The path that all interested listeners are about to follow leads to the deep and as yet not fully explored woodlands of the instrumental music of the latter half of the fifteenth century in or around southern Germany. It will zig-zag from one repertoire to another, from one manuscript to another, and of course from one ‘soundscape’ to another by presenting different combinations of instruments, in dialogue or simply allowing some of them stand alone to speak for themselves so that at the end of their sonic journey, listeners can fully enjoy a panoramic view of this rich and fascinating tradition.

In June of 1922, a cultural fiesta took place on the grounds of Granada’s Alhambra palace, organized by Manuel de Falla and Federico García Lorca. The aim of the event was to preserve the ‘purity’ of flamenco art and the opening performance was given by 29-year-old guitarist Andrés Segovia. Ironically, Segovia played de Falla’s Hommage to Claude Debussy (featured on this album) – a work which can hardly be described as pure flamenco. But this can be seen as symptomatic of an important trait in the music of 20th-century Spain: Certain composers defended what they believed to be a noble, gallant and Castilian ideal, while others embarked on an quest to restore the ‘lost purity’ of the peasantry, but embracing Modernism and Impressionism as stylistic tools in order to do so. This is demonstrated on Franz Halász’s new disc, which provides a context – Milán’s Pavanes from the 16th century, Fernando Sor’s ‘Malbroug’ Variations from 1827 – while juxtaposing later works that embody the described, conflicting attitudes. This makes for a colorful and varied program, taking in highlights in the guitar literature such as Tárrega’s Recuerdos de la Alhambra as well as Joaquín Turina’s Guitar Sonata, here recorded – for the first time – from a copy of Turina’s original manuscript, and not Segovia’s published version with numerous changes. The winner of a Latin Grammy, Franz Halász is a highly acclaimed guitarist who here also makes his own contribution to the repertoire of his instrument, with his own arrangements of de Falla and Isaac Albéniz.

REVIEW:

This varied, highly atmospheric album of Spanish guitar music gives Halasz the opportunity to use a multiplicity of stylistic elements, and his sense of dramatic progression is particularly impressing. Joy of playing, love for the instrument and the music, are further essential components of his interpretations, making this a valuable and attractive recording.

– Pizzicato (Remy Franck)

A spectacular album by a superb brass quintet. -- American Record Guide

Baroque masters were already playing to the gallery with brass players’ fanfares; Mozart and Haydn com-posed wonderful concertos for trumpet or horn; then the Romantics Brahms and Dvorak did their bit, followed by orchestral wizards Berlioz and Richard Strauss who triumphantly ushered trumpet, horn and trombone into the symphony orchestra. Jazz brought the great liberation, and light entertainment contributed to the overdue recognition of their possibilities. The wide spectrum of the present album illustrates the boundless popularity of this musical genre. The composers of these works enjoy life, and are proof positive that brass ensembles are to be taken seriously – whether performed in venerable concert halls, the Music Hall or the circus. The Wien-Berlin Brass Quintett radiates a cheerful, vibrant atmosphere, offering musical fireworks, sparkling wit and humor along with quite unique and breathtaking virtuosity.

REVIEWS:

This disc is simply good, clean fun and a sheer delight. The Wien-Berlin Brass Quintett—Gábor Tarkővi and Guillaume Jehl, trumpets; Thomas Jöbstl, horn; Mark Gaal, trombone; Alexander von Puttkamer, tuba; Jöbstl and Gall are members of the Vienna Philharmonic, the other three men present or former members of the Berlin Philharmonic—here kicks back its collective heels to present five entertaining divertissements. All the music is unabashedly tonal and listener-friendly.

The virtuoso, spirited playing of this marvelous brass fivesome [is] captured in brilliant sound. A booklet provides basic notes. Cheerily recommended.

