Stories for March 5, 2021
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Jeni Slotchiver's 'American Heritage' speaks to an expansive journey into the past / HollywoodSoapbox
Posted: March 3, 2021 3:22 PM | By: Admin
HollywoodSoapbox - John Soltes writes......Celebrated pianist Jeni Slotchiver has built a career out of musical exploration. She has interpreted many well-known composers in the classical music realm, particularly from the 20th century. Her new project is a survey of songs from the vast African-American musical tradition. Her album's title speaks to this expansive journey into the past: American Heritage: From the Civil War to Civil Rights. On the recording, which has recently been released by ZOHO, Slotchiver includes compositions by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Margaret Bonds and Louis Moreau Gottschalk, among several others. The selections range from the traditional folk song "Shenandoah" to Frederic Rzewski's "Down by the Riverside". "This is music I have been close to practically my whole life," the pianist said in a recent phone interview. "I was exposed to all kinds of music when I was younger. Clearly I'm a classical music nerd, but I loved gospel, blues, jazz. I love popular music, and I heard all kinds of music in our home. I did spend my early years in the South, and so there were some quite memorable moments of experiencing the music live there." READ THE FULL HollywoodSoapbox ARTICLE -
Classic 107 - Winnipeg chats with Benjamin Grosvenor about Liszt
Posted: February 27, 2021 12:00 AM | By: Admin
Classic 107 - Winnipeg CAN Host Chris Wolf had the opportunity to Zoom chat with world renowned pianist Benjamin Grosvenor about his latest recording. A recoding featuring the music of Liszt. The English pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is one of today's most sought after pianists. Ever since winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year at the age of 12 in 2004, Grosvenor has developed an International career that has seen him perform with the world's top Orchestras and make several award winning recordings on the Decca Record label. Benjamin Grosvenor's latest release that comes today, February 19, 2021 features the music of Liszt…and not just any Liszt! Grosvenor has recorded some of the most difficult and monumental music that Liszt ever composed: Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178 Berceuse, S. 174ii Tre sonetti di Petrarca, S. 161/4-6 Réminiscences de Norma, S. 394 (after Bellini) Ave Maria, S. 558/12 (after Schubert) When asked why Grosvenor chose to record the music of Liszt Grosvenor says "He had so many sides to him as a person but also as a musician…some composers I suppose, if you were to devote and entire disc to them you might worry about a lack of variety, but with Liszt and his compositional output, there's such a lot of variety and there is also the fact he was such an incredible transcriber of other people's music. He had amazing gifts in taking a whole opera and summarizing it in to a paraphrase of 15 minutes." What Grosvenor is referring to is his recording of the Reminiscences de Norma (after Bellini) that can be found on this latest disc. A piece that demands that the pianist is totally secure in his technique, and also that he has a clear idea of the narrative that Liszt is trying to get across in the music. Grosvenor succeeds in spades on both counts! The centre-piece of his latest recording is the vast and expansive Liszt B minor sonata. This is a sonata that would send lesser mortal pianists running for the exit due to its technical requirements, intense interpretive demands, and need for sheer endurance needed by the pianist. The piece is in one large chunk that lasts roughly 30 minutes. As Grosvenor says "It's a piece to be consumed in its entirety" And what a feast! Grosvenor has shown that he is clearly up to the task. He has made a recording that is 30 minutes of sheer delight. The interpretation is engaging, and interesting; this combined with Grosvenor's technical perfection and innate ability to sing through the piano make this truly a musical banquet; complete with sides, tea and fine French pastries. "It's an extraordinary journey filled with so many different emotions…throughout there is this kind of contrast between the divine and the diabolical," says Grosvenor. "There is this sort of devilish element which he sets out in the characters that we hear on the very first page...In terms of the structure, the whole piece is developed from material we hear in the first minute of the piece." Throughout so many of his recordings and performances Benjamin Grosvenor has proven himself to be a master of lyricism and the ability to change tonal colors at the drop of a hat, as the music requires. This element of Grosvenor's playing comes shining through in his interpretations of the three Petracha Sonettos that come from Liszt's 2nd Book of Years of Pilgrimage. These pieces can also be found on the disc. "They are intimate works, they are inspired by poems of the 14th century poet Petrach," Grosvenor says. "They are all love poems essentially, and Liszt picks three that offer three contrasting visions of love." Here again Benjamin Grosvenor manages to bring out the tenderness and also the dramatic aspects of these three pieces. This latest recording of the music of Liszt marks not only his latest triumph on record, but it also marks Grosvenor's renewal of his contract with Decca Records. "It's great to be continuing my partnership with them. I've recorded for Decca for ten years now, I signed when I was 18. I hope there will be many more years to come, and I look forward to the next few discs we have with this contract." For us as listeners let's hope the partnership Grosvenor has with Decca is long and fruitful, because if this if this latest disc is anything to go by, it is going to fantastic partnership! If you missed Chris Wolf's conversation with Benjamin Grosvenor, you can see the entire Zoom conversation here: -
Wilhelmina Smith's lustrous sonority, wide dynamic range, and impeccable control bring forth Per Norgard and Poul Ruders color and drama / ClassicsToday
Posted: February 25, 2021 12:00 AM | By: Admin
ClassicsToday Jed Distler writes.....Per Nørgård composed his first solo cello sonata between the ages of 19 and 21. His seriousness, sensitivity, and strong personality were clearly present early on. The first movement's brooding lyricism never turns on itself, while the microtonal gestures are expressively discreet and anything but gimmicky. The Allegro con brio finale is like a fragmented or interrupted gigue, where sudden double stops and pizzicato chords seemingly challenge the music's dance-like profile. Wilhelmina Smith's lustrous sonority, wide dynamic range, and impeccable control in the highest registers bring forth the music's potential for color and drama. She conveys similar eloquence and sustaining power throughout No. 2, which consists of two pieces written nearly 27 years apart, and imparts an appropriately incantatory tone throughout the plaintive slides in the brief No. 3's "Prayer" outer movements. Poul Ruders' Bravour-Studien is essentially a set of variations based on the Rennaissance era's greatest hit "L'homme armé". Ruders pushes the cellist's capabilities in many directions, from hard-to-voice pizzicato flourishes and sul ponticello effects to leaping chords and low-lying runs that must murmur without sounding muddy. Smith's technical aplomb allows her to navigate Ruders' hurdles without difficulty. That said, I prefer Morten Zeuthen's more volatile and daring interpretation on Dacapo. His quavering vibrato in the opening Overture, for instance, immediately raises the emotional stakes, and the Etude boasts more abandon than in Smith's relatively careful reading, which, however, boasts more reliable intonation. While she nonchalantly dispatches the Intermezzo's arpeggiated chords, Zeuthen patiently spells them out, creating more of a contrast to the quiet pizzicato rejoinders. An unqualified recommendation for the Nørgård, but listeners interested in the Ruders should sample both Smith and Zeuthen. SEE THE ClassicsToday PAGE -
Evening Music with Lara Downes set to premiere on KDFC: San Francisco
Posted: February 24, 2021 12:00 AM | By: Admin
Beginning Monday, March 8 at 8 pm PT, Lara Downes will host "Evening Music with Lara Downes," a nightly program featuring classical music spanning centuries and styles, specially chosen and explored to reveal unique insights and context. Additionally, as the station's first-ever Resident Artist, Lara will curate and create new digital content that will engage the California community and give KDFC listeners a more in-depth look at the creativity and history that has shaped our musical lives. Pianist Lara Downes is a sought-after performer, Billboard Chart-topping recording artist, producer, curator, activist, and arts advocate. Her dynamic work positions her as a cultural visionary on the national arts scene. Lara's musical roadmap seeks inspiration from the legacies of history, family, and collective memory, excavating the broad landscape of American music to create a series of acclaimed performance and recording projects that serve as gathering spaces for her listeners to find common ground and shared experience. Current Host of the Evening Program, Rik Malone will still be featured as a host and continue to program the music for much of the KDFC schedule. Here's soem Q&A with Lara -
Impulse! Records Celebrates 60 Years With Year-Long Campaign / AnalogPlanet
Posted: February 22, 2021 12:00 AM | By: Admin
AnalogPlanet's Michael Fremer writes.....Impulse! Records, founded in 1960 by Creed Taylor and home to some of the greatest jazz artists of all time including John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Archie Shepp, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Quincy Jones, among many others, this year celebrates its 60th anniversary. The orange-and-black imprint known as the "House That Trane Built" was a cultural beacon of progressivism, spiritualism, and activism throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Today, the label thrives with a new vanguard of jazz artists including Shabaka Hutchings, Sons of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming, Brandee Younger, Ted Poor and others. Jamie Krents, EVP of Verve and Impulse! says, "Impulse! Records has an important and enduring legacy that we are proud to celebrate during this anniversary year. We are thrilled to unveil new music, visual content, merchandise, partnerships and more. The famous orange label has been the musical home to progressive artists that pushed the boundaries of music, thought, and culture. Impulse! continues this legacy with a commitment to our history, and our future with artists like Shabaka and Brandee, who both carry the torch and blaze new trails. We are proud to share the story of this remarkable label with the world in this, its 60th year." READ THE FULL AnalogPlanet ARTICLE -
Benjamin Grosvenor talks about his personal and passionate testament to the visionary spirit of Franz Liszt with 99.5CRB - Boston
Posted: February 19, 2021 12:00 AM | By: Admin
99.5CRB - Boston's Cathy Fuller writes.....Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor talks about his personal and passionate testament to the visionary spirit of Franz Liszt, prepared and recorded in the dark months of COVID. Grosvenor is twenty-eight, and yet his remarkable musicianship has been capturing the hearts of the public for a long time. He won the BBC Young Musician Competition at eleven, when his imagination and technical prowess were already producing an uncanny brand of maturity and sparkle. Now, in isolation as the COVID lockdown drags on in London, he has focused on the kaleidoscopic output of Franz Liszt. In our conversation, he talks about being so close to Liszt, while remaining so distant from life as it used to be. (See a full transcript below.) Building around the epic Sonata in B minor, Grosvenor includes the magical (and ferociously taxing) Reminiscences of Norma, as well as the three Petrarch Sonnets from the exquisite Years of Pilgrimage. Also included is a haunting account of a rarely-played version of the Berceuse and the beautiful reworking of Schubert's song Ave Maria. The result is a fresh and loving recording, dedicated to the grandfather he recently lost, who inspired Benjamin to play the piano in the first place. The challenges in Liszt's music are many and monumental, like pacing the climaxes as they arrive one after another (as in his transcription of themes from Bellini's Norma), or getting a melody to sing out with your thumbs while the rest of your fingers are busy conjuring elaborate atmospheres (in the Ave Maria). One of the greatest challenges is in the Sonata, keeping an immense, over-arching structure intact while moments of beauty erupt spontaneously. As Grosvenor said in our interview, "Only as time progresses do you realize that it's actually part of this great master plan that [Liszt] has, that goes over the massive breadth and length of this piece." LISTEN TO THE 99.5CRB - Boston SEGMENT -
For Benjamin Grosvenor - Liszt signifies his most substantial solo recording to date / WFMT: Featured New Release
Posted: February 19, 2021 12:00 AM | By: Admin
British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is internationally recognized for his electrifying performances, distinctive sound, and insightful interpretations. The album Liszt signifies his most substantial solo recording to date, centered around the works of the Romantic piano virtuoso and composer Franz Liszt. Grosvenor says, "The music of Liszt has been central to my repertoire since I was introduced to it as a child, by my grandfather. I wanted with this recording to show the composer in his different aspects, including some of his original compositions, but also displaying the extraordinarily re-creative abilities he showed in his transcriptions." For February 19, 2021 - Benjamin Grosvenor - Liszt is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release'

