Stories for January 28, 2021
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I've always considered the saxophone to be an extremely versatile musical instrument / Classical Music Sentinel
Posted At : January 28, 2021 7:51 AM
The sensational SIGNUM saxophone quartet releases their first Deutsche Grammophon album - Echoes. Featuring inventive arrangements of music by composers from Dowland to Peter Gregson, as well as Guillermo Lago's "Sarajevo", this sax quartet launches the recording marked by a concert on DG Stage, streamed from the Berlin Meistersaal. SIGNUM saxophone quartet's recording showcases the full potential of the saxophone – a modern instrument but one more than capable of capturing the echoes of the past. Two of its tracks, arrangements of works by the hugely successful contemporary composers Joep Beving and Max Richter, were pre-released as digital singles, complete with e-videos. "Ab Ovo" (arr. Knoth), from Beving's album Prehension, and Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight", from The Blue Notebooks, are out now. Classical Music Sentinel's Jean-Yves Duperron writes.....I've always considered the saxophone to be an extremely versatile musical instrument that can sound right at home within any type of musical setting. Of course, most people associate the sax with some of the great jazz musicians like Dexter Gordon, Phil Woods or John Coltrane. But consider this: Maurice Ravel's Bolero would not sound as good without its inclusion of soprano and tenor saxophones. The first movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' 9th Symphony would not sound as haunting and enigmatic were it not for its use of two saxophones. Or The Old Castle from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition just wouldn't sound the same were it scored for a different instrument rather than the alto saxophone. So based on the type of piece, saxophones are more than adequate for classical music. For example, in Max Richter's On the Nature of Daylight, the Signum Saxophone Quartet demonstrate how a group of saxophones can sound like an old pedal-powered reed harmonium. At the other end of the spectrum is the liquid momentum they produce in the Philip Glass Quartet. Or just like The Old Castle, Joep Beving's haunting melody over a hypnotic pulse is something that stays with you all day. READ THE FULL Classical Music Sentinel REVIEWThe 2021 New Year's Concert in Vienna, conducted by Riccardo Muti, was a truly memorable event / WFMT 'Featured New Release'
Posted At : January 28, 2021 12:00 AM
Because of the pandemic, the concert had to take place without an audience in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein. The performance was broadcast to over 90 countries all over the world and watched by more than 50 million viewers on TV. The program contained works by members of the Strauss family, including seven premieres of works not previously heard at a New Year's Concert. For January 25 2020, the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release' is The 2021 New Year's Concert in Vienna, conducted by Riccardo Muti. SEE THE PAGELara Downes launches 'Rising Sun Music' celebrating black composers / BroadwayWorld
Posted At : January 26, 2021 12:00 AM
Inspired by her own mixed-race heritage and career-long engagement with diverse musical traditions, pianist Lara Downes creates and curates a new digital recording venture, Rising Sun Music, that sheds a bright light on the music and stories of Black composers over the past 200 years. Featuring a wide range of leading instrumentalists and vocalists (including Ms. Downes) whose work defines the creative energy of this generation and the next, the series presents a new EP of music-each exploring a different theme -to be released the first Friday of every month starting February 5. Featured performers include Nicole Cabell; Regina Carter; Anat Cohen; Lara Downes; Randall Goosby; Stewart Goodyear; Ivalas Quartet and more. READ THE FULL BroadwayWorld ARTICLEThe Violin Channel Q&A's with Kim Kashkashian on the 'Music for Food' concert series
Posted At : January 26, 2021 12:00 AM
The Violin Channel recently caught up with Grammy Award-winning violist and pedagogue, Kim Kashkashian, on her concert series "Music for Food" - a musician led initiative for local hunger relief. The "Music for Food" events are donation–based fundraising concerts, where the presenters and artists pledge to give all proceeds and fees to local food banks and pantries. The initiative was inspired by fellow violist, Carol Rodland's, Rochester–based food drive concerts entitled "If Music be the Food." Now celebrating its 11th season, "Music for Food" has provided over one million meals to cities around the U.S. and the world. We sat down with Kim to discuss this project, its beginning, and what she sees in its future. READ THE Q&ANiv Ashkenazi - The Violins of Hope receives positive review in January/February issue of ARCHI magazine
Posted At : January 26, 2021 12:00 AM
Violins of Hope is an artistic and educational project composed of instruments that were owned by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust. Violins in the collection were played in the concentration camps and ghettos, providing a source of comfort for some and a means of survival for others. The project was founded by Amnon Weinstein and his son Avshalom, Israeli luthiers who collect these instruments, refurbish them to concert quality, and bring them to communities all over the world, so that their voices can be heard again. The Violins of Hope have traveled to Jerusalem, Sion, Madrid, Maastricht, Monaco, Rome, Berlin, London, Bucharest, Dachau, Dresden, and Auschwitz. In the United States, the project has been presented in Charlotte, Cleveland, Houston, Jacksonville, Sarasota, Washington, D.C, Cincinnati, Nashville, Birmingham, Knoxville, Phoenix, Louisville, Fort Wayne, and San Francisco.
