Catalog

SOLI Chamber Ensemble, which includes Stephanie Kay, clarinet; David Mollenauer, cello; Ertan Torgul, violin; and Carolyn True, piano, was founded in 1994 and has been shattering stereotypes for classical music since then. This award-winning ensemble (recipient of the 2013 CMA/ASCAP award for Adverturous Programming, presents concerts featuring underappreciated giants of the modern and contemporary classical repertoire, plus they annually commission new works by emerging and established composers. Their dynamic performances are heard on this disc of four world premiere recordings — all commissioned by SOLI. The music on this recording includes Timothy Kramer's Cycles & Myths, written in 1996; Robert Xavier Rodríguez's Música, por un tiempo (2008); David Heuser's Catching Updrafts; and Alexandra Gardner's Crows.

David Owens, pianist and composer, has long experience as an organist, conductor and accompanist as well. He has appeared as soloist, in addition to working as a collaborative artist with hundreds of singers and instrumentalists. A graduate of Eastman, where he studied composition, his compositions have been played and sung by chamber ensembles, orchestras, choruses, and soloists throughout the United States. Owens is also a widely read music journalist, having received the Deems Taylor Award for Distinguished Music Criticism. This recording, devoted to his chamber music, includes an older work written in 1985 (Fantasy on a Celtic Carol), as well as two recent works (Sonata for Two Pianos, written in 2010 and Raking the Snow, written in 2008).

Composer Allen Anderson, a member of the faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, has been the recipient of numerous awards, honors, and commissions, including the Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2005. The five works of his music on this recording were written between 1996 and 2008 and display Anderson's preoccupation with discursive line, counterpoint and their dramatic entanglement in the enactment of abstract narrative. Works for string trio, for solo piano, and for solo cello are joined by a work for saxophone quartet and one for a large chamber ensemble. The music is performed by noted performers of contemporary music including Curtis Macomber, Charles Curtis, Aleck Karis, David Russell, Thomas Warburton, the Rasa Saxophone Quartet, and the Empyrean Ensemble.

Double Entendre, an ensemble of double reeds, consists of oboists/English hornists Karisa Antonio, Sarah Davol, Kathryn K. Englehardt, Marsha Heller, Nancy Ranger, Christa Robinson, Elizabeth K. Scott, and Sherry Sylar and bassoonists Susanne Chen, Keith Kriendler, Atsuko Sato, and Dirk Wels. Based in New York City, Double Entendre Music Ensemble is a collective of like-minded musicians devoted to adventurous exploration of the double reed repertoire. This recording is the culmination of a multi-year project to commission, perform and record repertoire for these instruments.

This recording of five works for Japanese instruments by American composer Donald Reid Womack, places him in the vanguard of intercultural composition. Japanese instruments have been a major part of Womack's musical world since 2003 when he was asked to write a composition for the Asia Ensemble. His music for Japanese and other Asian instruments finds a balance in the connections that exist between his background as an American and the rich sounds that are available to the composer through these instruments. A faculty member at the University of Hawaii, his music has been performed and broadcast extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Oceania and South America.

Six pieces of chamber music by Anna Weesner (one solo, two duos, two trios, and one large-spirited piece scored for six musicians) make up this recording. The works were composed over a span of 10 years between 1999 and 2008. Anna Weesner is on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. Described as animated and full of surprising turns, her music has been performed by the leading contemporary music ensembles.

Alec Wilder was a major figure in the New York music world, equally at home writing for ballet and opera, or composing songs for Tommy Dorsey, authoring concertos or pop standards for Frank Sinatra. He was a composer who managed to bridge the worlds of serious and popular music, jazz and classical, the concert hall and the dance hall, maintaining credibility in all these areas. This second recording of Wilder's music for brass by Charles Tibbetts includes two suites for horn, tuba and piano; a world premiere recording of Wilder's Suite for Clarinet, Horn and Piano and a Jazz Suite for Four Horns, Harpsichord, Guitar, Bass and Drums.

