Catalog

Horn soloist Bernhard Scully has been described as among the elite musicians of his generation, both as a performer and a pedagogue. Equally at home with solo, orchestral, and chamber music, his diverse performance experience includes positions as horn player with the Canadian Brass, principal horn with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and horn player with the Summit Brass. Among his many awards are top honors at numerous competitions, most notably becoming the first classical brass player to win a McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians. A horn professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Scully studied at Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He and colleague Joanne Minnetti perform French masterpieces for horn and piano.

As the world is turning from the 19th to the 20th century, Hudson, New York, on the Hudson River, in the Hudson Valley, was a little town with a big red light district centered on Diamond Street. Harold Farberman has written a comic opera (libretto by Andrew Joffe) that involves politicians, a heroine forced to work in the red light district and a hero, who rescues her. Harold Farberman is a distinguished composer, conductor and pedagogue. He has conducted many of the world's leading orchestras and his accomplishments as a recording artist have been widely recognized. A prolific composer, he counts orchestral works, chamber music, concertos, ballet music, film scores, song cycles and operas among his compositions. He is founder and director of the Conductors Institute.

Robert Schumann was unwell in the years preceding the composition of Dichterliebe. The year 1840, however, proved to be one of unexpected delight. He was finally able to marry the woman he loved and coveted, Clara Wieck, the daughter of his former teacher, Friedrich Wieck, a musical icon in Leipzig. It seems odd, then, that after a five-year struggle to obtain the right to marry the woman he loved and the constant success of such works as Davidsbundertanze, Op. 6, Kinderszenen, Op. 15 and the song cycles Liederkreis, Op. 24 and Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42, he should turn to such a dark subject as the one presented in his sixteen-song cycle Dichterliebe, set to texts by the German poet Heinrich Heine. "A Poet's Love" is a murky tragedy with its early flourish of love, its eventual deterioration and the poet's despair of every loving again, even preferring death to a new attempt. American poet Elizabeth Kirschner, who teaches at Boston College and who has collaborated with many modern composers, has created a new set of texts for Dichterliebe, which breaks the cycle into four distinct sections of four songs each (Spring I-IV, Summer V-VIII, etc.). Kirschner has taken the "season of love" in the Heine poems and transformed them into a full year of desperation, elation, introspection and rejection. Soprano Jean Danton has performed widely on the opera, oratorio, musical theatre and concert stage, and has previously performed in the world premiere of Carson Cooman's Seducing Summer by the Sea, on a libretto by Elizabeth Kirschner.

Johann Strauss II's delicious 1874 operetta, set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, is performed in an English adaptation by Richard Kagey by a stellar cast of young singers who are sure to make their mark. The story is fun and familiar but it is the score that really makes the work timeless.

Violinist and composer Michelle Ross is unique as both a solo artist and collaborative visionary. In 2013, she had her Carnegie Hall debut with Maestro Harry Bicket, and her European debut as both soloist and conductor with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris as part of Play/Direct, in Cité de la Musique. She is the recipient of the 2012 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts. A noted soloist and chamber musician, Ross is also in demand as guest concertmaster around the world with recent highlights including appearances with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre National du Capitol de Toulouse and the Orchestre d'Auvergne. Ross is the Artistic Director and Founder of Music in the Mountains. A graduate of Juilliard and Columbia, her teachers include Dorothy DeLay and Itzhak Perlman. Ross says that "As a performer, my moments of greatest joy occur when I play Bach. I love to bring this music into unusual settings, allowing an intersection between countless strangers and this infinite plane of beauty Every moment with this music, I learn something new about myself as an artist. One must be completely honest in front of Bach, and bring courage and love to this music."

Composer Dave Walther enjoys an equally distinguished career as a violist, including working as a studio musician in more than 500 motion pictures and soundtracks, and being the violist for The Debussy Trio, which has performed hundreds of recitals in the U.S. and abroad. As a composer he has written works for The Debussy Trio, the Christiane Trio, the Capital Trio, Catherine and Jonathan Karoly, and pianist Duncan Cumming, among others. This, his second recording on Albany Records, includes a work for violin and piano; a string quartet; a work for solo piano; and a work for flute and cello.

