Soloists: Clara Rockmore, Nadia Reisenberg.

This long-overdue tribute to the French Romantic-era virtuoso cellist and composer August Franchomme brings to light many of his long-neglected original compositions and arrangements for cello(s), most of which have remained unpublished and unheard for well over a century. This release thus fills a longstanding gap in the annals of music history, revealing fresh perspectives on an important and influential figure of his day whose significant role has long been underappreciated. As Chopin’s close friend, confidante and musical partner, Franchomme transcribed many of the Polish master’s famous piano works for cellos in various combinations and/or with piano; he penned many remarkable original compositions as well. Some of the best of both are recorded here for the first time. This project is the culmination of years of research by distinguished cellist Louise Dubin, who is also perhaps the world’s leading scholar of Franchomme’s life and work. She performs here as lead cellist, with the sonorous collaboration of fellow cellists Julia Bruskin, Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir and Katherine Cherbas as well as pianists Hélène Jeanney and Andrea Lam.

"When I listen to this recording, it not only brings back wonderful memories of Fred and Kun Woo, but I thoroughly enjoy this charming music. I am so grateful to my dear friend Carol Rosenberger for allowing it to be heard again." - Gerard Schwarz

REVIEWS:

he recording opens with Arthur Honegger’s Intrada, a staple of the trumpet repertoire in which Schwarz demonstrates excellent tone and technique. George Enescu’s Légende is the disc’s highlight for me. Well-known as a virtuoso violinist, Enescu remains underrated in composition… The work’s originality shows in an atmospheric and meditative opening, soft trumpet filigree passages, and a complex yet effective piano part. …I particularly like Senée’s composition for the cornet, especially the Romance movement, whose attractive melody is capped with a sudden pianissimo climax that Schwarz achieves impeccably.

-- The WholeNote

The heraldic character of the trumpet is put to brilliant use in such pieces as Arthur Honegger’s Intrada and André Jolivet’s Air de bravoure, while Henri Senée’s three-movement Concertino is a charmer, especially in a finale of lilting grace. More than a little whimsy is packed into Eugène Bozza’s Caprice and Claude Pascal’s Capriccio, as their titles imply.

Schwarz makes the most of these Gallic morsels, playing with refined and limber stylishness. He is fortunate to be paired with a pianist of equally tasteful artistry, Kun Woo Paik, a high-school chum who also went on to a noteworthy career.

-- Gramophone

A 2021 GRAMMY Nominee for Best Choral Performance!

The wonderful Conspirare chamber choir, known for its interpretive depth and other-worldly sonic lushness, offers another of its captivating programs — this time joined by three superb guitar quartets — in a program remarkably relevant for our time. The choir is joined by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the Texas Guitar Quartet, the Austin Guitar Quartet, and cellist Douglas Harvey for this release featuring compositions by Reena Esmail, Craig Hella Johnson, Nico Muhly, and Kile Smith. Conspirare is a virtuoso choir. The Grammy-winning ensemble comprises distinctive solo artists who are also committed to the highest level of ensemble performance. These professional singers travel to Austin from around the country to perform together, providing their audiences with a rare level of choral music making.

REVIEW:

Conspirare’s new recording featuring the Austin-based choral group and three guitar quartets bookends impressive large-scale works by Nico Muhly and Kile Smith with small jewels by Reena Esmail and founding conductor Craig Hella Johnson.

Smith’s The Dawn’s Early Light features only one guitar quartet but the most beautiful texts, from Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins’s 1883 autobiography, one of the earliest books by a Native American woman.

The participation of three guitar quartets from LA and Texas adds texture and warmth to Muhly’s How Little You Are, a thoughtful 40-minute meditation on the words of American pioneer women in the 19th century, its lovely solos sung by Estelí Gomez.

Esmail’s When the Guitar—inspired by a 14th-century Persian lyric, ‘When the guitar can forgive the past, it starts singing’—uses the intriguing sounds of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet as one of the layers of a fabulous wrap for the chorus. Johnson’s serene The Song That I Came to Sing, which sets a Rabindranath Tagore poem for cello and treble voices, was composed as a framing piece for the program ‘which would reflect aspects of unfulfilled purpose and a longing for intimacy with the Divine’.