-- Fanfare

For centuries, writers have documented the awe brought about by the pristine wilderness and untamed expanses of the American Midwest and West. Three authors in particularRalph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinsonbeautifully documented the boundless optimism and sense of opportunity that the countrys vast natural resources inspired and heralded a new era of American thought. On TRANSPARENT BOUNDARIES, the three visionaries words are set to music to give their poetic works musical life. Soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine and bass-baritone Seth Keeton deftly lead the charge on a series of artsongs, accompanied by pianists Lara Bolton and Scott Gendel and cellist Karl Knapp. Guarrines vocal elegance and innate lyricism naturally lend themselves to the vivid simplicity and inward reflection of Dickinson, and Keetons lower register captures the direct ruggedness of Whitman. To express the duality of Emerson, the pair come together for a duo to capture the authors ability to view all things at once in a single picture of beauty. By adding to the repertoire of contemporary artsong, TRANSPARENT BOUNDARIES honors the legacy of historic writings and brings their sentiment back to the foreground of American thought, ushering in a newfound sense of hope and optimism for the 21st century.

Flanders Recorder Duo: The name of the ensemble rightly suggests that it emerged from the Flanders Recorder Quartet, which ended its incredibly successful international stage career in 2018. Already the FRQ amazed with the expressiveness of its "only" 4 recorders. The Flanders Recorder Duo now takes this to the extreme. Really only two musicians are to be heard here, but often one hardly believes this when listening to the debut album, which is simply called "FR2". A highlight is certainly the world premiere of a suite by Vaughan Williams. But the other performances from various eras also give listeners plenty of opportunity to enjoy and be amazed.

Period instruments such as the traverso, the Baroque violin, the viola da gamba and the harpsichord offer an incredibly wide palette of new sound possibilities suited to contemporary ears. From the early 1960s an increasing number of postmodernist composers began looking at these instruments as perfect tools to reconnect with both their audience and the music traditions from the past. Contemporary experimental “effects”, through the use of extended techniques and electronics, are proven able to create a fruitful dialogue with the perennial “affects” that baroque instruments are capable of arousing. Affect is no Crime explores the heterogeneity of this new path, presenting 5 world premiere recordings of 5 works written for these 4 instruments from 5 celebrated living composers, from 5 different countries: from Anspielungen by H.M. Linde, an atonal patchwork enriched with baroque quotations, to the ironic and microtonal Tiet/Lots by J. Tiensuu; from the neo-impressionistic La Fenêtre Ouverte by J. Fontyn to Revenant by J. Morlock, a modal and minimalist homage to Bach, passing through the experimental Sun Bleached with electronics, freshly commissioned from T. Polymeneas Liontiris.

For this recording project, the fearless French musical collective ensemble 0 (pronounced “zero”) began a new kind of collaboration with the Swiss percussion ensemble Eklekto and Gamelan Oksitan- this last the traditional Javanese ensemble of gongs and metallophones based in France. Their transcultural bridge has foundations that go back to Claude Debussy’s fascination with the radiant tones of gamelan music that he heard at the 1889 Paris Exposition. Yet neither Debussy nor many other sympathetic composers who followed actually composed for those instruments. They faced challenges of different tuning systems, intricacies of unfamiliar instruments, the weight of another classical tradition, but perhaps no obstacle greater than the cultural gulf of that colonial era. It was not until the 1970s that non-Indonesian composers began to bridge that divide, none more committed than the American composer Lou Harrison. Compositions by Harrison are paired here with works by Larry Polansky, Petar Klanac, Billy Martin, and Roland Dahinden. The diversity of approaches represented on this collection provides a glimpse towards a vibrant future, a future that Lou Harrison helped create.

The young mezzo-soprano Adele Charvet has joined Alpha for several upcoming projects. In 2017 she received the Prize of the Verbier Festival Academy. While she has already attracted attention in the opera house, Adele Charvet is also passionately interested in the song repertory. For her first album, she has devised a very personal programme, deriving in part from her musical partnership and friendship with the pianist Susan Manoff. Both of them have drawn on their New York childhoods: ‘Long Time Ago weaves together the threads of our lives’, says Susan. Adele continues: ‘The musical journey is immense, from the central repertory of American music – Barber, Copland, Ives – to cabaret songs (Heggie, Bolcom), with a detour by way of England: Britten, Vaughan Williams . . . For example, Jake Heggie’s Amor describes the journey across the city of a faux-naïf sex maniac. The police, the ice cream vendor, the gospel choir all shout “AMOR!” when they see him. Samuel Barber’s Solitary Hotel is like an Edward Hopper painting in music; Aaron Copland’s At the River invites pilgrims to the church meeting: “Yes, we’ll gather at the river”... The programme unfolds like a wheel, a cycle that traverses the cardinal points of a life.’

