric, on her new innova album, Continuum. • Performed by Decoda – the first ever Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall – these four world premiere recordings of chamber works explore terrain as disparate as the cyclic nature of the ocean’s tides, our relationship to space and memory, and deep connections to place. • This release follows Cornish’s Duende, “a program of bold, thoughtful, mesmerizing chamber music.” (American Record Guide)

Clinically speaking, Mark Applebaum does not suffer from any mental disorders. It's not for want of trying though! On this his 9th Innova release, he attempts to illustrate psychological disorders in sound. Asylum takes the form of a bipolar octet, an obsessive-compulsive trio, a narcoleptic quartet, an attention-deficit hyperactive quintet, a paranoid flutist, a catatonic horn player, an anti-social guitarist, a narcissistic contrabassist, a dependent violist and a Tourette's octet.

Includes work(s) by David Del Tredici. Ensemble: Cleveland Chamber Symphony. Conductor: David Del Tredici. Soloists: David Del Tredici, Hila Plitmann.

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The traditional Afro-Brazilian berimbau is a disarmingly simple instrument: a single steel string, a wooden bow, a resonating gourd. But on MeiaMeia, the berimbau is literally reinvented. Thanks to custom tuneable instruments expertly hand-crafted by David “Snappy” White, composers Gregory Beyer and Alexis C. Lamb and the dedicated talent of ensemble Projeto Arcomusical take the berimbau to new heights of collaboration, interplay and communication. In the spring of 2013, Beyer and Lamb began working together in an independent study under the auspices of the Undergraduate Artistry and Research Apprenticeship Program at Northern Illinois University. Lamb’s first composition for berimbau, “Descobertas por pau e pedra,” was such a success that the collaboration continued, resulting in a plan to compose an expanding chamber music cycle. MeiaMeia- which in Portuguese means “half-half” as in “six of one, a half dozen of the other” – is that cycle, a dozen pieces written in Beyer and Lamb’s rich and sophisticated language for everything from a solo instrument to a sextet.