"Illustrating the impact of Appalachian folk music on his compositional style, Appalachian Inspiration, composer John Beall’s debut album on Ravello Records, features three piano and string pieces that represent Beall’s expressive grasp of both folk tunes and traditional formal techniques. John Beall has been Professor and Composer-in-Residence at West Virginia University since 1978 His compositions have received performances by both chamber groups and orchestras."

Starring Michael Lewanski.

Deviant Resonances carries the concept of "creative listening" into new dimensions. In addition to the unconventional ways in which the everyday listener is called on to interpret the music, composer David Rosenboom literally uses the action of "listening" as an instrument. The first track, Portable Gold and Philosophers' Stones (Deviant Resonances) (2015), is an epic piece lasting over 35 minutes. Rosenboom achieves a resonant sound by analyzing electrical signals coming from the brains of two imaginative performers. A third performer calibrates a computer system to the responses of what he calls "imaginative listening." This system adapts to the brainwave activity of the first two performers and builds a symphony ranging from quiet beginnings to climaxing crescendos. The resulting sound is simultaneously relaxing and curious. The calming flow of resonance from the brainwaves creates the illusion that time is being slowed down. In this calm, however, one can't help but wonder at the revolutionary use of brain functions as music and the potentiality of the organ inside each of our heads. The ethereal droning with occasional flaring sparks and pops evokes a timeless, spaceless experience which listeners from anywhere in the world can explore. The album continues with it's experimental approach to the reverberation of space using electronics and computer algorithms in tandem with live instruments. Though only half the length of Portable Gold, compositions like The Right Measure of Opposites and Earth Encomium explore the same "nothingness" of space but offer grounding in the physical world through instruments like live piano. The album concludes with The Experiment and Four Lines (String Quartet). They are the only tracks to use voice and strings, respectively. These compositions call on attentive listeners to experience a constant volley between electronic and conventional instruments as they warp time and space, embellish the soundscape, and attempt to achieve a perfect synchrony.

Since the robust development of the symphonic form in the 18th century, many composers, from Haydn, Beethoven, Mahler and Stravinsky, have written within the genre, creating engaging sonic worlds in and of themselves. Inspired by Arnold Schoenberg's two chamber symphonies, American composer Douglas Anderson presents three of his chamber symphonies on his debut release on Ravello Records, which aim to envelope the listener in a varied and multifaceted musical environment all the while exploring the genre using the necessarily limited timbral and harmonic palette of a small ensemble. Each of Anderson's three-movement chamber symphonies was written for a particular ensemble, deriving pitch material from the characteristics of the instruments. Chamber Symphony No. 2 (1989) was written for Oval Window Chamber Ensemble and premiered in 1989 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Written for flute, clarinet, violin and cello, this work incorporates elements and characteristics from a variety of composers, from Mozart and Josquin Des Prez to Shostakovich. Chamber Symphony No. 3 (2001), written for and premiered by Eight Strings and a Whistle, features a short cadenza between the movements for each of the instruments - flute, viola, and cello - providing momentum leading up to an intense climax. Anderson's Chamber Symphony No. 4 (2011) was written for the piano trio and uses two serial rows, which are made more and more complex through a series of variations. The composer magnifies the scope of the symphonic form, taking it out of it's traditional context and restraining it to a smaller ensemble only to open up new realms in chamber music repertory

This new release features compositions by a true musical family: Alan Schmitz and his two sons, Christopher and Eric. Alan Schmitz currently serves at the University of Northern Iowa as Professor of Composition and Music Theory. He has received numerous commissions from organizations including the Lila Wallace/Readers Digest Foundation, the Iowa Arts Council, and the Alaska Council on the Arts. Alan’s sons Christopher and Eric are also professors, at the Townsend School of Music, Mercer University, and SUNY Oswego, respectively.

Through keen observations of nature, imaginative nocturnal scenes, and apt studies in form, Rachel Lee Guthrie crafts a series of works for solo piano in romantic and baroque styles, letting her impressionistic influences shine through with meditative beauty.

