Catalog

Vanessa Sielert and Catherine Anderson formed Duality to commission and perform new works for saxophone and piano as well as to challenge the listener and the performer. This recording contains some of those commissions as well as arrangements of popular compositions that are treated in a new and interesting manner. Saxophonist Vanessa Sielert is on the faculty at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho. She studied at the University of Idaho, Baylor University, and the University of Illinois. She has performed with a wide range of performing groups — jazz ensembles, orchestras, and chamber ensembles. Pianist Catherine Anderson, a former faculty member at the Lionel Hampton School of Music, is in demand as an independent collaborative artist throughout the Pacific Northwest.

M.C. Maguire is a composer/producer who has created a very quirky post-modern hybrid that combines classical, pop, jazz, electro-acoustic, and world music traditions. He works primarily in his studio's multi-track environment combining live recording, sampling, synths, exotic plugins, and digital editing possibilities. The finished product usually consists of a rigid, hierarchical, multi-layered construct, which is mathematically proportioned to reflect the philosophical/psychological thrust of each individual work's raison d'etre. A Teenage Dream for piano & CPU is based on four songs by Katy Perry; while Sade auf Kashmir for cello and CPU is based on the concept of the sonic intertwining of Sade's No Ordinary Love with Led Zeppelin's Kashmir.

Composer Daniel Thomas Davis says that Family Secrets: Kith and Kin emerged as a series of loosely related portraits, using poetry and prose by seven of the finest writers currently working in and around the Southern voices of American literature. This musical drama is a hybrid form -- an opera on top of chamber music, or a song cycle inside a monodrama -- perhaps best described as a chamber opera. Davis' music has been performed by the Detroit Symphony, Momenta Quartet, London Sinfonietta, Charlotte Symphony, and Anonymous 4, among many others. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Royal Academy of Music, Peabody Conservatory, and Johns Hopkins University and is on the faculty at SUNY Binghamton. Soprano Andrea Moore is a prizewinner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has received the Yale School of Music Alumni Award. Her commitment to voices from her native North Carolina has led her to produce, premiere, and develop Family Secrets: Kith and Kin with the North Carolina Opera.

This is a recording of reimagined masterworks arranged for brass quintet by Chris Van Hof. The idea of dance is a significant influence throughout, highlighting Baroque forms such as rigaudon and minuet, popular Central and South American dance genres, and selections from ballet scenes. The Emerald Brass (Brett Long and Max Matzen, trumpets; Leslie Hart, horn; Chris Van Hof, trombone; T.J. Ricer, tuba) was established at the Eastman School of Music where all the members were graduate student colleagues. The Emerald Brass Quintet has gained recognition as a dynamic and virtuosic collection of performers and educators and has performed and presented masterclasses throughout the U.S. Members of the quintet serve on the faculties of Utah State University, Ball State University, East Tennessee State University, University of Hawaii, and Santa Clara University.

The esteemed American composer Ezra Laderman (1924-2015) composed more than 300 works, which were performed by major orchestras, chamber ensembles, and soloists throughout the United States. His music incorporated a lyrical style into a contemporary context, using tonal material in combination with atonal, polytonal, or aleatoric elements, while seeking out unusual formal structures for his music. This recording contains the first recordings of Laderman's music composed between 2002 and 2013 and complements the nine recordings of his music on Albany Records. Laderman's many honors include three Guggenheim fellowships and the Rome Prize. He was Dean of the Yale School of Music from 1989 to 1995 and served as Director of the Music Program for the National Endowment of the Arts, and President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among many other prestigious appointments.

JoDee Davis wanted to expand the repertoire for the trombone with this recording and commissioned four composers for new works (Victoria Bond, Jennifer Higdon, Paul Rudy, and Kevin Cerovich). Then she rounded out the recording with trios for three trombones. Davis is on the faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory and performs with the Trilogy Brass Trio and the Kansas City Symphony. She was principal trombone of the Spokane Symphony and second trombone of the Santa Fe Opera. She has presented recitals and master classes through the United States and at the Musik Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen. She is a graduate of Indiana University and the University of Northern Iowa. This is her second recording for Albany Records. Her collaborators on this recording include pianist Dan Velicer and trombonists Davin Bennett and Daniel Marion.

