Catalog

The big draw for this disc is the fact that Robert J. Lurtsema from WGBH' s Morning Pro Musica does the narration. For 27 years he has been known to classical music lovers everywhere. Ronald Perera was born in Boston and studied with Leon Kirchner and Randall Thompson. Today he is Elsie Irwin Sweeney Professor at Smith College. The text of The Outermost House is taken from Henry Beston's A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod written in 1928. Though the book produced only modest initial sales, its readership continued to grow, and after World War II it began to achieve something of a cult status. Rachel Carson said that it was the only book that influenced her writing. Today it is generally acknowledged as a classic of American nature writing, and many of Beston's words have become part of the modern environmental credo: "The world today is sick to its thin blood for lack of elemental things." "Creation is here and now." "Touch the earth, love the earth, honor the earth." Ronald Perera's The Outermost House received its premiere on November 16, 1991 with the Chatham Chorale. Canticle of the Sun by Saint Francis of Assisi was commissioned for the one hundredth anniversary in 1984 of Groton School, a venerable independent secondary school in Massachusetts with a religious affiliation symbolized by a splendid gothic chapel in which the piece was premiered on April 21, 1985.

The versatile Duehlmeier-Gritton Duo has met with accolades throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East as they have performed works from Bach to Stravinsky. Most recent engagements have taken them to Asia for performances in Nanjing, China; Austria for a recital at Bosendorfer Hall in Vienna; Poland for a performance at the Autumn Warsaw Festival, and many other locations. They have also performed on the Dame Myra Hess series in both Chicago and Los Angeles where their recitals were broadcast on Public Radio. Orchestral performances include numerous collaborations with the Utah Symphony, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Czech Radio Symphony and the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. Their recording of the Henry Wolking Concerto for Two Pianos, 'Letting Midnight Out on Bail,' was nominated for a Grammy in 2002. In fact, the Wolking Midnight Jazz Suite on this new CD is extracted from that Concerto. Susan Duehlmeier studied with Leonard Shure at Boston University and Bonnie Gritton studied with Aube Tzerko at the University of California at Los Angeles, and they met at the University of Utah as faculty members. With shared musical training in the Schnabel tradition and similar tastes in repertoire, their musical partnership was launched.

While the first piano made its appearance in China in the late 19th century, Chinese piano composition did not begin until the 1930s. The common thread with the music on this compact disc is the use of traditional Chinese elements and their manifestation of a Chinese spirit. The music selected, spanning the period from the 1930s to 2007, traces the formation and development of a true Chinese style of piano writing. Pianist Tianshu Wang has been acclaimed by the press as a "superbly talented pianist" who plays with "prodigious technique and eloquent phrasing." A Steinway artist, Ms. Wang has performed across the U.S., China, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan. She is on the faculty of Capital University's Conservatory of Music as well as the Shenyang Conservatory of Music in China.

Before departing for New York to conduct the premier of Pirates on New Year's Eve, 1879, Sullivan had completed sketches for the first act, intending to finish the opera after his voyage. Upon arrival, he discovered he'd left the first act at home. Following an all-night reconstruction, the New York rehearsals began while the composer hastily created the second act, finishing everything only hours before the premiere. The show as a success and ran for more than three months. The Pirates of Penzance remains popular today, taking its place along with The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore as one of the most frequently played Gilbert and Sullivan operas.

A magical new recital featuring the world-première recording of Britten’s only Russian-language cycle The Poet’s Echo in the English-language translation that Peter Pears crafted during the period of the cycle’s composition in Yerevan, Armenia (1965). Tenor Justin Vickers and pianist John Orfe essay important performances of Britten’s Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo alongside Britten’s mysterious Goethe setting, “Um Mitternacht” (1960). This rich recital release introduces two additional world-première song cycles composed for Vickers. In the Six Chinese Songs (2019-2020) composed by Colin Matthews in memory of the tenor’s father John E. Vickers (1942–2017), we hear Matthews’s reflections on his own musical father, Britten, for whom Matthews served as the last musical assistant. In John David Earnest’s Songs of Hadrian (2014), we enter the world of second-century Roman Emperor Hadrian and his love and ultimate grief and madness over his eromenos Antinous. The disc concludes with a work Vickers uncovered in the Britten–Pears Library in its world-première recording: the “Epilogue” (1945) to The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, which Britten cut from the cycle. This is a recording that is a must-have for Britten devotees and finds American tenor Justin Vickers at the top of his craft, accompanied by one of America’s most accomplished pianists in John Orfe (of the acclaimed ensemble Alarm Will Sound).