Soprano Mary Elizabeth Southworth, flutist Danielle Hundley, clarinetist Marianne Breneman, and pianist Philip Amalong, formed the ensemble Conundrum in 2005. The group's name suggests both their unusual ensemble and also their openness and need to experiment with adventurous programming. After more than a decade of delighting audiences with their discoveries of repertoire for this ensemble and an active commissioning program, they have gathered the best of this music together for this their first recording. The result is From the Diamond Grid: first recordings of seven new works written or re-scored for the ensemble, plus one old favorite of theirs, which was modified for their instrumentation.

Composer Ingrid Arauco comments that "The word vistas conjures up a panorama of vivid images; however, it also signifies a broad perspective encompassing many experiences over time. The works on this album, written over a 13-year period, comprise a series of strong musical images embracing a variety of styles. Yet together they project a unified artistic vision." A faculty member at Haverford College, Ms. Arauco's music has been performed by many distinguished musical organizations including the Atlanta Symphony, the Colorado Quartet and the Network for New Music. She is the recipient of numerous honors including awards from the American Guild of Organists. This program, performed by some of the best-known instrumentalists in the U.S., shows Arauco's music to be engaging and compelling.

Russian-born pianist Rose Shlyam Grace has collaborated with flutist Katherine Fink, euphonium player Ed Morse, and pianist Kristie Born to record six works by contemporary American composers — all of which have been written since 2000. The works include two solo piano pieces by Gregory Fritze and M. Shawn Hundley; two works for euphonium and piano by Gregory Fritze; a sonata for flute and piano by Philip Wharton; and a piece for two pianos by Zack Browning. Ms. Grace has concertized throughout the U.S. as a soloist and chamber music recitalist. She is a graduate of Oberlin, the University of Chicago and Eastman and is on the faculty at Bethune-Cookman University as well as teaching at Daytona State College.

Entering its 30th season, the American Horn Quartet continues to be unique in the field of brass chamber music. Their exuberant performances have brought audiences all over the world to their feet. The individual members of the AHQ are all very successful soloists in their own right — four Americans who work and reside in Europe. The AHQ has more than 500 concerts and masterclasses to its credit and has produced 10 compact discs. This disc, a collection of gems that the AHQ has performed over the years, is appropriately titled En-Cor!

Composer Paul Salerni is on the faculty at Lehigh University where he teaches composition and directs the new music ensemble. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard and is a leading expert on the music of Earl Kim as well as being a dedicated educator. His music, described by the New York Times as "impressive" and "playful," has been performed throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and China. He is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions: his opera Tony Caruso's Final Broadcast won the National Opera Association's Chamber Opera competition and was premiered in 2008. This recording, which contains his chamber music written over the past ten years, reflects his belief that "music should make you want to dance, sing, cry, laugh. It should move you physically and emotionally." Through chamber ensembles, Salerni has taken advantage of the possibilities for music to touch and be touched.

A stellar lineup of new music ensembles and performers, including the Brentano and Manhattan String Quartets and the percussion ensemble Talujon, are featured on this new disc of chamber works by noted composer Eric Moe. Called "music of winning exuberance," by the New York Times, this disc includes works for string quartet; for percussion ensemble; solo percussion; soprano and string quartet; and a work for viola and cello. Moe, a graduate of Princeton and the University of California at Berkeley, is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions, including the Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Recordings of his music appear on the Naxos, Koch, New World and Albany Records labels. He is currently on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh.

During the past several years, the Corona Guitar Kvartet (Per Dybro Sorensen, Volkmar Zimmermann, Kristian Gantriis and Mikkel Andersen) has specialized in forging personal relationships with composers of varying styles, and of performing their works. The selections on this, their sixth CD, reflect the diversity of contemporary music styles performed by the Kvartet and most of it was written especially for them by composers taken with the the Kvartet's openness to differing musical visions, its willingness to play composers whose music its members admire, and its dedication to understanding each work on its own terms. The composers include Charles Norman Mason and Dorothy Hindman, faculty members at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music; Edward Green, a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music; Franco Sbacco, a faculty member at the State Conservatory of Music Santa Cecilia of Rome; and Fred Frith, a faculty member at Mills College.

