Catalog

Dubbed "The Commissioners" by Chamber Music America magazine, Palisades Virtuosi (Margaret Swinchoski, flute; Donald Mokrynski, clarinet; Ron Levy, piano) has established an enviable presence in the chamber music world since its inception 14 years ago. To date, the ensemble has commissioned and performed more than 75 new works and has now released six recordings of some of the best of these commissions. All the music on these recordings are world premieres and all are American composers. Palisades Virtuosi has been named Visiting Artists at Bergen Community College and are in residence at The Ridgewood Conservatory. Established to promote music for their ensemble of flute, clarinet, and piano, Palisades Virtuosi is to be commended for their work on enhancing the repertoire.

Don Walker's second recording for Albany Records features some of his chamber works for mixed ensembles -- ranging from a work for flute, violin, and piano to a piano quartet to larger ensembles such as the last work on the program for flute, bassoon, trumpet, horn, violin, and cello. These compositions also display a range of style with Soul Music containing 12-tone elements combined with a traditional Blues melodic style; to the Piano Quartet where Walker's sense of humor led him to imagine Arnold Schoenberg compositing a twelve-tone piece in honor of John Cage's 100th birthday; to the Divertimento which features a second movement that borrows material from Schubert. Now retired, Don Walker had a distinguished career as a composer, teacher, organist, and archivist.

Saxophonist Adam Estes is on the faculty at the University of Mississippi, where he teaches saxophone and bassoon, coaches woodwind chamber ensembles, and teaches woodwinds methods courses. He is a founding member of the Assembly Quartet and maintains an active performance schedule as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. His performing career has taken him to venues in Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Belgium. His colleague, Stacy Rodgers is professor of music at the University of Mississippi where he is head of keyboard studies. Estes and Rodgers perform a program of contemporary works for saxophone and piano. The oldest work on the recording is Paul Creston's Sonata, written in 1939. Baljinder Sekhon's Sonata of Puzzles was commissioned by more than 50 saxophonists from 16 countries as part of the inaugural Global Premiere Consortium Commissioning Project and written in 2015. John Leszczynski's Almost Out of the Sky is also a commissioned work, which was written in 2011 at the behest of a consortium of 30 saxophonists. John Anthony Lennon's Distances Within Me was composed in 1979, while Lawson Lunde's Sonata, Op. 12 was written in 1959.

Iranian-American composer Reza Vali has a unique and very personal ethos in that his artistic output attempts to understand the dialogue between the ancients and the moderns. It addresses his conviction that what has been historically and artistically camouflaged can be revealed. Since 2000, Vali has been composing exclusively within the demanding palette of Persian polyphony. The works on this recording include a works for microtonal trumpet and orchestra; songs using Persian folksongs as their inspiration; a work originally written for Persian wind instruments and ensemble, scored for clarinet and ensemble here; and a work for Persian Ney, Kamanche, and orchestra. A member of the faculty at Carnegie Mellon, Vali studied in Iran, at the Academy of Music in Vienna, and the University of Pittsburgh. The recipient of numerous awards and commissions, his music has been performed by some of the most notable orchestras and ensembles in the United States, including the Seattle Symphony, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Da Capo Chamber Players, and the Kronos Quartet, among many others. This is his fourth recording for Albany Records.

The New York New Music Ensemble's recording presents three of Lukas Foss's three best chamber works in reverse chronological order of composition. The recording opens with Tashi (1986), working its way backwards through Solo Observed (1982), and concludes with Echoi (1961-63). This presentation allows listeners to enjoy a musical narrative that begins at the end, with a work that represents the culmination of more than 40 years of compositional inquiry. The significance of Tashi's assimilation of stylistic elements is then understood retrospectively through the other two works, each more strongly associated with forward-looking compositional techniques than the last. Foss himself, who as a conductor was known for his innovative programming, would undoubtedly have appreciated this approach to the recording of his music. These three works provide an effective overview of Foss's eclectic compositional style and insight into his aesthetic and expressive motivation. The acclaimed New York New Music Ensemble has commissioned, performed, recorded, taught, and fiercely advocated for the music of our time, achieving international acclaim in its endeavors. The NYNME has more than 25 recordings to its credit and has commissioned and premiered more than 130 works by some of America's most distinguished composers.

