Joy Amid A Mélange: Music Of Hilda Paredes Sparks A Refreshing CD
DIGITAL REVIEW – In three premiere recordings played by Freiburg-based Ensemble Aventure, the Mexican-born composer melds the musics of early Latin America with those of modern Europe, with a backdrop of cutting-edge electronics.
New Recording Displays Sensual Component In David Lang’s Choral Art
DIGITAL REVIEW – The album performed by The Crossing chamber choir captures Lang’s ability to blend minimalism with emotional resonance, drawing listeners to a place where recurring text and minimal harmony hold the allure of simplicity.
A New Coleridge-Taylor Discovered, Composer Worthy Of Her Father
DIGITAL REVIEW – Pianist Samantha Ege's recording with the BBC Philharmonic dedicated to the impressive music of Avril Coleridge-Taylor (1903-1998) isn't so much a resurrection as it is the revealing of an important British composer.
Revitalizing Light Falls On Neglected Works Of Romantic Master Hiller
DIGITAL REVIEW – The music of 19th-century German composer Ferdinand Hiller achieved success in his own time only to vanish later. Two symphonies, the early F minor and the mature E minor, have been revived on an impressive CD.
Adès Opera, Recycled As Symphony, Headlines A Terse Minnesota CD
DIGITAL REVIEW – In its brief, albeit impressive, debut disc with conductor Thomas Søndergård, the Minnesota Orchestra pairs the 22-minute symphony, drawn from The Exterminating Angel, with the composer's still-shorter Violin Concerto.
Choral Recording Series Spotlights 13 Women Composers Of Canada
DIGITAL REVIEW – Quebec’s Ensemble ArtChoral, led by founder Matthias Maute, is on a mission to record “the history of choral singing through six centuries.” The latest release features only works by Canadians. The composers are all women.
Two Albums Celebrate Iconoclastic Erik Satie With Stylish Adaptations
DIGITAL REVIEW – The French miniaturist is getting a burst of attention in 2025, the 100th anniversary of his death. New recordings include guitarist Xuefei Yang's Chapeau Satie and jazz vocalist Tessa Souter's Shadows and Silence.
Surveying Scaled-Down Art Of British Composer Known For His Grandeur
DIGITAL REVIEW – While the name Herbert Howells may evoke sweeping works like Hymnus Paradisi and Missa Sabrinensis, conductor David Hill offers a more intimate perspective on the album Sine Nomine with the vocal ensemble Ikon.
Early-Music Recordings Capture Antiquity And Its Modern Reflections
DIGITAL REVIEW – One album shifts the spotlight from William Lawes' familiar instrumental works to his lesser known vocal music. Another, pairing a vocal sextet with a trumpet, traces an arc from the Middle Ages to recently commissioned pieces.
Songs Without Words: Reimagining Poulenc For Violin And Piano
DIGITAL REVIEW – Can the lyrical art of Poulenc’s songs be captured instrumentally, sans the poetry of Anouilh, Apollinaire, and others? A new album by violinist Hongyi Mo and pianist John Etsell spins a string of answers in the exquisite affirmative.
With A Swell Of Voices, Recording Embellishes Florence Price Legacy
DIGITAL REVIEW – Having recorded all of her symphonies, conductor John Jeter, a Price devotee, now embraces a rarely heard aspect of the composer's musical skill: her choral works. Three pieces are world-premiere recordings.
Departing On Track 16: Board Here For The Best View Of Odd Liszt Trek
DIGITAL REVIEW – Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes' new recording, in part with the Norwegian Soloists' Choir, is a curious mix. To find immediate reward, I suggest jumping in late for his sublime account of Liszt's Six Pensées poétiques, or Consolations.
In Hungarian Recording Of Mythic French Opera, Style Reigns With King
DIGITAL REVIEW – This account of Lalo's Le roi d'Ys, another enterprise of the historically meticulous foundation Bru Zane, boasts a fine cast featuring a Dutch soprano and an American mezzo-soprano long adept in French repertoire.
Beyond ‘Carmen’: CDs, Book Widen Perspective On Bizet’s Creative Life
DIGITAL REVIEW – The Center for French Romantic Music has released the sixth in its Portraits series, this one a bundle of four discs and book offering five hours of fascinating works by the short-lived composer that are little known to music lovers.
Artfully Manic Delivery Of Comic Opera Proves Salieri Was No Joke
DIGITAL REVIEW – A recording of Cublai, gran kan de’ Tartari is the sixth Salieri CD release by Christophe Rousset and his ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques, who seem bent on undoing damage done to the composer by the film Amadeus.
Percussion Recording Becomes Memorial For Featured Tabla Master
DIGITAL REVIEW – Third Coast Percussion's 20th anniversary album was transfigured when the celebrated tabla player Zakir Hussain died two months after his recording sessions for his own work Murmurs with the Chicago-based group.
Pulled From Shadows: ‘Simon Boccanegra’ As Verdi’s Original Vision
DIGITAL REVIEW – It's usually the 1881 revival version that one encounters, and the impression not surprisingly betrays something spliced from two eras of Verdi's life. Now Mark Elder leads an integrated recording of the work written in 1857.
Not For End Of Time: With Nod To Messiaen, A Quartet For Our Time
DIGITAL REVIEW – The Anzû Quartet, combining violin, cello, clarinet, and piano as Messiaen did in his Quatuor pour la fin du temps and dedicated to new music using that specific mix, makes its recording debut with two high-intensity works.
Early-Music Group Casts Engaging New Light On 17th-Century Charmers
DIGITAL REVIEW – Codex Rost, a recording of stylishly arranged sonatas and other movements played by violinist Catherine Aglibut and her ensemble, Open Chamber Berlin, makes it easy to grasp the original appeal of these obscure works.
Of Bees And Piazzolla: Dances Familiar, Bizarre Animate A Violin Album
DIGITAL REVIEW – “I have found myself at the intersection of music and dance for over 15 years,” says violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim, who is concertmaster of Pacific Northwest Ballet and the featured artist on a far-reaching CD titled Kinetic.
