Sono Luminus presents this group of modern works for harpsichord that takes full advantage of all of the tonal and harmonic characteristics of this dynamic instrument. This album brings a new musical spin to the instrument that is better associated with Bach, Rameau and Couperin. Towards the beginning of the 20th century, after more than a century of obscurity, the harpsichord enjoyed a conspicuous revival. This spirit of revival continues in this latest Sono Luminus release, with many of the works on 'Toccatas' written for Mr. Vinikour.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

This set includes a blu-ray audio CD playable on blu-ray players only and a standard CD playable on all CD players.

‘Touch’ comprises eight tracks for analogue synthesizer, cello, piano, and string orchestra. Where Lights in the Sky was saturated, sonically intense, almost ‘spoilt brat’-ish sound, Touch has a more refined palette of sounds. Composers are often asked what their music is about, especially with instrumental music such as this. To me, it sort of defeats the purpose and joy of listening to music. How do we interpret the emotion and meaning of music when we aren’t hand held through listening, or guided by a lyric? Just because music is slow, doesn’t mean that it is sad; just because it is fast, doesn’t make it happy. The same goes for tonality: major music isn’t intrinsically happy, minor music isn’t exclusively sad. Yes, these can be devices for eliciting an emotional response, but they are not in and of themselves complete. For me, this is the magic of music. It has many lives and many meanings, none of them right and none of them wrong.

American lutenist Ronn McFarlane has had a successful career as a traditional performer and educator offering concerts and recordings of Renaissance and Baroque repertory. With the justification that lutenists of the past have been both performers and composers, he has begun to write and record crossover music with a small band called Ayreheart, consisting of flute or harp, bass, and percussion, augmented at times by strings and mostly wordless vocals. Despite the large collection of instruments, it's a crisp sound not weighed down by sentiment, with McFarlane's lute front and center, supported by subtle acoustic percussion and other sounds that accent the material according to its rhythmic qualities. The album One Morning is a successor to McFarlane's Grammy-nominated 2009 album Indigo Road, and it's in the same vein but perhaps a bit more uptempo; few of the tracks have the new age ambiance the rather cheesy sunset-and-lute cover might suggest. Likewise, although there is certainly some Celtic influence in the music, McFarlane avoids the clichés of the genre. The music here, in fact, is pleasingly impossible to categorize. There are enough hints of McFarlane's Renaissance background to satisfy anyone who has come to the music through a general liking for what might be called pop-Renaissance culture, but there are also moves derived from later eras of classical guitar, folk styles, and even bluegrass, with the rhythmic orientation being basically toward jazz. Fans of pure Renaissance music are unlikely to be satisfied by this, and it's likewise not well suited to those whose ends are meditiative, but the album is recommended to pretty much everyone else who likes the sound of a lute; McFarlane's accomplishment in reimagining its capablilities is considerable. A plus is that the Dorian label can record the lute very well indeed.

-- James Manheim, All Music Guide

Icelandic cellist, singer, and composer Gy�a Valtysd�ttir, a founder of the band m�m and 2019 winner of the prestigious Nordic Council Music Prize, releases Epicycle II. Gy�a Valt�sd�ttir came to prominence with electronic experimentalists m�m, the lauded Icelandic group leading the charge in the country's fertile underground scene in the early 00s, rightfully gaining international recognition. She left the band to pursue her studies as a cellist; gaining a twofold Master's degree from Musik Akademie, Basel, both as a classical player and a free-improvisational one. Since then she has journeyed with a colorful palette of collaborators, including The Kronos Quartet, Josephine Foster, Damien Rice, Colin Stetson, J�nsi (of Sigur Ros fame), Sk�li Sverrisson, �l�f Arnalds, Ben Frost, Aaron & Bryce Dessner (from The National) and visual-artist Ragnar Kjartansson. To name but a few.

