The International Chopin Piano competition is known for its incredible power to turn unknown prodigies into global standing. Among past winners are Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich, Garrick Ohlsson, Krystian Zimerman, Rafal Blechacz, and Seong-Jin Cho. Every five years (due to the limitations imposed in the wake of the pandemic, the competition was postponed from 2020 to 2021), the jury faces an almost impossible task, they have to select the best pianist out of over 500 outstandingly gifted and perfectly trained contestants from all over the world. The preliminaries were held in July, and the jury qualified 87 pianists. The competition is divided into four stages. The results will traditionally be announced from the stairs in the main lobby of the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall on the night of 20/21 October.

Bruce Liu - Chopin Competition Podcast

Mark Abel’s music writing is beholden to no school or discernible influence. Even if his music sits comfortably within an ongoing continuum in the classical tradition, Abel is his own man, a composer who brings his sensibility and highly developed command of craft to a particular idea and then illuminates it in a strikingly imaginative way. 

Abel’s versatility of works is fully apparent on his sixth recording for Delos Music. ‘Spectrum,’ a generous two-disc set of song-cycles, chamber pieces, and excerpts from an opera still roaming around his brain and features: 2 time GRAMMY® Award winning soprano: Hila Plitmann, 4 time Juno Award winner: Isabel Bayrakdarian, celebrated mezzo-soprano: Kindra Scharich, pianists Carol Rosenberger, Dominic Cheli, Sean Kennard and Jeffrey LaDeur; as well as Alexander String Quartet violist David Samuel; Pacific Symphony concertmaster Dennis Kim; and the superb cellist: Jonah Kim.

Mark Abel is here with us along with Hila Plitmann to discuss ‘Spectrum.’ Listen to the podcast

The recording features 3 instrumental gems: ‘Reconciliation Day,’ ‘Out the Other Side’ and ‘The Long March’ along with 3 captivating song cycles: ‘Trois Femmes du Cinema,’ ‘1966’ and ‘Two Scenes from The Book of Esther.’ 

Trois Femmes du Cinema’ features the powerful vocal artistry of soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian who is joined by the superb pianist: Carol Rosenberger. The piece is rooted in Abel’s love for art films, particularly from the ‘1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, and the texts that he’s written are centered around 3 important women: French actress; Anne Wiazemsky, Mexican actress: Pina Pellicer, and the Ukrainian Soviet film director: Larisa Shepitko. These songs replicate their emotional trajectory, as well as their courage in standing up against the power of patriarchal misogyny in the film industry. These heroines are still largely unknown to the general public and each song in the cycle has a unique compositional approach.

‘Reconciliation Day’ is the first chamber piece on ‘Spectrum’ and is a moody, enigmatic duet beautifully played by violist: David Samuel and pianist Dominic Cheli. The rhythmic feel on this piece has a dance-like quality with bursts of sound and forward motion interspersed with calmer sections almost evoking an impressionistic quality.  

‘Out the Other Side’ is played with immense integrity and authority by Trio Barclay, the ensemble-in-residence at the University of California, Irvine. This trio consisting of Pacific Symphony violinist and concertmaster: Dennis Kim along with one of today’s most highly regarded young cellists: Jonah Kim, and the superb pianist: Sean Kennard play together with a unique and rare chemistry. 

Abel’s thirteen-minute trio excursion titled: The Long March’ which features pianist: Dominic Cheli, hornist: Jeff Garza and flutist: Christy Kim is an unusual piece and somewhat of a rarity in chamber music. As the title suggests, this musical journey explores the unique timbres of the horn and flute against an exhilarating piano and includes stops to regroup, reflect, celebrate, and endure. 

Two Scenes from “The Book of Esther," features: soprano Hila Plitmann as ‘Esther,’ and Mezzo-Soprano: Kindra Scharich as ‘Vashti.' They are joined by Violinist: Adam Millstein, clarinetist Max Opferkuch, and pianist: Dominic Cheli.

1966 is the final piece and the 3rd song cycle on the album. Mark Abel wrote the text which features Mezzo-Soprano: Kindra Scharich and her close colleague: pianist Jeffrey LaDeur. This wistful, nostalgic, lyrical piece reflects on the time when Abel turned eighteen years of age and was affected by 3 life-changing events, a romance, a hike, and San Francisco visit.