-- Gramophone

The Conspirare chamber choir, known for its interpretive depth and otherworldly sonic lushness, offers another of its captivating programs—this time joined by three superb guitar quartets—in a program remarkably relevant for our time. Conspirare’s debut album on Delos, The Hope of Loving, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance in 2020. Here, the combination of guitar quartet and chorus is so successful that one wonders why more composers have not written for it. The works on this album were written by four of America’s greatest living composers: Nico Muhly, Reena Esmail, Kile Smith, and Craig Hella Johnson.

-- WFMT Chicago

Acclaimed tenor Gregory Kunde marks his 70th birthday by making his first foray outside operatic repertoire with an album inspired by his childhood jukebox favorites. During a career that took him from a small town in Illinois to the international opera stage, Greg has retained his love for the songs which represent the soundtrack of his younger years. With this album he realizes a long-held dream to follow in the footsteps of legendary artists such as Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett and Bobby Darin, using his vast operatic experience to create personal and unique interpretations of some of the best American songs ever written alongside an ensemble of brass, percussion and bass. This is Gregory Kunde Then and Now.

Since Grammy-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin founded his own topflight chamber choir Cappella SF in 2014, a new dimension of a cappella choral excellence has graced the bay Area’s (and the nation’s) musical scene. Timeless- the ensemble’s third album for Delos- offers choral fans and history-minded classical music aficionados a rare smorgasbord of choral compositions encompassing every musical period of the past millennium. Selections range from the chant-based music of Hildegard von Bingen and Guillaume de Machaut to stunning pieces by such distinguished living composers as Arvo Part, Eric Whitacre, Frank Ticheli and Ola Gjeilo- and all points in between. Any serious music lover who wishes to trace the evolution of Western choral musicfrom its ancient beginnings to contemporary times will find this stunning new album to be a truly ear-grabbing revelation. “I frankly was so captivated by the performances- above all, the beautiful sound and clear articulation of the parts- that I barely noticed the change from one composer to another…” (San Francisco Classical Voice)

Since its founding in 2003, the Poulenc Trio has established itself as one of the world’s finest ensembles in the lesser-known domain of double-reed chamber music. The Trio’s members are not only first-rate ensemble players but are also prominent virtuosos of their respective instruments. In the group’s second release on Delos, the idiomatic qualities of double-reed instruments are particularly well-served by the pair of trios by Francis Poulenc and Jean Francais. Both works are delightful models of spare neoclassical structure, spiced with piquant French flavors, lending the music an urbane and witty effect.

In contrast, the album offers winning arrangements of music by Dmitri Shostakovich and Giaocchino Rossini, topped off by an effervescent world-premiere piece, ‘Trains of Thought,’ from contemporary composer Viet Cuong, who originally conceived it as part of a multimedia work combining music and an animated film.

REVIEWS:

Since its founding in 2003, the Poulenc Trio has established itself as one of the world’s finest ensembles in the lesser-known domain of double-reed chamber music. On “Trains of Thought,” the qualities of these instruments are particularly well-served by the trios from Francis Poulenc and Jean Francais. The album also offers winning arrangements of music by Shostakovich and Rossini, topped off by a world-premiere piece from contemporary composer Viet Cuong, who originally conceived it as part of a multimedia work combining music and an animated film.

-- WFMT Chicago

There is musical fun a-plenty in the Françaix Trio, Wang managing to make his oboe positively laugh at one point in the first movement, with Young and Lande ready to follow suit. This is a bubbling, light-hearted work which, as with so much of Françaix’s writing for winds, masks an immense understanding of the potential of the individual instruments with music of such attractiveness and joviality that one forgets the enormous skill involved in bringing it all to life.

These are superbly performed works for oboe, bassoon and piano by the talented Poulenc Trio. I’m delighted to have the opportunity of adding this Delos recording to my chamber music collection.

-- MusicWeb International

Founded in 2013 by composer Chad Cannon, AANMI is a consortium of some of the finest young Asian and American composers and performing artists who have joined forces to unite an often fragmentary international music scene by reaching beyond geographic, musical, and cultural boundaries with their new music. This exciting Delos release, the first from AANMI, features Asian members and composers Sayo Kosugi (Japan), Xiaogang Ye (China), Sun-Young Park (Korea) and Narong Prangcharoen (Thailand) as well as participating American members: composers Matthew Aucoin and Chad Cannon, and conductor Yuga Cohler. Solo artists featured in this choice selection of new music are Japanese violinist Ryo Goto and American bass-baritone Davone Tines, performing with the accomplished musicians of the AANMI Los Angeles Ensemble under Yuga Cohler's deft direction.

