Catalog

We admit it: Sessions' music is not for the casual listener or someone just getting into modern music. If you start cold with one of the later symphonies, it's like jumping into the middle of a book on advanced physics. But if you start at the beginning and work your way through, you will enjoy some of the most profound music written by an American. The early works might bear a passing resemblance to Copland, but by the later works it is obvious that Sessions has absorbed the complex sound world explored by Schoenberg and refined it. In all of his music, you are struck by the realization that these intense works are truly music, and not mere exercises in sonority. That is why this reissue is so important: spanning his creative lifetime, this collection of the complete solo piano works will give you a remarkable insight into this most significant of modern composers. Barry David Salwen has been the Executive Director of the Roger Sessions Society since 1988. Besides specializing in new music, he has performed widely the music on this disc as part of his original lecture-recital, "The Piano Sonatas of Roger Sessions," first presented in 1986. This and his contact with the composer during his doctoral work at Juilliard make him the authoritative performer. This CD is a major contribution to the recorded Sessions canon.

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.

Cyrille Rose was one of the most respected clarinet performers of the 19th century. A student of Hyacinthe Klose at the Paris Conservatory, he won the First Prize in clarinet in 1847. Rose taught there from 1876 to 1900. From 1857 to 1891 he served as clarinetist at the Paris Opera. Renowned especially for his insistence on careful phrasing, many of his students went on to win first prizes. Today, Rose is remembered for his series of clarinet etudes, most of them arrangements of earlier works for other instruments. This CD presents his best-known collection, the Thirty-Two Etudes. Rose based all but one of these studies on Franz Wilhelm Ferling's Forty-Eight Etudes for Oboe, Op. 31. He generally preserved the outline of Ferling's original etude, but transposed the key and made alterations at times in the melody, rhythm and articulations to render the pieces stylistically idiomatic for the clarinet. His goal was to develop control and good phrasing in the performer. They are in the keys of C, G, F, D, B-flat, A, E-flat, E, B, and D-flat Major, plus a, e, d, b, g and c minor. During his eleven years with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Sean Osborn traveled throughout the United States and the world. He has also appeared as guest principal clarinet with the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Seattle Symphony and the American Symphony Orchestra. Currently clarinet teacher at the University of Washington, he is also an award-winning composer.

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.

The two piano sonatas contained on this recording are among the finest examples of piano writing by two leading composers of the so-called Leningrad School, a group of Soviet composers raised and trained in Leningrad who came to prominence in the generation following Shostakovich. The fame of this group, which includes Sergei Slonimsky, Boris Tishchenko, and Andrei Petrov, springs from their innovative and individual approaches to musical composition. Sergei Mikhailovich Slonimsky was born in Leningrad on August 12, 1932. His father was a prominent Soviet writer Mikhail Slonimsky, and his uncle the Russian-American conductor and musical lexicographer Nicolas Slonimsky. Slonimsky received his training and served on the faculty at the Leningrad Conservatory, teaching composition and music theory. Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko was also born in Leningrad on March 23, 1939. Like Slonimsky, Tishchenko attended the Leningrad Conservatory. He pursued postgraduate work with Dmitri Shostakovich and became a close friend and perhaps, the most gifted pupil of the older composer. The works on this recording are performed by the Russian-American pianist Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein. She attended the Special Music School for gifted Children in Leningrad and later the Leningrad Conservatory. After completing her graduate and post-graduate studies, she was invited to join the faculty, a position she held until she departed for the United States in 1974.

The nine sonatas for solo piano by Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko (composed between 1957 and 1992) have attracted particular praise. "In the sonata genre, it may be that Tishchenko is well on his way to composing the most important body of works in Russia since Prokofiev," wrote Maurice Hinson in his Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire. He completed his Ninth Piano Sonata in 1992. The sonata exhibits the complexity characteristic of the last years of the 20th century. Internal links between the three movements, rather than any observance of Classical sonata form, bind the three movements together. Sergei Mikhailovich Slonimsky is the nephew of the famous Russian-American composer and lexicographer, Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1994). For the entry on his nephew Sergei in Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Nicholas Slonimsky wrote: "(Sergei Slonimsky's) style of composition is in the tradition of Soviet modernism, evolving towards considerable complexity of texture and boldness of idiom."