Produced by Max Horowitz - Crossover Media, This content, as well as the related podcast, are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) for redistribution and adaptation.

Mark Abel's 'Spectrum' featuring: Hila Plitmann

As they begin their 30th Season, the GRAMMY® Award-winning choral ensemble from Austin, Texas, Conspirare, presents an emotionally rich and wide-ranging program in their new Delos recording: ‘House of Belonging.’ Known worldwide for expanding the boundaries of choral performance, Conspirare has teamed up with the superb Miró Quartet to present a tapestry of intriguing new works by dynamic American composers: Kevin Puts, Derrick Skye, Alex Berko, Moira Smiley, Ross Lee Finney, Share-a Nova, Michael Schachter and Margaret Bonds. 

Conspirare founder and leader, Craig Hella Johnson, commissioned many of the pieces on House of Belonging and composed the opening track himself. The album’s thoughtful texts explore themes about spirituality, philosophy, the natural world, and the human need for deep connection with verses by Ewen Tait, John Muir, William Stafford, Wendell Berry, Ru-bin-druh-nath Tu-gore, David Whyte, Langston Hughes, Ludwig van Beethoven and Hildegard of Bingen.    
 
The Miró Quartet is one of America’s most celebrated and dedicated string quartets. Described by ‘The New Yorker’ magazine as “furiously committed” and the ‘Cleveland Plain Dealer’ as having an “exceptional tonal focus and interpretive intensity,”, Miro is the Quartet-in-residence at the University of Texas’ Butler School of Music, and for over twenty-five years, has performed on the world’s most prestigious concert stages.

Miró violist: John Largess is a Curtis Institute and Yale University graduate. In 1995 he toured the United States and Canada with the Colorado String Quartet. Appointed principal violist of the Charleston Symphony the following year, in 1997 Mr. Largess joined the Miró Quartet and has been a vital fixture ever since. An active speaker and writer about all things chamber‐music, the violist also holds a degree in Classical Archeology which has led to his participation in excavations in Greece, Israel, and Jordan. John Largess is here with us to discuss Conspirare, new Delos recording: ‘House of Belonging,’ as well as give us his unique musical perspective. Listen to the attached segment.

Conspirare's new recording: ‘House of Belonging’ is a dynamic and timely collection of American music for voices and with instruments. Curated and conducted by Craig Hella Johnson, the album showcases the unique combination of choral virtuosity and extraordinarily beautiful human expression in works by composers and poets diverse in age, geography, and ethnicity who speak to our internal and external sense of home and belonging. Each composer, in their unique voice, offers a reflection point for listeners.

Conspirare’s ongoing commitment to commissioning and performing music of today’s most vibrant living composers is reflected in these world premiere recordings. Conspirare’s nationwide roster of vocal artists Simon Barrad, Meg Dudley, Haitham Haidar, Chelsea Helm, Michael Jones, Lauren McAllister, Savannah Porter, Kathlene Ritch, and David Kurtenbach Rivera are featured as soloists on the album.

Produced by Max Horowitz - Crossover Media, This content, as well as the related podcast, are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) for redistribution and adaptation.

Conspirare 'House of Belonging' featuring Miro Quartet violist: John Largess

As they begin their 30th Season, the GRAMMY® Award-winning choral ensemble from Austin, Texas, Conspirare, present an emotionally rich and wide-ranging program in their Delos recording: ‘House of Belonging.’ 

Known worldwide for expanding the boundaries of choral performance, Conspirare has teamed up with the superb Miró Quartet to present a tapestry of intriguing new works by dynamic American composers…. Kevin Puts, Derrick Skye, Alex Berko, Moira Smiley, Ross Lee Finney, Shara Nova, Michael Schachter and Margaret Bonds. 

The album’s thoughtful texts explore themes about spirituality, philosophy, the natural world, and the human need for deep connection with verses by Ewen Tait, John Muir, William Stafford, Wendell Berry, Rabindranath Tagore, David Whyte, Langston Hughes, Ludwig van Beethoven, Hildegard of Bingen, Kobayashi Issa, Rūta Kuzmickas, Andrew Marvell, and Kiara Skye. 

Conspirare founder and leader, Craig Hella Johnson who curated and conducted the music on House of Belonging, also commissioned many of the pieces, as well as composing the album’s opening track. We’re delighted to have Craig with us to discuss the project. 