This recording's selections exemplify many of the features found throughout the extensive but largely little known body of Polish violin-keyboard writing. The wide stylistic variety parallels the diversity within Poland's cultural traditions shaped, in turn, by a long history of frequently changed borders and territorial makeup. Starting long before Poland's culturally progressive "Golden Age" (mid 15th-16th centuries), these connections occurred through trade, religious, intellectual, artistic, marriage and other contacts. As a result, this music, like the rest of Poland's culture, is generally western-oriented but sometimes includes distinctive eastern elements. Folk elements are often equally important. Most obvious is the use of Polish dances, e.g. the mazurka, but dance-related rhythmic figures, or their characteristic accents on normally less-strong beats or rhythmic subdivisions are often transplanted to non-dance settings. The historical association of Polish folk traditions with fiddles and then the violin itself (long Poland's most popular folk instrument), is so close that Poland's classical violin performance tradition reaching back to c. 1500 can also be considered to be an extension of her much longer folk practice. While the earliest of Poland's many widely-famous violinists date from the 19th century, numbers of Polish violinists were already known for their high level of performing throughout Europe in the 16th century. Likewise, effective keyboard writing on this CD reflects a rich Polish keyboard tradition, sometimes with the composer being either a performing pianist (like Chopin and Paderewski) or able to play the instrument with a high degree of accomplishment (Bacewicz).

North America's foremost wind quintet, the Prairie Winds, combines the artistry of five virtuoso musicians from the Chicago Symphony and the faculties of the University of Illinois, Oklahoma State University, and Wheaton Conservatory. The music in this collection represents some of the finest wind quintet music written by North American composers. The richness and diversity of the past century's music is evident through the warmth and lyricism of the quintets of Barber, Persichetti and Copland, the mischievous tongue waggling and technical challenge of John Harbison's writing, and the pathos of Jacques Hetu's Quintette. All the music is powerful, comical, and personal, but most of all, it is the sounds of 20th century North America.

To celebrate their 100th anniversary, the Pro Arte Quartet commissioned works from four distinguished American composers (Walter Mays, Paul Schoenfield, William Bolcom and John Harbison), which were given their world premiere performances in 2011-2012. The Pro Arte Quartet was founded in 1911-12 by teenage prodigies who were students at the Brussels Conservatory. Stranded in the USA in 1940 by the outbreak of World War II, the Quartet became established at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where they became the first professional string quartet in residence at an American university. In all, the Quartet has commissioned more than 100 new works so it was fitting that the centerpiece of their centennial celebration include commissions, performances and recordings of these new works.

Jeffrey Mumford was born in Washington, D.C. and has been conspicuously active in that city's musical life. His music has been performed throughout the United States and abroad and the present CD was preceded by one on the CRI label, similarly devoted to his chamber music. Honors, awards, fellowships and commissions have come to him from many prestigious sources. Following a year as composer-in-residence at Bowling Green State University's College of Musical Arts, Mumford joined the faculty of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in the fall of 2000. Two of Mumford's orchestral works - the celebratory fanfare Within a cloudburst of echoing brightness (1995) and Amid the light of quickening memory (2003) were commissioned and introduced by the National Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin. These titles are characteristic for Mumford. He has shunned traditional sonatas and symphonies in favor of music that tends to define its own shape and substance, and his titles allude to the impressions or moods behind the creative impulse. References to light, radiance and resonance are as abundant in his titles as references to angels in the works of Einojuhani Rautavaara and Augusta Read Thomas. Mumford has stated that his music in general is "inspired by cloud imagery, light and the unique aspects of the energy that characterize the various times of day." While his works are generated from such impressions, they are not tone poems in the conventional sense of "painting pictures" or delineating action, and listeners would be well advised to avoid seeking or expecting specific images in them.

This album of art songs seeks to center a repertoire that is often left on the margins and neglected on concert programs. The Reaction charts new territory in recording many previously unrecorded works by Black composers for the low male voice, and showcases a wide range of languages and styles that exist for this genre. Bass-baritone Carl DuPont is equally engaged in performing, teaching, and research. He has sung a wide range of roles with the Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Carolina, Opera Company of Brooklyn, and Cedar Rapids Opera, among many others. DuPont is a graduate of Eastman, Indiana University and the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. He is on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His collaborator, pianist Gregory Thompson, is on the faculty at Winston-Salem State University. He has performed as a solo and collaborative artist in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He is head of staff pianists for the University of Miami at Salzburg Summer Program.