Alpha continues to explore its catalogue and this year again offers a wide variety of combinations. After a box assembling the gems of the Baroque era (Masters of the Baroque - Alpha 372), the piano is now given pride of place. The box set Masters of the Piano brings together 10 albums in which great contemporary interpreters (Nelson Goerner, Alexander Lonquich, François-Frédéric Guy, Eric Le Sage, Edna Stern, Anna Vinnitskaya) retrace three centuries of creation on the piano, from Bach to Shostakovich, by way of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and Debussy. The piano will also be at the heart of a 7-release box set devoted to Alexei Lubimov’s recordings. Fortepiano, piano, prepared piano . . . the Russian musician has distinguished himself in every repertoire. Finally, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, the Beethoven Rediscovered box highlights 16 albums that offer a chance to rediscover his symphonies, concertos and sonatas on period instruments, the fortepiano, etc.

It was only recently that the world of classical music began to rid itself of its obsession with great names and great places. There of course can be no doubt that Claudio Monteverdi was a great composer and that he wrote many a magnificent work for St. Mark’s Cathedral. Yet, after many long years, we are now gradually coming to the realization that the Venetian musical universe was not limited to San Marco. Without wanting to diminish Monteverdi’s genius, we have to admit, as is clearly audible on this recording, that this master was a member of a gifted, innovative circle of composers whose creative production was also of benefit to him. On the present new release we hear sacred works, including rare Psalm settings, not only by Monteverdi himself but also by Giovanni Rovetta, Antonio Rigatti, and Dario Costello. The musical language employed by Monteverdi in his later sacred works displays a theatrical character, rich affections, and a predilection for strong contrasts that can hardly be distinguished from the style of his late madrigals and operas. His substitute Giovanni Rovetta and his pupil Giovanni Antonio Rigatti used the very same language. They more clearly combine the instruments with the singers, at times have them imitate the song lines, and in other places fill out the textures of the tutti segments with them. With their four vocal parts, two high instruments, and the plenum sound of the organ, the homophonic passages create the illusion of a much larger ensemble. Thirteen years after Monteverdi had settled in Venice, Giovanni Rovetta’s Dixit Dominus and Magnificat were published (1626). These are the mature works of a young composer who here speaks the same musical language known to us from Monteverdi’s Selva morale. Might it be possible that Monteverdi was influenced by his younger colleagues, just as they were influenced by him?

Glaschu is the new studio album from urban Gael, now highland resident, Mary Ann Kennedy. Dedicated to Glasgow, the album features songs and poetry celebrating life in Glasgow from the past and present. Mary Ann’s debut solo album, ‘An Dàn’, confirmed her place as a composer and songwriter as well as performer, released on ARC to critical acclaim in July 2017. She writes: “I grew up in the southside of Glasgow, in a city rich in languages and cultures, and as part of Scottish Gaels’ biggest urban diaspora. It was something of a strange and wonderful upbringing for me and my sister, feeling part of a big community but at the same time- in terms of peers at least- sometimes feeling like the only Gaels in the village. Things change, and it’s a joy to see today at the bottom of the street where I grew up, one of Glasgow’s three Gaelic schools. You can take the girl out of Glasgow, but never Glasgow out of the girl, and in the spirit of Gaels’ eternal need to sing about home, this is my Gaelic love-song for the city in all its guises- the voices of arrivals in search of a new life and of those, like me, born and bred there with Gaelic as our first language.”

This new release is the latest title in The American Bandmasters Association’s Commemorative Recording Series, and focuses on the legacy of John R. Bourgeois. Colonel John R. Bourgeois, USMC (Ret), was the 25th Director of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. His acclaimed career spanned nine presidential administrations from Presidents Eisenhower to Clinton. A native of Louisiana, Colonel Bourgeois is a graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans. He joined the Marine Corps in 1956 and entered The President’s Own in 1958 as a French Hornist and arranger. Named Director in 1979, Colonel Bourgeois was promoted to his present rank in 1983. He retired from active duty on July 11, 1996. As director of The President’s Own, Bourgeois was Music Adviser to the White House. He selected the musical program and directed the band in its traditional place of honor at the US Capitol for four presidential inaugurations, a Marine Band tradition dating back to 1801. He regularly conducted the Marine Band and the Marine Chamber Orchestra at the White House, appearing there more frequently than any other musician in the nation.