Listen to the segment

Conspirare - House of Belonging is a dynamic and timely collection of American music for voices and with instruments. Curated and conducted by Craig Hella Johnson, the album showcases the unique combination of choral virtuosity and extraordinarily beautiful human expression in works by composers and poets diverse in age, geography, and ethnicity who speak to our internal and external sense of home and belonging. Each composer, in their unique voice, offers a reflection point for listeners.

Conspirare’s nationwide roster of vocal artists Simon Barrad, Meg Dudley, Haitham Haidar, Chelsea Helm, Michael Jones, Lauren McAllister, Savannah Porter, Kathlene Ritch, and David Kurtenbach Rivera are featured as soloists on the album.
 
Produced by Max Horowitz - Crossover Media, This content, as well as the related podcast, are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) for redistribution and adaptation.

Conspirare 'House of Belonging' featuring: Craig Hella Johnson

Peter Boyer, Jeffrey Biegel - Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue  featuring the world-renowned London Symphony Orchestra 
reaches it’s 50-state concert goal. Naxos to release recording

The Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue project by composer Peter Boyer and pianist Jeffrey Biegel continues to expand its reach, securing performance commitments from 54 orchestras in all 50 of the United States. In addition, reaching beyond the United States to achieve an international presence, Boyer and Biegel recorded the new Rhapsody with the world-renowned London Symphony Orchestra for the acclaimed Naxos American Classics Series. Naxos will release this recording on February 23, 2024.

Biegel, a prolific pianist with an extraordinary record of commissioning new works for piano and orchestra, commissioned Boyer to compose this new work in celebration of the centennial of George Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue (premiered February 12, 1924). Since 2020, Biegel has pursued a highly ambitious “Rhapsody National Initiative,” with the goal of performing Boyer’s new work with at least one orchestra in each of the 50 United States. As of January 2024, this remarkable vision has been fulfilled, and Boyer’s new Rhapsody will be performed by orchestras in all 50 states by the 2026-27 season (details below). This is believed to be an unprecedented feat for a new concerto by an American composer.

The Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue was recorded with Biegel as soloist, and Boyer conducting the London Symphony Orchestra at the famed AIR Studios, Lyndhurst Hall on November 27, 2023. Simon Rhodes, Senior Engineer at Abbey Road Studios, known for his work on projects such as the first two Harry Potter film scores, the Avatar film scores, and hundreds of classical albums and other film scores, was producer and engineer for the recording. Naxos will release the Rhapsody recording on February 23, 2024.This is Boyer’s fourth recording for the American Classics Series, and his third recording with the LSO as composer and conductor.

Boyer’s ca. 18-minute Rhapsody was premiered on June 30, 2023, with Biegel and the Utah Symphony conducted by Benjamin Manis, on the opening night of the Deer Valley Music Festival in Park City, Utah. An outdoor audience of more than 3,000 rewarded the new work with a prolonged standing ovation — a reaction which has been repeated by audiences at each subsequent performance, by nine different orchestras to date.

An impressive array of notable artists from the classical and pop music fields have endorsed the “Rhapsody National Initiative,” including David Foster, Neil Sedaka, Emanuel Ax, Leonard Slatkin, JoAnn Falletta, Melissa Manchester, and Charles Strouse. An especially meaningful endorsement came from Marc Gershwin, nephew of George Gershwin, bringing the imprimatur of the Gershwin family to the project. With prominent orchestra executives included also, the project has received more than 35 endorsements.

“I can’t wait to witness this incredible collaboration celebrating 100 years of one of the world’s most treasured compositions, Rhapsody in Blue, with my dear friend Jeffrey Biegel at the piano. No one brings the essence of Gershwin and his genius more to our ear than J-man — as I like to call him. He, like Gershwin’s music, is world class! What a fantastic idea to commission the uber-talented Peter Boyer to help celebrate this milestone with his composition, Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue. […] Congrats to all involved — I will be cheering from the sidelines!!!” — David Foster, 16-time Grammy-winning composer, pianist, songwriter, producer

A perusal score and complete demo recording of Boyer’s Rhapsody may be found here.

The commission of Boyer’s Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue was made possible through a generous consortium of sponsors. The Billy Rose Foundation was the lead sponsor of the commission, and the exclusive sponsor of the recording.

