Catalog

Composer Anthony Paul De Ritis began studying with David Wessel at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies after returning from his studies at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau. Wessel exerted a tremendous influence on De Ritis, both as a teacher and as a person. This recording of De Ritis' music is a tribute to David Wessel.The pieces on this recording span more than 25 years. Listening to the music is captivating. Written for Western instruments or Asian instruments, the music sounds like a successful syntheses of East and West, where real-time processing devices transform the sound of acoustic instruments into a rainbow of sound colors. Having received a thorough Western education and then traveled the world, Anthony Paul De Ritis has come up with a music that is far more than the sum of its parts -- music that is imaginative and a wonderful balance of tone colors.

Formed in 2009, the Anglo-American Duo Timothy Schwarz, violin; Jane Beament, piano) has evolved into a prominent ensemble that regularly tours in the United States and Europe. Praised for its energetic and sophisticated performances, the Anglo-American Duo specializes in music from the U.S. and Britain. For their first commercial recording, they perform music by British composer David Osbon. Osbon's music has been performed, broadcast and recorded around the world. The recipient of numerous awards, Osbon studied at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently he is on the faculty at the London College of Music.

As the music on this recording so aptly demonstrates, Jessica Krash composes with the heart of a chamber musician. Her compositions look for conversations between musical lines, and for the shifts in feeling and outlook as these interactions deepen. Her works, which have wide-ranging emotions and textures, give space for performers to create nuanced shapes and tone colors while they respond to each other. The pieces on this recording are also a dialogue between old and new: old and new music and poetry; old and new musicians; old and new social, philosophical, and emotional issues. Krash's music has been presented in both traditional and experimental settings in Germany, Austria and around the U.S., including the major performance venues and museums in Washington, D.C. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships, awards, and commissions, and has given a series of chamber music masterclasses at Strathmore, and a series of lectures at the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, and NIH. This is her second recording for Albany Records.

Violinist Julie Rosenfeld has invited five composers with whom she had worked over the past 30 years, to each write a work for violin and piano. The composers include Kenneth Fuchs, Katherine Hoover, John Halle, Laura Kaminsky, Tamar Muskal, and Stefan Freund. There is a wonderful diversity in the styles of the pieces and this recording will surely provide important additions to the contemporary violin repertoire. Julie Rosenfeld was first violinist of the acclaimed Colorado Quartet for many years before joining the faculty of the University of Missouri School of Music in 2014. Pianist Peter Miyamoto enjoys a brilliant international career, and studied at Curtis, Yale, Michigan State, and the Royal Academy. He is also on the faculty of the University of Missouri School of Music.

Amos Elkana is a multi-award-winning composer whose music has been characterized as original, guided by unique and delicate taste, and radiating a strong sense of honesty. Born in Boston but growing up in Jerusalem, he returned to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory. He has also studied at Bard College. His music has been performed all over the world by leading orchestras, ensembles, and soloists. Apart from concert music, Elkana composes for dance and theater. Also and active performer, he participates in concerts and performances of improvised music where he plays the electric guitar and the computer. This recording of his music contrasts a work for large ensemble with works for single instruments, some of which include electronics.

Composer Robert Xavier Rodríguez has been hailed as "one of the major American composers of his generation." His music has been performed by organizations such as the New York City Opera, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Seattle, Houston Dallas, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Boston, and Chicago Symphonies, among many others. His numerous awards include a Gugggenheim Fellowship and the Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has served as composer-in-residence with the San Antonio Symphony and the Dallas Symphony. He is on the faculty at the University of Texas at Dallas and conducts its Musica Nova Ensemble. His sixth recording for Albany Records includes two works for string quartet and a work for violin and piano.