Frederic Rzewski is widely considered on of the most important and renowned American composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Rzewski's musical ideas are bold, brash, and unapologetic and are inspired by deep social conscience. He is most often compared to Charles Ives for his pioneering spirit, free and complex counterpoint, and use of quotation; to Beethoven for his forward-thinking approach; and to Franz Liszt for his pianist virtuosity. Pianist Matthew Weissman performs several of Rzewski's piano compositions on this 2-CD set, including the complete North American Ballads. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, and Indiana University, Weissman is the recipient of many awards and prizes, including the Los Angeles Liszt Competition and the Grieg International Competition. He has taught at four colleges/universities and the Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts.

In the notes to this recording John Salmon observes that he has always been a classical and jazz pianist and that his professional life has mirrored his youthful inclinations with recitals of music from the classical canon around the globe and appearances with the jazz-faculty combo at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This is the first recording of his own piano compositions, which are unmistakably in the jazz idiom, probably even more precisely categorized as "third stream," the style that combines jazz and classical languages. The composer/pianist says, "Salmon Is a Jumpin' would have been grammatically incorrect if referring to the fish. But as an autobiographical statement it is correct, especially when I get in a B-flat blues swinging mood."

The music of Turkish composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun (1907-1991) is often framed as a bridge between East and West. Upheld as a central figure in the musical life of the Turkish Republic, Saygun represents a nationalistic stance based on an embrace of European compositional models combined with an appreciation for Turkish traditional music, particularly folk sources from Anatolia. The distinguished pianist Kathryn Woodard offers a fascinating and sympathetically performed program of his music for that instrument.

Music is language, said the legendary French flutist and inspirational teacher, Marcel Moyse, the flute is one of its mediums of expression, and when I play I try to convey the impression of laughing, of singing, of talking through the medium of my instrument in a manner almost as direct as that expressed by the human voice." This insight is especially pertinent to this recital of Latin American and Spanish music for flute and piano, which intermingles transcriptions of vocal music with original compositions and transcriptions of instrumental works. Regardless of the music's origins, whether in vocal or instrumental music, the flute speaks and singsand at times even dances. Flutist Stephanie Jutt's elegant artistry and passionate intellect have inspired musicians and audiences around the world. Her groundbreaking performances of new music, transcriptions, and traditional repertoire have made her a model for adventurous flutists everywhere. Stephanie Jutt received first prize at the International Concert Artist Guild and Pro Musicis International Soloist competitions, and was a finalist in the International Walter W. Naumburg Competition. She has performed in recital throughout the United States, Europe, South America and Asia. A dedicated teacher, Ms. Jutt was Professor of Flute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music from 1990-2017.

This recording presents seven works for flute by composer John Heiss. The flute is partnered by piano, cello, harp, and chamber orchestra and the compositions span 50 years. While Heiss has primarily composed music for flute, he also has written works for orchestra, voice, chorus, and chamber ensembles. The seven works on this recording comprise an important strand in his output, particularly in the way they trace his compositional development. Heiss studied at Lehigh University, Columbia and Princeton. He has taught at the New England Conservatory for almost 50 years, directing the NEC contemporary ensemble as well as teaching composition, flute, and music history. Flutist Fenwick Smith was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's flute section from 1978 to 2006 and a member of the New England Conservatory faculty from 1982 until 2012. A long-time member of Boston Musica Viva, his lifetime achievements as a flutist are legendary. Smith and Heiss have enjoyed a lifelong collaboration and this recording is a fitting encomium to their long and productive musical partnership.

Inspired by the way the composers on this recording dealt with life's troubles by turning to music, flutist Catherine Ramirez decided to perform their music for solo flute in the hope it would be a source of strength for others facing adversity, fear, or frustration. Catherine Ramirez is a virtuoso flutist who has won three top prizes at the Città di Padova International Music Competition and first prize in the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition. She has been featured as a soloist and chamber musician in China, and Italy as well as at prestigious venues in the United States. Committed to bringing music to underserved populations, Ramirez has performed for young people recovering from additions, and for children with autism and developmental disabilities, among others. Her orchestral performances include appearances with the El Paso Opera and El Paso Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She is a graduate of Occidental College, the Boccherini Music Institute, Queens College, Yale University School of Music, and Rice University and is on the faculty at St. Olaf College and teaches masterclasses at conservatories, colleges and universities in Italy, China, Colombia, and throughout the United States.

