John Lennon wrote “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.” I concur. I didn’t get New In Music posted last week. Today I offer you New In Music This Week: March 28th and April 4th. A deluxe edition.
My top picks (one for each week) are:
MUSICALS: MCC THEATER’S MISCAST: THE STUDIO SESSIONS – Miscellaneous Artists – Joy Machine Records
Every year New York’s MCC Theater holds a fundraiser wherein Broadway stars perform songs from musicals they wouldn’t be cast in (often for gender reasons). It is regularly the highlight of each season.
This recording features 11 songs recorded in the studio with Stephanie J. Block, Raúl Esparza, Jonathan Groff, Heather Headley, Jeremy Jordan, Katrina Lenk, Leslie Odom Jr, Eva Nobelzada, Kelli O’Hara, Ben Platt, Nicolette Robinson, Lea Salonga and Rachel Zegler.
Groff and Jordan start the album strongly with Let Me Be Your Star from Smash. Other highlights include Block’s performance of What Is It About Her? From The Wild Party (Andrew Lippa version); Esparza’s Come to Your Senses from Tick Tick..Boom! and Kelli O’Hara’s Beautiful City from Godspell.
There’s one live recording that has long been one of my favorite moments from Miscast. Aaron Tveit and Gavin Creel performing Take Me or Leave Me from Rent. You should check out their performance HERE.
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: MILESTONES – Phillippe Quint – Pentatone
Violinist Quint explores new music composed for him by three women: Lera Auerbach, Lora Kvint and Errollyn Wallen. This is the first recording for each of their compositions. Andrew Litton conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Milestones opens with Auerbach’s Violin Concerto No. 1 which caught my attention right from the start. Wallen’s Violin Concerto No. 1 starts much more quietly than Auerbach’s but is no less impressive.
‘Odyssey’ Rhapsody for Violin and Piano (with Litton on the piano) was composed by Quint’s mother.
This fine album closes with Adoration by Florence Price – obviously not composed for Quint. It’s a fine encoreafter the three new works.
Quint’s playing is spot on and the opportunity to hear three new works by three fascinating composers makes this my top pick for April 4th.
The other fine recordings to be found on New In Music This Week: March 28th and April 4th are:
CLASSICAL MUSIC: BRIAN: AGAMEMNON & SYMPHONIES NO. 6 & 12 – English National Opera Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins – Hyperion Records
One of my favorite composers is Havergal Brian. He doesn’t shy away from big ideas and big music. The British composer, who died in 1972, composed 32 symphonies. The two symphonies recorded here are 1948’s 6th Symphony (Sinfonia Tragica) and 1957’s 12th Symphony. Also here is his 1957 opera Agamemnon.
The soloists for the opera are bass Clive Bayley; soprano Eleanor Dennis; tenor John Findon, tenor Robert Murray and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Wake-Edwards.
Conductor Brabbins is deeply passionate about Brian’s work and this is an exemplary recording showcasing multiple facets of the composer’s skills.
Brian’s Symphony No. 1 “Gothic” is his best-known work. This fine recording makes a great argument for these three works to become far better known.
CLASSICAL MUSIC: DVOŘÁK & PRICE PIANO QUINTETS – Marc-André Hamelin and Takács Quartet – Hyperion Records
This is a fascinating combination of Florence Price’s Piano Quintet in A Minor and Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major.
Dating from 1887, Dvořák’s 5-movement work was actually his second attempt at the quintet form. He so despised his first quintet that he scrapped it completely. The result is considered one of his finest works. The composer wrote music that sounds like traditional folk music. That it is inspired by folk music and newly created
Price’s 4-movement quintet dates from 1936, though the composer did additional revisions in 1952. Similar to Dvořák, Price explores African American traditions and spirituals but makes them her own.
You know with Hamelin and Takács this is going to be a first-rate recording and it does not disappoint on any level whatsoever. I love the pairing of two quintets with one in the major key and the other in the minor key.
This is another outstanding recording destined to boost Price’s standing and her legacy.
CLASSICAL: PIANO CONCERTO, SONATINA & PARTITA – Stephen Hough/Hallé Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder – Hyperion Records
Truth be told, this marvelous album is one that slipped through the cracks a couple weeks ago. It was released digitally on February 28th.
Pianist Hough composed all the music on this album. It opens with his piano concerto which is named The World of Yesterday. The three-movement work is utterly compelling. It’s a work I would love to see Hough perform in concert.
That is followed by Sonatina nostalgica (a three-movement work) and Partita (a five-movement work).
This album proves that Hough remains one of our most talented and most thoughtful musicians and composers.
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC: PERFECT HAPPINESS – Jing Yang – New Focus Recordings
Composer Nils Vigeland wrote a piece in 2000 for his mother’s 81st birthday. That piece is what gives this album of his piano music its title. Pianist Jing Yang gives the music life in this recording of 49 minutes of solo piano works.
The album opens with his Piano Sonata which he composed in 1979, but didn’t finalize the work until 2008. 9 Waltzes and Ecossaise from 1987 follows along with another work from the same year, Mnemosyne. The album closes with Perfect Happiness.
Though Vigeland has had his work performed since 1970, this was my first introduction to him. The music here is delicate and complicated – sometimes at the same time.