Two colleagues from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, oboist John Dee and bassoonist Timothy McGovern, join pianist Cara Chowning in a program of music for winds and piano. The composers hail from the U.K., Germany, Italy, Canada and the U.S. The program includes two trios for oboe, bassoon and piano; two works for oboe and piano and two works for bassoon and piano. All three performers have enjoyed active performing and academic careers. Dee served as principal oboe of the Florida Philharmonic and Florida Opera and McGovern is principal bassoon of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra as well as the bassoonist for the Prairie Winds Woodwind Quintet. In addition to her performance schedule, Chowning was music director of Opera Cleveland's Great Works Outreach Department.

Composer by character and performer by temperament, James Scott Balentine brings a complex mix of multicultural and eclectic experiences to his music. Professor of Music at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Balentine has received awards, grants and commissions from the Barlow Endowment, the Opera Guild of San Antonio, and many chamber ensembles and soloists. For this recording, clarinetist Robert Walzel has assembled works for clarinet and piano; clarinet and bassoon; and clarinet ensemble. Most of these works have received performances at the annual ClarinetFest conferences that take place around the world. Performer Robert Walzel has been featured at music festivals and other venues around the world for more than 25 years and was principal clarinet of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra before becoming Dean of the School of Music at the University of Kansas.

This collection of music for oboe offers six examples of the instrument's singular affinity to express grief and suffering. Each piece is concerned primarily with tragedy and loss in various forms, and in each case the composer has gravitated toward the voice of the oboe to portray the emotional dissonances and psychological complexities of the material at hand. Yet within these diverse works we find anger, defiance, resignation, nostalgia, hope and transcendence in addition to sadness and mourning. Oboist Mark Hill's versatile career has spanned a broad range of orchestral, chamber, and solo performing while maintaining a consistent commitment to teaching. He is currently principal oboe of the National Philharmonic and a member of the Left Bank Concert Society. A graduate of the State University of New York-Stony Brook, he is professor of oboe and chamber music at the University of Maryland School of Music in College Park. This is his second recording for Albany Records.

Benjamin Sabey is a composer of chamber, live computer interactive and orchestral music, which has been performed by distinguished ensembles such as the Arditti Quartet, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the New York New Music Ensemble and Red Fish Blue Fish, among many others. He is the recipient of two Barlow Endowment Commissions and the Royaumont Prize of Domaine Forget. A graduate of the University of California, San Diego, Sabey has taught composition, theory and electronic music at San Francisco State University, the University of San Diego and San Diego City College. Hearing Sabey's music, one senses that he is, to use Toru Takemitsu's lovely phrase, "confronting silence." Confrontations take many forms: encounter, challenge, transaction, even embrace. The mystery of Sabey's music is in not knowing which form the confrontation will take. This recording of his music, performed by some of America's best musicians, offers insight into Sabey's distinctive compositional voice.

Born in Mexico in 1987, Juan Pablo Contreras has been called one of the most prominent young composers of Latin America. His music has been heard throughout the U.S., Europe and Latin America and performed by major orchestras in Mexico. The winner of numerous awards and grants, he has served as composer-in-residence at the Turtle Bay Music School and the Concerts on the Slope chamber music series. He is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and the California Institute of the Arts. Contreras' music has been largely focused on exploring what it means to be a Mexican classical music composer in the 21st century. His music shows a synthesis of classical contemporary music and Mexican popular and folk music, addressing issues that are sensitive in Mexico but also speak about themes of universal interest, aspiring to communicate deeply with listeners worldwide. You can watch a video of the recording on youtube at this link: http://youtu.be/66nNZYj3aDc

Composer Kamran Ince's father was Turkish and his mother is American. He grew up partly in each country and now splits time between Memphis, Tennessee where he is on the faculty at the University of Memphis and Istanbul, where he teaches at Istanbul Technical University. Ince is first and foremost a composer in the Western classical tradition, but he is not bound by that tradition. He is also well versed in Ottoman classical music and grounded in Turkish culture. In ways sometimes explicit and sometimes subtle, his music reflects that dual heritage. The many musicians Ince gathered to record the varied chamber pieces on this recording have in common not only the big technique his music requires, but also the wildness and intensity it demands. They are Ince's triumphant champions, and he is their inspiration.

