Catalog

This debut recording of the Stentorian Quartet reveals how popular the trombone has become as an ensemble instrument. Their exceptional playing of works by some of America's most important composers (including three Pulitzer Prize winners) has created an indispensable disc for fans and performers of brass music. Members of the Stentorian Consort include David Begnoche, Barney McCollum, Brent Phillips, and Jonathan Whitaker.

Daniel McCarthy is a composer whose music defies categorization in the usual sense. With his background in opera, chamber music, rock and jazz, his music is full of rhythmic energy and excitement, with a fresh appeal for today's audiences. As USA Today's David Patrick Stearns has written, "(his works) have the vigor of pop music and the spontaneity of jazz." This recording is a hybrid surround sound recording and can be played on all cds players as well as super audio equipment.

Born in Buenos Aires, Jorge Liderman has studied under Mark Kopitman, Ralph Shapey and Shulamit Ran. He writes: "This album is a collection of solos, duos and trios I wrote during the last 20 years. They are all inspired by, based on, quote, or make reference to pre-existing musical sources...in this disc the sources range from tango to William Byrd, and from Guillaume de Machault to Andean folklore."

The complete recordings of these works on Albany with the Ohio Light Opera have been a delight to all and we're happy to present this CD featuring their outstanding orchestra performing the wonderful melodies from these classic operettas.

Eric Moe has been described by the New York Times as a composer of "music of winning exuberance," and has received numerous grants and awards. His works are edgy but with an almost pop-like appeal. This collection of recent vocal works on very diverse texts joins his previous two releases of original works on TROY506 and TROY597.

Eric Ewazen's music is influenced by a variety of styles and eras, including the motoric rhythms of the Baroque, the formal clarity of the Classical period, and a harmonic language that uses diatonic and even modal voicings. This disc displays his exceptional talent for brass writing, and makes a perfect companion for the Stentorian Ensemble CD (TROY948) that features his Myths and Legends.

Cindy Cox's music emerges from a century whose loyalty oscillates between its concern for pure sound and pure form. But her deep attention to the sound world is held, shaped, and engaged through its purposeful structure, a synthesis that provides a third way. What Cox offers is more than a mere rapprochement one side with its other  but a deep conjunction between them. Cox studied with, among others, Donald Erb, John Eaton, Bernard Rands and John Harbison. Cox's own music is experimental yet has a "grounding" in traditional means of expression, dealing with issues of timbre and musical resonance. She is also an excellent pianist and interpreter, having studied with the famed Lili Kraus.

This CD celebrates both the 1966 founding of the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa, and the many accomplishments made over four decades. The composers have all been affiliated with the School of Music in one capacity or another, and each presents a unique voice to this collection. This is now the oldest and most successful among such collegiate ventures in the United States.

Born in Prague and an American citizen since 1959, Karel Husa is one of our most important living composers and a winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize. He has shown a special interest in band music, and this definitive collection of his works for wind symphony includes Music for Prague 1968, one of the mainstays of the repertoire.

Naomi Niskala writes, "It is with great pleasure that I present this second and final volume of Robert Helps' complete works for solo piano (Vol. I is on TROY925)...Helps' piano works vary tremendously in style and language (and) to answer the question of what Robert Helps' music is like, I would have to answer: genuine, honest, and heartfelt, lacking any and all superficiality." Classicstoday.com in reviewing the first volume said "...What most impresses me about Naomi Niskala's solid, intelligent, and caring virtuosity is that she is fully attuned to the substance and spirit of these works, yet does not feel compelled to emulate Helps' own performances...."

William Bolcom, one of America's most innovative and original composers had an interest in the violin from a young age. This complete collection spans his entire career. We hear his early experimental works through the chromaticism of the 1970's up to the neo-Classical leanings of the 1990s. This music is perhaps the most important contribution by an American composer to the violin and piano repertoire.

This is the first major release devoted to the African-American composer Ulysses Kay. Encouraged by William Grant Still, he would study under Bernard Rogers and Howard Hanson at Eastman, and his works are distinctively American in spirit and strength. Of special interest is his music to The Quiet One, one of the first major film scores by a Black composer.

Chris Gekker is Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maryland. For 18 years he was a member of the American Brass Quintet, as well as being Principal Trumpet of the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, he has specialized in new American music for his instrument. This release is a companion to his earlier Albany disc, Winter (TROY670).

