Catalog

Composer Kile Smith’s music is hailed by critics, performers, and audiences for its strong voice, sheer beauty, and “profoundly direct emotional appeal.” The recipient of numerous commissions, his music has performed throughout the U.S., in Europe, and the UK. Smith's very first works were art songs, and he has composed them throughout his career, having now written about 65 songs. For this recording, the performers are members of Lyric Fest, a Philadelphia based organization, whose mission is to bring people together through song and include mezzo-soprano Suzanne DuPlantis, tenor Jonas Hacker, soprano Jessica Lennick, baritone Daniel Teadt, clarinetist Doris Hall-Gulati and pianst Laura Ward, who is artistic director of Lyric Fest.

Daron Hagen is an award-winning composer, librettist, stage director, conductor, collaborative pianist, and essayist. He is the recipient of the 2015 American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Academy Award for “the artist who has achieved his singular voice.” His music is performed worldwide by the most prestigious orchestras, ensembles, and soloists. This recording features three of his song cycles performed by mezzo-soprano Stephanie Weiss and pianist Christina Wright-Ivanova. Ms. Weiss, a regular guest at Deutsche Opera Berlin has performed roles ranging from Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) to Suzuki (Madama Butterfly). Currently on the faculty at Arizona State University, Ms. Weiss studied at the New England Conservatory, Tufts University, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Mannes College of Music, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Ms. Wright-Ivanova is on the faculty at Keene State College and has performed throughout the US, Australia, the UK, Europe, Canada, China, and South America. She is a vocal coach at UMass Amherst and serves on the faculty at New England Conservatory's Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice.

Composer Robert Muczynski (1929-2010) garnered national and international recognition for his compositions, which have been heard throughout the world. Muczynski studied composition at DePaul University with Alexander Tcherepnin, crediting Tcherepnin for inspiring his career. He performed his first Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony in 1958 and was a noted film composer. He became composer-in-residence at the University of Arizona in 1965, where he spent the remainder of his professional career. Some may call Muczynski's music traditionalist or conventional, but there is no arguing his music is truly authentic, expressive, invigorating, and meticulously crafted. Pianist Zachary Lopes offers the first recording of his piano sonatas since the composer's own recording done in 2000. Lopes is an active soloist and collaborative artist and has given performance and master-classes across the U.S., South America, and Europe. He has held teaching positions at Wittenberg University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and serves as President of the Kentucky Music Teachers Association. He studied at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is on the faculty at Western Kentucky University.

Composer David Gompper has lived and worked professionally as a pianist, conductor, and composer in New York, San Diego, London, Nigeria, Michigan, Texas, and Iowa. He studied at the Royal College of Music, and the University of Michigan. Since 1991 he has been Professor of Composition and Director of the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa. His many awards include an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City, and a Fromm Commission. Recordings of his music appear on the Albany and Naxos record labels. He has chosen recent chamber music written for string instruments for this recording, which are given stellar performances by violinist Wolfgang David, cellist Hannah Holman, double bass player Volkan Orhon, and pianists Réne Lecuona and David Gompper.

This recording celebrates and commemorates 60 years of the deepest friendship between pianists Joseph Fennimore and Gordon Hibberd, with 16 four-hand waltzes performed by both as well as sonatas performed by composer/pianist Joseph Fennimore. The waltz recordings were made during the 1990s on three different occasions at three different locations and the Sonatas and Sonatinas during the 1960s. Both Fennimore and Hibberd received degrees from Eastman. They lived in New York City pursuing their careers until the 1980s when they relocated to New York's Capital District. This will be the 10th recording released by Albany Records of the music of Joseph Fennimore whose music has been called " a disarming mix of spare lyricism, poignancy and gently nose thumbing irreverence "

Jeffrey Rathbun has served as assistant principal oboe of The Cleveland Orchestra since 1990 and was the principal oboe from 2001-2003. He was previously a member of the Atlanta, San Francisco, Oakland, and Honolulu symphony orchestras. He has served as guest principal oboe with major orchestras around the United States, including the Boston Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is on the faculty at the Kent/Blossom Chamber Music Festival, the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Rathbun is joined on this recording of works for oboe by Marc Shapiro, a distinguished pianist, who is an acting member of the San Francisco Symphony. He is principal keyboardist with the California Symphony and is active as a recitalist and chamber musician. Shapiro is on the faculty at Mills College. Frank Rosenwein, principal oboist of The Cleveland Orchestra performs with Mr. Rathbun on Rathbun's composition for two oboes.