The folk music of the Baltic peoples can be traced back to pagan times whereas the development of their art music did not start until around 100 years ago. Every country has its own founding fathers where music is concerned: the Estonians admire Heino Eller and the Latvians Jazeps Vitols as the founder of their respective national music culture. Arvo Part was one of Eller’s students. The founding figure of Lithuanian art music and art is Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis, who created fugues and sonatas as well as symphonic poems, music for piano, and choral works. This is the ninth and last installment of the SWR Vokalensemble series dedicated to musical portraits of different countries and the last release with its chief conductor Marcus Creed. The SWR Vokalensemble is internationally renowned as one of the best choirs for modern a cappella repertoire, its performances are characterized by exquisite mastership.

Celebrating Lysander Piano Trio’s 10th anniversary in 2020, they present their FHR début with a new album featuring première recordings of new American piano trios commissioned or premièred by the ensemble. The works included on this album, with their richness of styles and origins, provide an exciting and optimistic glimpse into music being written for piano trio today. Of particular note is ‘Love Sweet’ written by Grammy Award winning composer Jennifer Higdon and featuring the brilliant soprano Sarah Shafer. The Lysander Piano Trio has been praised by The Strad for its “incredible ensemble, passionate playing, articulate and imaginative ideas and wide palette of colors” and by The Washington Post for “an uncommon degree of heart-on-the-sleeve emotional frankness.

Johan Smith, 2019 winner of the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America Competition, presents his dream programme in this recital. Bach's Toccata for harpsichord 'borders on the unplayable' for the guitar, especially in it's final double fugue, while Manuel Ponce's Variations on La fol�a de Espa�a and Fugue is one of the most challenging peaks of the repertoire. Mertz's celebrated virtuoso Concertino is followed by Britten's Nocturnal after John Dowland, renowned for it's blend of Elizabethan melancholy and contemporary strangeness. The recital concludes with a world premiere, the evocative Sables Stellaires by Josquin Schwizgebel, dedicated to Johan Smith. We are continually in awe of the remarkable musicianship of each new generation of classical players, and as a result our Guitar Laureate series goes from strength to strength with every season. Named the 'Classical Guitar Revelation of 2017' by French Guitar Classical Magazine, Johan Smith has been invited to perform in renowned festivals as soloist and in concertos with orchestras such as the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and the Verbier Festival Orchestra.

Antonio Janigro (1918-1989), the founder and long-term conductor of the Zagreb Soloists, which developed over time into one of the world’s best string orchestras, lives on in the memory; as an outstanding cello virtuoso he set benchmarks with his recordings. He began his studies at the conservatoire in his native city of Milan. Pablo Casals recommended he then go to Paris, where in subsequent years he won six national and international prizes, and where, in 1933, his worldwide career was to begin. After the end of the Second World War Janigro went on to study orchestral direction, and made his debut as a conductor in 1948. In 1954 he founded the Zagreb Soloists, whose reputation grew at such a mercurial pace that the ensemble was given permission, even at the height of the Cold War, to perform on international stages. Janigro was also conductor of the Radio Zagreb Symphony Orchestra (1954-64) and of the Orchestra Dell’Angelicum di Milano. As successor to Karl Ristenpart he headed the Chamber Orchestra of Saarland Radio. He taught at the music universities of Düsseldorf and Stuttgart and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and was conductor of that institution’s Camerata. Antonio Janigro compiled a wide repertoire both as a soloist and with the Zagreb Soloists, encompassing works by Vivaldi, Corelli and Boccherini as well as the great works of the Viennese Classical School by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven through to Brahms. He simultaneously ensured that works by contemporary composers were well represented in his concert programmes and as a result premiered some very interesting works by the likes of Krzysztof Penderecki, György Ligeti and Milko Kelemen, who was involved in this very collection, both as composer and arranger.