This recording contains a representative collection of composer Gary Smart's small chamber music works. Strings, winds, percussion, and piano are used in various groupings -- some traditional, some not. Smart's tendncy is to make use of American rhythms and stylistic genstures, but other influences can be heard as well. Quite a diverse set of compositions, but the majority of them center on the clarinet, inspired by the composer's friendship with Guy Yehuda. A unique musician -- composer-pianist Gary Smart writes music that reflects an abiding interest in Americana, world musics and jazz, as well as the Western classical tradition. This is the fifth recording of his music to appear on the Albany Records label.

This recording celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Pro Arte Quartet -- the oldest string quartet continuously in existence and the first university-ensemble residency in the United States -- plus the dramatic story of how a prominent European quartet became an American one. Founded in Belgium in 1912, the Pro Arte Quartet became stranded while on tour in Madison, Wisconsin in 1940 when the Nazis invaded their country. The University of Wisconsin offered this quartet in exile a permanent home at the university, where it has remained ever since. Six new chamber works were commissioned to celebrate this occasion -- now all available on compact disc. This disc contains String Quartet No. 3 by Benoît Mernier (b. 1964), the leading Belgian composer of his generation and Pierre Jalbert's (b. 1967) work for clarinet and string quartet. Jalbert is the recipient of many awards, including the BBC Masterprize and teaches composition at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. Mernier, also the recipient of commissions and awards, is also a virtuoso organist. He was inducted into the Royal Academy of Belgium in 2007.

This 2-CD set honors the life and career of Charles Bestor with a selection of his late chamber music. Bestor (1924-2016) studied at Yale with Paul Hindemith after returning from service in World War II; then at Juilliard where he was a student of Vincent Persichetti and Peter Mennin. Bestor worked as a jazz arranger to supplement his income as a composer but turned to teaching. He taught at the University of Colorado; Juilliard; was Dean of the College of Music of Willamette University; but his longest tenure (35 years) was as Head of the Departments of Music and Dance at the University of Massachusetts. He continued to compose, tending toward shorter works because of time constraints. The compositions on this recording include song cycles; a suite for saxophone and piano; a cello sonata; a work for chamber ensemble; and a work for narrator and piano.

Composer Erik Lindgren describes the music on this recording as chamber music for the Now Generation. The compositions span a ten-year period of creativity that concludes with the celebration of his 60th birthday. His post-fifty musical life took on a noticeable shift in priorities -- notably his return to writing acoustic music and the influence that Piazzolla and Ginastera had on his aesthetic focus. Every piece on this recording tells a custom-tailored story, and is a unique little microcosm all unto itself. The sense of fun, playfulness and entertainment radiates from each of them. Lindgren studied at Tufts University, the Guildhall School of Music, and the University of Iowa. He is the founder of Sounds Interesting Productions, a commercial recording studio and music production company. He also is a founding member of the new music ensemble Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. His catalog includes more than six dozen works, ranging from solo piano pieces to chamber music to orchestral compositions.

The fifth recording on Albany Records devoted to the music of Allen Shawn features his compositions for cello and includes works for cello duo, cello quartet, and cello and piano. Shawn attributes this recording to the influence of hearing cellist Maxine Neuman perform and her enthusiasm for contemporary music. Neuman participated in the world premiere performances of all of the works on the recording and all but one were composed specifically for her. Born in 1948, Allen Shawn grew up in a literary family. He has been on the faculty at Bennington College for 30 years. He is also an active pianist and the author of four books. He has been a recipient of both a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship, and an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Passing Through is the third recording devoted to composer Gernot Wolfgang's chamber music compositions. Ever since Wolfgang became interested in contemporary classical music, the prospect of integrating grooves from musical styles such as jazz, rock & roll, pop, world music and electronica into his concert works has intrigued him. The works on this CD contain such grooves as the means of providing forward propulsion, generating additional energy, and also simply for the fun of it. Gernot Wolfgang has been described by Gramophone as a composer with a "winning sonic arsenal," while jazz legend Dave Brubeck characterized his music as being of "unconventional beauty." Born in Austria, Gernot Wolfgang holds degrees from Berklee College of Music, the University of Music in Graz, and the University of Southern California. The recipient of numerous commissions, his music has been performed by major orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. He has taught at the University of Music in Graz and given masterclasses at UCLA, Texas Tech University, University of Music in Vienna and Instrumenta Verano in Oaxaca. He also works as an orchestrator in the film and TV music industry. A stellar group of Los-Angeles based musicians perform on this disc, including Judith Farmer, bassoon; oboist Jennifer Johnson; pianists Joanne Pearce Martin and Robert Thies; and the Eclipse and New Hollywood String Quartets.