As America's premiere writer of classical vocal works states, "...I embarked on the madness of a composer's career by writing songs...My singular reputation, such as it is, has always centered around song..." The present work is based on texts by 24 composers that "seem endemic to this autumnal moment, as I look back to a youth 'which foresaw in the light of a summer day the end of all life.'"

How irresistible: a brand-new opera about the death of a fictional composer and his incomplete opera, his mysterious widow and her encounter with a musician who wants to finish it. Is murder involved? And it's suggested by a real life encounter between Leonard Bernstein and Alban Berg's widow! All of this awaits you in Frau Margot by America's most renowned opera composer, Thomas Pasatieri.

Described in WIRE as "sonically beautiful yet unnerving," and by Graz's Kleine Zeitung as possessing "unusual emotional intensity," Daniel Rothman's music has been likened to the unlikely combination of Luigi Nono (Opera News) and Robert Ashley (All Music Guide). But these piano works trace another facet of Rothman's sensibility, powerfully and poetically interpreted by pianist Eric Huebner, whose performances of Ligeti and Messiaen have earned him high praise from conductors such as David Robertson and Oliver Knussen, with whom he has performed.

This series devoted to one of America’s most significant composers brings together 12 vocal works, all but one written in the last two decades. Most of the shorter selections were composed for the Works and Process at the Guggenheim series in New York, and were designed for programs honoring the various poets (Les Murray, John Ashbery, Derek Walcott, Stanley Kunitz and Paul Auster).

The music of Milos Raickovich is political, or, more precisely, it carries an antiwar message. He writes moving music, at times purposely naive, at times horrifying. The pieces range from the meditative and minimalist (Little Peaceful Music) to spiritual (Parastos--an Eastern Orthodox Requiem); from dramatic (B-A-G-D-A-D) to documentary (United States, Stop the War!); from ritualistic (Litany of Iraq) to symbolic (Alarm). The CD is titled after a piece, B-A-G-D-A-D, Music on a six-note theme. The composer explains, "This work is a musical dedication to the ancient city, Baghdad. The name of this capital (spelled the European way, without the letter H) is used as a musical theme made of six notes: B-flat, A, G, D, A, D." Milos Raickovich has lived and worked in Belgrade, Paris, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Hiroshima and New York. He studied composition with Olivier Messiaen and David Del Tredici, and has taught at several universities in the U.S. and Japan. The Los Angeles Times critic Mark Swed describes Raickovich's music as "a unique postmodern response to both minimalism and multiculturalism."

Shulamit Ran, probably the most significant Israeli composer since her teacher Paul Ben-Haim to receive wide, international recognition, came to this country in her teens and continued her studies with Norman Dello-Joio. In 1973 she joined the faculty of the University of Chicago. From 1990-1997 she was composer-in-residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. At this time she won the Pulitzer Prize for her Symphony (1990). Her music is marked by a strong sense of lyricism underpinned by dramatic, colorful contrasts and powerful orchestration. "Legends" was written in celebration of the twin centennials of the University of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony, and Albany Records is proud to present this live performance by this great orchestra. The Violin Concerto, as she puts it, "explores certain facets of what, for me, is the violin's complex personality, or 'soul'." It was written for the performer on this disc, Israeli violinist Ittai Shapira.

The saxophone has been an active participant in new developments in classical, jazz and popular music, especially in the past half-century. Equally at home in Classical music and jazz, Noah Getz explores the mixture of these two genres from the classical perspective. Crosscurrents is a diverse exploration of contemporary classical repertoire containing a variety of jazz elements.

The repertoire alone - featuring the first commercial recording of the Piston Variations and the elegant Evett Concerto - is enticing enough. But there's much more. Luis Leguia, the veteran cellist of the Boston Symphony (since 1963) is also an inventor and here he performs on his unique Luis & Clark Carbon Fiber Cello, an instrument that has received exceptional praise from critics and musicians.

A student of Mario Davidovsky, Jacob Druckman and William Thomas McKinley, Meira Warshauer has devoted much of her creative output to Jewish themes and their universal message. As she writes, “The Torah, Jewish teaching and tradition, is likened to water. It is the source of blessing and goodness, filling all who drink from its well with the knowledge of God. I hope this recording will help to satisfy our thirst and encourage us to continue opening our hearts to the Eternal Spirit in each of us.”

An advocate of contemporary music, the highly-acclaimed Ms. Risinger has played throughout the United States and abroad, often presenting world premieres of works written for and dedicated to her. She is currently Principal Flute in the Illinois Symphony. She is also a member of the Sonneries Wind Quintet and has performed with the Ohio Light Opera and the Washington Bach Sinfonia.

