"• Partnering here with the ensemble Music from China, PRISM presents works by four Chinese-born American composers. • The Singing Gobi Desert reveals that saxophones and Chinese instruments have a natural, if unexpected, affinity. • For nearly 30 years, PRISM has stood at the vanguard of new music ensembles, commissioning works across a broad spectrum of styles, and demonstrating the saxophone’s versatility. • John Schaefer, host of WNYC’s “Soundcheck”, wrote the liner notes for this release."

Classical Music

Classical Music

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.

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”.

Featuring performances from Grammy-winning soprano Susan Narucki with New York's acclaimed Talea Ensemble, Poems of Sheer Nothingness presents world premiere recordings of vocal music by American composer Aaron Helgeson, introducing two new works that combine ancient poetry with music of the here and now. The first, "Poems of sheer nothingness," presents a song cycle commissioned by Narucki based on the poetry of early French troubadours and sung in their original Occitan, a beautiful yet almost forgotten romance language now revived in five intimate chamber settings for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano. The second, "Notes on a page (of Sappho)," offers a musical reincarnation for soprano and eleven instruments of poetic fragments by provocative and erotic Greek poet Sappho in an English translation by Canadian poet Anne Carson. Both works feature archaic song texts whose once-florid music is now lost, leaving Helgeson's surreal and evocative sonic imagination and Narucki's subtly expressive voice to fill in the gaps made by the decay of time and memory. The result is a collection of vocal music that simultaneously once was, and could be again.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Sunken Cathedral is a multimedia album release by Korean-American composer, vocalist and sonic surrealist Bora Yoon. Designed as an architectural journey through the chambers of the subconscious, each track on the album illuminates a different sonic “space,” excavating memories, insights, and intersections in which are held our greatest diamonds and demons.

Classical Music