Here are three comedies, featuring divas of a "certain age" and the devoted, exasperated, long-suffering people who adore them. Thomas Pasatieri, one of America's most revered opera and song composers, entered Juilliard at 16 and eventually became the school's first recipient of a doctoral degree. Among his 19 operas are Black Widow (1972), The Trial of Mary Lincoln (1972), Washington Square (1976) and The Seagull (1972, available on TROY579/80). Producer John Ostendorf writes, "Tom Pasatieri's work was all the rage in the 1970's when we were both young musicians newly-arrived in New York. I knew of the glamorous Ashley Putnam at the time, but best remember the incandescent singing of Sheri Greenawald...Both sopranos both still look and sound terrific and must be applauded at undertaking and recording new roles when each is more-or-less "retired" from the diva business...As for the notion on this CD, "Divas of a Certain Age," they are easily identifiable in the first two works. But they can also be spotted in Signor Deluso: the interesting character Rosine, a blowsy maid who states her claim early in the "I need a man" song, and the compelling Mae West type, Clara, who is more attracted to the young tenor than to the old Mr. Deluso, but still concludes that all men are 'cads.' Anyway, the results are wonderful. It was a joy- and a hoot -to be in on it all."

The Stentorian Consort (David Begnoche, Barney McCollum, Brent Phillips and Jonathan Whitaker) offers a program of works for trombone that includes five world premiere recordings. Praised for inspired performances and innovative programming, the Consort has established itself as one of the nation's premiere trombone quartets. They maintain an active performance schedule of recitals and master classes and have performed by invitation at several trombone conferences. This, their second recording celebrates and reflects their continued interest in new repertoire. The Stentorian Consort is joined by guest soloist Joseph Alessi, principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic, for two works on the recording.

First: have you noticed how certain works, musical or visual, have an uncanny knack for perfectly evoking the period when they were created? That's one of the distinguishing features of the wonderful music on this new disc. The Symphony No. 6 sounds exactly like the late 1940's, much the same way that classic post-war movies conjure that period. In fact, the Symphony No.6 might be the most cinematic of all of Gillis' works in that form, with a wonderful sense of tension in the first movement that would be right at home on the soundtrack of The Big Sleep or This Gun for Hire. The second movement is full of excitement, like a modern analog to the scherzo of the Mendelssohn Scotch Symphony. The bluesiness of the third movement recalls Gershwin at his most relaxed, and the boisterous final movement with its cushy harmonies proves that Gillis had a lot in common with the great Broadway and Hollywood arrangers. The Symphony No.5 is probably the most "serious" of his symphonic output, reflecting the mood of the immediate postwar era. This contains one of his most beautiful slow movements (and if you're an ongoing fan of this series, you know how effective his quiet moments are); the keening sense of nostalgia often bears a striking resemblance to Bernard Herrmann (think in terms of his scores for The Devil and Daniel Webster or The Ghost and Mrs. Muir). The strictly "fun" piece of the collection is the Paul Bunyan Overture, full of rollicking spirits but, again, with a more contemplative sound. All of this is performed with the greatest enthusiasm and color by the Sinfonia Varsovia and Ian Hobson. An absolute must!

Here's something both old and new for all you Gillis fans: Tulsa was one of the first pieces of Gillis to be recorded (in 1950) and those waiting for a modern recording will be thrilled by this. We also have the premiere recording of his optimistic, patriotic Symphony No. 3, the final part of a trilogy including Symphonies 1 and 2 (TROY888). This is a hybrid SACD release and will play on all compact disc players.

Don Ray was born, reared and educated in Southern California, where he took his B.A. at U.C.L.A. and his M.A. from California State University. He joined the CBS-TV Music Staff in 1956 and remained there as Music Supervisor until retirement in 1986. While there, he composed scores for G.E. Theater, Gunsmoke, Twilight Zone, CBS Movie-of-the-Week, and Hawaii Five-O, the latter bringing an Emmy nomination for best dramatic score. On leaving CBS, he turned to writing concert music. He has also been active in teaching film scoring techniques. His Piano Concerto is in four movements, employs the standard symphony orchestra and lasts about 40 minutes. It was begun in Dublin in 2000 and completed in Los Angeles in 2001. Family Portrait, Suite No. 2 contains a series of character studies and events in the family of the composer's grandparents who homesteaded a farm in the American Northwest around 1900. This suite is drawn from the original work which has thirteen movements.