Jeremy Reynolds has recorded the complete works of David Maslanka for clarinet. The 2-CD set includes world premiere recordings of Fourth Piece, Eternal Garden, Trio No. 1, Trio No. 3, and Images from the "Old Gringo." David Maslanka, who died in 2017, was not only a noted composer, but much loved and admired, particularly by wind and brass players. This recording project, which began in 2008, had the benefit of countless hours of collaboration between Maslanka and the musicians. Hailed as a "wizard of sound" Jeremy Reynolds is on the faculty at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music and is associate principal clarinet of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. He has performed on six continents, making his Carnegie Hall Debut in 2015 and has concertized extensively around the world. His collaborators include pianist Heidi Brende Leathwood, violinist Yumi Hwang-Williams, and violist Basil Vendryes — all of whom are on the faculty of the Lamont School of Music. An interview with Matthew Maslanka can be found on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MI667gKMHDU.

Producer Charles Dillingham constructed a rotating red mill sign with electric lights outside the Knickerbocker Theater to signal the premiere of The Red Mill on September 24, 1906. The next day, the New York Herald proclaimed "The Red Mill will grind its grist of mirth, music and melody for a long time to come," a prophecy borne out by 274 Broadway performances and an extensive tour. A 1945 revival at the Ziegfeld Theater enjoyed an even longer run of 531 performances. Henry Blossom fashioned the text for Herbert to highlight the vaudeville antics of the celebrated comedy pair of Montgomery and Stone, who had triumphed earlier as the Scarecrow and the Tin Man in a stage version of The Wizard of Oz. Their names appeared in ads for the new musical at a size which dwarfed both the composer's and even the musical's title. The Times declared The Red Mill to be a show "to cheer the heart, delight the eye, charm the ear, tickle the fancy and wreath the face in smiles." Irish by birth, Victor Herbert became an American citizen, served as principal cellist with the Metropolitan Orchestra, later soloed in his own compositions under such renowned conductors as Walter Damrosch and Anton Seidl and also conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony. It is interesting to note that Victor Herbert orchestrated standing up. He often said standing up was the only thing that kept him awake. It has also been said that Herbert was a Sullivan without a Gilbert, meaning his librettos were much weaker than the music, although Henry Blossom, the librettist for The Red Mill was probably the best of the lot.

The Refuge is the fruition of the Houston Grand Opera's commitment to connect with its community. The brainchild of General Director Anthony Freud, the idea was to commission an opera based on the experiences of the ethnically-varied immigrants who make Houston their home. The libretto, written by Leah Lax, is based on the oral histories of families from Africa, Central America, Vietnam, Pakistan and India who have made their way to Houston and made it their home. Their courageous journeys make this an American opera in the truest sense. Their stores are eloquently captured in music by the Houston-native, Christopher Theofanidis.

William McClelland grew up near Goodison, Michigan, and received a degree in composition from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His works have been commissioned and presented by ensembles and organizations throughout the US and internationally. As a performer McClelland has played keyboards for productions at the New York Shakespeare Festival and Dance Theater Workshop, and has premiered works by composers including Carl Ruggles and John Cage. He has taught piano at the University of Massachusetts (Boston) and was director of the music program at the Elizabeth Seeger School in New York City. He is leader of the jazz septet The Feetwarmers for which he writes, plays piano and sings. He lives in North Bergen, New Jersey, and, in addition to music, has been active in many environmental efforts.

The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, called the Shakers, came to the New World in 1774. Ann Lee Standerin, called Mother Ann by her followers, traveled to America with seven disciples to establish the Shaker religion in the New World. The group was so named because of fervent prayer rituals in which they entered into trance-like states Ñ twitching, shaking, whirling, singing and dancing, seeking transcendence from the burdens of sin. A gentle, highly ethical people there were, at the height of the movement in 1850, 6,000 Shakers, a number that began to decline after industrialization took over. Because the Shakers believed the human voice to be the perfect instrument for the expression to God, they were prolific composers. It is said that there are over 10,000 hymns in existence. This unique disc presents both original hymns and modern American works based on the materials. Fittingly, the first of these is one that is beloved by many: Aaron Copland's setting of Simple Gifts.