Juxtaposing the loud and abrasive with the soft and subtle, the McCormick Percussion Group balances tumult and tender in KID STUFF. Led by director Robert McCormick, Professor of Music at the University of South Florida in Tampa, the percussion orchestra re-imagines original compositions from five key contemporary classical composers. The first series of compositions come from John Liberatore. Titled This Living Air, the four-movement composition is a collage of percussion instruments played with the sort of delicacy and innocence that is reminiscent of childhood. The experimental compositions feature the circular frolic of glockenspiel and marimbas with Ko’s piano melodies dancing in the center. Seunghee Lee composed the second track, Pung-Kyung. Experimental in nature, Ko’s piano treads curiously along as the percussion group accentuates sudden strikes of sound in the xylophone, hand drums, and wood blocks. The next track Solstice, originally penned by Hilary Tann, features five acts, starting with the solemn, melancholic “Breakup ‘Imperceptible Dissolution’” following through three acts to the epic conclusion of the ‘Freeze-Up “Icy Silvers and Darts.” The McCormick Percussion Group rounds out their album with the moody, sullen Dark Paradise by composer Ciro Scotto, followed quickly by the erratic chaos of Matt Barber’s Kid Stuff: Five Figments for Piano and Percussion. Like all children, KID STUFF can seem rough around the edges, but inside there is a big heart.

Composer Alla Elana Cohen presents a full album of chamber works in her first Ravello Records release Red Lilies of Bells, Golden Lilies of Bells, White Lilies of Bells. Cohen is an extremely creative and evocative composer, her works are wildly imaginative. The album is rich with musical surprises that reward repeat listens. The album begins with Inner Temple, Vol. 2 Ser. 1 "Brachot" ("Blessings"), a dramatic string quartet in three movements. The first movement begins with gliding lead violin lines before turning more brooding and less fluid, with bursts of sliding chords countered interspersed. A stead pizzicato shapes the second movement, played in turns by two violins and by viola and cello throughout nearly the entire length of the piece. The final movement is characterized by frenzied violin lines that positively soar. Cohen returns to the Inner Temple theme later in the album with Inner Temple, Vol. 1 Ser. 12 "Bachot" and Inner Temple, Vol. 1 Ser. 11 "Shabbat Nigunim," both works for chamber orchestra which continue the spirit of the initial Inner Temple installment. The mood shifts slightly with the next composition, a triptych for chamber orchestra entitled Homage to Jean Cocteau and Jean Marais. Tension defines the sprawling first movement - both in the notes played and rests. The group's mallet percussion plays an especially important role in setting the mood, which is as uneasy as it is beautiful. The second movement gives the listener a chance to catch their breath, featuring the same tense feeling albeit with more sustained chords than the first movmeent's breakneck pace. The woodwinds take center stage on the third movement, giving an airy and lighter feel to th eotherwise dense piece. Taken as a whole, Homage to Jean Cocteau and Jean Marais is a glorious journey and a true highlight of the entire album. Next up is the title track suite, Red Lilies of Bells, Golden Lilies of Bells, White Lilies of Bells, presented as a trio for violin, cello and piano. The first movmeent and third movements are almost entirely spoken word with just the hint of a melody. The second movement of the Trio contains variety of bell-like sonorities, especially in the piano part, with spatters of chords and bursts of sound. This trio is an outlier among the several larger personnel works on the album, as is the solo cello performance on Hoffmanniana and duet for soprano and viola on Inscriptions on a Bamboo Screen. The interplay between voice and strings on Inscriptions pushes both instruments to soar to higher and higher planes. The composer herself adds cup going to the proceedings of the last movement, which compliments the percussive, steady plucking of the viola. And though the cello stands alone on Hoffmanniana, its collection of lively bowed and plucked techniques presents an intense display that matches the impact of its neighboring orchestral tracks.