Niv Ashkenazi: Violins of Hope is the first solo album to be recorded on one of these instruments. Niv Ashkenazi is the only violinist in the world to hold an instrument from the Violins of Hope collection on a long-term loan, and this album was conceived as a way to create a lasting record of the voice of that violin. Ashkenazi is joined on the album by his fellow Juilliard graduate, pianist Matthew Graybil, and the duo first worked together on the project at various ‘Violins of Hope' events in Sarasota Florida in 2017. The Weinstein family commented; "Niv is the only violinist we trust absolutely to bring out the sounds of long gone horrors, with an honest sound and much love for this music and our legacy." The music on Niv Ashkenazi: Violins of Hope was chosen to reflect the life and experiences of the violin. Many of the composers featured were directly affected by the Holocaust. Robert Dauber composed his only surviving work, the Serenade, in 1942, while he was interned in Theresienstadt. He died in Dachau of typhoid in 1945 at the age of 26. Szymon Laks was a Polish composer whose successful career in Paris was cut short in 1941 when he was arrested and sent to Auschwitz. While in Auschwitz, Laks served as the concertmaster of the Birkenau Men's Camp Orchestra. Other composers, such as Paul Ben-Haim and Julius Chajes, fled Europe in the 1930s to escape the oppressive creative and political situation they faced. Also included is John Williams's iconic Theme from Schindler's List, written for Itzhak Perlman. The album alsoincludes a commission from award-winning Israeli-American composer Sharon Farber, an adaptation of the final movement of her cello concerto Bestemming. Bestemming tells the true story of Holocaust survivor and Dutch Resistance hero Curt Lowens in his own words. The final movement of the concerto; ‘Triumph' was arranged for violin, piano for four hands, and narrator. Farber plays one of the piano parts on the recording, and actor Tony Campisi provided the narration. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, major Violins of Hope events taking place in Los Angeles in March and April 2020 have now been tentatively postponed until January and February 2021. Once rescheduled, these events will include a day honoring Violins of Hope at Los Angeles City Hall, educational events for thousands of students, an exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, as well as scores of concerts hosted and produced by numerous partner organizations throughout Southern California, including; The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts, the Long Beach Symphony, and others. 2020 Violins of Hope events still planned are slated for cities in Virginia and New Jersey. Additionally, the program will also be presented as a residency in Sarasota this November. Virtuoso violinist Niv Ashkenazi has captivated audiences with his heartfelt musicianship and emotional performances. An accomplished soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, he has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School. Pianist Matthew Graybil has performed throughout the United States and Canada since making his orchestral debut at age 14. The recipient of numerous awards and prizes, he is a graduate of The Juilliard School. ARCHI Magazine reviewed the recording which appears as this story's cover imageThe pandemic forced touring musician Robin Spielberg to reinvent how she plies her trade / York Daily Record
Posted At : January 26, 2021 12:00 AM