Classical Music

As a second generation Korean-American woman, violinist Dawn Wohn notes that it has not always been easy to relate to the world of classical music, which is still largely Euro- and male-centric. Since delving into the diverse world of female composers, I have felt much joy, connection, and ownership to the music that I perform. To be able to champion this repertoire feels unbounded— joyful and limitless. I am particularly excited to share this album, which celebrates the music of American women, as performed by two American women.

There is no denying that historically, female composers have faced challenges. Amy Beach was unable to take composition lessons or have a performing career for most of her life, as it was deemed improper for a married woman. The two Black composers on this album, Dorothy Rudd Moore and Irene Britton Smith, faced further struggles for widespread recognition during their lifetimes, due to the classical world’s long reluctance to admit works by minority composers into the performing canon.

In an ideal world, there would be no need to call attention to the race or gender of these composers. In doing so, my concern is that the composers or their works will be overshadowed or grouped together by those labels. Just as Moore cautioned against typecasting, stating that “there are many Black artists in all disciplines and each is an individual with his or her unique experiences,” it is important to listen to and recognize each composer as an individual.

However, an all-male composer program would not raise questions on how to present it without diminishing the music or pigeon- holing the music or the composers. So, with this album, I choose to amplify and celebrate music by these four composers and all they have created through adversity. I relate deeply to the optimism, humor and beauty in these works, and hope that it inspires the listener.

REVIEW:

The two artists play with passion and elegantly the music of four composers defined not by gender or ethnicity but by the kind of tenacity that helped them achieve the often seemingly unreachable acceptance of the music establishment. Highly recommended!

-- All About the Arts (Rafael de Acha)

Delos is thrilled to welcome Avery Fisher Career Grant-winning violinist and composer Tim Fain. A unique voice on the music scene, Tim is at the forefront of technology, and has produced boundary-pushing projects in collaboration with Google, Samsung, Facebook, BBC, and TEDx, among many others. He can also be heard on the soundtracks to many acclaimed films, including Black Swan, 12 Years a Slave, and Don't Look Up. His first album for Delos, Unraveling, was born from a time of profound uncertainty. Conceived against a backdrop of pandemic, political upheaval, climate crisis, and rising mental health struggles among the youth population, this collection of works is not a surrender to despair, but a search for meaning, resilience, and hope. Featuring powerful works by John Corigliano, Bryce Dessner, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philip Glass, and Meredith Monk - alongside Tim's own deeply personal composition, Unraveling - this album is a journey through disintegration and renewal.

In the wake of the beloved Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky's untimely passing in November 2017, tributes, memorials and musical event dedications have flowed non-stop. But none thus far has matched the sheer scope, power and sonic splendor of this all-Russian performance of Verdi's blockbuster Requiem Mass. The all-star cast of soloists- soprano Dinara Alieva, mezzo-soprano Olesya Petrova, tenor Francesco Meli and bass Dmitry Belosselsky- sing their hearts out for Dmitri, under the baton of the vaunted Maestro Yuri Temirkanov leading the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bolshoi Theater Chorus. The result is an incredibly heartfelt and moving musical tribute to one of the greatest baritones who has ever lived.

Tenor Charles Castronovo celebrates his first Delos solo album with an all Verdi programme which showcases the composer's spellbinding use of theatrical devices. Noble Renegades offers a collection of complete scenes from operas such as Don Carlos, Luisa Miller and I Lombardi which encompass the emotional arc the protagonists experience as the story unfolds, very much epitomizing Verdi's vision of opera as a true "operatic theater". This album shows Verdi's profound influence on Charles's career, featuring roles he has performed all over the world. He is accompanied by "the singer's dream collaborator" Constantine Orbelian and his Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra. Distinguished singers Kristin Sampson, Tomas Pavilionis and Tadas Girininkas, as well as the Kaunas State Choir join in.