Violinist Donna Fairbanks and guitarist Jon Yerby have recorded a delightful album of music for violin and guitar with music spanning four centuries. Ms. Fairbanks is on the faculty at Utah Valley University. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona, Eastman, and Brigham Young University.Ms. Fairbanks has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras and has presented recitals and master classes in South America, China, Europe and the U.S. Born in Germany, Jon Yerby has performed across four continents as an acclaimed soloist and chamber musician. He studied at Florida State University, New England Conservatory, and the University of Texas at Austin. He has held faculty positions at the University of Utah, Utah Valley University, and Westminster College.

Love Comes In At The Eye is a recording of songs and instrumental works by Kevin Puts, Ned Rorem, and James Scott Balentine. All Americans, these composers vary in age from 46 (Puts), to 70 (Balentine), to 95 (Rorem), so there a wide spectrum of compositional styles that offers an outstanding listening experience. With works for voice and piano; voice and chamber ensemble; a work for voice and cello; and two works for flute and piano, the recording gives the feel of being part of an audience for a chamber music concert. The performers each have distinguished careers and all participate in the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society concerts.

Taken together, the works on this portrait album of composer John Liberatore, are an eclectic mélange of instrumentations and affects, sometimes whimsical or wistful, dark or light. But each of them was composed in the same way, and in close proximity to each other. Liberatore is a composer, pianist, and one of the world's few glass harmonica players. Described by critics as "enchanting" and "truly magical," his music seeks poignancy through levity, ambiguity through transparency, and complexity within simple textures. The recipient of numerous awards and commissions, his music has received hundreds of performances in venues around the world, including The Kennedy Center, Carnegie's Weill Hall, and the Seoul Arts Center, among many others. A graduate of Eastman and Syracuse University, he is assistant professor of composition and theory at the University of Notre Dame.

The history of the Five Seasons ensemble goes back to 2012 when Estonian composer and guitarist Robert Jürjendal heard a recording of the Corona Guitar Kvartet and contacted one of its members, Volkmar Zimmermann. Zimmermann initially asked Jürjendal to write a work for him and soprano Sara Fiil and their collaboration continued with the instrumentation expanding to the existing ensemble. The special membership of Five Seasons (acoustic guitar, soprano, trumpet, percussion, and electric guitar) encouraged Jürjendal to choose more academic writing, influenced by early guitar and lute music with the essence of romantic melancholy together with a complex contemporary harmony and sound conception. Five Seasons has appeared at Estonian Music Days to great critical acclaim.

Clarinetist Elizabeth Crawford is professor of music at Ball State University. She holds degrees from Furman University, the University of Michigan School of Music and Florida State University College of Music. She was a long-time member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and has performed and recorded with major orchestras in the United Kingdom. An avid proponent of music for E-flat clarinet, Crawford has commissioned composers including three on this recording (Lori Ardovino, Jenni Brandon, and Scott McAllister) and transcribed compositions for the instrument. Crawford has performed and taught at festivals and universities throughout the world including Poland, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, and South Africa.

Composer Jan Krzywicki is on the faculty at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance, and conductor of the new music ensemble, Network for New Music. This new collection of his music radiates a virtuosic craft and flowing lyricism that emphasizes the blending of color shading in instrumental and vocal timbres, and the illusion of light in music. The recipient of numerous awards and commissions from prestigious performers and ensembles, his music has been heard throughout the United States. This is the third recording on Albany Records to feature his compositions.

The spirit of exploring new, and newly rediscovered, music is fully captured in this recording of American music for viola. The music ranges from the late 19th Century to today, yet it shares a common theme: a flowing lyricism that expresses the viola's rich vocal character. Of special interest is the first known American composition for viola (Benjamin Cutter); and the first composition for viola by an American woman (Blanche Blood). Violist Andrea Houde has performed as soloist, chamber musician, and in orchestras in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. A graduate of the University of Memphis and the Peabody Conservatory, Ms. Houde is on the faculty at West Virginia University and the artist faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp. Her colleague, pianist Sun Jung Lee is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, and West Virginia University. In addition to her performing career, she serves as staff accompanist at West Virginia University.