During his lifetime, Rameau enjoyed a glittering reputation and was admired by all Europe, while Debussy’s Hommage à Rameau proves that his fame survived down the centuries. But what do we know about the rest of the Rameau family? After a highly acclaimed album devoted to the Forqueray family (ALPHA247, Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Choc of the year 2016 in Classica, Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros), our harpsichordist-genealogist Justin Taylor sets out on the trail of Jean-Philippe’s son Claude-François and his nephew Lazare. To be sure, Rameau’s genius dwarfs all around him, as is demonstrated by such pieces as La Livri, La Poule and L’Égyptienne, not to mention the magnificent Nouvelle Suite in A minor, but the music of his descendants has its own interest. Justin Taylor introduces us to a work by Claude-François Rameau (La Forqueray) and the Sonata no.1 in E major by Lazare Rameau. He switches from the splendid harpsichord of the Château d’Assas (a two-manual instrument of the first half of the eighteenth century, attributed to the Lyon-based maker Donzelague) to the 1891 Érard piano of the Musée de la Musique in Paris for Debussy’s tribute to his great predecessor.

Classical Music

The celebrated New Orleans Jazz Orchestra examines and the profound relationship of its hometown to the nation of France with its release of Petite Fleur on Storyville Records. The second album under the artistic directorship of drummer Adonis Rose features ten songs, nine of them standards associated with French and New Orleans musicians. The tenth tune is an original by Cyrille Aimée, the acclaimed jazz vocalist born and raised in France but now living and working in The Big Easy itself.

Aimée is the NOJO’s collaborator and vocalist on the album. It was the singer who initiated the collaboration, telling Rose that she would like to work with the 18-piece big band and asking if he had any ideas for a project. “I said, ‘Well, okay, musically, how can I tell a story here?’” Rose recalls. “I thought about the long, shared history of those two places, and that became the concept. A narrative about the musical relationship between New Orleans and France.” The title tune, a standard by early jazz clarinet legend Sidney Bechet, epitomizes the concept: A composition by a New Orleans artist living in France, performed by a New Orleans band with a French vocalist. Composers from both sides of the Atlantic, from Michel Legrand to Jelly Roll Morton, get similar treatment. So do various New Orleanian styles, from a stomp (“Get the Bucket”) to a second line (“Down”) to Fats Domino-style rock ’n’ roll (“I Don’t Hurt Anymore”). In addition to being its spotlight vocalist, Aimée is also Petite Fleur’s featured soloist, applying her razor-sharp scat singing to “In the Land of Beginning Again,” “On a Clear Day,” and “Undecided.”

REVIEW:

Petite Fleur is essentially a meditation on the ties that bind Crescent City art to French culture. Teaming up for 10 songs that cross styles and oceans while exploring that particular connection, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and French vocalist Cyrille Aimée make a perfect match, united in the act of storytelling.

The album speaks to Artistic Director and drummer Adonis Rose’s sure-handed helming of the NOJO, the entire band roster’s contributions in part(s) and sum, Aimée’s well-documented gifts, and a shared vision that brings them all together.

-- JazzTimes (Dan Bilawsky)

Captain Coe’s Famous Racearound showcases the work of saxophonist Tony Coe, the first non-American to receive the jazz world's ultimate accolade - the Jazzpar Prize, occasionally known as the 'Jazz Nobel', which he was awarded in 1995. All tracks on this album were recorded during the JAZZPAR award concerts with both The Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bob Brookmeyer and the 1995 Jazzpar Combo. This remastered edition features redesigned artwork by the Danish star graphic artist Finn Nygaard, new liner notes by Brian Priestley and photos by Jan Persson.

Tony Coe wrote a substantial new work for the JAZZPAR award concerts and the complex “Captain Coe’s Famous Racearound”, according to its composer, was completed within a few days “in an atmosphere of white heat. The smallgroup set with the JAZZPAR Combo also includes a Coe composition featuring the excellent solo work of Bob Brookmeyer. “Edmundo” (formerly recorded as “Lagos” on Canterbury Song) was dedicated to the Latin-American bandleader Edmundo Ros, who was the drummer on Fats Waller’s London recordings but remembered by Tony for his “exhilarating and romantic Latin music and his warm personality coming over the air during my [World War II] childhood, when there was much stress and hardship in Britain”. Also heard are two pieces by London- and Paris based drummer Steve Argüelles. The first has Argüelles playing a musical box against which Tony builds a free improvisation, while “Antonia” is a ballad showcasing his warm soprano saxophone tone.

