Virtuoso flutist Claire Chase continues her laudable documentation of her multi-year commissioning project, Density 2036, with a 3 CD set of the works from the 2019, 2020, and 2021 iterations. Featuring pathbreaking music for flute, in solo, electro-acoustic, and chamber settings, by Ann Cleare, Wang Lu, Matana Roberts, Liza Lim, Olga Neuwirth, Sarah Hennies, Phyllis Chen, and Pamela Z, "Density 2036: Parts VI-VIII (2019-2021)" represents a landmark addition to the contemporary flute repertoire.

Cleveland Orchestra cellist Brian Thornton releases Sirventés, a collection of new works for cello, solo and in ensemble, by members of the Iranian Female Composers Association. Thornton's powerfully expressive style is perfectly suited for these characterful works. In a fraught moment for members of the Iranian diaspora, IFCA and Thornton make a statement that gives voice to the work of several Iranian female composers.

Composer Lee Weisert releases his second album on New Focus, Recesses, a follow up to the 2014 release, Wild Arc. Weisert is heard on piano, guitar, percussion, and electronics, and is joined by collaborators violinist Nicholas Di Eugenio, vocalist Melissa Martin, saxophonist Matthew McClure, and Allen Anderson and Jonathon Kirk contribute additional electronics.

Violinist Olivia de Prato releases her second solo album on New Focus, Panorama, exploring the multi-dimensionality of expression and identity. Composers Missy Mazzoli, Jen Shyu, Angelica Negron, Miya Masoaka, and Samantha Fernando contribute pieces for solo violin with and without electronics that probe questions of dislocation and return.

APNM (Association for the Promotion of New Music) releases Vol. 3 of their ongoing series documenting recordings of music by their member composers. Featuring works by Erik Lundborg, Ionel Petroi, Hiroya Miura, Louis Goldford, Michael Gogins, Peter Child, Aine Nakamura, and Krists Auznieks, APNM Vol. 3 is an important chronicle of a core organization in the New York new music community.

Acclaimed composer Lei Liang releases "Hearing Landscapes/Hearing Icescapes", a multidisciplinary diptych that marries diverse areas of inquiry into Chinese landscape painting and folk song, oceanography, software development, earth science, and underwater acoustics. The result are two inspiring linked works that employ these varied methodologies to explore our relationship to and sonic experience with our planet.

Soprano Stephanie Lamprea releases her performance of Georges Aperghis' genre defining 14 Récitations for solo voice, highlighting her precise approach to the notation. These works, written in 1977-78, stretch the voice into fertile extended technique territory, mixing sensuality with virtuosity in ways that had a profound impact on the solo vocal repertoire.

Composer Richard Beaudoin continues his deep investigation into the realm of microtiming with his follow up to his "Microtimings" on New Focus, "Digital Memory and the Archive". Featuring music for solo and two celli by Neil Heyde and longtime Arditti Quartet cellist Rohan de Saram, Beaudoin engages in an inquiry about the intrinsic nature of subtle expressive differences, building a rich approach to composition which embeds timings from iconic performances into the fabric of his music.

Composer/performer Guy Barash teams up with poet Nick Flynn for this affecting work featuring spoken word and structured improvisation with collaborators Kathleen Supové, Frank London, Eyal Maoz, Barash, and Flynn in his own voice. Killdeer has a Vonnegut-esque quality to its clear eyed stance on the world, bolstered by the broad range of expression Barash elicits from the ensemble.

Composer Eric Richards approached listening as an embodied activity, an amalgamation of the auditory, psychological, and emotional experience we have hearing artistic sound. This album, produced by Andy Kozar and Jeffrey Gavett, features several of Richards's entrancing chamber works performed by Ekmeles, loadbang, Gavett, and Kozar as well as a host of New York based freelancers, and shines a light on a composer whose poetic approach to compositional, observation, and technology has been widely overlooked previously.

Philadelphia based contemporary music choir The Crossing releases "Carols after a Plague" in album format, a collection of works by twelve composers that responds to our collective experience of the last few years navigating the pandemic, as well as grappling with the fraught issues of our time. In characteristic fashion, The Crossing, led by artistic director Donald Nally, finds ways to create projects that connect music to our shared experience, with the beauty of human voices providing the glue for this timeless communal experience.

Composer, bassist, bandleader, and stylistic chameleon Max Johnson releases this collection of his recent through-composed chamber music, displaying his impressive versatility across many contexts. Unlike some musicians who wear multiple aesthetic caps, Johnson does not present a hybrid amalgamation of the various kinds of music he is involved in, instead we hear a cultivated and thoughtful compositional voice within the contemporary classical idiom, perhaps informed by his work in jazz, bluegrass, and other styles, but on a subterranean level that steers clear of asserting their influence on the surface presentation of the music.

The centerpiece of violinist Movses Pogossian's "Hommage à Kurtág" is his recording of Kurtág's "Signs, Games, and Messages" for violin (there are others in the series for different instruments). Pogossian has developed a close working relationship with Kurtág, and his interpretations reflect his reverent stance towards the eminent composer as well as the input received from him. Echoing the importance of the concept of homage within "Signs, Games, and Messages", Pogossian commissioned several composers to write works in honor of Kurtág — Aida Shirazi, Gabriela Lena Frank, Kay Rhie, and Jungyoon Wie contribute new works to the project, alongside "Melodia" from Bartók's Sonata for Solo Violin, providing repertoire context.

Turkish born composer Eren Gümrükçüoglu's "Pareidolia" presents seven of his kinesthetic works for chamber ensembles, with and without electronics, as well as fixed media. Featuring performances by Conrad Tao, JACK Quartet, Mivos Quartet, Ensemble Suono Giallo, and Deviant Septet, Gümrükçüoglu's music merges a rich harmonic palette with charged rhythmic gestures and a sensitivity to the interaction between acoustic and electronic elements, reflecting his background as a jazz guitarist and his electro-acoustic focused research.