Peter Boyer - Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue w/Jeffrey Biegel & The London Symphony Orchestra

Years With The Band

Titling A Song

The Sound Of Friendship

Leaving New York

Enjoy, Stream, & Download these soundbites from Sérgio Mendes discussing his latest CD: Magic. There is also a Radio Interview with KPFK: Los Angeles - Betto Arcos.

 "The sound of Brazilian musician Sergio Mendes has been a summer soundtrack for generations of listeners." - NPR

In a career that spans more than half a century, Sérgio Mendes is an old hand at creating a unique sonic blend that electrifies a mass global audience. His knack for delivering hit after hit has made him the most successful Brazilian musician of his time. A grand conceptualizer, his well-polished talents as a pianist, composer, bandleader, vocalist and producer make him a truly singular artist. With Magic, his debut recording for the storied OKeh label, he triumphs once again, delivering a timely update on the infectious mix of Brazilian rhythms and contemporary styles from his homeland, the U.S. and elsewhere that make the Mendessound instantly recognizable.

Magic, spotlights the distinct talents of a large cast of both emerging and established Brazilian and North American musicians, vocalists, composers and producers. The eclectic line-up of multi-faceted collaborators underscores how Mendes has been so successful at forging fruitful partnerships since he emerged as a young jazz pianist in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1960s. Present to help Magic radiate its special distinctive charm are such one-of-a-kind artists as will.i.am, putting his producer's genius to work on one track, Grammy® Award-nominated singer Janelle Monáe and Grammy® Award-winning singer John Legend. Among Mendes' Brazilian guests are vocalists Milton Nascimento, Carlinhos Brown, Ana Carolina, Seu Jorge, Maria Gadú, and Gracinha Leporace, Mendes' lovely wife and a noted vocalist from the bossa nova days. Also on hand is guitarist Guinga, one of Brazil's most accomplished string masters and composers. Recording sessions in Los Angeles, Salvador, and Rio de Janeiro involved a host of top-flight musicians from both countries.

"I like to do things that are kind of bold, fresh and unique. That gives me a lot of pleasure," Mendes says of the creative process that has been central to his success. "I'm very curious and intuitive, and I also love to learn new things – I have no formula. I believe in the magic of the encounter… and that is what my life has been about, and also this album. For me, the most important thing is the melody. Then the arrangement. It's all about how you present the song. That plays a big role in what I do."

On Magic, the three-time Grammy® Award-winner taps the entire range of music styles he has explored, from samba jazz to hip-hop. The session's focal point is the exuberant "One Nation." "When I began the album last year," Mendes notes, "I went to Salvador to work with Carlinhos Brown and write a song for the World Cup. It represents the joy, the rhythm and the excitement of fútbol as seen through a Brazilian eye." "Atlântica," by one of Mendes' favorite composers, is an example of what the musician looks for to perform. "When Guinga played that song for me two years ago, I couldn't get the melody out of my head," he comments. "The harmonies and chord changes are incredible. The beautiful thing about the album is that I have songs from composers like Guinga and Toninho Horta and my friend Milton Nascimento, who wrote his tune just for this album."

Maria Gadú, a young singer, guitarist and composer from São Paulo, is another Magic revelation. "I met her about three years ago and said ‘let's do a song together!' What a wonderful experience it was working with her." And, although he included songs like "Só Eu," a melodic beauty by the late maestro Moacir Santos, his theory teacher in Rio 50 years ago, Mendes also contributed more original works than on any previous album. "The songwriting aspect of this album gives me tremendous pleasure," he adds.

"Sometimes you have no idea of how younger people really appreciate your work and how knowledgeable they are of what you've done," Mendes comments on his collaborations with will.i.am and John Legend, "I like those experiences very much. I love reaching out and ending up with something that's bold and different. That's why I called the album Magic. Everything on it is magical."

Born and raised in Niterói, a city across Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janeiro, young Mendes studied piano at a local conservatory. An interest in North American jazz led him to Copacabana's fabled clubs of the late 1950s, where he performed with his first trio. In 1961, he formed the Bossa Rio Sextet, a groundbreaking group that was his first of many artistic coups. "Those were the days of the bossa nova when it was mostly performed by a guitarist and a singer," he recalls today. "I came up with the idea of using two trombones and a tenor sax, and it was a revolution. People loved the sound because it was totally different." In the two years that followed, he took the group to New York City to perform at the historic bossa nova concert at Carnegie Hall in 1962. He recorded albums with such jazz greats as Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Phil Woods and Hubert Laws, and continued to work closely with his mentor, famed composer Antônio Carlos Jobim.