Bernard Hoffer, born in Switzerland, came to the United States in 1941. He received degrees from Eastman, served as an arranger for the U.S. Army Field Band of Washington, D.C., and worked in New York as a freelance musician, composer, conductor and arranger. He is known not only for his chamber and orchestral music but also for works written for films, television, and commercials, notably the score to Thundercats, and themes for PBS News Hour and The American Experience. This fifth release devoted to his music on Albany Records features music for piano and the composer says that many of them are of a biographical nature, inspired by events or observations. Randall Hodgkinson, the distinguished American pianist is the featured performer, joined by Leslie Amper on Hoffer's work for two pianos, Events and Excursions.

American composer Richard Aldag is also known as an educator and arts administrator. He holds a Ph.D. in Music from the City University of New York Graduate Center. He has received numerous commissions and served as composer-in-residence for the Sitka Summer Music Festival and the El Paso Pro Music Chamber Music Festival. Aldag has served on the faculties of San Francisco State University, San José State University, Pacific Union College, the Aaron Copland School of Music, Fordham University, and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. He was a special lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1991 and 1992. His arts administration career includes executive director positions with the Napa Valley Symphony, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and the Los Lupeños de San José, among others. With this first recording of his music, Aldag shares some of his most recent chamber music, offering a range of ensemble and instrumentation. The inspirations and expressive intentions are similarly diverse. This recording offers a rich and finely curated showcase for Aldag's latest music with a chance to get to know this original and compelling composer through the intimate expression and vivid textures that are the distinguishing hallmarks of chamber music.

Composer Stephen Rush has written six operas, more than 50 works for dance, chamber, and electronic media, concertos, and four symphonies. His works have been performed by distinguished ensembles including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Warsaw National Symphony. The author of two books, his music appears on several record labels including Centaur, MMC, and Innova. A professor of music at the University of Michigan, he founded the Digital Music Ensemble at that institution, which he has directed for 25 years. He tours and records with his electronic psychedelic improvisation band, Crystal Mooncone. For this recording on Albany Records, he has chosen a variety of chamber works for varying ensembles including three versions of Taming the Ox, a work commissioned by flutist Rebecca Gilbert as a means of public sonic meditation.

Pianist Nancy Elton has received critical acclaim for her performances as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician throughout the Southeast and other parts of the United States. A highly sought teacher in the Atlanta area, she has served on the piano faculties of Georgia State University, the University of West Georgia, and the University of Georgia. She received her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin, having previously studied at the University of South Carolina. Her numerous awards include the Georgia Teacher of the Year presented by the Georgia Music Teachers Association in 2005. For her debut recording she has chosen Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 3; selected Debussy preludes and two other works by Debussy.

The much beloved and acclaimed composer David Maslanka (1943-2017) featured the saxophone in many of his compositions, including concertos, solo, and chamber works. Nicholas May has chosen two for his debut recording -- the Sonata for Alto Saxophone (1989) and Piano and Tone Studies (2009). Maslanka's music requires not only tremendous technique but also a performer who is master of sound and color. The saxophone is an instrument of tremendous beauty and flexibility and Maslanka's works require a saxophonist capable of broad swaths of color, rich depths of contrast, and generous apportionment of the musical canvas. Nicholas May is such a saxophonist and this recording defines the works. May has been a finalist in numerous state, national, and international competitions. He received degrees from the University of Kansas and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is now on the faculty at Mid Plains Community College and a member of the Heartland Duo and the Sanders-May Duo. His collaborator, pianist Ellen Sommer is on the faculty at the University of Kansas School of Music.

This intriguing and ingenious album by Gernot Wolfgang bridges sophisticated Viennese elements with edgier and rawer textures found in more contemporary American works. Wolfgang is taking us on an autobiographical safari with this "groove-oriented" classical album that will be a pleasure for the listener to explore. The compositions are for eclectic chamber groups, beginning with a bassoon-piano opener and concluding with a piano quartet. These many forms reveal the multiplicity of Wolfgang. Described as a "master composer with important things to communicate to his listeners," Gernot Wolfgang was born in Austria in 1957. Currently he lives in Los Angeles where (among many other musical activities) he works as an orchestrator in the film and TV music industry. He has been a lecturer at the University of Music in Graz and offered master classes at numerous universities in the U.S. and Mexico. He has received more than 40 commissions from organizations such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Jazz Festival of the European Broadcasting Union, and the Debussy Trio. This is his fourth recording for Albany Records.

