Catalog

Peter Child is Professor of Music and MacVicar Faculty Fellow at MIT. A graduate of Reed College and Brandeis University, Child has received fellowships and commissions from the Fromm Foundation, the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and the Harvard Musical Association, among others. His compositions have been awarded prizes from Tanglewood, East and West Artists, WGBH Radio, and New England Conservatory, to mention just a few. Child is presently composer in residence with the New England Philharmonic and his music was featured at the Lontano Festival of American Music in London in 2006 and 2008.

Pilgrim Chamber Players was founded in 1996, and began its journey as a woodwind quintet. Very quickly the group expanded its programming to include strings, keyboard and voice. Pilgrim Chamber Players' talented ensemble of professional musicians are resident artists of the Highland Park (Illinois) Community House and perform throughout the Chicago area. The group is here pleased to present this collection of compositions by its resident composer, Donald Draganski. As one of the founding members, Draganski's role evolved from principal bassoon player to that of composer-in-residence. Earning his Bachelor of Music degree from DePaul University, he studied bassoon under the late Wilbur Simpson and composition with the late Alexander Tcherepnin. After receiving his Master's of Library Science, he was the music librarian at Roosevelt University, a position he held for 25 years until his retirement in 1998. Born in Chicago, he currently makes his home in Evanston.

The compositions on this recording of music for saxophone ensemble represent traditional Western classical music combined with such diverse styles as jazz, popular and folk music, Asian and African music and even show the influence of television. It also represents contemporary music of flexible instrumentation. The Alloy Saxophone Quartet was formed to explore contemporary music and includes Bill Perconti, Sean Fredenburg, Duke Sullivan and Erik Steighner -- all noted performers. Perconti, who performs the works for solo saxophone is a graduate of Bowling Green State University, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory and the University of Iowa. He has made 26 world premiere recordings of 15 composers on five record labels. He is on the faculty at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho.

Cited by the American Academy of Arts and Letters as a composer who "has that rarest of inventive gifts, a personal voice," Steven Burke is being recognized as one of the leading voices of his generation. His music has won praise for its emotional power and mastery. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence, the University of Wisconsin, Yale and Cornell, his teachers included Chester Bicardi, Martin Bresnick, Jacob Druckman, Lukas Foss, Roberto Sierra, and Steven Stucky. The recipient of numerous awards, Burke's music has been performed by ensembles such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the New Millennium Ensemble. This recording of his chamber music is performed by the di.vi.sion piano trio, an ensemble formed in 2001. The ensemble is committed to programming current music and regularly commissions new works. Their previous recording on Albany Records featured the music of Merrill Clark.

Bernard Jacobson, the former program annotator and musicologist for the Philadelphia Orchestra writes: "From where I sit, as a freelance critic living in Philadelphia, the Network for New Music looks like the brightest hope for the continued health of contemporary musical creation. Over a period now approaching two decades, it has established itself among the finest institutions of its kind anywhere, a success that can be attributed to a number of causes. One is the simple but crucial mission of the organization: 'To present, encourage and commission a great diversity of new works of the highest quality by established and emerging composers, and to build a broader appreciation for new music.' More than 400 such works have so far been performed - a "great diversity" indeed, and an array of talent such as few organizations in the field, anywhere in the country, could match. Along with this enlightened openness of mind in the choice of repertoire, another essential quality is the sheer dedication and initiative of NNM's artistic director, Linda Reichert, one of the area's leading exponents of contemporary music as a pianist, who often appears in that capacity in Network concerts. Still another is the expert counsel of an artistic advisory committee whose membership includes Milton Babbitt, John Harbison, Joan Tower and George Walker. To my mind though, the single most vital element in NNM's supremacy is the sheer quality of its performances. It is a sad truth that contemporary music suffers almost more on occasion from the ministrations of those who perform it as of those who don't. The complexity and technical demands of many modern scores too often frustrate even the best-intentioned efforts of conductors, players, and singers caught up in the seemingly inevitable trap of inadequate rehearsal time, insufficient familiarity, and overtaxed skill. As a result, a public that is itself facing the challenge of new and unknown works can be forgiven for ascribing to the music what are actually weaknesses in its presentation. This has never happened, in my experience, at a Network concert. It is just such a combination of informed programming and masterful presentation that is to be encountered on this CD."