Violinist Igor Kalnin and pianist Rochelle Sennet founded Duo MemDi to perform music that embraces the diversity of world cultures. All of their live performances are from memory, hence the name Mem (memory) Di (diversity). This, their debut recording, includes two commissioned works and highlights a few of the many approaches to incorporating folk music elements in modern classical music. Violinist Igor Kalnin has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and an orchestra leader. He is on the faculty at Luther College and concertmaster of the Sinfonia da Camera. He received degrees from the Balakirev Music College, the Glinka State Conservatory, Yale, and Michigan State University. Pianist Rochelle Sennet has established herself as a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar. She studied at the San Francisco Conservatory, the University of Michigan, Texas Christian University, and the University of Illinois. She is the recipient of numerous awards including co-winner for the Krannert Center Debut Artist Competition. Dr. Sennet is on the faculty at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Embracing the unlikely combination of saxophone and harp, the Admiral Launch Duo (Jonathan Hulting-Cohen, saxophone and Jennifer R. Ellis, harp) performs groundbreaking commissions, unexpected transcriptions, and improvisations on this their debut recording. Named for the Admiral butterfly and launched at the Fresh Inc Festival in 2013, the duo has since appeared at new music venues coast-to-coast. Hulting-Cohen is on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Ellis is credited with more than 80 world premieres. The Duo has spent several years researching and commissioning repertoire for saxophone and harp and this recording will certainly gain recognition for this unusual but beautiful ensemble.

The San Marco Chamber Music Society in collaboration with the Lawson Ensemble present three American works: one (Amy Beach), a glowing example of the American Romantic style; another (Szewczyk) a world premiere for oboe and viola; and the third (Douglas) a concerto for oboe and string quartet. The San Marco Chamber Music Society is based in Jacksonville, Florida and has been performing chamber concerts there since 2008. Founded by Eric and Ellen Olson, the performers are primarily members of the Jacksonville Symphony. Formed in 2015 the Lawson Ensemble is a string trio who is in residence at the University of North Florida.

The tradition of performing the repertoire on this recording came directly from French wind instrumentalists who were brought to New York in 1905 by Walter Damrosch to join the New York Symphony. The arrival of these performers, trained at the Paris Conservatory, was a turning point in the development of woodwind playing in this country. Flutist Georges Barrère was a key figure in this evolution. He became a tireless advocate of the music of his adopted country, insisting that all programs of his Wind Ensemble include at least one American work. He consistently promoted new repertoire and was responsible for the premières of more than 150 works. The Sylvan Winds are heirs to this rich heritage, one established by Barrère and his French colleagues, and are dedicated to preserving and continuing it. This recording will help listeners to appreciate our inherited classical music tradition. The Sylvan Winds, established in 1982, are an integral part of New York City's cultural offerings and have earned both critical and audience acclaim for their spirited performances and innovative programming.

Inspired by a work for viola and clarinet by Rebecca Clarke, clarinetist Elizabeth Crawford and violist Katrin Meidell formed Violet and began working on expanding the literature for this sorely underrepresented genre of classical chamber music. All the works on this recording were written for their duo. Since its inception in 2015, Violet's efforts have produced more than 100 new compositions. Elizabeth Crawford is on the faculty at Ball State University. Prior to this appointment, she was a member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. She has performed and taught at festivals around the world and has transcribed a number of works for E-flat clarinet. Her recording of music for this instrument appears on the Albany Records label. Violist Katrin Meidell enjoys a prolific career as a performer, pedagogue, and lecturer, traveling around the world to perform and present. She is on the faculty of Columbus State University.