York Daily Record - Mike Argento writes......Robin Spielberg was looking forward to a good 2020. The pianist and composer was working on her 19th record and had a tour scheduled with legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb, who penned such iconic songs as "By the Time I Get to Pheonix," "Galveston," "Wichita Lineman," "Up, Up and Away" and countless other timeless tunes. She had toured with Webb before – her husband, producer and talent agent Larry Kosson represents Webb, among other artists – and it was always a great time. "I'm Jimmy's driver, shoe-shiner, everything," Spielberg said. "I always joke with him in the car, telling him, ‘You're an icon." And he would say, ‘Say that one more time and I'll slap you in the face.' So then, I'd have to say it over and over again." She was also eager to get back on the road to promote her new record, "Love Story," released Feb. 7, her 19th record and first to be pressed on vinyl - bright red vinyl at that. They played one date of the 20-city tour and were scheduled to play in her adopted home, York County, on March 28. Then the pandemic began. And everything changed. READ THE FULL York Daily Record ARTICLECho Seong-jin to premiere unheard piece by Mozart, in Salzburg, on composer's 265th birthday / The Korea Times
Posted At : January 25, 2021 12:00 AM
The Korea Times - Kwon Mee-yoo writes.....Pianist Cho Seong-jin will premiere an unheard piece by Mozart in Salzburg on the occasion of the classical composer's 265th birthday. Cho will play Mozart's "Allegro in D K626b/16" at the Great Hall of the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation, Wednesday, which mark's the Austrian composer's birthday as well as the opening date of the first-ever virtual edition of Mozartwoche, or Mozart Week, festival. "It is a great honor to be invited to give the premiere of a formerly unknown work by Mozart in the city of Salzburg, where the composer was born," Cho wrote on his Twitter, Friday. READ THE FULL Korea Times ARTICLETop 10 for Jan
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Jon Batiste :
'I Need You' from 'We Are'
Multi Grammy & Emmy nominated recording artist, TV star and activist Jon Batiste announces a new single "I Need You" from his forthcoming ‘black pop' album WE ARE. -
SIGNUM saxophone quartet :
Echoes
An ensemble that attracts rave reviews and sell-out crowds at prestigious venues everywhere from Vienna to New York, the sensational SIGNUM saxophone quartet are now set to present their first Deutsche Grammophon album. -
The Album Leaf :
SYNCHRONIC - OMPS
Milan Records announces the release of SYNCHRONIC (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) with music by The Album Leaf. -
Shai Maestro :
Human
In its review of pianist Shai Maestro's leader debut, The Dream Thief, All About Jazz spoke of "a searching lyrical atmosphere, emotional eloquence and communal virtuosity that serves the music. -
Poor Clare Sisters of Arundel :
Light for the World
More than 800 years since they were founded, the Poor Clare Sisters of Arundel – a community of 23 nuns living in the south of England – have found themselves unexpected recording stars. -
Vienna Philharmonic :
2021 New Year's Concert
Riccardo Muti & Wiener Philharmoniker - Neujahrskonzert 2021 / New Year's Concert 2021 / Concert du Nouvel An 2021 Sony Classical. -
Ilan Eshkeri :
A Perfect Planet
Sony Music today announces the January 8, 2021 release of A PERFECT PLANET (SOUNDTRACK FROM THE BBC SERIES) with music by composer ILAN ESHKERI (Stardust, The Young Victoria). -
Jane Ira Bloom, Mark Helias :
Some Kind of Tomorrow
Soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and bassist Mark Helias come together to create duets discovered in the moment in a way that is rarely heard today with Some Kind of Tomorrow. -
Catalyst Quartet :
Uncovered Vol. 1 - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
On Friday, February 5, 2021, GRAMMY Award-winning Catalyst Quartet releases UNCOVERED Volume 1 on Azica Records. -
Laila Biali :
A Case of You - LIVE
SOCAN Music and JUNO Award winner Laila Biali shares an intimate acoustic cover of Joni Mitchell's classic love song, A Case of You, captured live off the floor at Revolution Recording Studios.