The Piano Sonata and Mnemosyne are the standouts on this fine recording. I do hope that even though Vigeland turned 75 earlier this year, there might be more recordings of his music to explore.
GENRE DEFYING: AFTER THE LAST SKY – Anouar Brahem – ECM Records
It might seem like a cop-out to refuse to classify this incredible album in any one genre. But since Brahem hasn’t composed and recorded simply one genre of music, there’s no reason to do anything but follow along.
And what a beautiful journey it is. Brahem, who plays oud (a fretless string instrument from the Middle East) and is joined by Django Bates on piano; Dave Holland on double bass and Anja Lechner on violincello.
This unique combination makes for an intoxicating sound that runs the gamut of sounds, textures, moods and emotions. This is truly a collaborative recording with each musician contributing equally while allowing enough room for them all to be expressing themselves fully.
If you’re looking for something that is a-traditional and utterly moving, After the Last Sky should be on your playlist.
JAZZ: AFRO-PUERTO RICAN JAZZ – Alex “Apolo” Ayala – PMC Records/Miel Music
Alex “Apolo” Ayala is a bassist and composer. This is his second record. He has one foot in the past and the other in the future as he explores that intersection of jazz and Afro-Puerto Rican music.
You know you’re going to be in for some percussion and horns and he has assembled some fine musicians: Fernando García on drums; Victor Pablo García on percussion, Andrew Gould on alto and soprano saxophones and Nelson Matthew Gonzalez plays requinto drum on three tracks.
Nine of those tracks are original compositions by Ayala. The stand-out for me is the three-movement suite Agonía. Without knowing what the source of his agony is, Ayala’s journey from Reckoning to Hopelessness to Uncertainty expresses in music the experience we all have had.
JAZZ: SUNSET EYES – Teddy Edwards – Blue Note Tone Poet Vinyl Series
This 1960 album by saxophonist Teddy Edwards is the first of two West Coast Jazz vinyl reissues from Blue Note.
Edwards recorded with three different quartets on this album and the various members are pianist Ronnie Ball, pianist Joe Castro, drummer Billy Higgins, drummer Al Levitt, pianist Amos Trice, bassist Ben Tucker and bassist Leroy Vinnegar.
Edwards composed five of the seven tracks here. The one cover is I Hear a Rhapsody. Vinnegar composed Vintage ’57.
This was the first of two records Edwards released in 1960 on Pacific Jazz. A Third album, Back to Avalon, was recorded in 1960, but wasn’t released until 1995.
This is a mono reissue.
JAZZ: SONIC RIVER – Tobias Meinhart – self-released
Reading through the notes about Meinhart’s songs on this album, you’d think you’d be in for a completely cerebral experience listening to Sonic River. He references Paul Auster, Bach, Alejandra Pizarnik, Rainer Maria Rilke and David Foster Wallace.
Thankfully the music by this Bavarian tenor saxophonist/composer is very accessible. He’s joined by guitarist Charles Altura, drummer Obed Calvaire, pianist Eden Ladin, bassist Matt Penman and vocalist Sara Serpa.
It isn’t easy to pick out my favorite tracks from Sonic River because, quite frankly, I enjoyed the entire album. Meinhart is new to me and this album will have my in pursuit of hearing other music by him.
JAZZ: SPLASH – Myra Melford – Intakt Records
Pianist/composer Melford recorded Splash with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith*. Ten tracks all composed by Melford totally nearly an hour of music.
An hour that will go by very quickly indeed. Too quickly even. This is another in Melford’s series of work that finds Cy Twombly as her inspiration. If you’ve ever seen the painter’s work, you know that his work appears to be random, but is anything but. It has always struck me as the perfect dialogue between form and freedom.
Melford’s music is very much the same. She, Formanek and Smith are great communicators and partners. Every second of this album is fascinating and inspiring.
I didn’t know Melford’s work until reading about her in one of Nate Chinen’s postings. I’m so glad I did.
*Look for Ches Smith’s Clone Row in June.
JAZZ: MODERN ART – Art Pepper Quartet – Blue NoterTone Poet Vinyl Series
West Coast jazz was well-represented on this 1957 release by saxophonist Art Pepper. He wrote half of the eight tracks on this album and the blues were clearly on his mind with the album opening with his Blues In and closes with Blues Out.
The covers include Bewitched, Stompin’ at the Savoy and What Is This Thing Called Love?
Peper was joined by Chuck Flores on drums, Russ Freeman on piano and Ben Tucker on bass.
This is a mono reissue of a great album.
OPERA: TOSCA – Elenora Buratto, Jonathan Tetelman, Ludovic Tézier/Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Daniel Harding – Deutsche Grammophon
Puccini’s 1900 opera is one of the most recorded operas ever. For a new recording to land with significant impact is going to rely on great casting and great conducting/playing.
This new recording, a concert performance from 2024, succeeds on all levels. Tenor Tetelman and soprano Burrato are perfectly cast as the ill-fated lovers. Baritone Tézier is perfect as the chief of police who lusts after Tosca.
One could make an argument for this recording as the best of the 21st century. It’s very well recorded and beautifully sung and performed. This has always been one of the easiest operas to enjoy and Harding’s recording just made it even easier.
So ends our deluxe edition, New In Music This Week: March 28th and April 4th