Catalog

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.

Pianist Rochelle Sennet says that “Bach to Black represents my strong interest in performing repertoire by Black composers in combination with works of J.S. Bach. The suites included on this recording represent beauty, excellence, contrast, celebration of dance style, and dialogue.” She has paired the English Suites of Bach with works by Black composers based on similarities in key, mode, rhythmic energy, and occasional disruption of tonal expectations. Dr. Rochelle Sennet has established herself as a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar. A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory, the University of Michigan, and Texas Christian University, she received her DMA from the University of Illinois. She has been a prize winner in numerous competitions including the Kingsville International Piano competition, and the US Open Music Piano Concerto competition, among other. She is on the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This is her fourth recording for Albany Records.

This recording of the art songs of Elaine Ross, set to poetry by women, seeks to broaden the interest in the compositions of living female composers. Elaine Ross is President and CEO of the newly founded Southern Atlantic Conservatory of Music, set to open in 2025. She has been on the faulty at Morgan State University, Towson University, Ohio University, and the Colburn Conservatory. Her music has been performed in France, Germany, and Israel, as well as the United States. Soprano Theresa Bickham, praised for her "fine piano nuances" and "expressive legato line" has performed around the world as an opera singer and as a recitalist. A graduate of the University of Maryland College Park, the University of Houston, and Towson University, she is on the faculty at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

A native of Hong Kong, composer Stephen Yip now lives in the U.S. He studied at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and received his D.M.A. from Rice University. His music has been performed by noted new music ensembles in the U.S. and abroad including the New York New Music Ensemble, Little Giant Chinese Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, and the Moscow New Music Ensemble. His discography includes recordings on the Albany, ERM-Media, Parma, Capstone, ATMA, and Beauport labels. He is on the faculty at Houston Community College. This recording of his chamber music includes performances by the [Switch~ Ensemble], the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, pianist Shelley Ng, and flutists Pei-San Chiu and Chen-Yu Wu.

This recording is of a newly composed Chinese art song cycle by two renowned Chinese cultural figures -- composer Cong Liu and poet Yujuan Li. The cycle consists of 24 songs, each representing one of the 24 solar terms. The cycle depicts the traditional Chinese solar terms and their representative agricultural folk traditions, with the short Chinese poems describing the human activities and cultural changes to the landscape through the seasons. Composer Cong Liu is on the faculty at Shenyang Conservatory of Music and is the director of multiple music institutions and symphony orchestras. His compositional style combines Western techniques with Chinese folk song elements. Poet Yujuan Li has written more than 1,000 texts in various styles and she has won more than 100 national awards. Soprano Xingyu Huo is completing her DMA at the University of Iowa. She has performed with opera companies in Italy and concertized in China, Austria, Italy, and the United States.

This recording reflects aspects of a mutual intersection and continual development between pianist David Holzman and composer James Ricci, touching upon both musical and personal connections over the course of a lifetime. They shared similar musical backgrounds and experiences, but didn't know each other personally until 2015 and began a formal collaboration. Holzman has premiered the majority of Ricci's works on this disc. James Ricci studied at the Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory and Brandeis University. His music has been performed by soloists and chamber ensembles, including Kenneth Radnofsky, the Lydian String Quartet, Collage New Music, and Solar Winds, among many others. David Holzman has been hailed as a "master pianist" and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. He is an advocate for music of the 20th and 21st centuries and is especially noted for his performances of the music of Stefan Wolpe. A graduate of Mannes College of Music and Queens College, he is on the faculty at C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.

Extensions of Tradition(s) is a collection of works by American composer William C. Banfield. It includes recent recordings of performances that document his current music/art aesthetic as well as an early symphonic choral work. In the past 25 years Banfield has produced a body of compositions, authored eight books, made numerous recordings, and maintained an active teaching career. He has served three times as a judge for the Pulitzer Prize in music and his music has been performed and recording by the foremost orchestras and chamber ensembles in the United States and abroad. With the compositions on this recording, Banfield has shared several of the genres that make up contemporary composition, and in his case, his music embodies the multiple styles of the American musical landscapes of modernist languages, including jazz and American song. Composer Libby Larsen says that "One of my favorite Bill Banfield quotes is "I have often felt that, with my art, I could build a room where everyone can find a friend." This is Bill Banfield.