Classical Music

This is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Fabio Luisi release a landmark live recording of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, captured over several concerts at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas in 2024. Representing a rare undertaking for an American orchestra, this historic project is released in 2026, during the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's 125th anniversary season, which falls 150 years after the first performance of the complete "Ring" cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in 1876. Recorded by GRAMMY winning producer Dirk Sobotka, it launches a new partnership between Delos and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. "The Ring cycle is one of the deepest and most complex musical works ever written. Across the entirety of the story, you are transformed at the end," says Maestro Luisi. Issued worldwide by Delos both digitally and as a 13CD box set, this release marks a major addition to the recorded legacy of Wagner's epic masterpiece; a significant achievement for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the history of American orchestras.

A nostalgia-inspiring survey drawn from the extensive body of popular Russian WWII era songs, this album is the sequel to two all-time favorite Delos titles: Where Are You, My Brothers and Moscow Nights. Opera baritone superstar, Dmitri Hvorostovsky delivers these musical mainstays of Russian culture with relaxed classical technique and the kind of refined, yet soulful and deeply affecting emotional impact that make his concerts of these pieces wildly popular across Russia and around the world.

Intriguing vocal works by Brahms, Fauré, Beach, Price, Barber and others, sung by an up-and-coming tenor of great promise.

Includes work(s) by various composers.

One of the leading sopranos of her generation, Ekaterina Siurina enjoys an international career that takes her to the top opera houses in Europe and America. Siurina’s thrilling renditions of famous arias on this recording bring new life to operatic favorites such as “Un bel di, vedremo” from Madama Butterfly, “In quelle trine morbide” from Manon Lescaut, and “Tatiana’s Letter Scene” from Eugene Onegin.

REVIEW:

She can surmount the vocal challenges of Madama Butterfly’s hopeful Un bel di, vedremo and the anguished Tu? Tu? Piccolo iddio! and she can also spin out a legato line to die for and she can cap the end of Senza Mamma with an ethereal pianissimo.

Ms. Siurina can do it all when it comes to the lyric soprano repertoire, be it the other-worldly Rusalka or the girlish Tatiana or the intact Amelia of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra or the distraught Marguerita of Boito’s Mefistofele

It has been three years since I first heard Ekaterina Siurina in Amour Eternelle, her first album for DELOS. In this, her second album for DELOS, Siurina reinforces her great reputation, accompanied by the superb American conductor Constantine Orbelian, who leads the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra offering minute by minute support to the soloist.

-- All About the Arts

Classical Music

Fittingly titled With Affection, Nina Kotova's latest album for Delos is a glorious showcase of some superlative cello works that are close to her heart. Starting with Shostakovich's Cello Sonata, a work blending classical form with simplicity and clarity, the program moves on to Debussy's evergreen Cello Sonata, which in contrast is elusive and whimsical, and Nina's inspired rendition of a rarity, Shostakovich's Adagio from The Limpid Stream. Martinu's Variations on a Slovakian Theme and Variations on a Theme of Rossini are both virtuosic and playful, showcasing his distinct rhythmic and lyrical style. The recital concludes with Chopin's Introduction and Polonaise Brillante in an arrangement that blends expressive cello lines with brilliant piano passages - played by Nina's partner on this album Fabio Bidini - creating an exuberant and captivating work.

Classical Music

SHOSTAKOVICH (arr. Atovmian) The Young Guard: Suite. Zoya: Suite 1 • Walter Mnatsakonov, cond; 1 Minsk Ch C; Belarusian RTV SO • DELOS 2001 (61: 37)


The Russian Disc label has been gone for a while now, and with it some interesting Russian repertoire otherwise not available. Apparently Delos feels our loss, since it has embarked on a rerelease of four CDs of Shostakovich film-score suites from the departed label. This is the first of the releases, recorded by the Belarusian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra in 1995, four years after the independence of Belarus and the collapse of the Soviet Union. (I have corrected Delos’s anachronistic use of the old Soviet name.) That a so recently liberated Belarusian orchestra was willing to record these suites says something for their emotional integrity. The memories here evoked, even 50 years later, are part of a devastatingly painful collective memory of bitter losses during World War II, and at the hands of Stalin before.