The Kanneh-Masons - Carnival of the Animals is the 90.9WETA: Wash DC 'Album Of the Week'
Posted: February 18, 2021 12:00 AM
Classical WETA 90.9 FM showcases notable new (or newly reissued) albums each week. Hear selections from the album on-air throughout the week, and check online to learn more about the artist and the music. We're pleased to resume Album of the Week during Black History Month by featuring the wonderfully talented family of musicians: the Kanneh-Masons. They recently released a recording of Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns, along with several other animal-themed classical works. The Carnival of the Animals features a new text by author Michael Morpurgo, narrated by him and Academy Award-winning actor Olivia Colman (of The Crown fame). Listen all week for portions of the Carnival as well as several full performances. Here is a note from the seven talented Kanneh-Masons who are featured in this recording: The idea for this album grew from our special connection with music as young children. Music that speaks to the young, brought to life in the creative dialogue between narrative and sound has an impact that lasts a lifetime. As very young children, our parents introduced us to Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, and we listened to this obsessively every morning before Primary school. (We still love the way the music illustrates the words spoken in that recording by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Dame Edna Everage!) We were all similarly fascinated by the magical world of story and music created in Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns. The drama, the picture-painting and the humour which is packed into the music has been brought into vivid colour by Michael Morpurgo's story poems, – also narrated by the extraordinary Olivia Colman – which are funny, exciting and at times incredibly moving.

Hilary Hahn discusses 'Paris' with classical radio
Posted: February 18, 2021 12:00 AM
Hilary Hahn's new recording pays homage to the rich cultural heritage of a city that has been close to her heart throughout her career. Set for international release by Deutsche Grammophon on 5 March 2021, Paris sees the American violinist resume her productive partnership with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and its Music Director, Mikko Franck. The three-time Grammy Award-winner's album presents the world premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara's Deux Sérénades, commissioned by Mikko Franck. It also includes Ernest Chausson's Poème and Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.1, which received its first performance in the French capital in 1923. HH made some time available TODAY!! to speak with radio stations about the new release. The list includes KDFC: San Francisco CRB: Boston WMBR: Boston WRCJ: Detroit Spokane Public Radio: WA WGTE: Toledo OH WCMU: Mount Pleasant MI WCPE: Wake Forest NC WMHT: Schenectady NY WQLN: Erie PA WOMR Provincetown MA Winnipeg's CLASSIC107: Canada Taintradio: Online
Harmonious World Podcast: UK

Harmonious World Podcast interviews William Susman
Posted: February 17, 2021 12:00 AM
A Quiet Madness features three piano pieces, a piano and violin duet, a series of seven scenes for four flutes and a solo accordion piece that was composed as a response to Hurricane Katrina. The album immerses the listener in a photorealistic sound world of understated beauty. At once calming and thought-provoking, it allows the ear and mind to make their own connections without feeling overwhelmed by thematic constraints. William Susman's precise harmonic and rhythmic languages invite us into a subdued, enchanting expression of madness that roams all over the map, akin to the mind wandering during a rainy day-or, perhaps clairvoyantly, akin to the strange passage of time spent in self-isolation during the collective trauma of COVID-19. Harmonious World Podcast's Hilary Robertson conducts her first podcast with William Susman and extracts from the composer's music. LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT Support the show
Interview with Harmonious World podcast |

89.1WMHT: Schenectady chats with Benjamin Grosvenor
Posted: February 17, 2021 12:00 AM
89.1WMHT: Schenectady NY's Rob Brown writes....When British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor was just a boy, his grandfather, an amateur pianist, introduced him to the music of Franz Liszt. Grosvenor's new recording on Decca Records is all music of Liszt. Grosvenor said, "I wanted with this recording to show the composer in his different aspects, including some of his original compositions, but also displaying the extraordinarily re-creative abilities he showed in his transcriptions." SEE THE PAGE & LISTEN
Interview with WMHT's Rob Brown |

BSO MD - Andris Nelsons describes 'The Spirit of Beethoven' with 99.5CRB - Boston
Posted: February 16, 2021 12:00 AM
CRB's BRIAN MCCREATH writes.....Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Andris Nelsons describes the three online performances he conducts, each of them featuring Beethoven symphonies, and works inspired by them, written by composers of our time. In January 2020, Nelsons and the BSO were looking ahead to a concert tour of Asia, followed by the last chapters of the 2019-2020 season. The tour, however, was cancelled as the now world-wide pandemic took hold in the very countries the orchestra was to have visited. And eventually, those last dynamic chapters of the season, including Nelsons's return, were also stricken from the schedule. In a radically changed world, Nelsons and the orchestra were finally reunited to record three concerts for BSO Now, the Boston Symphony's online concert series. And in a remotely-produced interview, Nelsons described each concert, revealing the ways his relationship with Beethoven's symphonies have evolved, as well as how the impact of those symphonies is refracted through compositional voices of our time. I began by asking Nelsons to describe the feeling of returning to Symphony Hall after being gone for so long. LISTEN TO THE 99.5:CRB - Boston SEGMENT

Benjamin Grosvenor learns Liszt from listening / The New York Times
Posted: February 15, 2021 12:00 AM
The New York Times - David Allen writes....For his new album, Benjamin Grosvenor delved into historical recordings of the daunting Sonata in B minor. "This is music that's probably not supposed to be played cleanly," Benjamin Grosvenor said of Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, the centerpiece of his new album. How do the great musicians prepare to play the great works? Each has his or her own methods, and tends to keep the strategy quiet, a secret key to success. One thing that distinguishes the subtle Benjamin Grosvenor, 28, from the rest of the pack of young star pianists is his extensive knowledge of historical recordings. This listening has paid off in a spellbinding Liszt recording out on Decca on Friday, crowned with a typically thoughtful account of the treacherous Sonata in B minor. "I almost feel like you should know the notable recordings of a work like this," Grosvenor said of the sonata in a recent interview. "More than anything, it helps you understand what works and what doesn't work. You react to some things positively and you react to some things negatively, and that fuels your imagination." What do you think about the opening bars of the sonata, which are so spare compared to what follows? It's foreboding, and mysterious, and a little bit threatening. It would be quite interesting to just line up eight recordings of the first bar. For someone who is a music lover but who is not that acquainted with putting a piece together, it might just be interesting to hear how two notes can essentially be interpreted in so many different ways. There are many valid approaches. What Vladimir Horowitz does in a large hall in his Carnegie recording, this kind of demonic thing, works very well. Cherkassky's is interesting; it sounds like he's improvising, like it's something that's just come to him in the moment, but it's obviously conscious because he executes it in the same way at the end of the slow movement as well. I was aiming for something mysterious, almost - so the notes are not too present. They're quite soft, very much like plucked strings, the bass more in it than the treble, like what Alfred Brendel does. So comparisons with orchestral sounds help you define what you are trying to achieve, even in a work as pianistic as this? As a pianist you've been playing the piano all of your life; you have a natural association with piano sound. So it's only when you're forced to put it into words that you try to make those associations. But it is an appropriate way to think, because, for most composers, the piano is always trying to imitate other instruments, because of its nature as a percussion instrument. Again, it's a line of thought that adds fire to the imagination, and the colors that you then draw out. One of the challenges in the piece is how to create tension over the whole, or even just over shorter periods of double octaves, or continuous fortissimo dynamics. You picked out a section near the start as an example. In this double-octave passage there is a lot of fortissimo playing, and you vary that in terms of dynamics, but the meter is the same for a while, with these continuous quavers. Horowitz, in the final rise and descent, just pushes through. There's lots of wrong notes, but it's raw. It's exceptionally difficult because of the octaves, but if you can push through it in that way I think it's very effective, all the way to the lowest note on the piano. So when you are playing the piece live, does atmosphere matter more than precision in passages like this? Yes, this is music that's probably not supposed to be played cleanly. Part of the struggle is, it is technically difficult, but that's what makes it exciting. Someone said of Horowitz that his playing is not exciting because he plays fast, but because he plays faster than he can. In this music there's an element of that. Lupu generates the tension in a different way; it's tension by holding back, by creating a limit that you're working against. Then the slow movement poses quite different challenges. It's magical music. The most incredible bit for me is this ascending line in the right hand, the scales after the climax. It's the most static point of the piece, and a groove needs to be found between static to the point of no motion, and finding the magic that's in it. Not to play it too casually. Claudio Arrau there is very special; it's such a wonderful moment with these triple pianissimos - finding that beautiful color, and where to take the time. Then comes the fugue, a moment when I'm always wondering how fast a pianist is going to try to play. Is this another place where aura matters more than accuracy? The counterpoint needs to be clear. So it's the point at which you can still characterize it, and that point is different for each pianist, as long as it builds and builds gradually to the right point. Intellectually speaking it's not necessarily correct, but I quite like the idea of treating the first five bars as a kind of fanfare. They don't carry enough to push forward out of the slow movement, so to me they inevitably sit somewhere in between if you are going to take it at that tempo. I like the change of pace there. The magic, and the music, of the slow movement return on the very last page. It's this final transition from darkness to light: the rumbling in the left hand, then the way that it ascends to the top of the piano. Those diminished chords are little shards of light, then it comes away to the very low notes, then these transcendent last chords. That's what the last page is about: transcendence. You can't help but think that the last note is an awakening from a dream. Close listening brought out the enormous range of possibilities in a work that presents an intellectual challenge of interpretation as much as a punishing test of technique. The piece is a Faustian struggle between the diabolical and the divine; the question is how to make it cohere over more than 30 minutes. Image“You react to some things positively and you react to some things negatively,” Grosvenor said, “and that fuels your imagination.” "You react to some things positively and you react to some things negatively," Grosvenor said, "and that fuels your imagination."Credit...Kalpesh Lathigra for The New York Times There is no single answer. The example of Radu Lupu points in one direction. "It has this great inevitability about it," Grosvenor said of Lupu's interpretation. "In terms of the way he controls the pulse it's quite symphonic, and also in the kinds of sounds he produces." Shura Cherkassky, a figure beloved of pianophiles whose impulsive, visionary performances were so idiosyncratic that Grosvenor said he would never dare imitate them, offers something else in a live recording from 1965. "Sometimes it feels kind of improvisatory and sometimes he doesn't quite do what's written in the score," Grosvenor said. "But he somehow makes this miracle of his own unique narrative from it." Perils lurk whichever way a pianist turns. "The danger in pursuing this symphonic, quite rigid, controlled outlook is that it could quite easily become something more of an academic exercise than the fantastical piece that it is," Grosvenor said. "And obviously if you go along the Cherkassky route, you could make it sound like something that doesn't make much sense." If Grosvenor successfully traces a course between those extremes, he also takes inspiration from how his forebears have resolved the many difficulties in a work of this scale. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Watch Peter Gabriel re-record 'Biko' with artists from around the world / RollingStone
Posted: February 12, 2021 12:00 AM
RollingStone's ANDY GREENE writes......Peter Gabriel has re-recorded his 1980 protest classic "Biko" with help from 25 musicians from around the globe, including Beninese vocalist and activist Angélique Kidjo, Yo-Yo Ma, the Cape Town Ensemble, Sebastian Robertson, and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello. The video was produced by Sebastian Robertson and Mark Johnson as part of Playing for Change's Song Around the World initiative. The original song was written as a tribute to South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, who was murdered in police custody in 1977, but Gabriel tells Rolling Stone that it still holds incredible meaning today. "Although the white minority government has gone in South Africa, the racism around the world that apartheid represented has not ," he says. "Racism and nationalism are sadly on the rise. In India, Myanmar and Turkey, Israel and China, racism is being deliberately exploited for political gain." "On the black/white front the Black Lives Matter movement has made it very clear how far we still have to go before we can hope to say we have escaped the dark shadow of racism," he adds. READ THE FULL RollingStone ARTICLE & WATCH THE VIDEO

Honeywell Arts Academy - Artistic Director; Ranaan Meyer interviews with The Violin Channel
Posted: February 13, 2021 12:00 AM
The Honeywell Arts Academy will launch in June of 2021 with three separate programs for double-bassists, pianists, and instrumentalists. The Violin Channel recently caught up with Ranaan Meyer, artistic director of the Honeywell Arts Academy. Here';s some Q&A Tell us about the Honeywell Arts Academy? When was it founded and what is its main mission? Auditions are happening now for the Honeywell Arts Academy which launches this June, and I am so proud to be artistic director. Thirteen years ago I started a bass camp with my buddies Hal Robinson of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Juilliard, and Curtis faculty, and Eric Larson of the Houston Symphony. That vision was completely ideal. The concept was - through a philosophy we follow called Sharing of Knowledge - to accept extraordinary bass players to come hang out with us for a week. We would swap ideas, play for each other, make music together, and push our musical boundaries. Thirteen years later, we are blown away by the people who have come to attend. They are now in orchestras like the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Concertgebouw, and more. Because of the success, we are launching the expansion of this program for all instruments called Honeywell Arts Academy. PHOTO: Amanda Reynolds READ THE FULL Violin Channel Q&A

Michigan's 101.7RadioFreeHillsdale gives students room to explore their passions / The Collegian
Posted: February 11, 2021 12:00 AM
The Collegian's Alexis Daniels writes....Though radio in Hillsdale has only been around for five years, its production range has grown significantly, and they now broadcast a variety of radio shows appealing to many crowds. These radio shows range from news broadcasts to podcasts to features. Junior Christine Talent, who joined radio just last semester, started with newscasting and has just started a feature of her own called "All the Small Things," a five minute segment in between shows that highlights fun facts about how common items, such as toast, came to be. "I was having one of my 2 a.m. snacks. I was making toast. Really love toast," Talent said. "And I just thought, ‘You know, who thought of making it crunchy? Because I just love them for it.' I have those kinds of questions about a lot of things where I'll just pause and think, ‘What was the best thing before sliced bread?'" Talent said doing radio has built her confidence. She became interested in it because of a friend's involvement, and she has "always been told by people that [she has] a good radio voice." She also wanted to step outside her comfort zone. "It was kind of an impulse decision because I wanted just to try something new that was low time commitment," Talent said, "and radio is just one of those things where you get however much you put into it." These and other student-created shows can be found on WFRH Radio Free Hillsdale on 101.7 FM, SoundCloud, or Apple Podcasts. READ THE FULL Collegian ARTICLE

3 new albums retell the history of black composers / The New York Times
Posted: February 11, 2021 12:00 AM
The New York Times - Joshua Barone writes......Music can't survive on its own. Composers not entrenched in the canon need support: from publishers, from foundations, from performers. Without these champions, it's all too easy to slide into obscurity. Three projects - by the Catalyst Quartet; the baritone Will Liverman; and the pianist Lara Downes - consider another avenue for maintaining a legacy: recordings. Gone are the days when classical albums could be relied on as moneymakers. But in the age of streaming, they are endlessly accessible, easy to disseminate and, in the case of these new releases, ideal for spreading the word about overlooked composers of color, whose music often exists in varying states of disrepair. Recordings have helped propel the recent revivals of Julius Eastman and Florence Price, whose works are held up by scholars and critics today but languished for decades - neglected for a variety of reasons, including race. When a friend of mine, the musicologist Jacques Dupuis, programmed Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's "Endymion's Dream" a few years ago for the Boston ensemble Calliope, the only full score of it he could find was a rare holograph at the Library of Congress. So he traveled to Washington and spent dozens of hours transcribing it and creating a performing edition. A video of the resulting concert is the only available recording of the piece. "I'm not sure that would be sustainable as a regular practice without robust institutional support," he said, "which speaks to some of the hurdles in bringing equity and diversity to music programming." Similar labor went into the creation of these albums, made with the goal of highlighting music by Black composers and offering new possibilities for the classical canon. ‘Uncovered, Vol. 1: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor' The Catalyst Quartet's Uncovered project began in 2018, growing from an initial idea of performing and recording a program of works by a few underrepresented composers. That quickly blossomed into something more ambitious: a series of focused surveys, beginning with music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Coleridge-Taylor, born to a white mother and Black father in Britain in 1875, wrote the pieces on "Uncovered, Vol. 1" while he was a student at the Royal College of Music in London. Although they reflect the influence of Brahms and Dvorak, as the violinist and scholar Matthew Leslie Santana observes in the album's liner notes, they have the feel of "a new music project," said Karlos Rodriguez, the quartet's cellist. "Except it of course isn't new, and now it's redefining the canon," Rodriguez added. He pointed to the Clarinet Quintet in F-sharp minor: "You think of Brahms and Mozart clarinet quintets, but this is up there. It holds its own." "Uncovered, Vol. 1," released earlier this month on the Azica label, features Catalyst - the violinists Karla Donehew Perez and Jessie Montgomery, the violist Paul Laraia and Rodriguez - in three early Coleridge-Taylor works, including quintets performed with the pianist Stewart Goodyear and Anthony McGill, the New York Philharmonic's principal clarinet. (Montgomery, increasingly in demand as a composer, left the quartet last month and was succeeded by Abi Fayette.) Preparation for the Coleridge-Taylor album - and future installments of Uncovered, which continues with a Florence Price recording - didn't come as easily as, say, a recording of Beethoven quartets. The scores were not always readily available, and there wasn't an established interpretation history. "These pieces are not in your blood," Donehew Perez said. Some of the music had never been recorded, or there was only a single record, and, as Laraia said, "None of these pieces should exist in one recording." The members of the quartet are hoping that "Uncovered, Vol. 1" prompts more Coleridge-Taylor performances. "I think this is an interesting way for presenters to move in an interesting direction, but there doesn't have to be shock," Fayette said. "You can hear the Classical era and Romantic era; it's not like you're throwing audiences into the deep end. And I think this year has proven to us that classical music is ready for a shift." Will Liverman's "Dreams of a New Day," a program of American art songs by Black composers out Friday on Cedille Records, has been in the works for two years. But, Liverman said, the album "is coming at a good time." Because of pandemic delays, he found himself recording it with the pianist Paul Sánchez last summer, a time of widespread Black Lives Matter demonstrations and renewed urgency for racial equity in classical music. At the heart of the album - its roster includes both living composers and older ones like Margaret Bonds and Harry Burleigh, known for his influence on Dvorak and the threading of spirituals with classical idioms - is the premiere recording of Shawn Okpebholo's "Two Black Churches." It is an affecting setting of poems about the bombing of a Birmingham, Ala., church in 1963 and the 2015 shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. Liverman, who is scheduled to sing this fall in the Metropolitan Opera's season-opening production of Terence Blanchard's "Fire Shut Up in My Bones" - the company's first opera by a Black composer - said that he has been performing these works in recitals, but that the recording is a way to "normalize" them. "When I was starting off as a student, I kept seeing people like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau because they had made so many recordings," he said. "There's something very important about having music that's out there and accessible." About two years ago, Lara Downes wanted to record an album of unearthed piano works by Florence Price. She took the project to three labels; none were interested. "But it needed to happen," she recalled. "So I just did it." A similar spirit led to the creation of Rising Sun Music, a digital label that debuted this month with the EP "Remember Me to Harlem" and will continue to release recordings of works by Black composers. "If you're independent," Downes said, "you can move a lot faster." Downes has been working to develop a community of scholars and musicians to help with the project, which seeks to highlight the work of composers of color going back more than 200 years. Two of those collaborators appear on "Remember Me to Harlem": the oboist Titus Underwood, in William Grant Still's "Song for the Lonely"; and the bass-baritone Davóne Tines, achingly gentle in Margaret Bonds's "When the Dove Enters In." As part of the initiative, Downes also intends to release new - in some cases, the first - editions of scores, to make them more accessible to performers and students. The shaky state of these works, she said, reflects the history of American music, and of the country more broadly. "Every story you uncover, there's a question of, ‘Why was this covered?'" Downes said. "You're talking about Black life and an imbalance. Part of this is bigger than the music. We can look at our art and culture as a microscope of us." Photo Credit...Max Barrett; Ricardo Quiñones; Jaclyn Simpson

Laila Biali covers Joni Mitchell classic 'A Case of You' for Valentine's Day / JAZZ.FM91
Posted: February 11, 2021 12:00 AM
JAZZ.FM91's Adam Feibel writes.....Just in time for Valentine's Day, Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter Laila Biali has shared a cover of Joni Mitchell's heart-stirring song A Case of You in an exclusive premiere with JAZZ.FM91. The Canadian pianist and vocalist is joined by George Koller on bass and her husband Ben Wittman on djembe for this intimate acoustic rendition of Mitchell's classic love song from 1971. The performance was filmed and recorded live off the floor at Revolution Recording Studios in Toronto. "My first experience hearing Joni Mitchell's music was when I was still a music student at Humber College," Biali recalls. "Hejira and Mingus were the obvious starting point for a jazz novice as much interested in the musicians accompanying Joni as in Joni herself. But then along came Blue. That was the one, the album that triggered a lifelong fascination with Joni and her songwriting. She made my heart ache with every feeling - love and loss in the same breath. No song captures that more for me than A Case of You. I think it's the ultimate Valentine's song because it can reach you no matter where you're at - whether you're in love, longing for it, or mourning it." Known for her masterful mix of jazz and pop, Biali won a Juno Award for her self-titled album released in 2018. She then followed it up with Out of Dust, which was named one of JAZZ.FM91's top albums of 2020. SEE THE JAZZ.FM91 PAGE

The Catalyst Quartet releases the most gorgeously memorable album of 2021 so far / NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY
Posted: February 11, 2021 12:00 AM
NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY's delarue writes....For the most rapturously gorgeous piece of music released so far this year, cue up the Catalyst Quartet's new recording of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Humoresque, which hasn't hit the web yet (although there is a live version at youtube). It starts as a quasi-Balkan dance. When the sun busts through the clouds and a chorus of sorts kicks in, it's a gutpunch. The album it's on, Uncovered Vol. 1, should come with one of those stickers that you sometimes see on old heavy metal and punk records from the 80s: PLAY LOUD. READ THE FULL NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY REVIEW
Top 10 Albums for March

Emile Mosseri :
Minari OMPS
Milan Records today announces the February 12 release of MINARI (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) with music by award-winning composer EMILE MOSSERI (The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Kajillionaire). Available everywhere now, the album features score music written by Mosseri for director Lee Isaac Chung's family drama. The resulting 16-track collection is an emotionally evocative body of music that enhances the film's intimate storytelling. Minari originally made its debut at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize as well as the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award.

Paul Edward-Francis :
Blood of Zeus-Music From The Netflix Anime Series
Milan Records today releases BLOOD OF ZEUS (MUSIC FROM THE NETFLIX ANIME SERIES) by composer Paul Edward-Francis. Available everywhere now, the album features score music written by Edward-Francis for Netflix's hugely-popular original anime series set in the world of Greek gods and goddesses. Produced by Powerhouse Animation Studios, the first season of Blood of Zeus is available to stream in its entirety on Netflix now.

Tom Hodge :
The Mauritanian OMPS
Sony Music Masterworks today releases THE MAURITANIAN (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) with music by acclaimed composer TOM HODGE. Available everywhere now, the album features score music composed by Hodge for the inspiring true story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi's fight for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. government. Nominated for two Golden Globe® Awards, The Mauritanian debuts today from STX Films.

David Korevaar :
Lowell Liebermann - Piano Music Volume 3
The third volume in David Korevaar's highly acclaimed series devoted to Lowell Liebermann's solo piano music (MSR Classics MS1688) continues his journey of recording all of Liebermann's works for the piano. This release features each of Liebermann's original works for solo piano composed between 2001 and 2017, including world premiere recordings of his Nocturne No. 8, Op. 85; Nocturne No. 9, Op. 97; Nocturne No. 10, Op. 99; and Nocturne No. 11, Op. 112. Additional works include his Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 82; Schubert Variations, Op. 100; and 2 Impromptus, Op. 131.