The artist Hans Hofmann once described a painting to a critic as stemming from unbreakable rules. Then he immediately turned to another of his paintings and said he never thought while painting: it interfered with his spontaneity. Sherman's music is that same contrapuntal fission of rule and rebellion, skeleton and soul: structure informed by passion, the premeditated speech tripped up by the spontaneous touch, the push and pull of mind against gland, the classical cape against the romantic thigh, the German scholar and Hungarian guerilla fused so that both exist simultaneously at any given time. As the New York Times has said, "It was the kind of fantastical piano program that Horowitz's playing might have splintered apart with fireworks...But when Russell Sherman played these compositions in Alice Tully Hall the music was glittering, but not fractured; it made sense along with its sound." Sherman is the pianist's pianist, his concerts filled with excited musicians. If you have not been lucky enough to attend his rare, tortured, and ecstatic concerts, we hope this lush Schubert album with its seething undercurrents will, along with his 20-odd other recordings, provide some consolation.

The subtitle of this recording, Singing Style - cantabile expressions from the Baroque to present - gives the listener a good idea of what to expect. As pianist Bruce Leto, Jr. says, "Every piece of music has a story - whether tonally, modally, or motivically. Singing Style is an album derived as much from compositional cantabile sensibilities as from the art of song Singing Style takes the listener through compositional passages, vocal/piano arrangements, and humanitarian calls to action." Bruce Leto, Jr. has been a prize-winner in scholastic, collegiate, national, and international piano competitions, including the Young Artist Division of the Canadian International Music Competition, the Seattle International Piano Festival - Virtuoso Artists 20, and the Grand Metropolitan International Music Competition, among many others. A graduate of Haverford College and New York University, he is now working on an MBA at Villanova.

At first thought, the scope of a solo saxophone CD seems a bit narrow, but this recording includes the mainstream family of saxophones—soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass saxophones—in a wide variety of classical styles, ranging from tradition tonal music to 12-tone abstraction. As a soloist and founding performer of such ensembles as the Alloy Saxophone Quartet, Bill Perconti's exploration and expansion of the classical saxophone repertoire includes 12 CDs on five record labels. He has commissioned and premiered music by composers Lera Auerbach, Henry Cowell, Alan Hovhaness, Libby Larsen and Frederick Rzewski, among many others. A graduate of Bowling Green State University, Baldwin Wallace conservatory and the University of Iowa, he served on the faculty at Lewis-Clark State College until his recent retirement.

This is an interesting recital. It is good to see the piano music of Shchedrin and the Bulgarian composer Vladigerov beginning to appear on CD. Krassimira Jordan was born in Varna, Bulgaria of Russian and Bulgarian parents. She studied in Sofia, Vienna and Moscow and was a pupil of Stanislav Neuhaus and Emil Gilels. She became a naturalized citizen of Austria and became Professor of Piano at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts from 1979-1989. After her American debut at Carnegie Hall in 1989, she joined the faculty of the Baylor University School of Music as Artist-in-Residence and Professor of Piano. Highly regarded as a teacher, her students come from all parts of the world and have won top prizes at numerous international piano competitions. She is a fine performer and this music suits her temperament perfectly. As a result, this is a most satisfying disc.

One of the most influential violists of our time, Joseph de Pasquale has had a profound impact on the repertoire and perception of the instrument. The dedicatee of the 25th International Viola Congress, which honored his revolutionary contributions to the field of viola performance, he holds a 50-year combined record as principal violist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. His signature rendition of Berlioz's Harold in Italy has become a reference work for students of the piece. And heading a distinguished musical family, he is violist of the De Pasquale String Quartet, joining with family members William and Robert, violinists, and Gloria, cellist - all members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. De Pasquale's years with the Boston Symphony spanned the tenures of conductors Koussevitsky, by whom he was appointed principal violist, Munch and Leinsdorf; during that time he premiered the Piston Viola Concerto, which had been written for him, and those of Walton and Milhaud. As principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy, Muti and Sawallisch, he performed virtually every major viola concerto, premiering Martinu's Rhapsody Concerto, Bruch's Romanze, Shulman's Theme and Variations, and Hummel's Potpourri. He has performed and recorded with such celebrated artists as violinist Jascha Heifetz and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. Since 1990, he has been performing and recording exclusively with pianist Angelin Chang. A graduate of the Curtis Institute, where he studied with Louis Bally, Max Aronoff and William Primrose, he has served on the faculties of Indiana University and New England Conservatory and currently teaches at Curtis. His students hold positions in major orchestras worldwide.

Sojourn features new works for piano all written in the 21st century, six of which are newly commissioned. Pianist Jessica Johnson performs these works on a DS Standard 5.5 piano keyboard. This alternatively sized piano keyboard allows a whole new level of artistic and technical freedom for pianists with small handspans. Johnson, who serves on the piano faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studied at the University of Michigan and East Carolina University. She is an advocate for new music, an active clinician, and has held residencies at major universities and colleges throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. She is a three-time winner of American Music Teacher’s Article of the Year Award.