The Jano Duo (Naomi Seidman, flute and Jonathan Dexter, cello) was formed in 2012 to play works written or arranged for flute and cello. The duo has performed across the country and continues to commission and perform new works for their instruments. This recording reflects their commitment to music of our time with works by Efrain Amaya, Cherise Leiter, Lonnie Hevia, Matt Doran, Ángel Villoldo, and a commissioned work by Stephen Hopkins. Naomi Seidman is recognized as an accomplished solo performer, chamber musician, and educator. On the faculty at Pennsylvania State University School of Music, she has participated in numerous festivals and has presented master classes around the country, appeared as soloist with orchestras; and is actively involved with the National Flute Association. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Yale. Cellist, composer, and sound engineer Jonathan Dexter has been featured on SONY Masterworks & Columbia Records recorings with singer Megan Hilty; film sountracks; and tv series. He composed, performed, and recorded the original score to short film Recess, an official selection of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, Franz Liszt Academy and University of Texas at Austin, he conducts the Central Pennsylvania Youth Chamber Orchestra.

American composer Vivian Fine (1913-2000) wrote more than 140 works during her 70-year career, including 20 pieces that feature the flute in solo and chamber music settings. Only two of her flute works have been professionally recorded and this recording aims to fill this gap. The recording features selected chamber music for flute by Fine, which create a varied recording of beautiful and exciting works. Flutist Erin K. Murphy frequently performs with orchestras, in chamber music collaborations, and as a soloist throughout the U.S. and abroad. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan, she is currently on the faculty at Oklahoma State University. She is a founding member of Lakeshore Rush, A Chicago-based chamber ensemble that performs 20th and 21st century works.

The intersection of Chinese cultural elements with Western art music provides a rich palette of Eastern colors in this first commercial recording of music for clarinet and piano by well-known Chinese composers. The composers on this recording were born in China, but have all studied and worked in the West. Chinese-American clarinetist, Jun Qian, has shared similar experiences with these composers and his performances show a deep understanding of Chinese culture and Western musical ideas. Dr. Qian, now on the faculty at Baylor University is principal clarinet for the Waco Symphony Orchestra. He was a professor of clarinet at St. Olaf College and served as principal clarinet of the Shanghai Philharmonic. Among his many honors, Qian was the featured soloist at the International Performing Arts Festival in Japan in 2004. Qian studied at Baylor University and the Eastman School, where he received his Masters and D.M.A. He is joined on this recording by a former colleague from St. Olaf College, pianist Kent McWilliams who previously taught at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

Robert Freeman, then Director of the Eastman School of Music says in the introduction to this recording: "Ever since the appointment of Howard Hanson as Director of the Eastman School of Music in 1924, Eastman has been on a continuing course to encourage the future of music by American composers. From the earliest years of Dr. Hanson's 40-year directorship, Eastman produced each spring a festival of new works by young Americans, including the first performances of Orchestral works by Copland, Piston, Carter, Thompson and Sessions, for example, together with the initial performances of a great many works by Eastman faculty, graduates and students. Recordings conducted by Hanson, of the music of American composers from his own and earlier generations, helped spread both familiarity with many American composers and the reputation of the Eastman School all over the world. In the meantime, the strength of Eastman's composition program remains unabated under the current faculty. We at Eastman are all very proud of the opening of a new recording series with Albany Records, a firm that continues to make the most notable accomplishments in behalf of music in America." We at Albany are equally proud that Dr. Freeman and the musicians at Eastman are working with Albany Records for this historic new series of recordings made in their lovely recording facilities, in honor of their 75 years of service to American music. You, too, will be pleased with this selection of the music of two Pulitzer Prize winning composers: the late Stephen Albert and Christopher Rouse.