This intriguing and ingenious album by Gernot Wolfgang bridges sophisticated Viennese elements with edgier and rawer textures found in more contemporary American works. Wolfgang is taking us on an autobiographical safari with this "groove-oriented" classical album that will be a pleasure for the listener to explore. The compositions are for eclectic chamber groups, beginning with a bassoon-piano opener and concluding with a piano quartet. These many forms reveal the multiplicity of Wolfgang. Described as a "master composer with important things to communicate to his listeners," Gernot Wolfgang was born in Austria in 1957. Currently he lives in Los Angeles where (among many other musical activities) he works as an orchestrator in the film and TV music industry. He has been a lecturer at the University of Music in Graz and offered master classes at numerous universities in the U.S. and Mexico. He has received more than 40 commissions from organizations such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Jazz Festival of the European Broadcasting Union, and the Debussy Trio. This is his fourth recording for Albany Records.

Composer Stephen Rush has written six operas, more than 50 works for dance, chamber, and electronic media, concertos, and four symphonies. His works have been performed by distinguished ensembles including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Warsaw National Symphony. The author of two books, his music appears on several record labels including Centaur, MMC, and Innova. A professor of music at the University of Michigan, he founded the Digital Music Ensemble at that institution, which he has directed for 25 years. He tours and records with his electronic psychedelic improvisation band, Crystal Mooncone. For this recording on Albany Records, he has chosen a variety of chamber works for varying ensembles including three versions of Taming the Ox, a work commissioned by flutist Rebecca Gilbert as a means of public sonic meditation.

American composer Richard Aldag is also known as an educator and arts administrator. He holds a Ph.D. in Music from the City University of New York Graduate Center. He has received numerous commissions and served as composer-in-residence for the Sitka Summer Music Festival and the El Paso Pro Music Chamber Music Festival. Aldag has served on the faculties of San Francisco State University, San José State University, Pacific Union College, the Aaron Copland School of Music, Fordham University, and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. He was a special lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1991 and 1992. His arts administration career includes executive director positions with the Napa Valley Symphony, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and the Los Lupeños de San José, among others. With this first recording of his music, Aldag shares some of his most recent chamber music, offering a range of ensemble and instrumentation. The inspirations and expressive intentions are similarly diverse. This recording offers a rich and finely curated showcase for Aldag's latest music with a chance to get to know this original and compelling composer through the intimate expression and vivid textures that are the distinguishing hallmarks of chamber music.

This recording is an outgrowth of the Pan Pacific Ensemble's mission to enable and promote new compositions with a global outreach through high-level performances. This disc of commissioned works includes compositions by Chinese-American Chin Yi; Chinese composers Yi Qiao and Xinyan Li; Thai composers Tanapon Chiwinpiti, Siraseth Pantura-Umporn, and Naarong Prangcharoen; Malaysian composer Yii Kay Hoe; and Vietnamese composer Do Kien Cuong. Instrumentation for the Pan Pacific Ensemble includes flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn. The Pan Pacific Ensemble has appeared at the 2016 China-ASEAN Contemporary Music Festival and the 2017 Thailand Iternational Composition Festival in Bangkok in addition to their active concert schedule in the United States.

Composer David Gompper has lived and worked professionally as a pianist, conductor, and composer in New York, San Diego, London, Nigeria, Michigan, Texas, and Iowa. He studied at the Royal College of Music, and the University of Michigan. Since 1991 he has been Professor of Composition and Director of the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa. His many awards include an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City, and a Fromm Commission. Recordings of his music appear on the Albany and Naxos record labels. He has chosen recent chamber music written for string instruments for this recording, which are given stellar performances by violinist Wolfgang David, cellist Hannah Holman, double bass player Volkan Orhon, and pianists Réne Lecuona and David Gompper.

The Pan Pacific Ensemble, a woodwind quintet based in the State of Washington, has a history of commissioning and performing contemporary music. This second recording of the ensemble includes works by American Nick Omiccioli; Chinese-American Chen Yi; Indian-American composer Asha Srinivasan; Thai composers Chaipruck Mekara and Siraseth Pantura-Umporn; Chinese composer Zhong Jun Cheng; and Vietnamese-American composer P.Q. Phan. The Pan Pacific Ensemble has appeared at the 2016 China-ASEAN Contemporary Music Festival and the 2017 Thailand Iternational Composition Festival in Bangkok in addition to their active concert schedule in the United States.