It is, after all, easy to dismiss Shostakovich’s film scores as mere accompaniment to Soviet propaganda. In fact, he wrote his 34 film scores for a number of reasons; some to pay the bills and for political expediency, but many out of conviction. These two wartime films fit in the latter category. The films extol real heroism and personal sacrifice, and the composer responds with music that is poignant, inventive, and emotionally honest. Coming on the heels of the 1946 censure of the Ninth Symphony for “ideological weakness,” no doubt The Young Guard also seeks to ingratiate. And yet, with its Coates-like main theme and relatively subdued expression, this is not everyday Soviet populism. Even The Death of Heroes , a stirring funeral march in Shostakovich’s public style, suggests by its gravity that the homage to the martyred young Ukrainian resistance fighters is sincere. The 1944 Zoya is more characteristic of Soviet expectations, with its triumphalist chorus of eternal memory and bellicose marches, yet here as well, in the heartbreaking passages for muted duo violins, and the Mahlerian interlude in the “Apotheosis,” we feel the composer’s honest admiration for Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, the 18-year-old guerilla fighter captured, tortured, and executed when resisting the 1941 invasion of Russia.


These two suites are 1950s reworkings of the film scores, with some additions, by Armenian composer Levon Atovmian. (Delos misspells it as Avtomyan.) He made a number of composer-approved arrangements of Shostakovich’s more popular music, including the familiar Ballet Suites. Atovmian’s additions here include a jaunty scherzo in The Young Guards suite composed from a fragmentary cue, and an orchestration of Shostakovich’s op. 34/14 Prelude in E?, which provides a touching Requiem, as annotator David Nice puts it, for the heroine of Zoya . With the exception of Atovmian’s banal “Song of the Young Guardsman,” inexplicably included instead of Shostakovich’s own patriotic song arrangements, the interpolations fit nicely, and the inclusion of the Prelude is a particularly apt amplification of the mood of the score.


The recorded sound is, unfortunately, reminiscent of earlier Soviet-period recordings; a bit brash and edgy in the climaxes. Violin tone is a little scratchy as well, whether from miking or substandard instruments, but in general orchestral execution is much better than competent, though more heartfelt than polished. Walter Mnatsakonov’s conducting is sensitive or rousing, as required, and the Minsk Chamber Choir is first-rate in its brief appearance. This disc joins recent Naxos and Chandos film-score releases as an important addition to the Shostakovich discography. No one who admires this composer will want to miss this, or any of the Delos series. Next up: seven suites from the early (1930–31) Alone.


FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames

Classical Music

The great cellist Zuill Bailey begins this program with the world premiere recording of Zwilich’s beautiful Cello Concerto, a new and important work traversing many elements of the cello’s singing sound. This marks Bailey’s 6th recording for Delos. The amusing Peanuts® Gallery follows with a quote from Beethoven, which anyone familiar with the famous Charles Schulz cartoon knows is Schroeder’s toy piano passion. Short movements portraying many of the other Peanuts® cartoon characters follow. Zwilich says that the Romance for Violin and Chamber Orchestra “celebrates some of the simple pleasures of playing the fiddle,” and that the Prologue and Variations for String Orchestra highlights the “special sonorities, character and expressiveness of the string orchestra.” Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong and the remarkable Santa Rosa Symphony bring full warmth and color to the music on this program.

REVIEWS:

Ellen Taafe Zwilich writes music of bountiful imagination, and this disc of several orchestral works cements her reputation as among our very best contemporary composers. The newest work on this excellent recording, Zwilich’s 2020 cello concerto, was premiered during lockdown and is a remarkably vital achievement, buoyed by brilliant soloist Zuill Bailey. The other pieces are equally vigorous, highlighted by the delightful Peanuts Gallery (1996), a subtly coloured workout for pianist Elizabeth Dorman and the Santa Rosa Symphony (led by conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong) in six tongue-in-cheek movements mirroring Charles Schultz’s beloved characters: Schroeder, Linus, Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Peppermint Patty and Marcie.

-- The Flipside (Kevin Filipski)

Zwilich’s well-known combination of tonal, melodic music with modes and modern harmonies tossed in for flavor are clearly on display here, but so too is Zuill Bailey’s cello. In fact, except for his second recording of the Bach Cello Suites, issued a few months ago, I can’t recall hearing any other recording by him that so perfectly captures his gorgeous, manicured tone. In fact, judging just by those two recordings, I would go out on a limb and say that his tone has actually grown in richness and depth of sound. He used to sound like Emanuel Feuermann; he now sounds like Mstislav Rostropovich.

-- The Art Music Lounge (Lynn René Bayley)