Born in 1941, composer Don Walker attended Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed his PhD and was the recipient of the Ladd Prix de Paris in Musical Composition in 1966-1968. He also received degrees in library science and history. Walker taught at Sonoma State University as well as at the University of South Florida, and Oregon State; was a church organist; and worked as archivist at the University of the Pacific where he was project archivist for the beginnings of the Dave Brubeck Collection. Walker has written symphonies, operas, chamber music, solo instrumental music and vocal works. He has always loved and had an affinity for Emily Dickinson's poetry, valuing its fresh insights, unique imagery, and depth of feeling. Walker has created a number of cycles of songs using her poetry, most of them focused on nature, love, religion, and death and this recording features these songs. Soprano Ann Moss is a graduate of the Longy School of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory. A champion of contemporary vocal music, she has commissioned and premiered more than 80 art songs, vocal chamber music, and operatic roles. She is joined on this recording by pianist Karen Rosenak, a long-time member of the Empyrean Ensemble and a founding member of Earplay, a San Francisco-based new music ensemble.

Composer Don Walker says that he has always felt a strong affinity for vocal music, having been a boy soprano soloist, a baritone soloist, and a member of several choirs. He composed and performed his first solo arias while still in high school and had written several song cycles and choral works before receiving his undergraduate degree. All told, he has written five operas, 30 song cycles and equivalent numbers of cantatas and other choral works over the past 50 years. This recording showcases select works from his oeuvre, some for a cappella chorus and others for chorus and piano and one work (Cummings Country) for chorus, vibraphone and contrabass. This is Walker's third recording for Albany Records -- the first a collection of song cycles and the second feature his works for chamber ensemble.

Donald Crockett is dedicated to creating music inspired by the musicians who perform it and this recording is no exception. It represents works composed across a span of about a dozen years and Xtet, the Los Angeles-based new music ensemble, with its highly variable instrumentation and composer/performer ethos, was the ideal vehicle to undertake the performance of this music. Donald Crockett was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006 and has also received the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship, and an Aaron Copland Award, among many other honors. Also known as a conductor, Crockett has presented many world, national and regional premieres with Xtet. He has also been active over the years as a composer and conductor with the venerable and famed Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles. Donald Crockett is on the faculty of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and serves as Senior Composer-in-Residence with the Chamber Music Conference and Composers' Forum of the East.

Donald Martino may be one of the last modern American composers who writes tough, uncompromising music for adventurous listeners, and this disc spans many years and the different facets of his personality. Notturno is one of his best-known works, and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1974. He described this highly dramatic, colorful work as "a sort of 'night music' descriptive of the moments before I go to sleep, when I'm reviewing the day, when all the miseries and the beauties come together in a kind of chaotic swirl without pattern. It's about the diversity of feeling that I undergo daily when I contemplate my life at that moment before sleep." From the Other Side represents Martino in his "most sour mood, so disillusioned, so debilitated by the state of 'art'...that tears must turn to laughter." In between is the virtuoso, prize-winning flute work Quodlibets II. This is a disc that will reward the listener who really likes modern music.

Rarely has a composer exhibited such an extraordinarily heightened awareness of the very details of music-making, every physical, acoustic and emotional gesture of performance, painstakingly arrived at and indicated with astonishing clarity in the score. Nuance -- that is what Donald Martino wished to capture in his music and to pass on -- it's the demand he makes of the performer and it's the poignant, comprehensive, detailed world that draws the listener in. The ultimate result is a musical intimacy of great and intricate energy. Some of the best performers of 20th and 21st century music offer beautiful performances of this great composer's music.

This recording features six chamber works by Donald Reid Womack combining East Asian and Western string instruments. Intertwined, the title of this album, offers just the right combination of simple imagery and layered meaning, not only with the intertwining of Eastern and Western string instruments, but also with Womack's compositions interlock and meld rhythmically, motivically, and stylistically. Womack, the composer of almost 100 works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, chorus and voice,has concentrated on compositions for Korean, Japanese, and Chinese instruments. His music has been performed and broadcast around the world and his composition appear on more than a dozen recordings. A faculty member at the University of Hawaii since 1994, Dr. Womack has chaired the music department and presently serves as professor of composition and theory, as well as a faculty member of both the Center for Japanese Studies and Center for Korean Studies.

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.

Donald Reid Womack is the composer of more than 80 works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments and voice. He received a Fulbright Scholar Fellowship to live and work in Japan. His work with Japanese and other Asian instruments has placed him at the vanguard of East-West cross-cultural fertilization and has enabled him to make a significant contribution to the body of new literature for Asian instruments, both alone and in combination with Western instruments. His music combines a rich tonal language with an intricate use of color and texture and an exploration of multiple perceptions of rhythm.