The innovative Jeremy Muller is active as a percussionist, composer, and multimedia artists. He has performed as a featured soloist at many venues throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia and given world premieres of works by many composers including some included on this recording. Alexandre Lunsqui's Materiali includes layering of pulses and velocities generated from the exploration of materials such as clay, wood, metal, plastic, water, and air. Javier Alvarez's Temazcal is an early example of electroacoustic music. Cristyn Magnus; Pitch vs. Computer is a work that treats video games as scores, while Herbert Brün's Stalks and Trees and Drops and Clouds are very early computer work and one of the earliest conceived for a solo percussionist. Matthew Burtner's Glisten of Places is a composition and a collection method for living in the world through sound.

Adolphus Hailstork's interest in the voice dates back to childhood, when he became a member of a boys' cathedral choir in Albany, New York. This recording of his songs is the first volume of a series and includes his first set of songs, Lollipops, written in 1959. Hailstork utilizes a variety of styles in his song writing, changing style to suit the texts. Soprano Louise Toppin has received acclaim for her performances throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, South America, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean. Her discography includes 17 recordings of music by American composers. A professor of voice at the University of Michigan, Ms. Toppin is director of the George Shirley Vocal Competition and the non-profit organization, Videmus. Her collaborators include pianist John O'Brien, harpist Lydia Cleaver, double bassist Rick Robinson, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Julius P. Williams, conductor.

Composer Barbara White discovered the shakuhachi while in college and her fascination with this instrument has continued form more than 30 years. The works on this recording are the result of a ten year collaboration with shakuhachi grand master Riley Lee. White studied the shakuhachi with Lee and has composed numerous works for him. White's music has been described as "provocative even when it speaks in undertones, creating a personal space that is as unique as it is inviting." The recipient of numerous honors and awards, she is on the music faculty at Princeton. Riley Lee began studying the shakuhachi in 1970 while living in Japan. He is the first non-Japanese to attain the rank of "grand master."

The compositions on this album represent more than 20 years of creative collaboration between composer Victoria Bond and pianist Paul Barnes. It began in 1999 with the recording of Black Light when Barnes first introduced Bond to the communion hymn Potirion Sotiriu. That started an exploration of three distinctive Byzantine chants. The two piano concertos were recorded earlier and are re-released here. All of these works are related to each other in that they are about the mystical quality of light. Victoria Bond leads a multifaceted career as composer, conductor, lecturer, and artistic director of Cutting Edge Concerts. Her works have been performed around the world and her recordings appear on numerous labels including Albany Records and Naxos. Pianist Paul Barnes continues to electrify audiences with his intensely expressive playing and cutting-edge programming.

Johannes Brahms began his musical training as a violinist and cellist, although at his core, he was a pianist. He collaborated closely with violinist Joseph Joachim, and the violin sonatas reflect their association. Violinist Limor Toren-Immerman has won numerous competitions and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras throughout the U.S., Israel, and Russia. She enjoys an international career as a recitalist and chamber musician and has received numerous awards, including the Baroness Leni Fe Bland Award, the H.I.A.S. Award, and the Jascha Heifetz Endowed Violin Scholarship, among many others. Ms. Toren-Immerman began her musical education in Russia at the Gnessin State Music College. She also has degrees from the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance and the University of Southern Calfornia Thornton School of Music. She is on the faculty of the California State University Fresno and was a founding member of Trio Accento. Pianist Hatem Nadim has performed extensively throughout Europe, the Middle East, Korea, and the U.S. He is recognized as one of the leading chamber music pianists of our time. Born in Egypt, he studied at the Cairo Conservatoire and the University of Frankfurt, Germany.

Clarinetists Jessica Lindsey and Christy Banks formed the Spatial Forces Duo in 2008 and since that time have toured the U.S., Canada, China, Italy, New Zealand, and Belgium. Their goal is to stretch the sonic possibilities of the traditional clarinet duo and have commissioned composers of diverse backgrounds to write works for them. Christy Banks is on the faculty at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, and has studied at the University of Nebraska and Florida State University. She is bass clarinetist for the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra. Jessica Lindsey, on the faculty at UNC Charlotte, and has studied at the University of Nebraska and the University of Colorado. She performs with the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra.