Composers and longtime friends Joel Mandelbaum and Leonard J. Lehrman present their collaborative HARMONIZE YOUR SPIRIT WITH MY CALM. The two first met in 1976, and, since then, have carved out prestigious careers in New York. Both are prolific creators, respected academics/lecturers, and important institutional leaders, particularly in the world of American and Jewish music. Each composes somewhat traditional music infused with their own originality and sometimes unconventional influences.This is particularly true with Joel Mandelbaum’s music, which should be heard within the context of his lifelong interest in alternative tunings. Indeed, early in his career, Mandelbaum experimented heavily with microtonality, and has since employed multiple tuning systems that attempt to achieve more practically the nuances of just intonation – a tuning system popular in the Renaissance.With this said, almost all of Mandelbaum’s compositions use conventional modern tunings, including Chaconne and most of In Sainte Chapelle. It is only in the final minute of In Sainte Chapelle that the microtonal higher partials in the horns emerge conspicuously to add sufficient depth to the final consonance, to overcome the destabilizing effects in the middle of the piece and restore the calm of the beginning. Thus, microtones are integrated into, not opposed to, the normal harmonic fabric, an aesthetic position very much akin to Mandelbaum’s approach generally, both to music and to life.Leonard Lehrman has also employed microtonality in his music, most notably his String Trio (1968) in memory of Martin Luther King, as well as dodecaphony, in his Flute Concerto (1965), Piano Trio (1969-70), first string quartet (1971), and numerous songs and operas. His use of selective serialism in his opera Karla was the subject of a 2015 D.M.A. dissertation by Jeremy Blackwood. Leonard Lehrman’s vocal music is extremely expressive, and seemingly changes style to mirror the mood of the text he has set. In Quartet for example, Lehrman’s music follows the narrative of Russian writer Ivan Krylov’s fable with exact precision, shifting its personality with each detail of the story. The result is both highly animated and endearingly playful, two characteristics that emerge in Lehrman’s other vocal pieces, even those that tend to be more dissonant than Quartet. Lehrman’s facility in writing for the voice and text painting is well earned, as he has composed hundreds of songs, eleven operas, and seven musicals.Lehrman’s career has also been defined by a deep artistic and scholarly connection to Russian musical and literary culture. In addition to the work of Ivan Krylov, Lehrman has set texts by numerous Russian writers, including Anton Chekhov and Mikhail Sholokhov. He has also translated operas by Russian composers Modest Mussorgsky, Mikhail Glinka, and Alexander Dargomyzhsky into English.Lehrman and Mandelbaum have enjoyed programming and performing each other’s works. Their wives Helene and Ellen participated in HARMONIZE YOUR SPIRIT WITH MY CALM as performer and designer, and the entire album is dedicated to the memory of Leonard’s mother, Emily R. Lehrman.  The English title, drawn from one of the songs on the album, is representative of the two composers’ relationship with each other. The Russian title, the first words sung on the album, represent their homage to the need for building on the past in order to create a viable future.

Music for two pianos as a genre has gained reputation and momentum among composers and performers in the academic piano world. Piano Duo is a relatively new phenomenon that began in the late Romantic period. The Piano Duo project began in 2008 with composers Paul Reller, Eun-Hye Park, Gerald Chenoweth and pianist Min Kwon.

Using Stravinsky's final percussion solo from The Soldier's Tale as inspiration, James M. Stephenson's "sequel", The Devil's Tale, picks up right where Stravinsky leaves off and, infused with clever palindromes, comes full circle by ending where the Stravinsky begins: on a "hot and dusty road." Stephenson's works have been hailed as having "straightforward, unabashedly beautiful sounds" and "deserve to be heard again and again!" (Boston Herald) Commissions for solo works have come from principal players in the symphonies of Chicago, Boston, the NY Phil, and Philadelphia Orchestra, among others. His landmark educational work, Compose Yourself! (2002), has now been performed over 250 times.

Playful Edge of the Wave marks the debut Ravello Records release of works by composers Robert J. Martin and Neely Bruce. Martin presents a series of 100 short evocations of Hokusai’s woodcuts of Mt. Fuji, each different in its gestures and language, yet all in the same universe. In his Improvisations, Bruce reveals the gentle and mesmerizing side of contemporary non-traditional harmonies. In Homage to Seb, the composer presents an amazingly atonal and pleasingly modern side of J.S. Bach. The collection ends with Martin's stone & feather, an exploration of timbre, lightness, and heaviness.

Solo non Solo, the debut Ravello release of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma’s bass clarinetist Sauro Berti, presents contemporary works for solo bass clarinet as well as for traditional and unusual duos, including with percussion, saxophone, narration and electronics. Reconciling Berti’s passions for classical and jazz music, pieces such as Blue Buk and Cosmic Turtles Sidekick are inspired by swing and improvisation while Due Pezzi Brasiliani uses two distinctive Brazilian rhythms, baiao and choro. Spasm, featuring electronic accompaniment, stretches the limits of his bass clarinet.

With his Ravello release Embrace the Wind, composer Robert J. Martin communicates the wonder that humanity has for wind through a cycle of string quartets rooted in images and emotions played out across histories as diverse as ancient phoenicia and modern wind farms. The cycle uses contrasting sonorities and melodic material that range from thorny to lush to portray the influence of wind on culture and civilization, from the joy of a child's pinwheel to the power of giant wind turbines. Martin uses strings to portray wind in unique ways. The strings moan like wind, imitate mechanical toys, howl, bite, lull us with gentleness and show us the sweetness of our world.

Imagine you are walking through a dark field and the grass wet at your feet. It's a familiar place, but something feels different-there is something extra, that you can't quite explain. As the fog surrounds you, a medley of piano, swirling drum lines, and eerie ambience cut through the mist, jarring your senses but somehow comforting you while bringing you deeper into the unknown. Birdsong in Mist is a collection of 15 works that provides the perfect soundtrack to your inner thoughts.