Look at the gems on this disc! Look at some of the performers; Jan DeGaetani, Bonita Boyd, Verne Reynolds. For contemporary music lovers this series from Eastman is a feast. David Maslanka studied clarinet, conducting and composition. His principal composition teachers were Joseph Wood and H. Owen Reed. "I consider my Duo for Flute and Piano to be something of a milestone in my composing. It emerged fully formed from a part of me with which I wasn't at the time very familiar. It whispered, it cried, it shrieked, when on the surface I had no idea that I was doing any of those things. As has been the case for 30 years of composing, my music consistently reveals things to me in advance of its arrival in my conscious mind. If the Duo revealed pain and depression, it also revealed a search into mystery, a love of the beautiful, and a penchant for formal construction and precision of detail - all issues which have occupied me in the intervening years, issues which have been the premise of a composer's life." Heaven to clear when day did close is really a concerto for tenor saxophone and string quartet. It is in one movement. Warren Benson has had a long and distinguished career that includes an appointment at the Eastman School of Music from 1967-1994. Upon accepting a commission from the International Horn Society for a major work featuring the horn, Mr. Benson chose to write a song-cycle for mezzo-soprano, horn, English horn, cello, and marimba. "In Songs for the End of the World I wanted to write something that the composer might treat either as a song cycle or as an internalized one-woman short opera."

William Albright was professor of composition at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor from 1982 until his death. His Four Fantasies for harpsichord were commissioned by Douglas Reed, who performs them here and were composed at the American Academy in Rome. Norman Dinerstein was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and studied composition with Lutoslawski, Schuller, Copland, Foss, Sessions and Babbitt. He considered Arnold Franchetti his most important teacher. He chaired the departments of composition, musicology and theory at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He was Dean of the college when he died of a heart attack in 1982. Love Songs is an example of his late music and uses words by the Brownings, Christina Rossetti and the Song of Solomon. This music is "Tonal, expressive and deeply humanistic." Ann Silsbee studied at Radcliffe College and Syracuse University. She received her doctorate from Cornell where she studied with Karel Husa. Janice Hamer studied at Harvard University and holds a master's degree in conducting from Westminster Choir College. She taught and conducted at St. Paul's Girls' School and at the Guildhall School of Music in London, where here music was performed in concert halls and on the BBC. She served as choral director at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges before turning to composition.

David Liptak was born in Pittsburgh in 1949. After teaching composition and theory at Michigan State University and the University of Illinois, he joined the faculty of the Eastman School in 1987, where he has chaired the composition department since 1993. In 1994, he was commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation to write a trumpet concerto for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, which was premiered in 1996. In 1995, he was awarded the Elise L. Stoeger Prize by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in recognition of distinguished achievement in the field of Chamber music composition. Other discs of his music appear on Gasparo and Opus One.

In the spring of 1997, the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg, Germany, presented the Eastman School with the idea of doing a collaborative exchange concert between the two institutions. Their idea was to mix Eastman and Freiburg faculty and students together in live performances of music written by faculty composers from both schools. It was their hope that this sort of collaborative venture between student and faculty performers and composers would bring the two schools closer together and help strengthen their exchange relationship. That initial idea was realized with concerts in Rochester, New York in October, 1997 and in Freiburg, Germany in February 1998, as well as this CD which was recorded at the Sudwestrundfunk Landesstudio in Freiburg, Germany.

Echoes of America was commissioned by the Raleigh Chamber Music Guild in celebration of Robert Ward's 80th birthday. Jimmy Gilmore, the clarinetist for the piece, responded to the idea of a title for the trio with Echoes of America. He felt that each of the four movements related to some aspect of American musical culture in the southeastern part of the country. The work was completed in June 1997. About Appalachian Ditties and Dances the composer writes: "This work reflects the interest I have had in American folk music in general since the 1950's and in Appalachian music in particular since the 1970's when my wife and I had a second home in Sparta, North Carolina. The richness and vitality of that music is unparalleled by that of any other region of the country. The mountain folk are a singing people and the tunes are an inspiration or a solace for a wide spectrum of human feeling." The Raleigh Divertimento was commissioned by the Raleigh Chamber Music Guild for the Aspen Wind Quintet. "My great fascination with the beauties and difficulties of writing for the medium dates from the late 1940's when I coached woodwind ensembles at the Juilliard School. The creation of the work started with the melodies inspired by the sounds of the instruments." Lamentation first appeared as "Of Ancient Guilt" for piano and dancer and is dedicated to dancer Judith Martin who commissioned it and gave the first performance in 1947 at the Studio Theater in New York. Scherzo, which is frequently performed with Lamentation, was first performed in 1951 at the Peabody Conservatory by William Crystal. Dialogues for Violin, Cello and Piano first appeared as Dialogues for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, written on commission from the Chattanooga Symphony for its 50th anniversary season, 1982-83. The Chamber version of the work was premiered at Duke University on February 4, 1984.

