New in Music This Week: July 31st

The dog days of summer are on us. New in Music This Week: July 31^st is relatively light on outstanding new releases. Hell, it’s light on new releases period.  I’ve listened to a lot of music. These are my favorites.

My top pick is:

OPERA: LILI ELBE – Tobias Picker / Aryeh Lev Stollman / Lucia Lucas / Sylvia D’Eramo / Mack Wolz / Theo Imart / Brian Michael Moore / Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen / Choir Des Theaters St. Gallen / Modestas Pitrénas– Bright Shiny Things

If you read my preview of the Santa Fe Opera season, I indicated that the US premiere of composer Picker’s Lili Elbe was the one opera I was most interested in seeing.

Thanks to this wonderful recording, I know now what I’m missing. A lot!

Painter Einar Wegener, a Danish painter, poses in a dress as Anna Larsen for his wife, Gerda who is also an artist. Something happens during those sessions and Einar realizes another side to his personality as Lili.

Lili Elbe becomes the chosen identity  with the full support of Gerda. Ultimately Lili undergoes gender affirmation surgery – one of the first ever performed. She becomes legally recognized by the King of Denmark. Wanting to fully realize her identity as a woman, Lili tries a very experimental surgery but complications ensure and she passes away. But not before she and Gerda, since divorced, acknowledge their undying love for each other.

Baritone Lucia Lucas sings the role of Lile Elbe and soprano Sylvia D’Eramo sings the role of Gerda. Lucas is a transgender singer playing a transgender character. Both sing brilliantly on Lili Elbe.

This cast gave the world of Picker’s opera in 2023 at Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland in 2023. The recording was made just before the premiere on October 23^rd.  

I’ve listened to Lili Elbe a few times since I was first given the opportunity a few weeks ago. That it lingers in my heart and mind so strongly and that I keep wanting to listen to it makes it this week’s Top Pick.

Just before publishing this, I found a link to watch the opera. You can find it HERE.

Here are the other fine releases that are New in Music This Week: July 31^st:

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: THREE QUARTETS – Terra String Quartet / Greg Sandow – ACIS Productions

Sandow has spent most of his life as a music critic and teacher. Composing is something he’s always had in him, but he put that part of his life on hold to excel at his professional responsibilities.

Turns out he excels at composition, too. There are, as you can imagine from the title, three quartets on this.

The first is Quartet for Anne written in 2001 for his wife on the occasion of his birthday. The second is 2018’s The Remembered Song.

The third, and longest of the works, is Mahler Variations inspired by the composer’s Third Symphony and particularly the opening melody of the 6^th and final movement.

I was most impressed with Mahler Variations for several reasons. The first is that it is by far the longest work on the record. The second is the variety of inspirations he took for the 20 variations and coda. Amongst them are Antonioni, Bach, Beethoven, Bellini, John Cage, Elvis, Mozart, Proust and Schoenberg. Eclectic and challenging. But they coalesce into an impressive and fascinating 26 minutes.

Terra String Quartet plays all the works with commitment and precision while allowing the totality of the music’s emotions to come through.

What else does Sandow have up his sleeve? I want to hear it.

JAZZ: JOY – Isaiah Collier – Brownswood Recordings

When the first track of composer and multi-instrumentalist Collier starts, you know that the title track is setting the tone for the entire album. Collier also sings on this, and two other tracks, marking the first time he’s recording himself singing since 2023’s Parallel Universe.

Joy is celebrated here as a conscious act. A way of being that flies in stark contrast to the world we live in today. Choosing joy, for Collier, is a political act.

My favorite track is the last one, God’s By Your Side. An homage to D’Angelo, the groove of this song fits the mood of the album perfectly. Lyrically, the song addresses the tenacity required to live, to be an artist, to make your way through the world.

This 5-track EP is filled with songs that reflect what it takes to be joyful. Throughout the music is joyful. You can’t help but have a smile on your face while listening to Joy.

JAZZ: JOURNEY TO NOWHERE – Pritesh Walia – Pritesh Walia Music

In February 2024, I very much enjoyed listening to PSA – an organ trio comprised of keyboardist Sharik Hasan, drummer Avery Logan and guitarist Pritesh Walia.

