The holidays are in full swing with Halloween coming up, but I assure you we only have treats in New In Music This Week: October 27th. There are no tricks!
Our top choice of the best of what’s New In Music This Week: October 27th is:
JAZZ: THE NUTCRACKER SUITE – Chineke! Orchestra
The Chineke! Orchestra is comprised of Black and ethnically diverse classical musicians in the UK and Europe. What better ensemble to take on this suite of Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet music re-arranged by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn?
Jeff Tzyik has created a new adaption for orchestra of this wonderful score. There’s only a bit more than 17 minutes of music, but your toes will be tapping and your fingers will be snapping all the way through.
Here are my other selections for New In Music This Week: October 27th:
CLASSICAL: BRUCKNER SYMPHONIES 0-9 – WAGNER: ORCHESTRAL MUSIC – Gewandhausorch/Andris Nelson – Deutsche Grammophon
Austrian composer Anton Bruckner idolized Richard Wagner when he first discovered the German composer’s music in his late thirties. To get an up close at how one composer inspired the other, this 12-and-a-half hour collection provides ample insight.
Latvian conductor Nelson recorded these 49 tracks with this orchestra from Leipzig with whom Nelson has conducted and recorded the complete Bruckner symphonies. They are highly-regarded recordings and you get them all here.
Serving as companion pieces for Bruckner’s symphonies are such works as the Overtures from Der fliegende Holländer; Tannhäser and preludes from Lohengrin; Parsifal and Tristan und Isolde.
CLASSICAL: INSECTS & MACHINES – Jasper String Quartet – Sono Luminous
If you want to get a good snapshot of composer Vivian Fung’s chamber music, this excellent recording by the Jasper String Quartet will reveal exactly how talented Fung is.
There are four string quartets on this album: String Quartet No. 1 was composed in 2003 and premiere in early 2004. The second string quartet was commissioned by Shanghai Quartet and was composed and premiere in 2009. String Quartet No. 3 was commissioned by the Banff Centre and the Canadian Broadcasting Company (Fung is from Canada). The work premiere in 2014. The last work, which gives this album its title, was composed in 2019 and had its world premiere in a performance by the American String Quartet.
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: SLEEP: TRANQUILITY BASE – Max Richter – Vinyl Only Release – Deutsche Grammophon
Last March on World Sleep Day, Deutsche Grammophon released a thirty-minute EP of music by Max Richter. But only those who listened on CD or digitally could get new music that serves as a companion to his eight-hour Sleep could get the music.
With this vinyl release now everyone can get both some beautiful and relaxing music, but maybe even a little more sleep. Though you will have to stay awake long enough to flip the record over!
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: PURNIMA – Rakhi Singh – Cantaloupe Music
Violinist Singh’s first solo recording is mightily impressive. She has recorded music composed by composers Michael Gordon; Alex Groves; Emily Hall and Julia Wolfe. Singh also composed music for Purnima entitled Sabkha.
Gordon is a member of Bang On a Can and Cantaloupe Music is their imprint.
The title is the Sanskrit word for full moon. Purnima is a beautiful album with fascinating, challenging and rewarding music throughout.
JAZZ: THE CATS – Kenny Burrell, John Coltrane, Tommy Flanagan, Idrees Sulieman – Vinyl Reissue – Craft Recordings
Guitarist Kenny Burrell, saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Tommy Flanagan and trumpeter Idrees Sulieman recorded this hard bop album in 1957, but it wasn’t released until late 1959. With the exception of the Gershwin’s How Long Has This Been Going On? The songs are all Flanagan compositions.
Also contributing to the recording are Louis Hayes on drums and Doug Watkins on bass.
Billboard Magazine said of the album upon its original release, “It’s a swinging, driving album featuring some hard bop, smooth bop and pretty jazz as well. No doubt this vinyl re-issue will bring out all these qualities.
JAZZ: BREMEN/LAUSANNE – Keith Jarrett – Vinyl Release – ECM
On November 1, 1973, Keith Jarrett’s concerts from March and July of that year at the Kleiner Sendessal in Bremen, Germany and Salle de Spectacles D’Epalinges inLausanne, Switzerland were released. These were solo concerts and they began a long and richly satisfying series of solo recordings throughout Jarrett’s career.
This vinyl release (a must for all Jarrett fans) contains 3 records and includes just over 2 hours of music.
JAZZ: A JOYFUL HOLIDAY – Samara Joy – Verve Records
I must be getting soft. This is the second album of holiday music I’ve included (so far) on New In Music This Week. But who can deny the joy, pun intended, of hearing this year’s Grammy Award-winner for Best New Artist sing some classic Christmas songs (including The Christmas Song) and a couple of songs I hadn’t heard before.
While she’s joined by several musicians and guest vocalists on A Joyful Holiday, keep an ear out for the stunning piano work by Sullivan Fortner (often seen and heard performing with Cécile McLorin Salvant).
MUSICALS: YENTL – 40th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION – Barbra Streisand – Columbia Records
Say what you will about the Golden Globe Awards, they recognized a women director far earlier than the Academy Awards. Not only did Streisand win Best Director, but her film, a longtime passion project, was named Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.
The Oscars did acknowledge the work of lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman and composer Michel Legrand by awarding them the Oscar for Best Music, Original Song Score and its Adaption or Best Adaption Score.
That work is celebrated on this 40th anniversary edition. The originally released tracks are all here along with demos, alternate versions and remixes of the songs and more. All in there is one and three-quarters hours of music. Of particular fascination is the version of Where Is It Written? With Streisand joined by Rabbinical Choir.
VOCALS: EVERGREENS: CELEBRATING SIX DECADES – Barbra Streisand – Columbia Records
Streisand has been recording for Columbia Records for over six decades and she celebrates that anniversary with 22 songs she selected that best represent the musical journey she’s taken with the label.
Amongst the 22 songs Streisand chose are showtunes like Bewitched (Bothered and Bewildered); Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man; I’ll Tell the Man in the Street; Some Enchanted Evening; Tomorrow and Where or When.
This is not a greatest hits compilation. Though it does include a new mix of her Oscar-winning song Evergreenfrom A Star Is Born.
Here ends New In Music This Week: October 27th.
Enjoy the music! Enjoy your weekend.
Main Photo: Part of the album cover for Chineke! Orchestra’s The Nutcracker Suite