Three phenomenal musicians (Michael Thornton, horn; Yumi Hwang-Williams, violin; Andrew Litton, piano) perform a program of works for horn, violin, and piano inspired by Brahms’ famous composition. The four movements of Eric Ewazen's Trio are modeled after the Brahms, with a four-movement, slow-fast-slow-fast scheme. Daniel Kellog's A Glorious Morning was commissioned by horn player Michael Thornton to accompany the recording of Brahms' Trio. Thornton is principal horn of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and is an avid chamber musician and a recognized soloist internationally. Yumi Hwang-Williams is concertmaster as well as frequent soloist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and was concertmaster of the Cabrillo Music Festival for 12 years. Conductor/pianist Andrew Litton is newly appointed music director of the New York City Ballet as well as music director of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Their performances of this repertoire are exciting and inspired.

Many of the most unique and creative international composers of the past 40 years have used the violin as a canvas or laboratory. Eric Rynes, who has been hailed for his “committed,” “intrepid,” and “achingly beautiful” performances in diverse styles and genres, has recorded an album of extraordinarily diverse contemporary works for solo violin and violin with computer-realized sounds, from Elliott Carter’s playful depiction of a three-way argument in Riconoscenza, to Helmut Lachenmann’s turning the violin inside-out in Toccatina, to the otherworldly contrasting soundscapes of Scelsi’s L’âme ouverte and Xenakis’s Mikka. The title of Mikka and Other Assorted Love Songs is more than just a wink to a legendary rock album; it also conveys how Rynes performs this music. Rynes is concertmaster of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra and primary violinist of the Seattle Modern Orchestra; he has given recitals in Berlin, Barcelona, Belfast, and several other cities, and made guest appearances with rock and jazz groups. He maintains a parallel career as a senior computational scientist at the Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences in Seattle.

Randy Bauer (b. 1975) is a composer and jazz musician based in Minneapolis. His music has been performed across a range of cities and venues from Austin to Zagreb by the Brentano String Quartet, eighth blackbird, Nash Ensemble of London and many other distinguished new music ensembles. He was named a 2013-14 McKnight Foundation Fellow by the McKnight Foundation of Minnesota. He has also received recognition from DownBeat, and the Jazz Composers Alliance. Bauer has won the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer's Award as well as three ASCAP/Morton Gould Awards. On the faculty at Macalester College, he studied at Peabody, and Princeton. This disc contains three of his recent works (the oldest written in 2010). One can hear a range of influences and a sort of hybridity between the genres of jazz and classical music. His compositions are imbued with considerable lyricism, while also experimenting with hybrid forms and complex narratives.

Flutist James Pellerite, having retired from a highly successful career as performer and teacher, became captivated in the 1990s by the Native American flute, and has now virtually single-handedly reinvented the playing of the instrument by commissioning dozens of composers to write for it. The resulting new works have necessitated Pellerite to develop new techniques for the instrument. His legacy for the instrument is both an entire body of literature and the development of techniques necessary to perform the new works. This recording is intended to showcase the Native American flute in its ability to blend in and contrast with a variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles in a range of contemporary styles. It is hoped that the listener will gain a new appreciation of this instrument through the disparate approach to writing for it by the six composers whose music is featured here, and the artistry brought to these works by James Pellerite, the man who re-imagined the Native American flute.

Born in Iran, composer Reza Vali studied at the Conservatory of Music in Tehran, the Academy of Music in Vienna and the University of Pittsburgh, where he received his Ph.D. He has been a faculty member of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University since 1988. The recipient of numerous honors and commissions, including the honor prize of the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Sciences, his music has been performed by orchestras and ensembles around the U.S., including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Kronos Quartet, and Da Capo Chamber Players, among many others. His music appears on the Naxos, New Albion, MMC, Ambassador, ABC Classics, and Albany Records labels. In 2001, Vali broke away from the European music system and started composing music based on the Iranian Dastgâh/Maghâm system. To explore his goals of replacing the European equal temperament tuning system; European polyphony; European musical form; and utilizing rhythmic cycles of the Dastgâh/Maghâm system, Vali started composing a series of chamber work using the title Calligraphy. This recording contains all twelve of his Calligraphies, composed between 2000 and 2011.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.