This recording of duos by American composer Ketty Nez span a ten year period, reflecting an ongoing fascination on the part of the composer with different ways of exploring musical responses to folk songs and instrumental melodies of the southern Balkans. Nez is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Eastman, Curtis, and Bryn Mawr. She also participated in the year-long computer course at IRCAM and worked with Louis Andriessen in Amsterdam, co-founding the international contemporary music collective Concerten Tot and Met. Her music has been performed in festivals around the world. Ms. Nez joined the faculty at Boston University in 2005, directing the Time's Arrow new music ensemble for four years.

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.

Peter Child is Professor of Music and MacVicar Faculty Fellow at MIT. A graduate of Reed College and Brandeis University, Child has received fellowships and commissions from the Fromm Foundation, the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and the Harvard Musical Association, among others. His compositions have been awarded prizes from Tanglewood, East and West Artists, WGBH Radio, and New England Conservatory, to mention just a few. Child is presently composer in residence with the New England Philharmonic and his music was featured at the Lontano Festival of American Music in London in 2006 and 2008.

Pilgrim Chamber Players was founded in 1996, and began its journey as a woodwind quintet. Very quickly the group expanded its programming to include strings, keyboard and voice. Pilgrim Chamber Players' talented ensemble of professional musicians are resident artists of the Highland Park (Illinois) Community House and perform throughout the Chicago area. The group is here pleased to present this collection of compositions by its resident composer, Donald Draganski. As one of the founding members, Draganski's role evolved from principal bassoon player to that of composer-in-residence. Earning his Bachelor of Music degree from DePaul University, he studied bassoon under the late Wilbur Simpson and composition with the late Alexander Tcherepnin. After receiving his Master's of Library Science, he was the music librarian at Roosevelt University, a position he held for 25 years until his retirement in 1998. Born in Chicago, he currently makes his home in Evanston.

The compositions on this recording of music for saxophone ensemble represent traditional Western classical music combined with such diverse styles as jazz, popular and folk music, Asian and African music and even show the influence of television. It also represents contemporary music of flexible instrumentation. The Alloy Saxophone Quartet was formed to explore contemporary music and includes Bill Perconti, Sean Fredenburg, Duke Sullivan and Erik Steighner -- all noted performers. Perconti, who performs the works for solo saxophone is a graduate of Bowling Green State University, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory and the University of Iowa. He has made 26 world premiere recordings of 15 composers on five record labels. He is on the faculty at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho.

Cited by the American Academy of Arts and Letters as a composer who "has that rarest of inventive gifts, a personal voice," Steven Burke is being recognized as one of the leading voices of his generation. His music has won praise for its emotional power and mastery. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence, the University of Wisconsin, Yale and Cornell, his teachers included Chester Bicardi, Martin Bresnick, Jacob Druckman, Lukas Foss, Roberto Sierra, and Steven Stucky. The recipient of numerous awards, Burke's music has been performed by ensembles such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the New Millennium Ensemble. This recording of his chamber music is performed by the di.vi.sion piano trio, an ensemble formed in 2001. The ensemble is committed to programming current music and regularly commissions new works. Their previous recording on Albany Records featured the music of Merrill Clark.

Bernard Jacobson, the former program annotator and musicologist for the Philadelphia Orchestra writes: "From where I sit, as a freelance critic living in Philadelphia, the Network for New Music looks like the brightest hope for the continued health of contemporary musical creation. Over a period now approaching two decades, it has established itself among the finest institutions of its kind anywhere, a success that can be attributed to a number of causes. One is the simple but crucial mission of the organization: 'To present, encourage and commission a great diversity of new works of the highest quality by established and emerging composers, and to build a broader appreciation for new music.' More than 400 such works have so far been performed - a "great diversity" indeed, and an array of talent such as few organizations in the field, anywhere in the country, could match. Along with this enlightened openness of mind in the choice of repertoire, another essential quality is the sheer dedication and initiative of NNM's artistic director, Linda Reichert, one of the area's leading exponents of contemporary music as a pianist, who often appears in that capacity in Network concerts. Still another is the expert counsel of an artistic advisory committee whose membership includes Milton Babbitt, John Harbison, Joan Tower and George Walker. To my mind though, the single most vital element in NNM's supremacy is the sheer quality of its performances. It is a sad truth that contemporary music suffers almost more on occasion from the ministrations of those who perform it as of those who don't. The complexity and technical demands of many modern scores too often frustrate even the best-intentioned efforts of conductors, players, and singers caught up in the seemingly inevitable trap of inadequate rehearsal time, insufficient familiarity, and overtaxed skill. As a result, a public that is itself facing the challenge of new and unknown works can be forgiven for ascribing to the music what are actually weaknesses in its presentation. This has never happened, in my experience, at a Network concert. It is just such a combination of informed programming and masterful presentation that is to be encountered on this CD."