George Rochberg's Caprice Variations were composed in 1970, and incorporated musical elements that ignited his passions. The work began to germinate in 1969, during an accidental encounter with Brahms' Opus 35 variations on Paganini's famous caprice and this led directly to his Third String Quartet. Eight variations of the Caprice are expanded and revisited elements of this string quartet. Requiring considerable musical, artistic, and technical prowess, the Caprice Variations are very rarely performed. Born in 1995, French violinist Léo Marillier studied at the New England Conservatory and the Paris Conservatory, as well as the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. The winner of numerous competitions, Marillier has performed with noted chamber musicians and ensembles in the U.S., Europe, and the U.A.E. and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Europe. He is the artistic director of the Inventio Festival in Paris. He is a member of the Diotima Quartet.

The eighth volume of New Music from Bowling Green includes orchestral compositions by Aaron Jay Kernis, Marilyn Shrude, Richard Cornell, Dalit Warshaw, Martin Kennedy, and David Liptak. Conductor Emily Freeman Brown has been the driving force behind this series, which now has recorded more than 40 works by American composers. Brown has appeared as conductor with orchestras in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and South America. In addition to her work for Albany Records, she has recorded for Naxos, Linn, and Opus One Records. Soloists include violinist Ioana Galu, a native of Romania and now on the faculty at the University of South Dakota, and trombonist Brittany Lasch, who is on the faculty at Bowling Green State University.

Cellist Gregory Sauer and pianist Heidi Louise Williams perform a program of works for cello and piano by North and South American composers, including world premiere recordings of works by André Mehmari and Daniel Crozier. Both performers are on the faculty at Florida State University and enjoy careers as recitalists, soloists with orchestras, and chamber ensembles. Ms. Williams appears on three previous Albany Records releases, all of which have received critical acclaim. She has also recorded for Naxos, Neos, and Centaur. Sauer’s discography includes recordings with MSR and Mark Records.

It is the supreme love of memorable seminal melodic ideas placed in contrapuntal settings and immersed in warm harmonies inspired from popular, blues, and jazz genres that characterize the piano pieces of Alec Wilder. His short piano works, of which this recording consists, are most often conceived in ternary, binary or rondo forms, and sets of these smaller pieces are combined in suites to create a larger musical form. Pianist John Noel Roberts has collected many of Wilder's short works for piano in this second volume of his works for solo piano. Roberts studied at Eastman and Yale and has an impressive career as an orchestral soloist and recitalist, having appeared at major venues around the world. Currently on the faculty at Our Lady of the Lake University, Roberts has served on music faculties at Furman, UNC-Charlotte, Mercer, Concordia College, Stephen F. Austin State University, and the Western Australian Conservatorium of Music.

Libby Meyer is a composer whose work reflects the natural rhythms and patterns of the world around her. Her music has been commissioned and performed throughout the United States. She has served as composer-in-residence at the Islae Royale National Park and the Visby International Center for Composers. The recipient of numerous awards including the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Composers Forum, she is on the faculty at Michigan Technological University. This recording of her music includes works for vocal ensemble as well as chamber ensembles. Performers on this recording include the Capella Clausura conducted by Amelia LeClair and the Juventas New Music Ensemble.

Flutist Don Bailey and harpist Laura Logan Brandenburg offer a charming program of music for flute and harp that includes works from the standard repertoire as well as newer works by British and American composers. Don Bailey has enjoyed a diverse career as a performer, professor, festival planner, and board member of several arts organizations. He was solo flutist for Cunard Cruise Lines and has performed at festivals in Aspen, Nice, and Spoleto, among many others. His discography includes recordings on the Summit, Genuin, Parnassus, International, and Albany Records labels. Laura Brandenburg served as harp instructor at Texas Christian University School of Music. A highly regarded freelance harpist, she enjoys a wide variety of collaborative performance opportunities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Active as a camp clinician specializing in harp ensemble repertoire, Laura presents workshops locally and nationally. The duo has been performing together since 2017 and are committed to exploring and transcribing new music for flute and harp that expands the boundaries of the repertoire while feeding the artistic soul.