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.

Trio Accento (Limor Toren-Immerman (violin); Garik Terzian (cello); Nora Chiang Wrobel (piano) is known for its advocacy of contemporary compositions. This recording features five varied works, one of which was commissioned by the ensemble. All three members of Trio Accento have distinguished performing and teaching careers and as a trio have performed to critical acclaim. Jeff Beal's Almost Morning is a dance work composed for choreographer Claudia Schreier. Russell Steinberg's Paleface was inspired by the acclaimed paintings of "psychological pop" artist Jerry Kearns, while Gernot Wolfgang's Jazz and Cocktails was inspired by the goings-on of an imaginary cocktail party. Juhi Bansal's Wings evokes a day in the montains and the image of a solitary bird flying through a rain-filled sky. Kenneth Froehlich's Polarized is a study of contrasts, conceived as a response to our ever-increasing polzarized society.

Don Walker's esthetic stems from the example of Charles Ives. Like Ives, Walker prefers to embrace all styles, as long as they produce music that is original, expressive, and involving for the listener. Many of the works on this recording date from the 1980s. During this time, Walker was often influenced by the Post Modern esthetic, which seemed to be taking over from Serialism and Chance Music. The music is lyrical, tonal, and often manifests jazz and world music influences. This is Walker's fourth recording for Albany Records.

This recording of works for strings by women composers includes two works for string trio by Victoria Bond and Julie Mandel; a work for solo cello and two works for violin duo by Rain Worthington; and a composition for violin and cello by Adrienne Albert. The performers include Anna Cromwell, assistant professor of violin and viola and the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point; Lisa Nelson, who is instructional professor of viola, violin, and string pedagogy at Illinois Wesleyan University; and Mira Frisch, associate professor of cello and director of string chamber music at the university of North Carolina at Charlotte. Both Anna Cromwell and Mira Frisch appear on Albany Records performing as a violin/cello duo.

Across the Ages features cello works written by the prolific American composer Alan Hovhaness (1911-200). Inspired by elements of ancient Armenian, Japanese, and Indian music, the collection of works reflects Hovhaness' renowned ability to synthesize different musical traditions. Utilizing the cello's rich and expressive nature, Hovhaness' music reveals the timeless connection we have to past civilizations, to nature, and to one another. Cellist Christina Gullans is an avid performer with an interest in music semiology. A former member of the Boston String Quartet, she has participated in numerous festivals, including Aspen, Spoleto, and Music Without Borders. She plays an American cello made by Charles Albert in 1886.

Composer/performer Kurt Rohde is artistic advisor with the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and the Composers Conference, as well as a curator at the Center for New Music. A professor at University of California-Davis, Rohde received the Rome and Berlin Prizes as well as awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Barlow, Fromm, Hanson, and Koussevitzky Foundations. The sequence of poems Rohde chose for the first work on the recording (It wasn't a dream ) are by Diane Seuss and is written for soprano (Charlotte Mundy), tenor (Andrew Fuchs), and piano four hands (Michael Brofman and Miori Sugiyama). The second work, Treatises for an Unrecovered Past is for string quartet and was inspired by music treatises and is performed by the Lydian Quartet.

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.

This recording of music by John Harbison and James Primosch contrasts their piano music with compositions for voice, with a major work for each by each of these esteemed composers. Harbison, a faculty member at MIT, has enjoyed a long and distinguished career. His more than 300 compositions have been performer around the world by premiere musical organizations and soloists. James Primosch serves on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, and his discography includes more than 25 recordings of his compositions. Noted for her "dazzling, virtuoso singing" Lucy Fitz Gibbon is a dynamic musician whose repertoire spans the Renaissance to the present. She has performed at prestigious venues in the United States, Canada, and England and is on the faculty at Bard College. Pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough has an impressive career as soloist, lieder and chamber music collaborator, and recording artist. His discography includes many world premiere recordings and has taught piano and courses in electronic composition at Cornell University.