This is a wonderful collection for fans of American composers and choral works alike. Stephen Shewan writes music in all media but has a special affinity for vocal and ensemble works (these can be heard on an earlier Albany release, TROY149). The Celebration Overture, written in honor of the 50th anniversary of KUHF-FM, Houston, Texas, is both celebratory and optimistic. Much of the same spirit carries over to For Dancing Hearts and Tunes while the two other choral pieces reflect a more meditative mood. Randall Thompson didn't compose a particularly large catalog of works but his choral works (which can be heard by these same forces on TROY362) and his beloved Symphony No.2 have assured him a place in the American repertoire. Frostiana, based on Robert Frost poems, is as perfect an example of his charm and nationalistic spirit as one could hope to hear. Ron Nelson writes some of the most exuberant music for band ever composed, and you might remember his wonderfully breezy Savannah River Holiday recorded so many years ago by Howard Hanson. The Te Deum was commissioned by the United States Air Force Band and Singing Sergeants. It is a work full of color, splendor and rich sonorities. Finally we have a work by the Czech-born Nelhybel, a truly prolific composer (over 400 published works) who really deserves greater exposure. The Psalm 150 is a rich, reverent work. The Roberts Wesleyan College Chorale is noted for its unique sound and performs regularly with the Rochester Philharmonic in a wide-ranging repertoire.

In his third recording for Albany Records, the spectacular horn player, Eric Ruske, presents a program of concertos for French horn written by the Romantic composers Reinhold GliFre, Franz Strauss and Richard Strauss. According to Ruske, "...the Romantic era of musical composition ushered in a golden period for the horn as a solo instrument.... With the chromatic possibilities and technical advances that were made possible by the addition of valves in the early 19th century, the horn made its resurgence as a solo vehicle." Eric Ruske has established himself as an artist of international acclaim. Named Associate Principal horn of The Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 20, he also toured and recorded extensively during his six-year tenure as hornist of the Empire Brass Quintet. His impressive solo career began when he won the 1986 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, First Prize in the 1987 American Horn Competition, and in 1988, the highest prize in the Concours International d'InterprTtation Musicale in Reims, France. His discography includes solo recordings for Telarc, Musical Heritage Society, Fleur de Son, and Albany Records. An Associate Professor and member of the faculty of Boston University since 1990, Mr. Ruske also directs the Horn Seminar at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.

In the compositions here, composer Graham Gordon Ramsay aims to rethink a variety of familiar sacred texts in a fresh way. His music not only challenges but also welcomes the listeners, stimulating as well as being provocative and engaging. Born in California in 1962, Ramsay received musical training at the Tanglewood Institute, Boston University and the Fontainebleau School in France. This recording represents a two-year collaboration between the composer and conductor/organist Heinrich Christensen. Christensen has been a longtime advocate of Ramsay's music and has premiered several of the pieces on this recording. Known for his modern yet tuneful style, Ramsay writes predominantly for solo voice, chorus, solo instruments and chamber ensembles. His music has been performed in settings ranging from the Chapel at Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark to the Basilica of San Simpliciano in Milan, Italy.

"Over 28 years have passed since the premiere of The Seagull, half a lifetime for me. Of my 17 operas, it remains my favorite child. The musical atmosphere has changed greatly in the interim and the lyric, romantically tonal is no longer the exception, but now the standard. Critics are no longer shocked by a flow of melody from composers, and the love of audiences for a new work is no longer suspect. For this production, I have written two new interludes to accompany the act divisions and stagecraft. As I wrote them, I was flooded with the feelings of my 26 year old self and so grateful that this opera has survived and is still being produced. It has been twenty years since I have written an opera and I have in all that time refused to do so. But now, my heart and mind have changed and as I poured over the score for this New York production, and in preparation for next season's in San Francisco, I begin to hear faintly in the back of my mind... music...operatic music. Perhaps soon, there might be number 18."

Recorded at the premiere performance by the Center for Contemporary Opera in March, 2011, The Secret Agent, with libretto by J.D. McClatchy based on Joseph Conrad's story, has since been presented at the Armel Opera Festival in Hungary and the Opéra Théatre d'Avignon in France. Though the original story was written in 1907, it remains chillingly relevant today in our terror-haunted world. OnStage noted that " in the tradition of "Makropulos Affair," "From the House of the Dead," "Wozzeck" and "Pelléas et Mélisande"— its music is urgent, agitated and intense, with occasional lyrical interludes." This is composer Michael Dellaira's third opera and his first collaboration with the noted librettist J.D. McClatchy.