British composer Jonathan Harvey (1939-2012) was a Harkness Fellow at Princeton and Professor of Music at Stanford University in addition to his positions at Sussex Un9versity. An invitation from Pierre Boulez to work at IRCAM in the early 1980s set the composer on a path that has characterized his whole career, and which has resulted in eight realizations at the Institute and two for the Ensemble Intercontemporain. His music has been showcased at all the major new music centers and festivals. The works on this recording, all performed by the illustrious New York New Music Ensemble, include a work for solo clarinet; one for clarinet and piano; a trio for violin, cello, and piano; one for flute, clarinet, and piano; and one for flute, clarinet, cello, piano, and percussion.

All of the works on this recording evidence the hallmarks of Martin Amlin's style: a facile flow of elaborate rhythms; a harmonic language rich with the notes that comprise seventh chords; a non-strict usage of tone rows; an honoring of the past through recognizable formal structure and thematic evolution; and a French sensibility that might be described as neo-impressionistic. A student of Nadia Boulanger, Martin Amlin received masters and doctoral degrees from the Eastman School of Music. He is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards and has been a resident at Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the MacDowell Colony. A member of the faculty at Boston University, he is also director of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Composition Program. A noted pianist as well, he performs the works on this CD with noted artists Leone Buyse and Michael Webster, who have long been advocates of his music.

Three string quartets by the distinguished American composer Steven R. Gerber as well as a Fantasy, Fugue, and Chaconne are performed by the Amernet String Quartet. Praised for their "intelligence" and "immensely satisfying" playing by the New York Times, the Amernet has garnered recognition as one of today's exceptional string quartets. They are Ensemble-in-Residence at Florida International University in Miami. Gerber's String Quartet #4 was written in 1972 for the Fine Arts Quartet; #5 in 1995 for the Carpe Diem Quartet; and #6 in 2011 for the Amernet String Quartet. The Fantasy, Fugue, and Chaconne was written in 2007. In addition to this recording, Albany Records has released a recording of Gerber's piano music. Other recordings of his music appear on the Naxos, Arabesque, Chandos, and Koch International record labels.

Professor of Composition and Chair of the Composition Department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, David Conte serves on the faculty of the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, the board of the American Composers Forum and as Composer in Residence with Cappella SF as well. A graduate of Bowling Green State University and Cornell, Conte studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, where he was one of her last students. He has composed more than 80 works, including six operas and has received commissions and performances of his music from many noted performing ensembles in the United States. In recent years, he has turned his attention to instrumental music and this recording of three of these represent his longest and most ambitious essays in this form. The performances by distinguished new music performers in San Francisco reveal dramatic and lyrical melodies.

The Museaux Trio (Sydney Carlson, flute; Denise Fujikawa, harp; Brian Quincey, viola) is an outgrowth of Debussy's creation of a work for flute, viola, and harp, which has inspired composers ever since. Debussy was captivated by Japanese culture and incorporated Asian influences into his music. Toru Takemitsu credited the music of Debussy as his most important western influence. Embracing the juxtaposition of these two composers, the Museaux Trio takes it's name from a 12th century Zen Monk, Muso Soseki, who designed the legendary moss garden of Kyoto. The name Muso means Dream Window in Japanese. For their debut recording, the Museaux Trio performs Debussy's classic work for this ensemble; Toru Takemitsu's work, And Then I Knew 'Twas Wind, which pays homage to Debussy's Sonate; and finally, a commissioned work by Karim Al-Zand, inspired by the captivating illustrations of biologist and naturalist Ernst Haeckel.

The Balaton Chamber Brass (Amy Cherry, trumpet; Dan Cherry, trombone) is a duo created with the intent of furthering the art of brass chamber music, performing educational outreach concerts, and adding new works to the brass repertoire. They have presented recitals at the International Women's Brass Conference; at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory, Morehead State University, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Western Carolina University. They have served on the faculties of Western Carolina University, Morehead State University, East Tennessee State University, and Wright State University and are now teaching at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. For this recording they give expressive and informed performances of new works by Michael Kallstrom, Michael Sitton, Elizabeth Raum, Bruce Frazier and Wayne Lu.

