If someone told you there was music that could lull pillowy-winged moths into a fluttery state of happiness, that the Aurora Borealis can sing even better than you and I, or that the roots of the American elm trees in Central Park are a bustling ensemble waiting for their cue, would you believe them? Matthew Burtner would, and he'd have no trouble proving it on PROFILED FROM ATMOSPHERES, the veteran ecoacoustic composer's sixth release with Ravello Records. Burtner lifts the veil between humanity and it's planet, translating it's messages into an intimate medium invariably understood amongst it's inhabitants. These messages make an urgent case in the titular work Profiled From Atmospheres, a collaborative work between atmospheric sound profiles derived from humanity's top three greenhouse gas emissions and saxophone/percussion duo Michael Weiss and Elizabeth Soflin. The result is an eerie, haunting sonification that serves as a poignant reminder; if we want to continue hearing the songs of the atmosphere and the planet it blankets, it's our responsibility to preserve it.

Taktus Duo's MIRRORED GLASS is all about examining similarities and differences, like reality and the image in the mirror. Creating a two-sided album, percussionists Greg Harrison and Jonny Smith take inspiration from piano composers Ann Southam and Philip Glass and filter their music through the sounds of the marimba. On the first side of the album, Taktus performs arrangements of Southam's Glass Houses and Rivers 1. The decidedly bright and joyous tone of the album reflects Southam's sound, and the duo uses electronic processing on their instruments to create an effect similar to the sustain pedal on piano. The second side features arrangements of Glass's Etudes and Music in Contrary Motion. In these pieces, the duo creates a more dark, moody atmosphere, reflective of Glass's sound. The interplay between Harrison and Smith displays the marimba's most distinct qualities. The minimal melodies and harmonies still carry the sound along beautifully, while the rhythmic performances create a hypnotizing groove, gripping the listener throughout each piece. The two sides of MIRRORED GLASS were recorded in different studios with different recording engineers, providing a contrasting sonic experience. The album, however, comes together beautifully as a whole. No matter the mood, MIRRORED GLASS has something for every listener.

This is not my story. This is everybody's story -E. Huckle. Huckle's passion for singing developed at an early age, but was nearly derailed when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Determined to maintain her career, Huckle found an inner strength to recovery. Toward the Light is her celebration of recovery, and a testament to her willpower to continue a vibrant singing career. Huckle hopes to inspire others to press on and follow their hearts.

Edgar Barroso has been appointed to the 2015-18 National System of Art Creators of Mexico. His music has been performed throughout North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. He is the founder of the Open Source Creation Group, a group of Harvard Graduate and Undergraduate students who believe in trans disciplinary collaboration as the platform to enhance innovation and social integration. Barroso's music has garnered several awards including Grand Prize Winner of the Harvard University Live Electronics Int'l Composition Competition and the Young Creator Award (Mexico).

Ciro Scotto’s Between Rock and a Hard Place underscores the musical connections shared by heavy metal and some avant-garde classic music. Between Rock and a Hard Place-Unplugged is the acoustic companion piece to its electric, electronic and acoustic counterpart. Dan Senn’s Rivus (1985) is scored for unspecified instrumentation of any three treble instruments in the same key, here celeste, glockenspiel and vibes. John Cage’s Five (1988) is part of a series of works known as the “number” pieces. Written for unspecified instrumentation, the McCormick Percussion Group chose bowed vibraphones.

Adler and Friends showcases works by Adler and others, performed by Adler himself and showcases his penchant for both contemporary and traditional concert repertoire. Adler is a Yamaha artist.

On his debt release on Ravello Records, Croatian composer Zoran Scekic presents an open series of compositions aiming to explore the harmony of a non-tempered microtonal system based on integer harmonics, or just intonation. Performed by Croatian pianist Ana Zgur, the pieces on this album explore the use of intervals in five limit just intonation, a method in which intervals are built on the prime numbers 2, 3, and 5. Scekic's economical use of notes emphasizes the contrast between consonant and dissonant intervals in harmony and melody, chord inversions, and use of the syntonic comma. The beauty of his music is not only found in the mathematical structures imposed, but in the space between the notes and in the dynamic progression within the pieces. Works like 23.10 and strong man bring to mind Erik Satie's piano pieces, film music, and minimalism, while autumn fantasy of martin the mouse alternate between moments of powerful chords and wistful high notes, followed by sections of staccato phrases and swaying rhythmic material. Scekic masterfully crafts pieces that on the surface portray often lyrical, placid, and harmonic gestures, yet are richly calculated and complex in their construction

Through the Reeds is a collection of woodwind concerti from American composer Walter Ross. A lifelong musician and composer, Ross has historically worked most closely with instruments in the woodwind family; the four concerti on this album, all of which feature woodwind solo, highlight his preference for the family and his keep ability to compose works for oboe, bassoon, and flute.

Inspired by the worlds of literature and nature, Canadian composer Michael Matthews utilizes his expressive musical language to explore existential and humanistic discourses about society, nature, and our place as individuals in both on his Ravello Records release, String Quartets. Performed by the Clearwater String Quartet, many of these works highlight the sharp contrasts, intensity, and varying textures of Matthews’ style. His String Quartet No. 2 recalls the Second Viennese School, while Miniatures focuses on exploration and discovery, giving them a distinctly North American color.