This recording of tangos began with the idea of writing music that could allow for freedom of improvisation while adhering to the composer's intent. Composer Pablo Ortiz began writing works for cello, multiple cellos and cellos with other string instruments while exploring the concept of original composition versus transcription, or music inspired by other music. His colleague Anssi Karttunen began transcribing music as well, using music of classic tangos, both from Argentina and Finland. Thus the listener will experience original compositions in the tango idiom along with transcriptions and arrangements of classic tangos. It is often hard to tell whether the composer is the interpreter or the interpreter the composer. This is a study in freedom and the shifting line between invention and re-invention. The two different kinds of tangos -- those from Argentina and those from Finland give different shades to the nostalgia and sadness they are both about.

This recording is a result of the collaborative cross-relations that exist between the musicians and composers on the disc, and their enthusiasm for each other's work. Violist Jonathan Bagg, composers Scott Lindroth and Stephen Jaffee are colleagues at Duke University, while flutist Laura Gilbert and Bagg were co-directors of the Monadnock Music Festival. While Miriam Gideon's playful and probing Creature to Creature was not written for these players, it seemed to add a different, powerful voice that was aesthetically consonant with the other works on the CD. Gilbert and Bagg are joined by harpist Stacey Shames, pianist Donald Berman, guitarist Daniel Lippel and mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Shammash for performances that evoke the character of these wonderful recent compositions.

Born in 1936, the eminent American composer Elliott Schwartz has had a distinguished career as a composer, professor and writer. He is the Robert K. Beckwith Professor of Music Emeritus at Bowdoin College, where he taught from 1964 to 2007. His music has been performed by major orchestras and ensembles around the world and he has held visiting appointments at Oxford University, the Royal Danish Academies, and the Rotterdam and Amsterdam Conservatories, among many others. His style is marked by a fondness for unsynchronized layers of activity, highly dramatic -- even theatrical -- gestures, and brilliant instrumental colors. Although the three works on this recording appear to be widely contrasted in certain surface ways, they also share important features. Each was conceived as the response to a personal experience and each explores a layering of textures.

Captivated by the sound of the native American flute, virtuoso flutist James Pellerite has virtually single-handedly reinvented the playing of the instrument by commissioning dozens of composers to write for it. The resulting new works have challenged Pellerite to develop new techniques for the instrument. His legacy is therefore both an entire body of literature for the instrument and the development of techniques necessary to perform the music. Former principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pellerite has also had a long and distinguished career as Professor of Flute at Indiana University. This recording showcases the native American flute in a range of contemporary styles by eight composers, performed by the man who re-imagined the instrument.

A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Emma Lou Diemer received her degrees in music composition from the Yale School of Music (B.M., M.M.) and the Eastman School of Music (Ph.D.). She studied further in Brussels on a Fulbright Scholarship and at Tanglewood. She is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara where she taught composition and theory from 1971 to 1991. She has been composer-in-residence with the Santa Barbara Symphony, and is organist emerita at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara. This recording offers some of her recent chamber works including a work for string trio and a work for brass and piano, both written in 2001.

Entering its 30th season, the American Horn Quartet continues to be unique in the field of brass chamber music. Their exuberant performances have brought audiences all over the world to their feet. The individual members of the AHQ are all very successful soloists in their own right — four Americans who work and reside in Europe. The AHQ has more than 500 concerts and masterclasses to its credit and has produced 10 compact discs. This disc, a collection of gems that the AHQ has performed over the years, is appropriately titled En-Cor!