By the mid 1960s, it was time for a totally new direction, and Mendes once again created a revolutionary sound that would prove to be pop culture phenomenon for the following three decades. His new creation, dubbed Brasil ‘66, used two female vocalists to shape ingenious bossa-spiced arrangements of a wide-ranging repertoire that included the latest fare from Brazil, rock and R&B hits, and carefully chosen gems from the Great American Songbook. Significantly, his debut album with the new group, Herb Alpert Presents Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ‘66, was recently inducted into the Grammy® Hall of Fame.

Throughout his career, Mendes has continued to recharge his passion for creating fresh and innovative music by seeking out challenging partnerships and novel sources of inspiration. Occasionally, the process has been as simple as returning to the elemental Brazilian sound, as he did on such albums as Primal Roots and Oceano. At other times, it has meant embracing the spirit of a universal theme. His album Confetti and its title tune became the anthem for the 1984 Olympic Games while Pelé was the soundtrack for a motion picture about the world's greatest soccer player of all time. Within the past decade, Mendes has also successfully experimented with hip-hop and other of-the-moment styles.  For more information visit sergiomendesmusic.com.

Sergio Mendes - Never Gonna Let You Go

Avi Avital transports the mandolin to its Venetian roots in his latest album, Vivaldi. Enjoy, Stream & Download the interview bites.

Release date: February 24, 2015, Avital begins a North American tour with the Venice Baroque Orchestra in February and March in support of the album.

The GRAMMY-nominated Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital has been praised as a both an "enthralling and sensitive soloist" (Boston Globe) and a "convincing advocate for his instrument" (Wall Street Journal).  As the first mandolinist signed to Deutsche Grammophon, he has brought the instrument to entirely new audiences, building a fresh legacy for the mandolin through virtuosic performance and a commitment to commissioning new works and arrangements in a range of genres. On February 24, Avital will release Vivaldi, his third album on DG that returns the instrument to its origins-the Venetian Baroque and master composer Antonio Vivaldi. On this release, Avital captures the mystical spirit of Venice, shedding new light on Vivaldi's musical genius by performing his own transcriptions of the composer's works, demonstrating the rock star status that he cultivated in his own time. He is joined on the album by the Venice Baroque Orchestra on this, the ensemble's twelfth recording on Deutsche Grammophon. Avital and the VBO are also about to embark on a major North American tour this spring, stopping in Southern California, Miami, Boston and Carnegie Hall as well as Calgary and Montreal (complete dates below). 

"Working with the Venice Baroque Orchestra is a great experience," says Avital. "All the players live around Venice and are surrounded by the culture of this unique city. You can hear their incredible understanding of its history in every note." 

Avital sees Vivaldi's mandolin concertos as the instrument's "Old Testament," and has long wanted to revisit these earliest experiments in mandolin music. "Once you start looking into Baroque performance practice," says Avital, "you soon realize how much freedom musicians had back then. Music in those days was all about guts, personality and spontaneity."

The centerpiece of the album, the Mandolin Concerto in C major, RV 425, is a cornerstone of classical mandolin repertoire. The work is bookended by Avital's own transcriptions of Vivaldi concertos and sonatas for lute, violin, and recorder. Interspersed with these familiar concerti are two authentic, 18th Century Venetian Gondolier songs, performed by Juan Diego Flórez, accompanied by Avi on mandolin. In this finale, Avital trades in his modern mandolin for a mandolino lombardo, the traditional instrument of the era. The album's trailer can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/GPSAzzTVSaQ 

For a musician such as Avital, fascinated by every aspect of his instrument, the music of Vivaldi is a gift: "He was one of the few composers who actually wrote for the mandolin. The fact that this music is designed for the instrument gives it a real sense of intimacy."

This album follows Avital's January 2014 release, Between Worlds – which the New York Times called "revelatory" – featuring repertoire ranging from chamber music compositions by Ernest Bloch and Manuel de Falla, to traditional Bulgarian folk tunes. His 2012 Deutsche Grammophon debut featured his own transcriptions of J. S. Bach Concertos for harpsichord and violin in arrangements for mandolin and orchestra.

