Friday the 13th is supposed to be an unlucky day. But not if you’re a fan of great music. Here’s my list of the best of what’s New In Music This Week: October 13th.
My top pick is:
JAZZ: THE LOVE SUITE: IN MAHOGANY – Roy Hargrove Live at Jazz at Lincoln Center – Blue Engine Records
It’s amazing to think that this nearly 50-minute suite was written by a then 23-year-old Hargrove. It makes it abundantly clear how much great music we lost when he passed away in 2018.
This live recording from 1993 is the only time Hargrove played The Love Suite: In Mahogany in its entirety. That alone makes this an essential album. Until you listen to it. Then you realize how truly incredible this work is.
Joining Hargrove, who, of course, plays trumpet are Ron Blake on tenor saxophone; Marc Cary on piano; Jesse Davis on alto saxophone; Andre Hayward on trombone; Gregory Hutchinson on drums and Rodney Whitaker on bass.
I love this album and hope it someday gets a vinyl release. All I can say is wow!
The other titles making New In Music This Week: October 13th are:
CLASSICAL: RAVEL PIANO CONCERTOS – Alexandre Tharaud with Orchestre National De France – Erato
At the age of 35 pianist Tharaud recorded Ravel’s complete works for piano. Now twenty years later he releases his performances of the two Ravel piano concertos: Piano Concerto in G Major and Concerto for the Left Hand.
Also on this recording is a performance of Manuel de Falla’s Noches en los jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Like the Ravel concertos that precede it, this is a three-movement work for piano and orchestra.
Tharaud’s passion comes through clearly in this very welcome release.
CLASSICAL: AFRICAN AMERICAN VOICES II – Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Conductor Kellen Gray leads the RSNO in performances of works by Margaret Bonds, Ulysses Kay and Coleridge Taylor-Perkinson on this album.
Up first are the seven movements of Bonds’ Montgomery Variations. The Concerto for Orchestra by Kay follows. I wasn’t familiar with his workand really enjoyed this three-movement work. The album closes with Taylor-Perkinson’s Worship: A Concert Overture.
This is the first commercial recording of these works and for that reason alone, this is an important record. But the music itself is quite good and isn’t that the reason we listen to music in the first place?
CLASSICAL: KONGSGAARD VARIATIONS – San Francisco Symphony – Apple Music Classical
Swedish composer Anders Hillborg was asked to compose a piece celebrating Arietta Winery in Napa Valley. The label on Arietta’s wine has music notation in Beethoven’s handwriting of his last piano sonata. The winery, of course, takes its name from that music.
Hillborg takes Beethoven’s music as a springboard for this fascinating composition.
This SF Symphony recording comes from an October 2021 concert in which pianist Yefim Bronfman makes a quick cameo. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted the concert.
This is another in the symphony’s series of digital-only spatial audio recordings and is only available on Apple Music Classical.
CLASSICAL: JEAN SIBELIUS’S SYMPHONY NO. 5 – San Francisco Symphony – Apple Music Classical
Another in their series like the Kongsgaard Variations, this recording of the Sibelius is from a concert that Salonen conducted in June of 2022.
Sibelius was commissioned to write this three-movement symphony to celebrate his 50th birthday. Though originally written in 1914-1915, the final version (and the one most performed) is the revised version written from 1917-1919. It carries the nickname Finlandia.
Salonen has recorded this symphony before. His 1999 recording on Sony Classical is, I believe, out of print, but has quite the photo of the conductor. Hearing his taken on this music 23 years later is a treat.
CLASSICAL: SONIC ALCHEMY – Sonic Alchemy – Sono Luminus
Pianist Mina Gajić, cellist Coleman Itzkoff and violinist YuEun Kim perform music by Mozart, Arvo Pärt and Pēteris Vasks on this beautiful album.
The two works by Mozart (Fantasia in D minor, K. 397 and Fantasia in C minor, K. 475) will no doubt be familiar to fans of his work. Two of the three works by Pärt will probably be familiar (Fratres and Spiegel im Spiegel) to you.
The surprise and the real discovery on this album is the work by Vasks. I wasn’t familiar with him at all. Gajić opens the album with a solo performance of Balta Ainava (White Scenery) that is incredibly beautiful. Castillo Interior (Interior Castle) is equally compelling.
This isn’t a traditional trio album which makes it all the more compelling. There are solos, duets and trios – but it’s all beautifully performed.
JAZZ: UNCLE JOHN’S BAND – John Scofield – CM
Who else besides incredible guitarist John Scofield would put out an album that features his renditions of songs made famous by Leonard Bernstein, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan and Neil Young? Then he augments this recording with seven originals of his own.
Joining Scofield on this terrific album are bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Bill Stewart. This 71 years young musician is taking a look at himself and knows there’s a place for him and this incredible music somewhere amongst your collection.
That’s not just a weekend full of great music, it’s a week’s worth of listening pleasure.
Here ends my list of New In Music This Week: October 13th. See what I told you, pretty damn lucky after all. After all, isn’t seven a lucky number?
Enjoy the weekend.
Enjoy the music.
Main Photo: Part of the album art for The Love Suite: In Mahogany (Courtesy Blue Engine Records)