There are few pre-1900 examples of violin and piano sonatas by American composers. The most celebrated are ones by Amy Beach and Arthur Foote. Less familiar is one by Rubin Goldmark from the same period and an even more rare work is a sonata by Alexander Reinagle dating from the 1790s. Violinist Ting-Lan Chen and pianist Nathan Buckner perform these two rarely heard sonatas on this recording. Chen, a Taiwan native, has performed around the world as a soloist and recitalist, including appearances at the White House and United Nations. A graduate of Taipei National University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, she is on the faculty at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. Nathan Buckner, also on the faculty at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, studied at Juilliard, Indiana University, and the University of Maryland. He has performed in major venues throughout the United States, as well as in Belarus, China, England, and Mexico, among many others.

We Are, recorded by the Miami University Men's Glee Club is a continuation of their initiative to advance the male choral art through repertoire written in the 21st century. The music included on this recording, written by nearly all living composers, expresses a variety of musical offerings with a diverse palate of colors, techniques, and styles that focus on the resiliency of the human spirit. The Miami University Men's Glee Club has maintained a longstanding tradition of musical excellence and, through its artistry, passion, and relevancy, this recording is no exception. Founded in 1907, the chorus has toured 19 states and 11 countries and has appeared in concert at numerous conferences of professional choral organizations. Under the leadership of conductor Jeremy D. Jones, the group has won awards and critical acclaim, including First Place and Overall Grand Champion awards at the Concours Européen de Chant Choral in Luxembourg. This is their second recording on Albany Records.

David Claman is on the faculty of Lehman College-CUNY. A graduate of Wesleyan, the University of Colorado, and Princeton, he has received grants, commissions, and fellowships from numerous organizations, including the Fromm Foundation and the American Institute of Indian Studies. This recording offers an overview of his passions and interests — including the poetry and sentiments of Tamil sayings from the first century A.D., the compositions of South Indian composer Syama Sastri; Moby Dick; and The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. His composition armory includes consumer electronics, conventional instruments, and live improvisation.

Joseph Marx (1882-1964) was a bit of a musical late-bloomer. He earned a doctorate in 1909, having studied philosophy, art history, and German studies, and only later adding musicology. Castigated for his seeming cooperation with the Nazis, he also spoke out against the avant-garde, which he believed had ushered in the decay of Austrian musical culture. Among his works, there is a trove of more than 150 songs. In their time, his songs were loved and championed by famous Austrian singers but he and his music came to be largely ignored. Soprano Kendra Colton is a versatile singer who performs repertoire from Baroque opera and oratorio to contemporary music and enjoys an active performing career. Pianist Laura Ward is co-artistic director of Lyric Fest and is a distinguished collaborative pianist.

Thea Musgrave (b. 1928) grew up in Scotland, but has lived in the U.S. since the early 1970s. She is renowned for her ability to create dramatic, expressive music for any musical medium, from solo works and a huge output of varied chamber music, to the large scale concertos and operas with which she made her mark. This recording explores her music for oboe that was composed over a 60 year span. Oboist Elizabeth Sullivan is on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is active as a recitalist, orchestral musician and pedagogue. Sullivan is a graduate of Stetson University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her collaborators include flutist Rebecca Johnson, assistant professor at Eastern Illinois University, pianist Cara Chowning, and clarinetist Jessica Lindsey, also on the faculty at UNC Charlotte.

Roque Cordero is universally acknowledged as Panama's finest composer. He was, in addition, an impassioned educator, writer, and conductor whose accomplishments were honored with numerous awards and commissions. His frequent and enthusiastic participation in international music festivals and organizations gave him a prominent place in the community of Latin American composers during the second half of the 20th century. Cordero's output comprises more than 80 compositions, the majority for chamber ensemble or orchestra. Vietnamese-American pianist Tuyen Tonnu offers Cordero's complete output for solo piano on this 2-CD set. She is known for her sensitive command of timbral color, singing lyricism, and striking style. She has graced the world's stages with solo and chamber music concerts in the U.S. as well as Asia and Europe. Dr. Tonnu is on the faculty at Illinois State University.