Vivaldi - Bach Transcribing Vivaldi's Works

Enjoy, Stream & Download soundbites from composer, arranger and bandleader Maria Schneider discussing her latest CD, with the big band - The Thompson Fields.

"Beyond categorization...simply sublime ...You don't listen to CDs for the Maria Schneider Orchestra. You "experience" them." - AUDIOPHILE AUDITION -Jeff Krow

"Maria Schneider is a national treasure." - NPR

"an extravagant show of her strengths: precise, expressive harmony; ribbons of diaphanous texture; a rhythmic momentum that doesn't feel propulsive so much as wind-borne." - THE NEW YORK TIMES -Nate Chinen

"one of the great jazz records period, not just one of the great recent jazz records." THE BUFFALO NEWS -Jeff Simon

"This marriage of sounds, words and images is ultimately breathtaking, a testament not simply to the hipness of jazz but to the uplifting and sustaining powers of art." - OTTAWA CITIZEN-Peter Hum

"Beyond the searching solos and high virtuosity both on and off the paper, it's the love poured into The Thompson Fields that flows back out of the speakers and makes it such an unusually moving work of art. It captures Schneider's artistic vision unlike anything else in her catalogue." - THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD -David R. Adler


COMPOSER MARIA SCHNEIDER TO RELEASE FIRST RECORDING
WITH HER ACCLAIMED JAZZ ORCHESTRA IN EIGHT YEARS

THE THOMPSON FIELDS ­– AVAILABLE  JUNE 2nd
FAN-FUNDED THROUGH ARTISTSHARE

With The Thompson Fields, composer, arranger and bandleader Maria Schneider celebrates a long-awaited reunion with her vaunted jazz orchestra, a homecoming nearly a decade in the making.  Featuring eight new original works by the leader, The Thompson Fields makes brilliant use of Schneider's 18-piece jazz orchestra, a long-standing ensemble that spotlights such first rank players as Donny McCaslin, Rich Perry, Frank Kimbrough and Lage Lund.  The performances reveal an ever-deepening relationship between Schneider and her musicians, many of whom she has worked with over a quarter of a century.  The album follows a momentous year that found Schneider's recent album Winter Morning Walks garnering three wins in the classical category of the 2014 GRAMMY Awards, making her one of the rare musicians to win GRAMMYs in both the jazz and classical categories. The CD is powered by ArtistShare andavailable exclusively at MariaSchneider.com.

Schneider has long been known for her autobiographical music, and with The Thompson Fields, she goes further, sharing a deep relationship to southwest Minnesota, her childhood home.  Although the music reflects her love of native landscape, birds, and prairie, Schneider delves not just into her own roots, but also into what "home" means in broader terms.

MS, The Thompson Fields - Making Experiences With Music

MS, The Thompson Fields - Dancing While Conducting

Enjoy, Stream & Download soundbites from composer, arranger and bandleader Maria Schneider discussing her latest CD, with the big band - The Thompson Fields.

"Beyond categorization...simply sublime ...You don't listen to CDs for the Maria Schneider Orchestra. You "experience" them." - AUDIOPHILE AUDITION -Jeff Krow

"Maria Schneider is a national treasure." - NPR

"an extravagant show of her strengths: precise, expressive harmony; ribbons of diaphanous texture; a rhythmic momentum that doesn't feel propulsive so much as wind-borne." - THE NEW YORK TIMES -Nate Chinen

"one of the great jazz records period, not just one of the great recent jazz records." THE BUFFALO NEWS -Jeff Simon

"This marriage of sounds, words and images is ultimately breathtaking, a testament not simply to the hipness of jazz but to the uplifting and sustaining powers of art." - OTTAWA CITIZEN-Peter Hum

"Beyond the searching solos and high virtuosity both on and off the paper, it's the love poured into The Thompson Fields that flows back out of the speakers and makes it such an unusually moving work of art. It captures Schneider's artistic vision unlike anything else in her catalogue." - THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD -David R. Adler