Daniel Palkowski is a composer, pianist/synthesist, educator, audio engineer and creative designer. He studied at the Manhattan School of Music and Columbia. He has taught at both of those schools as well as at the Tisch School of the Arts and Music at New York University. He works for Ernst & Young as a creative designer, specializing in audio and video production. His music has been commissioned by organizations such as the Westchester Philharmonic, Music from China, and MacMillan Digital. The compositions on this recording were created in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Pianist ShiLing Shih has performed throughout the U.S. and in Taiwan and has collaborated with husband Daniel Palkowski on many works and performances. Recognized as the world's premier pipa virtuoso, Wu Man is a soloist, educator, and composer who has given her instrument a new role in both traditional and contemporary music. Macedonian pianist Elena Atanasovska has performed in numerous concerts in Macedonia as well as festivals in Bosnia, Portugal, Spain, Serbia, and Kosova among others.

This recording of music for piano, flute, and flute and piano offers a panorama of classically trained Peruvian composers and a Peruvian-American composer whose music was inspired by Andean Indigenous melodies, rhythms, and traditions. The compositions range in date from 1927 through 2002. The performers include pianist Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta and flutist Orlando Cela. Rodríguez-Peralta has appeared as piano soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Peru, and Mexico. A winner of the Artists International Young Musicians Auditions, Ms. Rodríguez-Peralta has performed in noted concert halls throughout the United States. A graduate of Temple University, Catholic University and The Juilliard School, she is chair of the music department of Middlesex Community College. Orlando Cela has premiered more than 200 works, both as a conductor and flutist. He is music director of the Lowell Chamber Orchestra and the Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra. He is on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music and Middlesex Community College.

The University of Baltimore County Wind Ensemble (UMBC) has a history of pioneering new works for wind ensemble. They regularly commission and perform works by living composers and this recording reflects their commitment. With works by Brad Ellis, Samuel Winnie, Anna Rubin, Janice Macaulay, and Daniel Bernard Roumain, the ensemble gives life to a diverse group of composers' compositions. Conductor Brian Kaufman also is a tubist, educator, social entrepreneur, and publicly engaged scholar. He is a co-founder, artistic director, and conductor of The Sounding Board, an organization that creates productions that integrate music, multimedia, spoken word, and commentary from noted public figures to inspire new perspectives and cultivate dialogue on today's most pressing social issues.

As pianist Jose Luis Hernandez says, "This album can bring pure musical enjoyment and also spiritual nourishment to people. The tunes and lyrical texts in these pieces have stood the test of time. Some appear as early as the 8th century, others are more modern. The selections call attention to the many seasons of life — joy, wonder, hope, and grief " A graduate of Texas Christian University, Jose Luis Hernandez pursued post-graduate studies at the Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona. He has appeared on chamber music festivals around the United States and Puerto Rico and appeared as a concerto soloist with the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra. He has conducted orchestras in Venezuela and Mexico and is the founder of the music education and orchestral programs Sistema Tulsa and Juventud Sinfónica Tamaulipeca.

The eleven pieces on this CD of piano music by Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León were composed across a span of almost fifty years, from student works (Rondó a la Criolla, Homenaje a Prokofiew, Preludes 1 and 2) written in the mid-1960s when León was doing post-graduate work at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in the municipio of Marianao, La Habana, to going gone, the brilliant reworking of Sondheim's "Good Things Going" she crafted in 2012. Born in La Habana, Cuba, León came to the U.S. as a young pianist in 1967 and became a founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Her many honors and awards include the New York Governor's Lifetime Achievement award and honorary doctorates from Colgate, Oberlin, SUNY Purchase and The Curtis Institute. Pianist Adam Kent has performed in recital, as soloist with orchestra, and in chamber music on four continents. A professor at the State University of New York at Oneonta, Kent studied at The Juilliard School. His recordings appear on the Bridge, Claves, and Albany record labels.

In this collection of piano works, the composers have figuratively entered the world of a scenic painting. With the mixture of new and old, the textures, techniques, and sonic worlds of these pieces speak to one another in a unique continuum. Praised by the New York Times as a "fiery musician" whose playing is "vigorous and passionate," Qing Jiang is a versatile musician who is equally known as a performer, teacher, and as an advocate of contemporary music. She has appeared in major concert halls in the U.S. and the U.K. and collaborated with ensembles such as the Juilliard, Shanghai, and Left Bank string quartets. Born in China, she studied at Arizona State University, Juilliard, and the New England Conservatory. She is on the faculty at Bucknell University.