The Gramercy Trio (Sharan Leventhal, violin; Jonathan Miller, cello; Randall Hodgkinson, piano) tours the country presenting concerts and residencies, with programs that include standard repertoire and new works. Their performances are met with critical acclaim with the New York Times calling their performances "distinctive and memorable beautifully wrought and sensitively balanced." Their recordings can be heard on the Newport Classic, Naxos, Parma, and Albany record labels. The three trios performed on this recording are all world premieres. Written in 2012, Schuller's trio is one of his last works; Nicholas Underhill's trio was written in 2005 and came out of a long association with Randall Hodgkinson; and Matthew Aucoin's trio is the most recent composition, having been written in 2015 at the invitation of Jonathan Miller. The Gramercy Trio has made an impressive addition to the piano trio repertoire with these works by three generations of American composers.

Flutist Erin Murphy and pianist Kirstin Ihde embarked on this recording project as doctoral candidates at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They chose works by Grier and Galbraith because they are both living American composers and works by French composers Boulanger, Tailleferre and Bonis in order to expand the diversity in programming repertoire as well as introducing new audiences to this music. Short miniatures juxtapose lengthier sonatas; darker, more introspective moods contrast with brighter and more energetic offerings in these six compositions. Erin frequently performs with orchestras, in chamber music collaborations, and as a soloist throughout the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Murphy is on the faculty at Oklahoma State University and her articles have been published in flute journals as well as the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music. Pianist Kirstin Ihde is on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. In addition to her extensive work as a collaborative pianist, she serves as pianist for the Interlochen Trumpet Institute.

Beethoven's ten Sonatas for Piano and Violin are performed on historic instruments by Jerilyn Jorgensen and Cullan Bryant. Instruments include an unsigned Viennese style piano from c. 1795, a Joseph Brodmann; and a Bösendorfer c. 1828-1832, among others. The violin is an Andrea Carolus Leeb from 1797 and a variety of bows from the period including one by Francois Xavier Tourte are used. Pianist Cullan Bryant is among the most active chamber and collaborative pianists in New York City, performing more than 50 concerts a year. His prizes and awards include the Leschetizky International Competition, Miami Arts Competition, and the Memphis Beethoven Competition, among many others. Violinist Jerilyn Jorgensen is a member of the faculty at Colorado College. She was first violinist of the Da Vinci Quartet, which performed throughout the United States to critical acclaim. She is a graduate of Eastman and Juilliard. Both Bryant and Jorgensen have recordings on the Naxos label.

Composer and conductor Robert Pound's numerous compositions include orchestral works for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Columbus Symphony Orchestra and chamber works for ensembles including the Corigliano Quartet and Deviant Septet. A graduate of the University of North Texas and The Juilliard School, Pound was music director of the West Shore Symphony Orchestra. He is on the faculty at Dickinson College where he teaches composition and conducts the orchestra. This recording features three of his song cycles, which were commissioned in coordination with the awarding of The Stellfox Prize to the poets Maxin Kumin, Seamus Heaney, and Paul Muldoon, whose texts Pound set. Performed by tenor William Ferguson and baritone Jonathan Hays with pianist Craig Ketter, these song cycles pay magnify, reinforce and elaborate the affect of the poetry and its meaning.

Christopher Theofanidis' music has been performed by many of the world's leading performing arts organizations, from the London Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic to the San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and the American Ballet Theatre. A two-time Grammy nominee, Theofanidis is currently on the faculties of Yale University and the Aspen Music Festival. This recording of two of his concertos is performed by the Albany Symphony conducted by David Alan Miller, which is known for its commissioning and performances of music by American composers. Chee-Yun, violin soloist is a winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and has performed with many of the world's foremost orchestras. Viola soloist Richard O'Neill is the newly appointed violist of the Takács Quartet. An EMMY Award winner, two time Grammy nominee and Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, he has appeared as soloist with the world's top orchestras.