Composer Eric Nathan, a 2013 Rome Prize Fellow and 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, has garnered acclaim internationally through performances at the New York Philharmonic's 2014 Biennial, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, Aspen Music Festival, Aldeburgh Music Festival, and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, to name but a few. He was composer-in-residence at the 2013 Chelsea Music Festival and Chamber Music Campania. A graduate of Yale and Indiana University, he received his doctorate at Cornell. He is assistant professor of music at Brown University. Nathan's music conveys a compelling and infectious energy--virtuosity in the service of defining musical drama and character. In the seven works in this collection--three solo and four small-ensemble pieces--there's often a thrilling hint of vicarious danger. Performed by some of the most noted performers of contemporary music, including the Momenta Quartet, this recording serves as a fitting introduction to this brilliant young composer's music.

This debut recording of the Momenta Quartet (Emilie-Anne Gendron & Adda Kridler, violins; Stephanie Griffin, viola; Michael Haas, cello) offers three works by Philip Glass, Arthur Kampela, and Claude Debussy. On the surface, they may appear to have nothing in common, but hearing them in succession reveals unexpected connections. All three pieces are daring, energetic, and uncompromising. They generate unique, magical worlds from minimal materials. All three composers are innovators, making bold statements for their times that continue to affect the course of music today. The Momenta Quartet is celebrated for its innovative programming, juxtaposing contemporary works from widely divergent aesthetics with great music from the past. Momenta has premiered more than 100 works and collaborated with more than 120 living composers while maintaining a deep commitment to the classical canon. They have appeared at prestigious venues throughout the United States and performed in international festivals around the world. Their recordings appear on the Centaur, Furious Artisans

This disc of American duos for violin and piano represents many years of collaboration between the performers Jennifer Frautschi (violin) and John Blacklow (piano) and their composer-colleagues. Frautschi and Blacklow have always given serious attention to composers of their generation in their concerts and are particularly enthusiastic about fearless composers with undeniably individualistic voices. All five composers represented on this disc have written extensively for chamber music ensembles, but their compositions for violin and piano have not been performed nearly often enough and deserve to be heard more widely. Jennifer Frautschi and John Blacklow, both having achieved distinction in their careers, have been performing together since 1996 when they made their New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall. They have performed in Europe's most celebrated concert venues as well as in major cities around the United States. This is their second recording for Albany Records, the first being a recording of the three Schumann Sonatas for Violin and Piano.

Composer Martin Brody is on the faculty at Wellesley College, president of the Stefan Wolpe Society and on the editorial boards of Perspectives of New Music and The Open Space. He was a Fromm Resident at the American Academy in Rome and later served as the arts director. His three works on this recording explore a common premise: imaginative identification with something or someone outside one's self as a catalyst of self-transformation. In Beasts, it's identification with animals; Millennium Sightings uses text from a 12-century Italian monk that details the apocalypse and an impending new age; and Tree of Life uses texts by James Merrill and Ovid, that deal with the relation between a person and the natural world. Performed with sensitivity and virtuosity by the illustrious Boston ensemble, Collage New Music conducted by David Hoose with soloists Elizabeth Keusch and Pamela Dellal, these works are world premiere recordings.

Pianist/composer John McDonald and clarinetist Ray Jackendoff have performed as a duo for more than 10 years. This recording represents some of their many collaborations including the world premiere of John McDonald's two compositions for clarinet and basset horn. Jackendoff was principal clarinet of the Boston Civic Symphony for 20 years and has performed as a soloist with the Boston Pops and other Boston-area orchestras. McDonald's compositional output includes works for voice, chamber ensembles and solo instrumental works. Both Ray Jackendoff and John McDonald are on the faculty at Tufts University.

Composer Eric Ewazen is a master at showcasing brass instruments as this collection of works for bass trombone demonstrates. A faculty member at Juilliard, Ewazen has been a guest at more than 100 universities and colleges around the world and is the recipient of numerous composition awards, prizes and commissions. Bass trombonist Yossi Itskovich joined the Haifa Symphony at age 16, attended Juilliard and in 1998 was engaged as the bass trombonist for the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. He is joined by his colleagues from the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra in this recording of Ewazen's music.