Political crises and rising anti-Semitism in Europe during the first half of the 20th century prompted many leading musicians to immigrate to America. An influx of refugees formed a flourishing artistic community centered within a few square miles near Hollywood and this exceptional gathering of composers transformed America's musical landscape. This survey explores their diverse output through music for cello and piano, including arrangements by the composers and their fellow expatriate performers never before heard on the cello.

The two choirs of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge return to Resonus Classics to collaborate once more on a new recording of contemporary works for Advent and Christmas. Featuring many world premiere recordings, the programme includes works written specially for the two college choirs including Diana Burrell’s exuberant carol, Green groweth the holly; Christopher Fox’s major new setting of the O Anitphons, interspersed with the original plainchant, and Jeremy Thurlow’s Magnificat for upper voices, organ and tape, that blazes with the intensity of a new vision of the world.

Milégé is a group of young talented musicians who derive inspiration from the diverse cultural musical traditions of the different tribes of Uganda, which they fuse with contemporary elements. The group writes: “We derive our name Milégé from the ankle rattle, a bell worn round the ankle to create rhythmic sounds that compliment dance performances. The rattle exists across the entire continent of Africa in different forms and in other parts of the world. Milégé is a symbol of unity, celebration and heritage. This album is very special to us, this will be our first album after nine years of the band’s existence amidst countless hurdles. It is for this reason that we chose the album name Afwoyo which means thank you in Thuphadola, a luo dialect from the Japhadola tribe of Eastern Uganda.We are thankful for the love and support from all those who have believed in our sound and have waited patiently for this authentic piece of work. We hope that this music will bring healing, hope and inspiration to the world!”

Bands that are led by drummers are not as seldom as they once were, but still a somewhat rare affair. The quartet of drummer Christian Krischkowskyis already presenting its second album “The End of Melancholism” and illustrates the advantages of such an approach in nine pieces, seven of which are from Krischkowsky's pen. Pieces like “Would You Dance With Me?” or “Football Evolution” sound rhythmically challenging, without deliberately placing the drums in the foreground. “I wanted to incorporate the rhythmic ideas that I developed on drums even more into my compositions,” Krischkowsky said. “When composing, however, I always had my co-musicians with whom I recorded the album in mind.” And they are really something else! Peter Ehwald is a saxophonist who always goes his own way, but at the same time has outstanding qualities in interaction. “Peter is very freedom-loving,” the band leader stated. "He repeatedly makes suggestions to modify fixed structures, which may sound too beautiful, and improvise to make them more his own. This makes the pieces more spirited, more unpredictable and freer. This also reflects his personality. "Marc Schmolling is a pianist with whom Christian Krischkowsky has almost blind understanding. “I've known Marc the longest, and he's actually responsible for the band members coming together,” he confessed. "I appreciate his humor and admire how deeply he is rooted in tradition. At the same time, he also has something unwieldy and unpredictable in his play. Sometimes it sounds a bit cumbersome, but that is also exactly what constitutes his own style. ”Roland Fidezius on bass is responsible for the maneuverability of the quartet. He is closely intertwined with Krischkowsky's playing, but also keeps making surprising twists.

This album features songs from the Qiang and the Yi tribes, who both mainly live in the mountainous regions of southwestern China, specifically in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. Many of the Yi folk songs make reference to the mountains in this region, especially in love songs and group dance songs, as heard in tracks 19 and 23. The music of both of these two minority groups includes lively short dance songs in duple metre and long melodious labor or love songs that employ a free rhythm. At first, you may not be able to distinguish between the music of these two minority groups; in fact, the two tribes are closely related and the Yi are thought to be descendants of ancient Qiang tribes. The languages of the Qiang and Yi both belong to the Sino-Tibetan language phylum. Yet the music of each tribe has its own distinct characteristics. Although both of them often prefer high pitches, the songs of the Yi tribe use a broader vocal range. The dance songs of the Qiang have lively rhythms and are structured with repetitions of a few musical phrases. The dance songs of the Yi incorporate more melodic and rhythmic variations and long, resounding cries. The cries also appear in other types of Yi songs, for example, the middle of track 23, and the beginning and end of track 24. It is noteworthy that the songs featured here have distinct local characteristics, which may differentiate them from the songs of the Qiang and Yi minority groups living in other parts of China. The Qiang songs in this album come from Xin Beichuan County, the only Qiang autonomous county in China.