COMPOSER MARIA SCHNEIDER TO RELEASE FIRST RECORDING
WITH HER ACCLAIMED JAZZ ORCHESTRA IN EIGHT YEARS

THE THOMPSON FIELDS ­– AVAILABLE  JUNE 2nd
FAN-FUNDED THROUGH ARTISTSHARE

With The Thompson Fields, composer, arranger and bandleader Maria Schneider celebrates a long-awaited reunion with her vaunted jazz orchestra, a homecoming nearly a decade in the making.  Featuring eight new original works by the leader, The Thompson Fields makes brilliant use of Schneider's 18-piece jazz orchestra, a long-standing ensemble that spotlights such first rank players as Donny McCaslin, Rich Perry, Frank Kimbrough and Lage Lund.  The performances reveal an ever-deepening relationship between Schneider and her musicians, many of whom she has worked with over a quarter of a century.  The album follows a momentous year that found Schneider's recent album Winter Morning Walks garnering three wins in the classical category of the 2014 GRAMMY Awards, making her one of the rare musicians to win GRAMMYs in both the jazz and classical categories. The CD is powered by ArtistShare andavailable exclusively at MariaSchneider.com.

Schneider has long been known for her autobiographical music, and with The Thompson Fields, she goes further, sharing a deep relationship to southwest Minnesota, her childhood home.  Although the music reflects her love of native landscape, birds, and prairie, Schneider delves not just into her own roots, but also into what "home" means in broader terms.

MS, The Thompson Fields - A Potter's Song

MS, The Thompson Fields - Arbiters of Evolution

Stream & Download thIS Igor Levit Podcast discussing his Sony Classical Bach | Beethoven | Rzewski release

Sony Classical announces the release of Pianist Igor Levit's third album - Bach, Beethoven, Rzewski. Available October 30, the album includes Bach's Goldberg Variations and Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, long considered acid tests of the performer's art, plus Frederic Rzewski's gigantic cycle on the Chilean revolutionary song ¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!, which has the reputation of being nearly unplayable. Not content with canonized masterpieces, Levit is equally drawn to the physical challenge of Rzewski's virtuosic tightrope walks.

In seven performances from December 7-19 in New York, Levit and iconic visual/performance artist Marina Abramović will give the world premiere of their collaboration on the Goldberg Variations, which Levit will perform live, at the Park Avenue Armory in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall. Abramović re-imagines the concertgoing experience by employing her Abramović Method to explore the relationship between performer and observer, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. This concentrated durational work reflects upon music, time, space, emptiness, and luminosity, with the audience becoming a part of the work.

Levit's vaulting artistic ambitions have been proven by his first two albums: the five late Beethoven sonatas (2013) and the six Bach partitas (2014). The response from the international media was as broad as it was universally ecstatic. In April 2014, Alex Ross of The New Yorker wrote of Levit's début album for Sony Classical, "After a few minutes, I was transfixed. Here was playing of technical brilliance, tonal allure, intellectual drive, and an elusive quality that the Germans indicate with the word Innigkeit, or inwardness."

Today, after just a few years on the international scene, this young artist has emerged as one of the leading pianists of our time, combining supreme interpretative earnestness with sparkling technique and extraordinary versatility. He has enlarged his repertoire in many directions at once, at a dizzying pace. It may seem ambitious that Levit, aided by multiple Grammy-winner Andreas Neubronner as producer, has recorded the three most demanding sets of variations in the keyboard repertoire, all within the space of half a year. Yet he has already spent a great deal of time with all three, each of which stands for an important aspect of his work.

Since 2011 Levit has headed the chamber music program at the Heidelberg Spring Festival. It was at his initiative that Frederic Rzewski was invited this year to be the festival's artist-in-residence. Over the years all three sets of variations on this recording have been featured in Levit's Heidelberg recitals. He even played the Goldberg Variations there for the very first time in April 2015.

"Actually, variations have always been my favorite musical form," Levit confides. "The faster the change and the higher the frequency, the more I like it. I view variations like travel books: there are reports of roads leading from point A to point B, but also reports of people who set out as person X and arrive as person Y. I never know in advance how I'll experience the stops along the way or in what state of mind I'll arrive at my destination. Yet I've always felt very protected and in good hands on these journeys."

Levit made a deep study of the Diabelli Variations at the age of 17. Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, the legendary professor of piano at Hanover University of Music, who died in 2012, had intuitively recognized that the wealth of sharply contrasting characters in late Beethoven were made to order for his intellectually agile protégé. Kämmerling's intuition proved correct: the Diabelli Variations became the pièce de résistance of Levit's early career.