Anyone familiar with La Nef's other recordings knows that this group is very hard to categorize. Its repertoire tends to be focused on medieval sources and its instruments come from that same period, but the group's aim is to give its programs a kind of modern flavor by revising and reworking ancient tunes and texts, occasionally composing original material, adding elements of drama, and organizing it all together into a cohesive theatrical presentation that centers on a theme or story. In this case, we are treated to one of the earliest known stories of the quest for the Holy Grail. The text, by 12th-century writer Chrétien de Troyes, was adapted by La Nef and set to various authentic tunes (and a few newly composed ones), performed with engaging style and with a real sense of dramatic flow. You should know that this recording is only Part One of the story, in which we learn of Perceval, his early life in the forest, his abandonment of his mother in order to join King Arthur's knights, and details of several of his early exploits. The music includes many beautiful melodies--some sung by the excellent countertenor Daniel Taylor, who plays Perceval--and first rate instrumental playing, especially by Sylvain Bergeron, a master of various plucked stringed instruments, who here performs on an "early guitar". Part Two is next, in which we follow our hero to the castle of the Grail, where he meets the Fisher King, the Young Maid, the Hideous Damsel, and the Hermit. Stay tuned. --David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring. SHAPERO Sonata for Piano 4-Hands. DEBUSSY 6 Épigraphes Antiques & • Eva-Maria Zimmermann, Keisuke Nakagoshi (pn) • SONO LUMINUS DSL 92151 (67:28)


& BERNSTEIN Candide: Overture


These two fine pianists have been playing together under the name Zofo since 2009, and have toured America and Japan. They display tight ensemble and are of one mind in matters of tempo and expression, as duo-piano teams need to be, without having the individuality of the drily austere Kontarsky brothers or the showy and virtuosic Labèque sisters. (But then, Zimmermann and Nakagoshi are not twins!)


Their program contains some interesting music. I have never been fully convinced of the worth of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in a four-hand piano transcription. From the very first bars, which depend so much on the unique sound of the bassoon in its high register, this work needs the colors and weight of an orchestra. Even so, this arrangement has been recorded several times, most notably for Angel by the young Michael Tilson Thomas and Ralph Grierson in an exciting and convincing account. Zofo is by comparison rather straightforward. While they find the primitive energy the score demands, they are at their best in quiet moments like the opening of the Second Part, The Sacrifice . In Charlie Harmon’s arrangement of Bernstein’s overture to Candide they are bright and thankfully not rushed (as some orchestral versions are), but again I find the music does not gain a lot from being experienced in black and white.


The best parts of this program are the pieces originally intended for the medium. Debussy’s languorous Épigraphs Antiques are ideal for this duo, which responds winningly to the subtle colors and delicacy of the writing. I would go so far as to say this is the finest recording I know of this sensual work. The real find, however, is the four-hand sonata by Harold Shapero, an American composer who was a contemporary of Bernstein and is still with us (as of this writing) at the age of 92. As a young man Shapero studied with Krenek, Piston, and Hindemith, but his most distinguished teacher was Nadia Boulanger. This three-movement, 16-minute sonata shows the influence of Stravinsky overall, unsurprisingly, in its sharp edged textures and rhythms, yet there is also a lyrical impulse that I can only describe as American. Like the best of the American neoclassicists, Shapero took a pared-back, unemotional European style and brought warmth to it. The piece was premiered in 1941 by the composer and Bernstein, who played two-piano and four-hand music together for a few years until Lenny became too busy with other projects. (Indeed, there is more than a hint of Bernstein in a couple of Shapero’s melodic figures.) Zofo responds to both the hard edge and the underlying lyricism, and once again the tempos seem absolutely right.


The sound quality is excellent, spacious and clear. Recommended, particularly for the Debussy and the Shapero.