With Journey to Nowhere I (and now you) get a chance to hear Walia’s work in the large-ensemble world. He’s collaborated with the Henry Godfrey Jazz Orchestra for this album of five tracks I couldn’t hear enough.

Walia composed all five songs and according to press details these songs were originally written while he was at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory. He, along with Godfrey who arranged the tracks, have expanded them from their original forms.

Godfrey’s orchestra has 27 members. They are joined by specials guests Jerry Bergonzi (tenor saxophone), Ron Cha (pianist), Godwin Louis (alto saxophone) and pianist/keyboardist Aaron Parks.

The album doesn’t stay in one lane. There are influences ranging from Brazilian to funk with plenty of improvisation along the way. There is synth work as well in the opening track where it is featured prominently.

Walia’s journey doesn’t lead to nowhere. It leads to repeated listening. I anticipate I will join him on this journey many times in the weeks ahead.

JAZZ: WHO ASKED? – DOMi & JD BECK – Blue Note Records

This second album from keyboardist Domi Louna and drummer JD Beck doesn’t follow any rules of what you expect jazz to be. At least not in the traditional manner. Rather, they follow their muse into a post-modern electronica world filled with pop sensibilities blended with funk.

If that sounds like a bizarre mix-up, know that they’ve referenced Stravinsky, Björk, Steve Reich, Claude Debussy and others as influences.

It comes down to what will you think? I really like their vocals on this album. They are layered in a unique way. Many times, the rhythms of what they are each singing are working in counterpoint to one another rather than being always in synch.

Those vocals are front and center on Who Asked? If you listened to NOT TiGHT their vocals were more sparsely part of their music. That album also featured a lot of guest artists. Who Asked?  Features an array of musicians playing instruments commonly found in chamber and jazz ensembles.

There are three instrumental tracks: ÉPIPHANiE (which opens the ablum); CONCERTiNO (FOR PiANO, DRUMS & ORCHESTRA) and the closing track ÉPiLOGUE.

Does jazz really fit as the type of music they create? Yes and no. But as they will tell you, they create music independent of genre. 

Who Asked? Is a smart, fun and enjoyable record. Isn’t that all that should matter?

MUSICALS: THE CURTAIN FALLS / LAZY RIVER / SPLISH SPLASH / THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING BIG/JUST IN TIME – Jeremy Jordan / Just in Time – Atlantic Records    

I’m adding this because I think fans of the Bobby Darin musical Just in Time will want to hear how the current Bobby Darin, Jeremy Jordan, handles these four songs from the musical.

Each has been released separately as a single.

When I saw Just in Time, I was fortunate to be able to see Jonathan Groff in the lead role. Hearing Jordan sing these songs might make a return visit to Just in Time a priority next time I’m in New York.

Whether you’ve seen the show or not, what do you think? Leave your thoughts in our comments!

OPERA:  MARINA – Umbrerto Giordano / Eleonora Buratto / Freddie De Tommaso / Mhai Damian / Nicholas Mogg / Coro del Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari / Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali / Vincenzo Milletarì – Decca Classics

Giordano is best known for his operas Andrea Chénier and Fedora. Marina was his first opera – a one-act opera submitted to a competition in 1890 when he was in his early 20s. The same competition is when the world first heard Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana.

In Marina the action takes place in mountainous area of Montenegro who is at war with Serbia. Our title heroine, Marina (Buratto) falls in love with Giorgio (De Tommaso) a Serbian who is seeking refuge after his father’s murder.  What neither likely knows is that Marina’s brother, Daniele (Nicholas Mogg), killed Giorgio’s father after his and Marina’s father had been killed.

Another tragic love story finds its way into opera. After all, that is one thing opera does quite well.

Buratto and De Tommaso make this opera sound as if it had been in their repertoire for quite some time. Likewise, the orchestra plays this opera with great passion.

I’ve listened to Marina just once and I’d be hard pressed to say this was the first work of any composer. Giordano’s work here is quite impressive for so young as he.

How great would it be to see Marina paired with Cavalleria rusticana on opera stages in the near future?

That’s all for New in Music This Week: July 31^st.

August will have quite a lot of releases. So check back each Friday for my picks of the best of the best.

Enjoy your weekend!

Enjoy the music!

Main Photo: Part of the album art for Lili Elbe (Courtesy Bright Shiny Things)