Although he was one of the most important British composers of the mid-20th century, during his lifetime Bernard Stevens attracted rather less attention than some of his contemporaries. He was a fine pianist; however composition became his preoccupation after study in the 1930s with E.J. Dent at Cambridge University and R.O. Morris at the Royal College of Music in London. Here Stevens gained the highest awards and later became a distinguished professor. Stevens was highly respected within the musical world. He composed steadily, and his works were performed; but it was more or less inevitable that his professed left-wing sympathies and intellectual and moral integrity sometimes brought him into conflict with the attitudes of the British musical establishment. Despite his solid academic record, Stevens was anything but academic in style, personality and convictions. The two works presented here are the final two vocal compositions that he composed. He adapted the libretto himself for The Shadow of the Glen, from the play by John Millington Synge.

Since their first performance in Carnegie Hall in 2007, saxophonist Christopher Creviston and pianist Hannah Gruber have been guests on series and festivals across the United States. Active proponents of new music, they have commissioned works by Katherine Hoover, John Fitz Rogers and Gregory Wanamaker, among others. A former New York freelancer, Christopher Creviston is on the faculty of the Crane School of Music. He has appeared in venues ranging from Carnegie and Merkin to Paisley Park and the Apollo Theatre. In addition to his work with Hannah Gruber, Creviston performs regularly with the Capitol Quartet.

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.

An American original, John Jacob Niles was a composer, performer, and author. Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1892, he came from a musical family. While working with a surveying team in eastern Kentucky as a teenager, he kept a notebook in which he recorded lyrics and music of old folk songs known in the area. Niles served as a U.S. Army pilot in World War I and made numerous reconnaissance flights until he suffered serious injuries in a plane crash. After the war he studied music at the University of Lyon, the Schola Cantorium in Paris and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He renewed his search for folk songs in Appalachia as he accompanied noted photographer Doris Ulmann on her travels. He composed and arranged more than 1,000 songs, many of them made famous by Jo Stafford. These songs of our American heritage are beautifully sung by Hope Koehler.

Larry Nelson was born in Broken Bow, Nebraska in 1944. Since 1971 he has served on the faculty of the School of Music at West Chester University, where he teaches theory and composition. He is also co-director of the Evenings of New Music Series that has served since 1972 to bring new music to the college campus. He has established close ties with musical audiences throughout the country but with a particular focus around Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania. He has composed works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, orchestra and the electronic medium. In describing his music Nelson says, "I utilize mathematical strategies or formal systems and I use computer technology in the creation of my music while, at the same time, my music is very much grounded in traditional concepts of lyricism and harmonic motion." A reviewer described Nelson's music as "having an open and easy approach to tonality- neither insisting on it nor rejecting it. Musical intuition is supplemented by the exploration of formal systems but always in a songful manner." Here's another, specific description of one of the works on this new release, Danceable Haze: "This one movement work expresses some of my recent explorations of body-felt rhythm, our natural foot-tapping connection to the music. The music moves from fast, highly syncopated ensemble chords to slow vamp-oriented music under virtuosic solos and duos."

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.

First performed in 1986 by the Des Moines Opera with Jacque Trussel as Caliban, the opera has come full circle with this recording of the Purchase Opera where Jacque Trussel served as director. Hoiby, born in Wisconsin in 1926, was infused with operatic ambitions during his studies at Curtis with Gian Carlo Menotti. He has written a number of operas, including several on Albany Records (A Month in the Country, Bon Appetit!, and This Is the Rill Speaking).

By the early 1950s, Aaron Copland had become a skilled composer of dramatic music for the stage and screen, with five ballets and seven film scores to his credit. In fact, Copland judged his film work to have been "excellent preparation for operatic writing. At the time I was composing for films, I believed that it was a new form of dramatic music, related to opera, ballet and theatre music, and that it should be explored for its own unique possibilities". Thus, all the elements were in place for Copland's consideration of a commission offered him by the League of Composers in 1952. They were seeking to follow up the enormous success of Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors on NBC Television Theatre during the 1951 Christmas holidays with another television opera, again to be produced and broadcast by NBC. When the opera was finished, NBC reneged on the production without offering any substantive reasons, and the completed opera, nearly two years in the making would have remained unperformed, had not the New York City Center Opera decided to present the premiere of this prominent composer's work. However, the cavernous space of City Center dwarfed the intimate television opera. The result was a lukewarm initial response from the critics and crowds. Basically the music was praised and the libretto was criticized. As the years passed, many realized that the scope of The Tender Land is perfect for smaller budgets and budding talents. Copland himself acknowledged that a college production is perhaps the most congenial atmosphere for this opera. How pleased we are to be able to present this wonderful recording by the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre. Accompanied by the full orchestra, conducted by the fine American conductor, Kirk Trevor, it is marvelous.