In this collection of piano works, the composers have figuratively entered the world of a scenic painting. With the mixture of new and old, the textures, techniques, and sonic worlds of these pieces speak to one another in a unique continuum. Praised by the New York Times as a "fiery musician" whose playing is "vigorous and passionate," Qing Jiang is a versatile musician who is equally known as a performer, teacher, and as an advocate of contemporary music. She has appeared in major concert halls in the U.S. and the U.K. and collaborated with ensembles such as the Juilliard, Shanghai, and Left Bank string quartets. Born in China, she studied at Arizona State University, Juilliard, and the New England Conservatory. She is on the faculty at Bucknell University.

Lori Laitman is an art song composer whose works are performed widely in the United States and abroad. She has served as composer-in-residence at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro and Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania; and as guest artist at The Grandin Festival (associated with the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music). Lori Laitman was graduated magna cum laude with honors in music from Yale College. She received her M.M. in flute performance from the Yale School of Music. Her principal composition teachers were Jonathan Kramer and Frank Lewin. Her initial focus was composing music for film and theater and in 1980, she wrote the score for The Taming of the Shrew for the Folger Theater in Washington. Since 1991, she has concentrated on composing for the voice.

The Jano Duo (Naomi Seidman, flute and Jonathan Dexter, cello) was formed in 2012 to play works written or arranged for flute and cello. The duo has performed across the country and continues to commission and perform new works for their instruments. This recording reflects their commitment to music of our time with works by Efrain Amaya, Cherise Leiter, Lonnie Hevia, Matt Doran, Ángel Villoldo, and a commissioned work by Stephen Hopkins. Naomi Seidman is recognized as an accomplished solo performer, chamber musician, and educator. On the faculty at Pennsylvania State University School of Music, she has participated in numerous festivals and has presented master classes around the country, appeared as soloist with orchestras; and is actively involved with the National Flute Association. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Yale. Cellist, composer, and sound engineer Jonathan Dexter has been featured on SONY Masterworks & Columbia Records recorings with singer Megan Hilty; film sountracks; and tv series. He composed, performed, and recorded the original score to short film Recess, an official selection of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, Franz Liszt Academy and University of Texas at Austin, he conducts the Central Pennsylvania Youth Chamber Orchestra.

American composer Vivian Fine (1913-2000) wrote more than 140 works during her 70-year career, including 20 pieces that feature the flute in solo and chamber music settings. Only two of her flute works have been professionally recorded and this recording aims to fill this gap. The recording features selected chamber music for flute by Fine, which create a varied recording of beautiful and exciting works. Flutist Erin K. Murphy frequently performs with orchestras, in chamber music collaborations, and as a soloist throughout the U.S. and abroad. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan, she is currently on the faculty at Oklahoma State University. She is a founding member of Lakeshore Rush, A Chicago-based chamber ensemble that performs 20th and 21st century works.

Drifts and Shadows: American Song for the New Millennium beckons us to an exhilarating journey--via these stimulating songs of integrity, substance and passion. Baritone Elem Eley has worked with each of the six composers. Their compositional styles range from aggressive, hyper-kinetic, and jazzy to compellingly melodious and richly harmonized. Eley enjoys an amazingly varied career, from opera, oratorio and recital to premieres of contemporary vocal works. A native of Georgia, he hold degrees in voice from Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and completed doctoral coursework at Indiana University. He is Professor of Voice at Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

A superlative program of piano music by American composers is offered by pianist Heidi Williams. The oldest work on the program dates from 1988 (William Bolcom) and the most recent was written in 2009 (Daniel Crozier), giving us a snapshot of what American composers have been writing for piano in the past 25 years. Praised by New York critic Harris Goldsmith for her ¨dazzling performances¨ and ¨impeccable solistic authority,¨ American pianist Heidi Louise Williams has appeared in performances across the United States and internationally. Her concert schedule has included solo and chamber music recitals at the Kennedy Center, the Chicago Cultural Center, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Brevard Summer Music Festival, the Peabody Conservatory of Music and a debut recital in St. Louis as winner of its 2000 Artist Presentation Society Auditions, as well as concerto appearances with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony, and others. Williams is on the piano faculty at the Florida State University College of Music. She completed her BM, MM, and DMA degrees at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland.