Music: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34: III. Scherzo: Allegro
Composer: Johannes Brahms
Artists: Olga Kern, piano; Dalí Quartet
Album: Brahms & Shostakovich Piano Quintets (DE 3587)
Label: Delos Productions
Release: March 18, 2022
Order: https://newalbm.link/kerndaliquintets/

Two landmark works of the chamber repertoire, the piano quintets of Johannes Brahms and Dmitri Shostakovich, are rendered with power and beauty by acclaimed pianist Olga Kern and the path-breaking Dalí Quartet.

Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34: III. Scherzo: Allegro

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

Music: Mass Transmission: II — Java
Composer: Mason Bates
Artists: Cappella SF; Ragnar Bohlin, artistic director
Album: Mass Transmission: Choral Works by Mason Bates
Label: Delos Productions
DE 3573
Release Date: April 19, 2019

Of the two works presented in this remarkable album, Mass Transmission—in
its world premiere recording—is a particularly winning example of Bates’ use of “electronica,” blended here with music for mixed choir and organ. Sirens, lacking electronica, still achieves mesmerizing vocal effects through its complex scoring for 12-part a cappella choir.

Grammy-winning choirmaster Ragnar Bohlin and his superb chamber choir Cappella SF deliver astonishing performances that will not only thrill Bates’ growing legions of fans, but serve as an ideal introduction to Bates’ unique electronics-enhanced music for those unfamiliar with his art.

Mason Bates: Mass Transmission: II. Java

Music: Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7: Tempo di Minuetto
Composer: Hanns Eisler
Artists: Ilya Gringolts, violin; Dmitry Kouzov, cello
Album: Eisler, Ravel, Widmann Duos
DE 3556 (013491355627)
Coming September 6, 2019
Delos Productions: https://delosmusic.com/recording/eisler-ravel-widmann-duos/

Virtuosi Ilya Gringolts, violin, and Dmitry Kouzov, cello, perform three great duos—two from the 20th century and one from the 21st.

The graceful, expressive and witty Duo for Violin and Cello by Hanns Eisler, written when the composer was 26 years old, is a multifaceted work showcasing the composer’s brilliant intellect. Best-known for his long artistic association with playwright Bertolt Brecht, Eisler always took care to make a deep connection with his audience.

In Jörg Widmann’s 24 Duos for Violin and Cello, from 2008, the two instruments approach the sound of a string quartet at times. “They attract each other, reject each other, love and hate each other,” the composer writes. These performances are the world premiere recording of the entire set of both volumes of Widmann’s 24 Duos.

The album concludes with Maurice Ravel’s great Sonata for Violin and Cello. Dedicated to the memory of Claude Debussy, the sonata is always a favorite with audiences.

Gringolts and Kouzov form a superb duo. Both are highly sought-after soloists and consummate chamber musicians. They perform with precision and excitement, undaunted by challenging music.

Full Album

Hanns Eisler: Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7: Tempo di Minuetto

Music: Ducal Suite: “Clarinet Lament”
Composer: Duke Ellington (arr. David Schiff)
Artists: David Shifrin, clarinet; Dover Quartet
Album: Clarinet Quintets for Our Time (DE 3576)
Label: Delos Productions
Available October 4, 2019
Order: https://delosmusic.com/?p=23889

Master clarinetist David Shifrin partners with the Dover and Harlem String Quartets in an album that blazes with excitement. The three new quintets showcase the clarinet’s many moods and tones and explore the expressive capabilities of the string quartet as well.

First on the album is Ducal Suite, featuring arrangements of compositions by Duke Ellington, one of the twentieth-century’s greatest and most influential composers. David Schiff’s arrangements make the most of Shifrin’s virtuosity and deep feeling for this music.

Chris Rogerson’s Thirty Thousand Days explores three stages of life, divided into increments of ten thousand days (approximately twenty-seven years). The music constantly changes and evolves throughout the three movements of the piece.

Valerie Coleman’s Shotgun Houses is a tribute to Muhammed Ali. The first movement is a portrait of the West Louisville, Kentucky, neighborhood where both she and Ali grew up. The middle movement is a love ballad, and the final movement depicts the boxing match in which Ali won an Olympic gold medal in Rome in 1960.

See the Album

Duke Ellington: Ducal Suite - Clarinet Lament

Music: Nocturne
Composer: Lili Boulanger
Artists: Dawn Wohn, violin; Esther Park, piano;
Album: Perspectives (DE3547)
Coming November 1, 2019

Pre-Order: https://delosmusic.com/recording/perspectives/

The contributions of female composers have long been neglected.

Violinist Dawn Wohn and pianist Esther Park have begun to change that with Perspectives, a beautiful album featuring works from a vast variety of female composers including Nocturne by Lili Boulanger and Legenda by Vítězslava Kaprálová—both composers died tragically while in their 20s.

Commissioned especially for this album, Star-Crossed by Jung Sun Kang tells the story of two unlucky lovers. Deserted Garden and Elfentanz by Florence Price highlight the talents of this African American composer whose works are just beginning to receive the attention they deserve.

This diverse release also includes works by Amy Beach, perhaps America’s best- known female composer, a two-movement piece by Pulitzer-prize winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and works by Chihchun Chi-sun Lee, Reena Esmail, and Vivian Fine.

Wohn and Park have been making music together since their days as students in Juilliard’s Pre-College program. This exceptional album will almost certainly introduce listeners to some pieces they have never heard and expand the horizons for the great diversity in works by female composers.

Perspectives

See The Album

Lili Boulanger: Nocturne

Music: Gran Quintetto, Op. 65: Polonaise (version for guitar and string orchestra)
Composer: Mauro Giuliani
Artist: Emanuel Segre, guitar; Carlo Boccardoro, conductor; Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali
DE3546 - Coming January 10, 2020
Order now: https://delosmusic.com/?p=26865

Spain may be the ancestral home of the guitar, but Italy has produced wonderful guitarists and guitar music—witness Italian virtuoso Emanuele Segre and his new release on Delos, Italian Guitar Concertos. Segre brings his “rhythmic buoyancy,” “delicate touch,” and “persuasive playing” to a delightful program ranging from Vivaldi and Giuliani concertos to new creations.

Beginning with an aria and concerto by Vivaldi, the father of the concerto, the album then features the Gran Quintetto by Mauro Giuliani. One of the greatest composers of music for classical guitar, Giuliani’s performances on the guitar were legendary—Giuliani knew Beethoven, who wrote guitar music especially for him. (And the piece itself is reminiscent of Beethoven, particularly the instrumental introduction.)

The album finishes with two enchanting and congenial contemporary works for guitar and orchestra: Giovanni Sollima’s dreamy The Black Owl, and Carlo Boccadoro’s haunting Dulcis memoria II.

Italian Guitar Concertos

Giuliani: Gran Quintetto, Op. 65, Polonaise

Music: Improvisations on the Fourteen Stations of the Cross - based on themes provided by Ned Rorem 
Artist: McNeil Robinson, organ
Coming to Delos on January 17, 2020
Order Now: https://delosmusic.com/?p=26856 

The legendary late American organist, composer and pedagogue McNeil Robinson was especially prized for his skill at improvisation: a rare discipline largely restricted to European masters of the organ. Many distinguished composers of his day—including Marcel Dupré, Ned Rorem, Lukas Foss and Vincent Persichetti—were his regular collaborators, providing thematic materials for his peerless improvisatory events.

Robinson himself regarded this revelatory March 21, 2006 performance of improvisations on the fourteen Stations of the Cross—a treasured ritual of sacred Christian liturgy—as the finest of his improvisatory efforts. His dying wish was to have it released to the musical public as the pinnacle of his storied legacy, hence this marvelous live recording of the event.

Improvisations on the Fourteen Stations of the Cross: 11. Jesus is nailed to the Cross

Album: The ‘Other’ Cleopatra: Queen of Armenia
Artist: Isabel Bayrakdarian, soprano; The Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra; Constantine Orbelian, conductor; Jory Vinikour; harpsichord. 
Delos Productions, DE 3591
Coming March 20, 2020 - https://delosmusic.com/?p=28429 

Yes, there was another Cleopatra! She was married to Tigranes the Great, King of Armenia, and together they created an Armenia that reached from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean.

The resplendent and regal voice of soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian is perfectly suited to the role of Cleopatra. Bayrakdarian shines in arias from three rarely heard operas about King Tigranes and his queen. Bayrakdarian’s multi-hued voice relates the passion, drama, and fervor of the love story of Tigranes and Cleopatra.

Bayrakdarian sparkles in five arias from Il Tigrane by Baroque master Johann Adolph Hasse, famous in his day as one of the foremost composers of opera. Arias by Vivaldi and Gluck add further excitement to the album. Vivaldi, known primarily for his instrumental music, stands out as an opera composer, while Gluck, in an early opera, already shows his mastery of the form.

Bayrakdarian is supported by the Grammy-nominated team of Constantine Orbelian — “the singer’s dream collaborator” (Opera News) — and his marvelous Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra.

Get the Album

Hasse: IL TIGRANE, Act 3, “Press’ all’onde"

The title track from the upcoming Delos release December Chrysanthemum: Chamber Music of Xiaogang Ye (DE 3559) featuring Les Temps Modernes conducted by Fabrice Pierre.

Learn more and order at https://delosmusic.com/?p=28472

Xiaogang Ye: December Chrysanthemum

Music: When the Guitar
Composer: Reena Esmail
Artists: Conspirare
Album: The Singing Guitar (DE 3595)
Release Date: September 18, 2020
Label: Delos Productions
Order Now:  https://newalbm.link/tsg/

Mason Bates: Mass Transmission: II. Java

Delos Productions

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