Jakob Bro - Arve Henriksen - Jorge Rossy :
Uma Elmo
With Uma Elmo, his fifth album as a leader for ECM, Danish guitarist-composer Jakob Bro presents a new trio featuring Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen and Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy. Astonishingly, given the trio's musical synergy, the first time these three musicians ever performed together was for the album's sessions at the Swiss Radio studio in Lugano, with Manfred Eicher producing. Among the album's highlights is the opening "Reconstructing a Dream", a darkly lyrical reverie which underlines an observation about Bro's work by London Jazz News: "there is no hurry to this music, but there is great depth."

Joy Harjo :
I Pray For My Enemies
In her first new recording in a decade, Joy Harjo – the first Native American named Poet Laureate of the United States – digs deep into the indigenous red earth and the shared languages of music to sing, speak and play a stunningly original musical meditation that seeks healing for a troubled world – I Pray for My Enemies, to be released from Sunyata Records/Sony Orchard Distribution on March 5, 2021.
Collaborating with producer/engineer Barrett Martin on this unique new album, Harjo brings a fresh identity to the poetry and songs that have made her a renowned poet of the Muscogee Creek Nation and one of the most authentic and compelling voices of these times.
"The concept for I Pray for My Enemies began" says Harjo, "with an urgent need to deal with discord, opposition. It could have been on a tribal, national or a personal level. I no longer remember. The urgency had a heartbeat and in any gathering of two or more, perhaps the whole planet, our hearts lean to entrainment – that is, to beat together."

Keegan DeWitt :
Little Fish OMPS
Milan Records today announces the February 5 release of LITTLE FISH (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) with music by composer KEEGAN DEWITT. Available everywhere now, the album features music from the sci-fi pandemic romance and 2020 Tribeca Film Festival standout directed by Chad Hartigan, and marks the fourth score collaboration between longtime friends DeWitt and Hartigan. Starring Olivia Cooke, Jack O'Connell, Raúl Castillo and Soko, Little Fish will make its debut in select theaters and on VOD nationwide February 5 from IFC Films.

Stephan Moccio :
Earned It
Grammy and Oscar-nominated songwriter and composer Stephan Moccio has released a brand new solo piano version of ‘Earned It', a track he co-wrote and co-produced with The Weeknd for the 2015 blockbuster film Fifty Shades of Grey. It follows The Weeknd's performance of the song as part of his dazzling Super Bowl half-time show.
Moccio's music could also be heard in the pre-Super Bowl performance from Miley Cyrus, who gave an emotional rendition of ‘Wrecking Ball' – another song which he co-composed.
The new single release follows Stephan Moccio's debut Decca Records album, Tales Of Solace, which was released last August. He has reached a staggering 100 million global streams since signing to the label less than a year ago.

Andris Nelsons | Gewandhausorchester Leipzig :
Bruckner Sym. 2&8 _ Wagner Meistersinger Prelude
This brand-new recording marks the continuation of Leipzig's Bruckner Cycle with Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester
Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig continue their award-winning Bruckner cycle.
This time the Symphonies are coupled with Wagner's Meistersinger Prelude. The Orchestra and the Latvian Maestro recently announced the extension of their acclaimed partnership until 2027.
The Gewandhausorchester and Andris Nelsons's acclaimed series of Bruckner – Wagner albums continues. "Everything in this symphony has been formulated with the utmost clarity," the Gewandhaus Orchestra's Kapellmeister, Andris Nelsons, reflects on Bruckner's Second Symphony. "The wonderful themes are clearly separated from one another by means of rests in the full orchestra, and yet there is still the sense of a single coherent whole. It is astonishing that this work is so rarely performed – it is actually an ideal point of entry for anyone wanting to explore the world of Bruckner's symphonies." The theme of the misunderstood artist is also central to the comic opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Wagner – a composer whom Bruckner revered as the "master of all masters".

Drum & Lace + Ian Hultquist :
Dickinson -Season 2, AppleTV Original SeriesS-trak
Milan Records today releases DICKINSON: SEASON TWO (APPLE TV+ ORIGINAL SERIES SOUNDTRACK) with music by Drum & Lace and Ian Hultquist. Available everywhere now, the album features score music written by Drum & Lace and Hultquist for the second season of the Apple Original series starring Hailee Steinfeld as poet Emily Dickinson. Also included on the album is vocal track "Split the Lark" performed by "Dickinson" actress Ella Hunt.
The second season of "Dickinson" is now streaming globally on Apple TV+ and new episodes premiere weekly, every Friday.
Of the soundtrack, composers DRUM & LACE and IAN HULTQUIST say, "In Season 2 of Dickinson, we find all of our characters having grown up a bit, for better or for worse, and we wanted our music to reflect that shift as well. The mood of our music is deeper, more mature and evolved to go with the narrative of the new season: ‘What is the cost of Fame'' This question is asked both internally by Emily, and by those around her. While we definitely kept some of the signature sounds from season one such as (Sofia's) voice, analog synths & drum machines, we were also able to explore new themes and sonic territories to cover the new narratives at hand. Without spoiling anything, we also had a great chance to work with the cast on some original songs which we're hoping the viewers will resonate with."