Olivier Messiaen was one of the most influential teachers of the 20th century. He taught an international group of students who would go on to become influential composers and musical leaders, including William Bolcom, Karlheinz Stockhausn, Peter Maxwell Davies, Oliver Knussen, Iannis Xenakis, Quincy Jones, and the three composers on this recording. Pianist Matthew Odell demonstrates the importance of Messiaen's teaching contrasting his music with three of Messiaen's students. Matthew Odell has won acclaim for performances of a wide range of repertoire as a solo recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and chamber musician. In addition to performances in Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Hall, Mr. Odell has appeared at major venues around the world, including Paris, London, Moscow, and Helsinki, among many others. Mr. Odell served on the coaching faculty of the Académie internationale d'été in Nice, France.

Inspired by a work for viola and clarinet by Rebecca Clarke, clarinetist Elizabeth Crawford and violist Katrin Meidell formed Violet and began working on expanding the literature for this sorely underrepresented genre of classical chamber music. All the works on this recording were written for their duo. Since its inception in 2015, Violet's efforts have produced more than 100 new compositions. Elizabeth Crawford is on the faculty at Ball State University. Prior to this appointment, she was a member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. She has performed and taught at festivals around the world and has transcribed a number of works for E-flat clarinet. Her recording of music for this instrument appears on the Albany Records label. Violist Katrin Meidell enjoys a prolific career as a performer, pedagogue, and lecturer, traveling around the world to perform and present. She is on the faculty of Columbus State University.

In recent years, interest in Russian composer Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) has surged. International festivals, conferences, and competitions dedicated to Medtner have taken place in Europe and Russia, with scholars and performers devoting greater attention to his work. This recording features Medtner's songs and a work for violin and piano. His songs interweave the piano and voice to enhance the music flow and to bring out the deep poetic meaning in each piece. The pianist, Sasha Burdin, has devoted a great deal of research to the piano works of Medtner with his DMA focused on Medtner. Soprano Rachel Joselson enjoys a distinguished career as an opera singer, recitalist, and teacher. She is currently on the faculty at the University of Iowa. This is her third recording for Albany Records. Violinist Scott Conklin, also on the faculty at the University of Iowa, is known for his "brilliance of tone and charismatic delivery." A champion of new music, his discography includes two recordings for Albany Records.

Born in 1905, Eric Zeisl fled Austria in 1938, coming to the United States, and committing himself to applying his mastery of classical compositional technique to commemorating the destroyed Jewish European heritage. He met Benjamin Zemach at the then new Brandeis-Bardin Institute, where Zemach headed the dance and theater department. The two men set out to create two biblical ballets, one of which, Jacob and Rachel, is performed on this recording. Zemach expertly distilled the dramatic elements of the old stories into scenes, and Zeisl composed the music—his forte was exactly that, depicting characters, actions and emotions in music. The second work on this recording, Variations on a Slovakian Folk Song, derives its theme from a book of folksongs called Slowakisch. The translation of the text is: Lord God mine, Father mine, give the world your light and justice. Every day your poor servant suffers terribly. The mission of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony is to perform orchestral works of well-known as well as not widely recognized Jewish composers. The LAJS is the only orchestra in America dedicated to the performance and preservation of orchestral works of distinction that explore Jewish culture, heritage, and experience. Led by artistic director Noreen Green, who founded the orchestra in 1994, the LAJS celebrates the richness of Jewish music, sharing it with diverse audiences. Dr. Green is known worldwide for her knowledge and skill in presenting music with Jewish themes. She has served as guest conductor in the United States, Israel, South Africa, Australia, and Canada. In 2017, Musical America recognized her as one of its Movers & Shapers the Top 30 Musical America Professionals of the Year.

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.

Paradiso, an oratorio composed by Robert Kyr on Robin Kirkpatrick's poetic libretto based on Dante's Commedia was commissioned by the Notre Dame Vocale and Carmen-Helena Téllez. As a musical work, Paradiso is an oratorio in 17 scenes, whose text is a lyrical meditation and profound reflection on Dante's version of heaven. While Dante is the source of the libretto, Kyr's musical setting arises from a variety of sources that are interwoven throughout the work. Composer Robert Kyr has been a member of the music faculty at the University of Oregon since 1990 and is director of the renowned Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium. He has been engaged for a long time with the themes of spiritual renewal, peace and environmentalism, through a style that partakes of both early and contemporary techniques. Librettist Robin Kirkpatrick is a poet and internationally renowned Dante scholar and is a fellow of Robinson College at Cambridge. Called a "quiet force behind contemporary music in America today," conductor Carmen-Helena Téllez is music director of the Notre Dame Vocale, Kosmologia Interdisciplinary Project, Aquava New Music Studio, and Indiana University's Contemporary Vocal Ensemble and has commissioned, premiered, and recorded many landmark works.