Daniel Pemberton creates an intense and suspenseful soundtrack for 'Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse' / Whitchurch Herald
Posted: November 21, 2020 12:00 AM | By: AdminTwo years after its release, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse has been added to Netflix. This quirky animated super-hero film tells the story of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a 15-year-old gifted student, and his involvement in saving the world. He meets Spider-Man, along with a handful of Spider-Man equivalents from alternate universes. Miles must realise his potential and work side by side with them to defeat the evil King-Pin who plans on destroying the city. The art style of this film is unlike anything else. It has a comic-book feel which gives it a wonderful, playful charm and references Spider-Man's comic book origins.
The colours are bright and gorgeous and it's full of exciting, unique moments with text popping up at times. This style is what truly elevates the film above most animated movies. Daniel Pemberton's work on the score is superb. He creates an intense and suspenseful soundtrack while including more technological aspects to keep in line with the bright, modern feel of the film. Throughout, the music accompanies the story perfectly and provides plenty of excitement. Even if you're not a fan of animated feature films, finding the time to watch this one is definitely worth it.
SEE THE Whitchurch Herald PAGE
Crossover Media Projects with Daniel Pemberton
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Daniel Pemberton
Enola Holmes (Music From The Netflix Film)
Milan Records announces the September 18 release of ENOLA HOLMES (MUSIC FROM THE NETFLIX FILM) with music by award-winning composer DANIEL PEMBERTON (Birds of Prey, Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse). Available now, the album features music from Netflix's newest mystery film starring Millie Bobby Brown, Sam Claflin, Fiona Shaw and Louis Partridge with Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham Carter. Making its debut alongside today's album preorder is the soundtrack's lead offering – listen to "Enola Holmes (Wild Child)" here. Based on the series of young adult novels written by Nancy Springer, Enola Holmes will premiere on Netflix Wednesday, September 23.
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Daniel Pemberton
Spider-Man, Into the Spider-Verse OMPS
Sony Music proudly announces the release of SPIDER-MAN™: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) featuring original music by multiple Golden Globe nominee Daniel Pemberton. The soundtrack will be released digitally and on CD on December 17, 2018. Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animations' Spider-Man™: Into the Spider-Verse will debut in U.S. theaters on December 14.
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the creative minds behind The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, bring their unique talents to a fresh vision of a different Spider-Man Universe, with a groundbreaking visual style that's the first of its kind. Spider-Man™: Into the Spider-Verse introduces Brooklyn teen Miles Morales, and the limitless possibilities of the Spider-Verse, where more than one can wear the mask.
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Daniel Pemberton
MOLLY'S GAME - Soundtrack
Sony Classical proudly announces the release of MOLLY'S GAME (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), featuring music by Daniel Pemberton. The soundtrack to Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut will be available on January 5, 2018. STXfilms and The Mark Gordon Company's MOLLY'S GAME was released in select theaters in the U.S. on December 25th, and will expand wide on January 5, 2018. "It was great working with Aaron - I still can't believe this is his first time as a director - he was so assured, enthusiastic and supportive it felt like he'd been doing it all his life," said Pemberton.
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Daniel Pemberton
All the Money in the World - Soundtrack
Sony Classical proudly announces the release of ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), featuring music by multiple Golden Globe nominee Daniel Pemberton. Daniel Pemberton says about the soundtrack: "Working with the legend that is Ridley Scott is always an absolute delight. He gives you the space to try something different and loves to be surprised - he doesn't want the obvious approach. There are not many movies where you can write operatic choral pieces, brand new classical work and modern post-rock all in the same world but within this film we could. You've got be able to keep up with him though and he moves FAST! - I think I just about managed on this soundtrack, and couldn't be happier with the result."
11 NEW 28 TOTAL
SYND: The Score, CBC
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