Born in 1895, American composer Ernest Charles became known to the public through one of his early songs that was popularized by Metropolitan Opera superstar John Charles Thomas and other songs followed that were found on voice recitals of singers like Kirsten Flagstad and Eileen Farrell. Baritone Nicholas Provenzale, a present-day champion of this composer’s songs, says that they exhibit a perfect blend of accessibility and musical interest. Provenzale enjoys an active career as a recitalist, opera singer, and educator. The recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions award, he is currently on the faculty at West Chester University. Mr. Provenzale’s collaborator on this recording is pianist Terry Klinefelter.

This recording marks the debut recording by Lakeshore Rush, a chamber music ensemble based in Chicago. The recording consists of beloved recordings from their concerts as well as some studio recordings. The composers represented include a vast array of styles within the contemporary chamber music genre. Eight of the composers are American; seven are living; and the works by Jonathan Hannau and Pierre Jalbert were commissioned by Lakeshore Rush. The works by Philip Glass and Bill Ryan are the ensemble's creative reinterpretations of pieces that have entered the contemporary cannon, and the Radiohead is an arrangement commissioned and performed exclusively by Lakeshore Rush.

The 11 Capricci by Joseph Marie dall'Abaco (1710-1805) are quickly becoming a staple in the canon of solo cello repertoire. Born in Brussels, the composer and cellist was present and active in many of the major musical centers of 18th century Europe. This recording represents the first American contribution with a modern instrument. Cellist Erin Ellis leads a versatile career as a performer and teacher. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across the United States as well as in Canada, Chile, Italy, and Holland. A cello professor at West Virginia University, Ellis has conducted masterclasses and workshops at many nationally recognized institutions and regularly presents at state, regional, and national conferences. She is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music.

Don Walker's fifth release on Albany Records features songs he has written using the poetry of Anne Bradstreet, Phyllis Wheatley, Helen Hunt Jackson, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Harrie Alley, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. Walker taught at Sonoma State University, the University of South Florida, and Oregon State University. The music is performed by soprano Ann Moss, who is a graduate of the Longy School and the San Francisco Conservatory. An ardent advocate for contemporary music, she has been responsible for the commissioning and premieres of more than 80 art songs, vocal chamber music, and operatic roles. She is joined by pianist Karen Rosenak, a longtime member of the Empyrean Ensemble, and a founding member of the new music ensemble Earplay.

Composer Eric Schorr says that the poems he chose for the compositions on this recording were ones that immediately resonated with him emotionally and musically. The range of the poems’ styles and subject matter necessitated a varied musical vocabulary. Always lyrical, the music veers from romantic to jazz to chanson to bossa nova. Schorr expanded the palette of sound by adding a chamber sized acoustic orchestra to his original scoring for voice and piano. Schorr composes music for theater, television, and film as well as art songs. He studied at the New England Conservatory, Yale and Harvard. He is a recipient of a Japan-United State Arts Program Fellowship and Opera-Musical Theatre Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Critically acclaimed singers Eve Gigliotti, Jesse Darden, and Michael Kelly are the featured performers on this recording.

This recording is part of a larger project, TRIGGER: Artists Respond to Gun Violence. This concept is to bring composers and poets together to respond artistically to the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S. The other parts of the project include a book of poetry and other writings, and an electronic folio of scores for speaking percussion. Trigger reckons with the issue of gun violence from many angles: school shootings, a personal history with guns, the gun lobby, the connection of guns with fervent religiious zealotry, the psychology of violence in public spaces, and how the wake of violence leaves indelible imprints on people's minds and bodies. John Lane has appeared on stages throughout the Americas, Australia, and Japan. He is the director of percussion studies at Sam Houston State University. Allen Otte has toured for decades throughout the world performing new and experimental music created for him and his colleagues. He is a professor Emeritus at the University of Cincinnati.

Nancy Hill Elton has received critical acclaim for her performances as a solo piano recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician. Elton maintains an active performing and teaching schedule and has served on the piano faculties of Georgia State University, the University of Georgia, and the University of West Georgia. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin in both piano and vocal performance, she also received degrees at the University of South Carolina. For this, her second recording for Albany Records, Ms. Elton has chosen a program of compositions by Chopin and Rachmaninoff, including the revised version of Rachmaninoff's Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 36 with some brief interspersions of the original version in the second and third movements.