This disc features concert recordings of performances given between 1986 and 1995, including the historic 90th birth celebration "Remembering Leo" held on February 21, 1986. The Throne of God, Interlude, and God Mounts His Throne are all world premiere recordings (The Throne of God lasts over 45 minutes). William Ferris, a student and dear friend of Leo Sowerby writes: "Leo Sowerby is remembered today as America's foremost composer of Organ and liturgical music, but during the first part of the century he was among our most often performed symphonic composers. His intensely personal and highly individual style requires a long familiarity and sensitivity in performance, and when such care is expended, a compelling, powerful, daring and original music emerges. The Throne of God has proved to be the towering masterwork of Sowerby's mature period. Filled with brilliant choral and Orchestral writing, it is in many ways a perfect summation of the daring inventiveness and heartfelt sincerity found in Sowerby's previous compositions, both sacred and secular. After its premiere on November 18, 1957, Paul Hume, the music critic for the Washington Post wrote: "applause contrary to all tradition, shattered the sacred precincts of Washington Cathedral last night to honor a great living composer. Sowerby, a Pulitzer Prize winner, has given Washington Cathedral a worthy momento of its anniversary." The Throne of God is a huge work, certain to change people's impression of Sowerby and his music.

This is a recording of new American music for wind ensemble and brass expertly performed by the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble and Triton Brass. The oldest work on the program was written in 2004 by Nico Muhly. Lansing McLoskey's works were written in 2007 and 2011, as was Justin Barish's and the most recent work by Keith Kusterer was written in 2013. Indeed these are all extremely talented composers, whose careers span teaching at Miami Frost School of Music and winning the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (McLoskey); collaborating with singer Bjork on her DVD and writing an opera for the Metropolitan Opera (Muhly); winning the John Lennon Songwriting Competition and the 2012 Boston Conservatory Wind Competition (Kusterer); and being featured at the Focus Under 40 Boston Conservatory New Music Festival (Barish).

" In Canada, Schafer has won national and international acclaim not only for his achievement as a composer but also as an educator, environmentalist, literary scholar, visual artist and provocateur. Through his unique explorations of the relationships between music, performer, audience and setting, he has expanded the potential and appreciation of music and its place in the arts and culture of our time. The texts of the songs in A Medieval Bestiary are based on T.H. White's translation of a Latin bestiary dating from the 12th century. In the Middle Ages bestiaries were serious works of natural history. They were anonymous compilations of what was known or presumed about the characteristics and habits of animals, both real, and mythological. Because they were compiled by churchmen, the behavior of animals frequently seemed to point up an instructive moral for humans. The highlight of this disc is Menotti's The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore. Here is one of Menotti's most accomplished works. It was commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation and calls for chorus, dancers and nine instrumentalists. The text focuses on a well-to-do, but eccentric man in a castle and presents his life in three stages, his youth, middle and old age. Three unusual pets symbolize these stages - a unicorn, a gorgon and a manticore. Today, in his 90th year, Gian Carlo Menotti is one of the world's finest composers. It is a pleasure to welcome this delightful music back to the catalog.

All composers of vocal music struggle to find texts suitable for musical setting. The search for words that ignite invention, inspire harmony, dictate rhythm, and suggest texture - all the while submitting to purely musical exigencies of form - is a perpetual and integral part of the creative process. Though the songs on this CD focus specifically on manifestations of love - infatuation, passion, anxiety, fidelity, betrayal, delusion, loneliness and reminiscence - their texts come from a wide range of sources. The larger theme is nonetheless poignantly epitomized by a phrase from James Joyce, The Unquiet Heart, which tells of the unsettled, unnamable and unutterable sensations we all experience in our lifelong search for love. Karen Smith Emerson's extensive concert career has included performances with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Boston Music Viva and the Marlboro Festival. Equally at home in music of the Baroque and early Classical music, she has performed leading roles in operas by Gluck, Handel and Mozart.