Music from an ancient land meets an instrument of antiquity: the result is a fascinating collection of music by composers either born in Israel or settling there from many points in Europe. Soloist Marina Minkin herself came from the Ukraine in 1981. A student of Mark Kroll, she is active in both Israel and the United States and is a founding member and director of the Ad Libitum Ensemble.

Joshua Rosenblum has composed extensively for both the concert hall and the theater. In addition to the works on this CD, he has written pieces on commission for trumpeter Philip Smith of the New York Philharmonic, flutist Kathleen Nester of the New Jersey Symphony and for French hornist Eric Ruske, one of Albany's premiere artists. For the theater, Rosenblum wrote the score for the acclaimed cult hit Off-Broadway musical, Fermat's Last Tango. He has also conducted the orchestras for such Broadway shows as Miss Saigon, Wonderful Town and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The works on this disc are a melding of both classical and popular idioms, with many inspired by or commissioned from several of the musicians involved.

The very nature of this disc is appealingly old-fashioned: a collection of works that reveal the composers' innermost feelings about distinctly American places. For example, Lee McQuillan's Sweet Home Suite is inspired by his hometown, Middletown, Connecticut and its people and geography. A more wistful approach is taken by Christopher Montgomery in the second half of Two Cities: the idea that unless New Orleans is relocated to higher ground, then the city might be completely submerged in the future -- akin to the ancient legend of Atlantis. And the veteran Chicago composer, Helmuth Fuchs, pays homage to the Second City in his Chicago Fantasie Overture.

Brian Fennelly was a pupil of Mel Powell, Donald Martino, Gunther Schuller and George Perle. The music on this disc grows out of strong European and American traditions: it echoes the highly charged chamber music of early 20th century Austria; it recalls the visceral excitement and structural integrity of Sessions and Carter as well as the rhythms and harmonic richness of sophisticated jazz and swing. It is music for listeners with open minds and receptive ears.

Born in Chicago, William Kraft has had a long and active career as a composer, conductor, timpanist/percussionist and teacher. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he served for 11 years (1991-2002) as Chairman of the Composition Department and Corwin Professor of Music Composition. He is of that generation of American composers who came to prominence starting in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s whose music is characterized by a distinct brashness, tinged with the energy of jazz and a definite sense of the dramatic. As an avid percussionist, many of the works which first brought him fame spotlight that part of the orchestra, and as director of the Los Angeles Percussion Ensemble, he premiered many now important works. This diverse collection, ranging from solo to orchestral works, exemplifies the wonderful range of this dynamic American composer.

Jean Berger was a renowned German-American conductor and composer. Beyond composing, he was active as a coach, accompanist and musicologist. His choral works have been widely performed throughout America and Europe. Despite having composed 109 songs for solo voice, in diverse languages, from 1937 to 1992, it is only in recent years that they have been discovered and sung -- a performing gap that is closed by this recording. With much to offer the novice and professional singer, the music is vocally accessible and the poetry offers a wealth of moods and expressions for both the discerning performer and listener.

Born in Breslau (now Wroclaw), Silesia, Frank Lewin emmigrated to the United States in 1940. His easily recognizable lean and spare instrumental style has been showcased on several Albany releases in recent years; the 2-CD set of film music (TROY866/67) gave a good indication of his work for various ensembles. This is the first release of his purely orchestral work. The Concerto on Silesian Themes is born of material that is obviously close to the composer's heart and mind. The Concerto Armonico has an interesting history: originally composed for the harmonica of the late John Sebastian, the work was never performed. Then it was revised for the present viola soloist, Brett Deubner. The final work was written for the tenth anniversary of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra in 1960.

Eric Ewazen writes, "In the Spring of 2006, I was delighted to find out that the extraordinary chamber ensemble, Ibis Camerata, was interested in recording a CD of my music (from the mid-80's through the mid-90's)...they chose works of mine which showcase the melodic, rhythmic and harmonic language I was focusing on at that time...The Ensemble has brought my music to life beautifully and I am very grateful to them for introducing this collection of pieces to you."

The Counterpoint Chorale and the Vermont Symphony Brass Quintet gave their first holiday concert in 2003 and, after countless requests, here is their first CD. It begins with a 50th anniversary performance of the late Daniel Pinkham's marvelous Christmas Cantata and continues through a bright and joyful collection of traditional tunes and discoveries. Christmas in Vermont is a feast for your ears and a gift for your heart.