Chinese-born American composer Lei Liang is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions including the Rome Prize and the Grawemeyer Award. On the faculty at the University of California, San Diego, Liang studied at the New England Conservatory and Harvard. Inheritance, his chamber opera with libretto by Matt Donovan draws attention to the hopelessness associated with gun violence in the United States, exploring the psychological effect on one of the heirs to the fortune made by the Winchester rifle, Sarah Winchester. The role of Sarah Winchester is performed by the extraordinary soprano Susan Narucki, who has presented more than 150 world premieres in opera, concert and recording. The opera is cast for three female voices, a male voice, and a chamber ensemble conducted by Steven Schick.

Sonata for Orchestra is a large, unfinished tonal work that Godfrey Winham was working on just before he died in 1975 at the age of 40. The first two movements were completed but the third had just been begun at the time of his death. This is a world premiere recording. The Composition for Orchestra was written in 1953 as a musical example of his thesis, Composition with Arrays. Winham was studying with Roger Sessions at the time of this work. The Piano Concerto by Roger Sessions is one of three he concertos he wrote and exemplifies the qualities that have made Sessions one of America's foremost composers: rhythmic vitality, orchestral brillance, dramatic power, and great melodic beauty. Pianist Barry David Salwen enjoys an international career as a concert pianist. Additionally he is a long time faculty member of the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He was the first to record the complete solo piano music of Roger Sessions, which appears on Albany Records. Conductor Joel Suben is known for championing new works by American and European composers, having led first performances and commercial recordings of some 500 works. His discography is extensive and appears on the Naxos, Albany, New World, Centaur, CRI, and Parnassus labels.

Composer Curt Cacioppo is the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been commissioned by prestigious orchestras and chamber ensembles. His music appears on 18 recordings, the most recent of which earned a Grammy nomination. A graduate of Harvard, New York University and Kent State, Cacioppo has been a professor at Haverford College since 1983. This recording includes a work for solo piano; a major a cappella vocal work on poems of Luigi Cerantola performed by the Viva Voce Chamber Singers; and his third symphony, titled Tuscan Folio.

This 2-CD set features performances by the renowned Boston Musica Viva of large chamber works by Bernard Hoffer. Born in Switzerland, Hoffer came to the U.S. in 1941, studying at Eastman He was an arranger and pianist for the U.S. Army Field Band of Washington, DC for several years. He came to New York in 1962 where he worked as a freelance musician, composer, conductor, and arranger, writing extensively for films, television, and commercials for which he received several Clio Awards and Emmy nominations. This is the fifth recording of his music for Albany Records. Founded by Richard Pittman in 1969, Boston Musica Viva was the first professional ensemble in Boston devoted to contemporary music and is distinguished today as the oldest new music ensemble in the U.S. Boston Musica Viva enjoys an international reputation for innovation and excellence and has performed more than 750 works by 320 composers.

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.

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 is Lynn Klock's third recording for Albany Records — with music on all three discs written for him. Klock's commitment to enriching the repertoire for saxophone is unparalleled, having premiered more than 100 works. For this recording composers Clifton J. Noble, Jr., Emanuel Rubin, Paul Kinsman, Salvatore Macchia, and Catherine McMichael have written compositions for saxophone ranging from saxophone alone to a chamber work for saxophone, horn, percussion, violin, and contrabass. Retired from the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Professor Emeritus Lynn Klock continues to appear as a soloist, clinician, and teacher throughout the U.S. and abroad. His colleagues on this recording include composer/pianists Clifton J. Noble, Jr.; Paul Kinsman; and Catherine McMichael; as well as Laura Klock, horn; Elizabeth Chang, violin; Salvatore Macchia, contrabass; Michael Compitello, percussion; and Scott Bailey, piano.

Two works honoring Earth Day comprise this distinctive recording. The first, by composer John Harmon, is a symphonic setting of the words of John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Earth Day Founder Sen. Gaylord Nelson with descendants of these men as narrators. The second, Hymn to the Earth by Edward Joseph Collins, is a secular cantata for soloists, choir, and orchestra, praising Mother Earth and the beauty of the four seasons using text set by the composer. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day's founding in 1970, this recording was undertaken by a non-profit: Earth/Art Resources as part of their educational and cultural mission to foster Earth Day values.