Calvert Johnson has put together a varied and fascinating program of music by Japanese and Chinese composers for harpsichord and organ. Johnson is Professor of Music and College Organist at Agnes Scott College. He is also organist at the First Presbyterian Church in Marietta, Georgia. Johnson earned the master's and doctorate in organ performance at Northwestern University and studied at the Toulouse Conservatoire where he was awarded the Premier Prix. He has performed throughout the U.S., Japan, England, Italy, France, Monaco, Switzerland and Germany. His extensive interests and expertise include books on early Spanish, Italian and English organ music and modern editions of works by women composers.

A proponent of American music, pianist Justin Kolb frequently performs the music of Joan Tower, Tania Leon, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and Peter Schickele. He has performed premieres of music by Robert Starer, Paul Alan Levi and Jan Bach. His program of Starer's solo piano music in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was hailed by the New York Times as a "Piano Recital Program with a difference." Kolb also performs much of the standard keyboard literature with an emphasis on Beethoven, Liszt and Alkan. The notes for this disc are written by the composer who has had a life-long love affair with the piano. Contemporary music lovers will find this program most appealing and refreshing.

This memorial disc of solos and duos by Andrew Welsh Imbrie (1921-2007) and one of his most distinguished pupils, Hi Kyung Kim (b.1954), boasts performances largely by the musicians who commissioned and premiered them. Two of Imbrie's last pieces, To My Son and Melody for Gayageum, written while he was fighting with his illness are included on this disc. Imbrie first studied with pianist-composer Leo Ornstein between 1930 and 1942, with an eye to becoming a virtuoso pianist as well as a composer. He spent most of World War II in the Army Signal Corps. He studied with Roger Sessions at Princeton and then at the University of California, Berkley. He was appointed professor of music at UC Berkeley in 1949, a post he held until he retired in 1991.

John Van der Slice received his A.B.degree from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.A. degree in Ethnomusicology and a M.M. in Composition from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and a D.M.A. degree in composition from the University of Illinois at Urbana. He studied composition with Armand Russell, Neil McKay and Paul Zonn. He is a specialist in the music of the 20th and 21st centuries and his own compositions include more than forty works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and orchestra (Specters, on TROY590). He was Professor of Music Theory at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, from which he retired in 2005. Solos and Duos presents an excellent cross-section of his chamber pieces. In Solo for Piano, for example, individual pitch intervals function as subjects of a musical drama which unfolds within contrasting sections. Solo for Tuba may be thought to "suggest a lifeform struggling to assert itself in what threatens to be a losing battle." The title Embers (written for the Malletkat, an electronic, programmable MIDI controller mallet percussion instrument) suggests "remnants of thought...glowing, briefly flaring, dying...until a final reawakening."

An advocate of contemporary music, the highly-acclaimed Ms. Risinger has played throughout the United States and abroad, often presenting world premieres of works written for and dedicated to her. She is currently Principal Flute in the Illinois Symphony. She is also a member of the Sonneries Wind Quintet and has performed with the Ohio Light Opera and the Washington Bach Sinfonia.

The virtuoso pianist Pedja Muzijevic was turned on to the music of John Cage by dancers. As he explains, "Mikhail Baryshnikov introduced me to the ethereal In a Landscape and we subsequently used it in our "Solos with Piano or not..." program. Then Trisha Brown choreographed a few of the Sonatas and Interludes and asked me to play them with her company... I promptly fell in love with the strange and interesting world of Sonatas and Interludes and started thinking that it would be wonderful to expose them to a variety of other music... Rest assured this program has no underlining story, title or deep meaning... Putting dried figs in a pork stew doesn't make any sense... It does taste good though!"

Lola Odiaga, the Peruvian harpsichordist and fortepianist, studied piano at the Juilliard School of Music in New York and at the Hochschule fur Musik in Hamburg, and harpsichord at Yale University. She holds degrees from the Juilliard School and Yale University and studied with Edward Steuermann and Ralph Kirkpatrick. She has taught at the National Conservatory of Music in her native Lima, Wellesley College, the Hartt College of Music, the Yale University School of Music and Boston University School of the Arts. Since 1983, she has only been performing on the fortepiano. The fortepiano used in this recording is a copy of an Anton Walter instrument dated c. 1790, built by Rodney Regier of Freeport, Maine. It has a compass of just over five octaves and - as was the case with the fortepianos of the period - in many ways resembles the harpsichord more than the modern piano. It has a wooden rather than a metal frame and is strung at a lower tension with lighter gauge strings. These features of its construction are directly related to a clear and distinct tone throughout its range.