Leonard Salzedo was born in London and was descended from the Sephardic Jews who left Spain at the end of the 15th century. In 1944, while he was still a student at the Royal College of Music, he was commissioned by Marie Rambert to write his first ballet score "The Fugitive" which, after its first performance in November of that year, was performed more than 400 times by the Ballet Rambert in England and abroad. It was also seen on BBC Television. The most successful of his 17 ballet scores is undoubtedly "The Witch Boy" first produced in Amsterdam in 1956 and subsequently performed more than 700 times in over 30 countries. The world premieres of all the works on this CD were given by Pavel Burda in Milwaukee with the composer in attendance. A common thread for the Salzedo works is the use of over two dozen chromatically tuned gongs in all five works. Burda first encountered gongs made by the Paiste Company while recording with the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg and was immediately entranced. This experience led directly to his commissioning the composer. It was Burda's idea to have a series of works in which the compositional focus is the interaction of the unique timbres of these gongs with different ensembles such as string quartet or choir.

Donald Erb, described by Nicolas Slonimsky in the Bakers Biographical Dictionary of Musicians as a "significant American composer," was born in Youngstown, Ohio in 1927. His orchestral music has been played by literally every major orchestra in the United States and many in Europe, Asia and Australia as well. He has had commissions from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra and others. Erb studied at Kent State University, the Cleveland Institute of Music (where he now teaches), and Indiana University. He has received grants and fellowships from the Rockefeller, Guggenheim, and Ford Foundations and has served as composer in residence with the Dallas and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras. Among the many organizations that have honored him are the International Rostrum of Composers, the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Eric Ewazen was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at Eastman and the Juilliard School. He has been vice-president of the League-ISCM, Composer-in-Residence with the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, lecturer for the New York Philharmonic's Musical Encounters Series, and is currently a faculty member of The Juilliard School. Eric Ewazen writes: "With its versatility, impressive range and amazing colors, the bass trombone is an instrument capable of such a variety of emotional expression. Having been a friend of David Taylor since 1980, I have long known of his legendary playing in so many different musical styles - from classical to jazz to popular to experimental. With my Concertino, I wanted to write a work for him which captures many of his musical personalities. The piece was premiered in 1996. Ballade for Bass Trombone, Harp and String Orchestra began life as a work for clarinet. I made the arrangements for Charles Vernon, to whom the piece was dedicated in 1996. Stefan Sanders, whom I am proud to count as one of my music theory students at Juilliard, won the low brass competition held at the school in 1997, resulting in his premiere performance of my Concerto for Bass Trombone (or tuba) and Orchestra. Stefan's commanding sonority and his heartfelt expression resulted in a premiere performance both riveting and soulful. John Rojak has been a friend for almost 25 years, since we were students together at Juilliard. As the extraordinary bass trombonist of the American Brass Quintet, he has performed on some of the most celebrated brass chamber music recordings of the 20th, now 21st century. Equally adept as a terrific soloist, John approached me about writing a piece for him in 1996. This resulted in the Rhapsody for Bass Trombone and String Orchestra which he premiered in 1997. The final work on this CD, the Capriccio for Bass Trombone and Trombone Choir was written for David Taylor as a companion piece for his Concertino which opens the CD."

Composer Eric Ewazen is a master at showcasing brass instruments as this collection of works for bass trombone demonstrates. A faculty member at Juilliard, Ewazen has been a guest at more than 100 universities and colleges around the world and is the recipient of numerous composition awards, prizes and commissions. Bass trombonist Yossi Itskovich joined the Haifa Symphony at age 16, attended Juilliard and in 1998 was engaged as the bass trombonist for the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. He is joined by his colleagues from the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra in this recording of Ewazen's music.

A stellar lineup of new music ensembles and performers, including the Brentano and Manhattan String Quartets and the percussion ensemble Talujon, are featured on this new disc of chamber works by noted composer Eric Moe. Called "music of winning exuberance," by the New York Times, this disc includes works for string quartet; for percussion ensemble; solo percussion; soprano and string quartet; and a work for viola and cello. Moe, a graduate of Princeton and the University of California at Berkeley, is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions, including the Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Recordings of his music appear on the Naxos, Koch, New World and Albany Records labels. He is currently on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh.