French composer Charles-Marie Widor is best known for his works for organ, but he also wrote operas, a sizable body of ballet music, and various other vocal and orchestral works. This recording highlights some of his forgotten songs, performed by soprano Rebecca Wascoe Hays, bass Allen Saunders, soprano Nicole Leupp Hanig, and pianist Susan McDaniel. Ms. Hays, who champions American composers in her performances, is on the faculty at Texas Tech University and is artistic director of Music in the Marche, an opera training program for young singers located in Mondavio, Italy. Saunders, in addition to his active performance schedule, is on the faculty at Northern Arizona University School of Music. Ms. Hanig has performed in the U.S., as well as Europe and Japan, and now is artistic director of Opera on the Bluff and on the faculty at the University of Portland. McDaniel, also on the faculty at the University of Portland, has appeared widely as a solo and collaborative pianist.

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.

With this recording, soprano Michelle Murray Fiertek presents a collection of songs lovingly grown in the American tradition, which audibly draw influence from domestic genres like folk and musical theatre. The diverse selection of poetry channels American landscapes, both great and small, and these images illustrate not only America's unique topography, but also a steadfast cultural appreciation of its singularity. Ms. Fiertek is an active performer and teacher of wide-ranging musical styles. An accomplished recitalist, Fiertek specializes in Spanish and American art song. A member of the faculty at The Hartt School and Manchester Community College, she also serves as executive director of the Hartford Opera Theater. Her collaborator, pianist Michael Korman, performs in opera productions and recitals as well as coaching classical singers and directng music at a church.

Samuel Zyman, a long-time New York-based Professor of Music Theory and Analysis at The Juilliard School, is acknowledged as one of the leading Mexican composers on the international scene today. Zyman's music is characterized by intense and vigorous rhythmic energy, expressive lyricism, and the frequent use of near-jazzy imitative counterpoint. Flutist Jonathan Borja enjoys a varied career as a performer and Educator. Associate Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Borja was a member of the Topeka Symphony Orhcestra and the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra. A graduate of the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance and Principia College, Borja began his studies at the National Conservatory of Music in his native Mexico City. He has performed throughout the United States and Mexico at distinguished venues including Steinway Hall, Powell Symphony Hall, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Singapore.

Lucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena is a children's opera with music by Evan Mack and libretto by Joshua McGuire. The concept was conceived at a National Opera Association Convention when Mack, McGuire, and director Anthony Radford agreed that operas for children were missing from new American opera. Subsequently California State University at Fresno commissioned a 45 minute opera that could tour schools and be performed in opera houses. The result is Lucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena -- a multicultural Christmas opera for all ages. Since its premiere in Fresno, Lucinda has been produced all over the United States and seen by more than 20,000 children. Composer Evan Mack, a member of the faculty at Skidmore College, has devoted much of his compositional life to opera and song. Mack was named 2018 Professional of the Year by Musical America and was a composing fellow at the John Duffy Composers Institute. Librettist Joshua McGuire has collaborated with Evan Mack on numerous operas. He was commissioned in 2015 to write a libretto for Washington National Opera's American Opera Initiative. His is an author as well as being on the faculty at Vanderbilt University.

Violins of Hope is an artistic and educational project composed of instruments that were owned by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust. Violins in the collection were played in the concentration camps and ghettos, providing a source of comfort for some and a means of survival for others. Above all, the instruments represented strength and optimism for the future during mankind's darkest hour. The project was founded by Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein, Israeli luthiers who collect and refurbish the instruments and bring them to communities around the world. Violinist Niv Ashkenazi was invited to join other musicians performing on instruments from this collection and now holds one of the instruments on a long-term loan. This violin, made between 1900-1929 in Eastern Europe or Germany, was used by Ashkenazi for this recording. Ashkenazi has chosen Jewish repertoire from throughout the lifetime of the violin. Like the instruments in the Violins of Hope collection, most of these composers were affected by the Holocaust. Virtuoso violinist Niv Ashkenazi has captivated audiences with his heartfelt musicianship and emotional performances. An accomplished soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, he has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School. Pianist Matthew Graybil has performed throughout the United States and Canada since making his orchestral debut at age 14. The recipient of numerous awards and prizes, he is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

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.