Musical idioms have changed and adapted over centuries. On An Evolving Cycle, Gheorghe Costinescu's sophomore Ravello Records release featuring four works for solo piano, the composer explores the transition of these idioms from Baroque to 21st century contemporary, charting the evolution of form and technique with a deft control of style. Stephen Gosling, a ubiquitous New York City pianist hailed as 'brilliant' and 'luminous and poised' (New York Times), performs the four works: Theme and Variations, an energetic, virtuosic and challenging piece with a chorale-like theme; Sonata for the Piano, a combination of classical sonata and variation forms with elements of ragtime and jazz; Evolving Cycle of Two-Part Modal Inventions for Piano, an intervallic, multi-part piece unitizing a number of ranges; and Essay in Sound, a reflection of Costinescu's own experience and thoughts on the piano.

The Tornado Project showcases six works by contemporary composers Ricardo Climent, Paul Wilson, Robert Rowe, Andrew May, Eric Lyon, and Russell Pinkston. These composers create mysterious and turbulent sonic worlds by incorporating extended techniques, primal and ethereal computer-generated sounds, and improvisation. The combination of the crystalline and airy timbres of the flute weighed with the earthy tones of the clarinet create stark and eerie tones, while the computer adds chaotic gestures, effects processing, atmosphere, and foil material to the instruments’ phrases.

André M. Santos holds degrees in composition and classical guitar from the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, as well as a degree in economics from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa—both in Portugal. As a composition student, he has studied under António Pinho Vargas, Carlos Caires, and Luís Tinoco. Santos is an active figure in the Portuguese music scene, participating regularly collaborating with regional artists. He has served as director of the Mythos Orquestra and of the Quórum Ballet, accompanied Teresa Salgueiro in her “Voltarei à minha terra” tour, performed with the Gulbenkian Choir, as well as the Orquestra Sinfonietta in the opening concert of Festa do Avante 2015. Santos is a founding member of Melech Mechaya, Lisbon Guitar Quartet, Mano Quartet, and André Santos & MOB Ensemble. As a guitarist, he is a resident musician at the Fado House “Mascote da Atalaia” in Bairro Alto (Lisbon). Santos received a Young Talent Award in 2011 from the Almada City Hall in recognition of his work. His music has been performed frequently in Portugal and across the world, from the United States to China. He has composed in a variety of different styles for solo instruments, small chamber groups, and large orchestras. Santos is a skilled arranger of music, having arranged pieces to fit the unusual instrumentation of his many ensembles, as well as for a variety of other artists and groups, including Teresa Talgueiro, Ricard Ribeiro and Pedro Jóia, Mythos Orquestra, and Joana Melo. In 2016 Santos won the NFA competition in solo works for flute for his piece O motivo da menina Laite (2015).

Composer Douglas Bielmeier’s Betty and the Sensory World is an enveloping musical work that soothingly twists time into a languid river of sound. Along these lines, Betty and the Sensory World unfolds as one massive work that, though it may be marked in seven constituent sections, flows with very little delineation from one movement to another. This is not to say, however, that Betty and the Sensory World is static or overly repetitive. Rather, Bielmeier’s creation simply exists on an atypically large scale, which demands the kind of gradual, almost furtive, evolution of musical ideas that characterizes this work. Betty and the Sensory World is an electronic composition, crafted meticulously to be performed, as it were, through the listener’s headphones or sound system. This format gives Bielmeier an opportunity to put his prodigious gifts as an audio engineer on display, and the tectonic scale of the work’s transformations makes it easy for his audience to soak up the intricate detail of his sonic design. One of the most impressive characteristics of Betty and the Sensory World and one that is relatively easy to identify and appreciate, is Bielmeier’s control of the stereo field, or the way he simulates space in distance in the production of the music. At any point in the piece, close your eyes listen to where the sounds are coming from. You should be able to hear ideas occurring all around you, moving left to right, getting closer and more present, and drifting off into the distance. The amount of skill, detail, and care Bielmeier dedicated to this aspect of the piece is palpable, and it lends Betty and the Sensory World uncommon three-dimensionality. Of course, the actual sounds Bielmeier uses to populate the piece are also effortlessly engaging. Because Betty and the Sensory World focuses on concréte sounds, the listener will recognize sounds – such as church bells – among the vast array of processed and synthesized material that dominates the work. Although the language of the piece is, overall, rather abstract, the glacial pace of the music’s flow enables the listener to enter the world of every idea and become familiar with it, regardless of its quality. Combined with the potent use of space in Bielmeier’s production, these qualities make listening to Betty and the Sensory World feel like the kind of true journey we so often seek from musical works, but so rarely find satisfactorily. Bielmeier composed this work to function like a guided meditation, so it is best, if possible, to experience it as a singular statement The musical proportions in this work are unusually large, which changes our experience of the work’s basic characteristics (i.e. tension and release, transformation, etc.) because what might occur in a few measures in a more conventional piece takes place over the course of a few minutes in Bielmeier’s composition.

The Palest Rose is a collection of works for solo piano, chamber ensemble, chorus, and orchestra. Oregon-based composer Vigil strives to appeal to the listener's heart, urging them to hear the music based on it's beauty alone. This release serves as a retrospective of Vigil's varied works for a variety of configurations, and serves as an astute sampling of his compositional output as a whole.

The works of May nearly defy classification, seamlessly blending the personal expressiveness of traditional classical performance with the alien landscape of ambient computer music. In this, his debut release, May invites the listener to experience the drama of people and machines making intimate chamber music together.