Composer Eric Nathan, a 2013 Rome Prize Fellow and 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, has garnered acclaim internationally through performances at the New York Philharmonic's 2014 Biennial, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, Aspen Music Festival, Aldeburgh Music Festival, and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, to name but a few. He was composer-in-residence at the 2013 Chelsea Music Festival and Chamber Music Campania. A graduate of Yale and Indiana University, he received his doctorate at Cornell. He is assistant professor of music at Brown University. Nathan's music conveys a compelling and infectious energy--virtuosity in the service of defining musical drama and character. In the seven works in this collection--three solo and four small-ensemble pieces--there's often a thrilling hint of vicarious danger. Performed by some of the most noted performers of contemporary music, including the Momenta Quartet, this recording serves as a fitting introduction to this brilliant young composer's music.

And now something for those who like string chamber music. Eric Sawyer, who has held fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and Harvard, was founding director of the critically-acclaimed contemporary ensemble Longitude. His undergraduate training was at Harvard and he completed his graduate studies at Columbia University and the University of California. His teachers included Leon Kirchner, Ross Bauer, Andrew Imbrie and George Edwards. He currently teaches at Amherst College. Composed from 1999 to 2002, this music reflects Sawyer's belief in the expressive power of harmony; as he writes "While new sonorities, textures and physical rhythms that have infused much recent music are all marvelous additions to the musical lexicon, it is the domain of harmony that can most provide a context of emotional resonance." This is a major discovery for listeners who especially enjoy the modern string quartet form.

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

Composer Frank Lewin has incorporated folk songs and popular music from various ethnic traditions in his scores and films, television programs, and plays, as well as in his opera Burning Bright (Albany Records: TROY 469/71). Each tune was adapted to the expressive requirements of the particular subject. Occasionally original music was composed in a particular style, as "source music," i.e. music heard within the action of a scene. Two eminent performers of the recent past, both now deceased, open and close this collection: violist Walter Trampler and fiddler Johnny Cunningham. In between, artists of equal merit perform music from a variety of sources. Frank Lewin has written scores for films, television programs, plays, and historical outdoor dramas. Among his concert music are song cycles and choral works, including a requiem which was first performed in 1969, during a memorial service for Robert Kennedy in the chapel of Princeton University, and Music for the White House, for which he conducted members of the Westminster Choir and the United States Marine Band. The composer was a member of the faculty of the Yale School of Music from 1971 to 1992, teaching composition for film. During this period he also taught the course Music in Modern Media at Columbia University's School of the Arts.

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

The works heard on this recording were written by composers who are friends of both performers, Tim Gill and David Gompper. Cross-cultural connections extend beyond the two universities represented: Cambridge and Iowa. Both Richard Causton and David Gompper studied with Jeremy Dale Roberts, who taught at the Royal College of Music and at the University of Iowa. Their colleagues — Jeremy Thurlow and Darren Bloom, Jean-François Charles and Zack Stanton — are joined by Zoë Martlew, a cellist/composer who received a commission to write for this duo. The music reflects the diversity of styles being written today on both continents. Tim Gill is recognized as one of the most versatile instrumentalists of his generation, equally at home in the works of Beethoven or Xenakis. He is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, and principal cellist, having led the cello sections of all the London orchestras. He is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music. David Gompper studied at the Royal College of Music and the University of Michigan. He is on the faculty at the University of Iowa, and directs the Center for New Music. Noted as a composer and pianist, his compositions have been performed around the world.

Trio Accento (Limor Toren-Immerman (violin); Garik Terzian (cello); Nora Chiang Wrobel (piano) is known for its advocacy of contemporary compositions. This recording features five varied works, one of which was commissioned by the ensemble. All three members of Trio Accento have distinguished performing and teaching careers and as a trio have performed to critical acclaim. Jeff Beal's Almost Morning is a dance work composed for choreographer Claudia Schreier. Russell Steinberg's Paleface was inspired by the acclaimed paintings of "psychological pop" artist Jerry Kearns, while Gernot Wolfgang's Jazz and Cocktails was inspired by the goings-on of an imaginary cocktail party. Juhi Bansal's Wings evokes a day in the montains and the image of a solitary bird flying through a rain-filled sky. Kenneth Froehlich's Polarized is a study of contrasts, conceived as a response to our ever-increasing polzarized society.