The San Marco Chamber Music Society in collaboration with the Lawson Ensemble present three American works: one (Amy Beach), a glowing example of the American Romantic style; another (Szewczyk) a world premiere for oboe and viola; and the third (Douglas) a concerto for oboe and string quartet. The San Marco Chamber Music Society is based in Jacksonville, Florida and has been performing chamber concerts there since 2008. Founded by Eric and Ellen Olson, the performers are primarily members of the Jacksonville Symphony. Formed in 2015 the Lawson Ensemble is a string trio who is in residence at the University of North Florida.

Embracing the unlikely combination of saxophone and harp, the Admiral Launch Duo (Jonathan Hulting-Cohen, saxophone and Jennifer R. Ellis, harp) performs groundbreaking commissions, unexpected transcriptions, and improvisations on this their debut recording. Named for the Admiral butterfly and launched at the Fresh Inc Festival in 2013, the duo has since appeared at new music venues coast-to-coast. Hulting-Cohen is on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Ellis is credited with more than 80 world premieres. The Duo has spent several years researching and commissioning repertoire for saxophone and harp and this recording will certainly gain recognition for this unusual but beautiful ensemble.

Violinist Igor Kalnin and pianist Rochelle Sennet founded Duo MemDi to perform music that embraces the diversity of world cultures. All of their live performances are from memory, hence the name Mem (memory) Di (diversity). This, their debut recording, includes two commissioned works and highlights a few of the many approaches to incorporating folk music elements in modern classical music. Violinist Igor Kalnin has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and an orchestra leader. He is on the faculty at Luther College and concertmaster of the Sinfonia da Camera. He received degrees from the Balakirev Music College, the Glinka State Conservatory, Yale, and Michigan State University. Pianist Rochelle Sennet has established herself as a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar. She studied at the San Francisco Conservatory, the University of Michigan, Texas Christian University, and the University of Illinois. She is the recipient of numerous awards including co-winner for the Krannert Center Debut Artist Competition. Dr. Sennet is on the faculty at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Taken from recordings of live concerts, the Frost Symphony Orchestra offers works by five American composers including Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Paul Creston, Lansing McLoskey, Dorothy Hindman, and Scott Stinson. For the Zwilich, the orchestra is joined by flutist Trudy Kane, now on the faculty of the Frost School of Music, after retiring from the position of principal flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. World-renowned saxophonist Dale Underwood is the soloist for the Paul Creston concerto.

The spirit of exploring new, and newly rediscovered, music is fully captured in this recording of American music for viola. The music ranges from the late 19th Century to today, yet it shares a common theme: a flowing lyricism that expresses the viola's rich vocal character. Of special interest is the first known American composition for viola (Benjamin Cutter); and the first composition for viola by an American woman (Blanche Blood). Violist Andrea Houde has performed as soloist, chamber musician, and in orchestras in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. A graduate of the University of Memphis and the Peabody Conservatory, Ms. Houde is on the faculty at West Virginia University and the artist faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp. Her colleague, pianist Sun Jung Lee is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, and West Virginia University. In addition to her performing career, she serves as staff accompanist at West Virginia University.

Composer Jan Krzywicki is on the faculty at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance, and conductor of the new music ensemble, Network for New Music. This new collection of his music radiates a virtuosic craft and flowing lyricism that emphasizes the blending of color shading in instrumental and vocal timbres, and the illusion of light in music. The recipient of numerous awards and commissions from prestigious performers and ensembles, his music has been heard throughout the United States. This is the third recording on Albany Records to feature his compositions.

A largely self-taught composer, Byron Richard O'Keefe takes his inspiration from the American countryside, particularly its rivers. An American Smetana, in the sense that his music evokes the rivers, hedgerows, and forests of the eastern United States, O'Keefe's compositions can be characterized as neo-pastoral Romanticism.

This recording contrasts a concerto for saxophone quartet and wind ensemble by David Maslanka (1943-2017) with a concerto for soprano saxophone, winds and percussion by one of Maslanka's proteges, Roy Magnuson (b. 1983). Magnuson has composed music for orchestra, wind ensemble, band, chamber ensembles, vocalists, electroacoustic ensembles, and films. His music has been performed throughout the United States. A graduate of Illinois State University, Ithaca College and the University of Illinois, he is now on the faculty at Illinois State University. Revered by the wind ensemble world as a composer, teacher, and mentor, David Maslanka was a graduate of Oberlin and Michigan State University. His compositions include more than 50 works for wind ensemble, and this recording is one of more than 20 containing his compositions on Albany Records.