FANFARE: Phillip Scott

Classical Music

Classical Music

Sono Luminus proudly presents Celebrating the American Spirit, performed by Essential Voices USA and directed by Judith Clurman, which reconfigures musical expressions of nationhood. EVUSA comes together with guest soloists and instrumentalists, including singers Kelli O'Hara and Ron Raines, and composer arranger Larry Hochman. There is even a new lyric by Sheldon Harnick, the famed lyricist of Fiddler on the Roof. From beginning to end, EVUSA delivers imaginatively conceived performances that articulate new visions of community and civic responsibility in the 21st century. At the core of the CD is 'Sing Out Mr. President', a series of sixteen newly commissioned works set to quotations by U.S. presidents stretching from George Washington to Barack Obama. Judith Clurman initiated this inventive project in response to 9/11, after she conducted the Juilliard Choral Union in a wrenching memorial concert at a firehouse in New York City.

Passion and Lament: Choral Masterworks of the 17th Century is a Dorian Sono Luminus release by the Bach Sinfonia, a period instrument group led by Daniel Abraham and based out of Silver Spring, MD; the concurrent vocal group is identified by the rubric Sinfonia Voci. Leader Abraham seems to have an uncanny knack for landing the premiere recording options on newly discovered works by famous composers; the previous Dorian Sono Luminus effort devoted to Handel's Alexander's Feast also contained the J.S. Bach aria Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn, discovered in 2005. Here the featured first recording is of a work by Heinrich von Biber, his setting of the Stabat mater that emerged in 2007. It is a short, somber, and restrained setting from late in Biber's career, not the most ravishing vocal work that he has to offer but still recognizable as his. Along for the ride is a selection of six Psalm settings from Salomone Rossi's The Songs of Solomon and the early oratorio Jephte by Giacomo Carissimi. The good news is that the Rossi settings, recorded without continuo, probably have never received a better performance on disc than here. Jephte, of course, is a canonical classical work and the Bach Sinfonia has a good deal more competition in it among recordings. The performance here is well done, and the crucial concluding chorus Plorate filii Israel is very well handled and particularly effective, though one wonders if a slightly larger continuo might not have been a bad idea for Jephte; the Bach Sinfonia here consists of only five instruments and normally they are a 22-piece band. The singing is all quite good; soprano Jennifer Ellis Kampani turns in her usual, stellar performance and one must compliment baritone Sumner Thompson for being a low male voice who "gets" concitato singing. Dorian Sono Luminus' recording is a very digital-sounding recording that has a slightly weird, metallic timbre; at one point it pulls a soprano note into a range of distortion. Nevertheless, Biber's devotees will want to know the new work, even though the true virtues of this disc are encountered best in the Rossi and in parts of the Carissimi.

-- "Uncle" Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

Sono Luminus is proud to release this latest breathtaking project from Ars Lyrica, Domenico Scarlatti’s La Dirindina and Pur nel sonno. The package will be a 2-disc set, containing a Blu-ray™ Surround Sound disc as well as a standard CD. Founded in 1998 by harpsichordist and conductor Matthew Dirst, Ars Lyrica Houston offers world-class performances of music from the 17th and 18th centuries on period instruments. This CD follows their previous release on Sono Luminus, Marc’ Antonio e Cleopatra which was hailed by Early Music America as “a thrilling performance that glows in its quieter moments and sparkles with vitality,” and was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award for Best Opera 2011.

ZOFO - pianists Eva-Maria Zimmermann and Keisuke Nakagoshi -is at it again, this time with an all Terry Riley album that includes original compositions, arrangements and a special commission by the duet. From the very beginning, Terry Riley worked in collaboration with ZOFO in the making of this album. Mr. Riley himself said: "There is nothing quite like hearing the full 8 octaves of a piano sounding in all it's orchestral richness."He certainly makes full use of the sounds of the piano in the pieces originally written for piano two hands, from The Heaven Ladder Book 5. Keisuke arranged G Song and Half-Wolf Dances at Moonlight, originally composed for string quartet, and Eva arranged Simone's Lullaby, originally for solo piano. The Praying Mantis Rag was composed especially for ZOFO to illustrate the duo's vibrant character."...jaw-dropping awesome!" (San Francisco Examiner)(...energetically and electrifyingly out of this world" (Bachtrack)"One of the most enthralling piano duets of today's millennial generation..." (San Francisco Classical Voice)