Twentieth century Latin American composers of various generations and aesthetic persuasions have contributed substantially to a piano literature that remains undiscovered by most music lovers. In the last few years, the Cuban born pianist, Martha Marchena, has endeavored to reveal the many wonderful facets of this repertoire and appears now to be one of the foremost Latin American-Caribbean pianists specializing in this very rich area. She has also been very interested in making known the music of women composers from this part of the world. This compact disc includes pieces by older composers like Castro, Aretz, Terzian and Peixe, as well as a generous sampling of composers from younger generations. There are extensive notes about the composers and their music included with this CD. IT is a pleasure to have Ms. Marchena, a specialist in this repertoire, performing on this most unusual album.

Jamaican-born Canadian pianist Maria Corley gave her first public performance at age eight. Since then, she has appeared on radio, television and concert stages in Canada, the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, Bermuda and Europe. She completed her education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where she studied with Alexandra Munn. Maria Corley received both Masters and Doctorate degrees in piano from the Juilliard School, where she was a student of Gyorgy Sandor. Aside from being an accomplished pianist, Corley is an author, whose first novel, Choices, was published in Kensington's Arabesque line. She is also a composer and arranger of music for both solo voice and chorus. Formerly an assistant professor at Florida A&M University, she currently serves as staff accompanist at Millersville University in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Of this CD she writes, "Ethnicity and gender are not determining factors of ability, and if not for the potent combination of sexism and racism, perhaps more of the music on this recording might be better known. Included are two award-winning works: Kinney's Mother's Sacrifice and Price's Sonata in e-minor. The other composers, Valerie Capers, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Undine Smith Moore and Zenobia Powell Perry, have all achieved long and successful careers in their chosen field of endeavor. In short, these are first and foremost fine pieces of music, regardless of the race and gender of their creators."

The Nature Project, begun in 2005, was inspired by cellist Madeleine Shapiro's love of outdoor activities and concern with the environment. Ms. Shapiro has commissioned and performed more than 20 works specifically for this project, and it continues her career-long interest in electronics and multi-media. This recording features five of these works by pioneering composers. Called a "cello innovator" by Time Out New York, Madeleine Shapiro has long been a recognized figure in the field of contemporary music. She performs extensively as a solo recitalist throughout the U.S., Europe and Latin America with a focus on recent works by living composers. In addition to her recordings for Albany Records, Ms. Shapiro appears on the Naxos, New World, Stradivarius, CRI, Mode and HarvestWorks labels.

This CD showcases works by five living American composers born between 1951 and 1977. A thread binds the pieces together, for each work was written in response to significant outside influences: Irish folk music, the environment, or literature. All of the music was written specifically for the duo of Wolfgang David and David Gompper.

Stephen Parsons, professor of trombone and director of the School of Music at Illinois State University, has assembled a collection of works for trombone from the 20th century. With French, Dutch, American and Danish composers, the recording showcases some of the best music written for trombone and is a beautifully performed concert program featuring a number of world premiere recordings.

With Debussy's Jeux comes the notion of steps as a progression from one point to another in location, time and/or psychological state. As Debussy was a pianist-composer grappling with changing aesthetics in a time of turbulence, so Cuban-born American composer Jorge Martin is engaged in a similar pursuit today. His style is both accessible and provocative, equally using and breaking free of formal compositional technique, achieving its own unique voice. Martin and Jeanne Golan met as students at Yale University. Best known for his vocal works, Martin's first piano piece, Wand'ring Steps and Slow, was written for her. Its title comes from the last lines of Paradise Lost and suggests the loss of childlike innocence symbolized by the expulsion from Eden. Having written his first piano piece, Martin was inspired to delve into another. The Piano Fantasy on Sredni Vashtar also has a literary association. Saki wrote a tale of an orphan boy who defies a ferret he spies in his aunt's barn, to wonderfully horrific consequences. Martin turned this tale into an opera in 1992. He has reworked some of its music into the Piano Fantasy.

Saxophone virtuoso Noah Getz explains: "Still Life represents a snapshot of the music that I have been performing and enjoying over the last several years. This recording is an eclectic mix of works, most of which were written for me, from a number of trusted composer friends and colleagues." Based in Washington, DC, Noah Getz has performed at major venues throughout the United States. He has commissioned and premiered numerous works for the saxophone, including collaborations with Aaron Jay Kernis and Lewis Spratlan. He maintains an active schedule performing jazz as well as presenting masterclasses, recitals and lectures at universities across the country. He is the Saxophone Musician-in-Residence at American University.