Clarinetist Elizabeth Crawford is professor of music at Ball State University. She holds degrees from Furman University, the University of Michigan School of Music and Florida State University College of Music. She was a long-time member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and has performed and recorded with major orchestras in the United Kingdom. An avid proponent of music for E-flat clarinet, Crawford has commissioned composers including three on this recording (Lori Ardovino, Jenni Brandon, and Scott McAllister) and transcribed compositions for the instrument. Crawford has performed and taught at festivals and universities throughout the world including Poland, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, and South Africa.

Two performers passionate about American art song -- soprano Mary Mackenzie and pianist Heidi Louise Williams perform a program of songs by John Harbison, James Primosch, Daniel Crozier and Ned Rorem. Mary Mackenzie, who has captured the attention of audiences throughout the United States, has been described by the New York Times as "a soprano of extraordinary agility and concentration," and the Boston Globe as "sensational." She has appeared as a recitalist, a soloist with orchestras and as a chamber musician with the best known ensembles in the U.S. Her discography includes recording on the Albany and Bridge record labels. Pianist Heidi Louise Williams has appeared in solo and collaborative recitals across North America, in Europe and Asia. She has been praised by New York critic Harris Goldsmith for her "impeccable soloistic authority" and Dazzling performances." On the faculty at Florida State University College of Music, her recording for Albany Records received rave reviews from critics.

The works on this recording by Richard Toensing are of the highest order for both the wind ensemble and the soloists. Toensing's muse is an ambitious and generous one, requiring extreme competence of musicianship, mastery of varieties of style and great sensitivity. He shows himself to be a master of all the sonic possibilities available to him. A graduate of St. Olaf College and the University of Michigan, Toensing is on the faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has won numerous awards and fellowships, including a Guggenheim and the Joseph H. Bearnes Prize from Columbia University. Mezzo-soprano Erica Washburn is director of choral activities at the New England Conservatory. Soprano Bethany Worrell is the soprano artist-in-residence with the Metropolitan Chorale of Brookline. William Drury is New England Conservatory's associate conductor of wind ensembles and the conductor of the Southern New Hampshire University Orchestra. As a conductor, he has commissioned and premiered works by numerous American composers, including Richard Toensing.

The Scott/Garrison Duo, featuring clarinetist Shannon Scott and flutist Leonard Garrison, has performed together since 1988, with a long commitment to contemporary American music. They have been featured at many national conferences of the National Flute Association, College Music Society, and National Association of College Wind and Percussion instructors. Ms. Scott is clarinetist for the Solstice Wind Quintet and principal clarinet of the Walla Walla Symphony and the Eastern Music Festival. Leonard Garrison is on the faculty of the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho, flutist in the Northwest Wind Quintet, and principal flutist of the Walla Walla Symphony. For this recording they perform works for flute and clarinet, flute and marimba, and flute, clarinet, and piano, including works commissioned by their duo. They are joined by pianist Rajung Yang and marimbist Stuart Gerber. This is their fourth recording for Albany Records.

Over the past few years, Albany Records' progressive releases of the piano music of Allen Shawn have made it clear that this is one of the most substantial and memorable bodies of work for the instrument of any living American composer. Because Shawn is one of the major American composer-pianists, someone who can take on fearsome technical demands and deliver real interpretive value as he surmounts them, these performances are especially important as documents not only of the music but also of the interpretation and performance of the works. In addition to his five piano sonatas, Shawn performs his Etudes and Five Piano Pieces. On the faculty of Bennington College, Shawn grew up in New York City. In addition to his piano music, his works include a Symphony; concertos for piano, cello, violin, and oboe and a double concerto for clarinet and cello as well as numerous chamber works for varied ensembles. This is the sixth recording on Albany Records devoted exclusively to his music.

The history of the Five Seasons ensemble goes back to 2012 when Estonian composer and guitarist Robert Jürjendal heard a recording of the Corona Guitar Kvartet and contacted one of its members, Volkmar Zimmermann. Zimmermann initially asked Jürjendal to write a work for him and soprano Sara Fiil and their collaboration continued with the instrumentation expanding to the existing ensemble. The special membership of Five Seasons (acoustic guitar, soprano, trumpet, percussion, and electric guitar) encouraged Jürjendal to choose more academic writing, influenced by early guitar and lute music with the essence of romantic melancholy together with a complex contemporary harmony and sound conception. Five Seasons has appeared at Estonian Music Days to great critical acclaim.