Igor Levit - Bach | Beethoven | Rzewski

Paul Leslie's Album

Al Di Meola Interview on The Paul Leslie Hour

Jos Slovick is the featured guest on Sony Soundtracks Keeping Score podcast, produced and hosted by Crossover Media's Max Horowitz. Jos gives us a glimpse into what it was like acting and singing in the film 1917, as well as his experience recording at Abbey Road Studios. 

The folk song "I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger" was performed by Jos Slovick in the film 1917, directed by Sam Mendes.

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"I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger" arrives in the wake of Thomas Newman's critically acclaimed score for 1917. Towards the end of the film, actor Jos Slovick appears as a British soldier singing the song to his fellow troops prior to battle. Of the release, Slovick says, "1917 is an incredible film to be part of.  It felt like a special moment when we filmed that scene, and I'm so pleased it's resonating with people. Recording the song at Abbey Road Studios was a dream come true."

ABOUT THE FILM - Set at the height of the First World War, 1917 centers on two young British soldiers, Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), who are given a seemingly impossible mission. In a race against time, they must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers – Blake's own brother among them. 

► Watch the I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger (from 1917) - Official Video: 

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Jos Slovick - I Am A Poor Wayfaring Stranger

Guitarist John Scofield celebrates the music of his friend and mentor Steve Swallow in an outgoing and spirited recording, made in an afternoon in New York City in March 2019 - "old school" style as Scofield says, acknowledging that more than forty years of preparation led up to it. John was a 20-year-old student at Berklee when he first met and played with bassist Swallow, and they have continued ever since, in many different contexts. 

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"I love these songs", says Scofield of the selection of Swallow compositions explored here – a broad range including tunes that have become standards, as well as some lesser-known works. The rapport between Scofield and Swallow is evident in every moment. John: "Sometimes when we play it's like one big guitar, the bass part and my part together." 

Behind the drum kit, Bill Stewart is alert to all the implications of the interaction. "What Bill does is more than ‘playing the drums,'" Scofield says. "He's a melodic voice in the music, playing counterpoint, and comping, while also swinging really hard." The guitarist himself plays with fire and invention throughout: "These two giants bring out the best in me."

Swallow's compositions, John notes, "make perfect vehicles for improvisation. The changes are always interesting – but not too interesting! They're grounded in reality with cadences that make sense. They're never just intellectual exercises, and they're so melodic. They're all songs, rather than ‘pieces'. They could all be sung." 

Swallow Tales opens with "She Was Young", a tune introduced on Steve Swallow's ECM album Home, in 1979, where it was indeed sung, by Sheila Jordan. A number of the tunes addressed here – including "Falling Grace", "Portsmouth Figurations", and "Eiderdown" – belonged to the 1960s repertoire of Gary Burton's groups. Scofield, who had admired them from the outset, studied them with Burton and the composer in the early 1970s, by which point Swallow had made the transition from double bass to bass guitar, creating a new voice for himself on the electric instrument. When Scofield launched his own recording career, Swallow was in his trio (with Adam Nussbaum on drums). Touring widely the guitarist and the bassist fine-tuned their musical understanding, a process continued in many other configurations over the years. Scofield appeared on Steve's XtraWatt album Swallow in 1991, for instance, and Swallow is on numerous Scofield recordings - including the recent Country For Old Men, which also featured Bill Stewart. A close associate since the early 1990s, drummer Stewart had played in John's quartet with Joe Lovano, and gone on to join the guitarist in many journeys over varied musical terrain.

John Scofield has recorded for jazz labels including Impulse, Blue Note, Verve, Emarcy and Gramavision. ECM appearances to date have been infrequent but distinguished; they include two albums with Marc Johnson's Bass Desires group – Bass Desires (recorded 1985) and Second Sight (1987) - in which the guitarist shared frontline duties with Bill Frisell. On Shades of Jade (2004), a third Marc Johnson album, Scofield is heard alongside frequent colleague Joe Lovano. The live double album Saudades (recorded in 2004), meanwhile, features Scofield as a member of Trio Beyond, alongside Jack DeJohnette and Larry Goldings, reassessing the songbook of Tony Williams' Lifetime. Swallow Tales is the first of his ECM recordings to feature the guitarist as bandleader.

John Scofield - Steve Swallow: Swallow Tales podcast

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