Welcome to the weekend and New In Music This Week: May 30th. I have nine releases for you (one is a first-time vinyl release).
My top pick this week is:
JAZZ: ONES & TWOS (Deluxe Edition) – Gerald Clayton – Blue Note Records
Pianist/composer Clayton has proven that what seemed at least unlikely, works brilliantly. If you heard his album Ones & Twos from earlier this year, you heard an album that posed the question can two sides of an album by an artist be played simultaneously and work cohesively.
Now those of us who didn’t buy two vinyl copies and had two turntables to see if he was right, can listen this Deluxe Edition of Ones & Twos. You get the original 12 tracks as previously released. Then you get those twelve tracks mixed as he intended for them to be heard when played together. Two additional tracks have been added for this release.
One look at the titles should have given listeners a big clue. For instance, track #1 is titled Angels Speak. Track #8 is titled Lovingly. You can go straight down the line for all fourteen tracks and the titles fit just as wonderfully together as does the music.
Clayton is joined by Marquis Hill on trumpet, Elena Pinderhughes on flute, Joel Ross on vibraphone and Kendrick Scott on drums.
This is a fully successful exploration of how to move the needle by utilizing new ideas and perspectives to offer up music that is wholly original.
If you believe in musical magic combined with genius, Ones & Twos (Deluxe Edition) is truly essential listening.
Here are the other fine new recordings that make up New In Music This Week: May 30th.
CLASSICAL: COMPLICITÉ – Simone Dinnerstein with Baroklyn – Supertrain Records
Baroklyn is pianist Dinnerstein’s 12-person string ensemble. This marks her first recording with them. They are all joined by mezzo soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano and oboe d’more Peggy Pearson. I bet you can figure out how she named her ensemble!
The album features predominantly the music of Johann Sebastian Bach including the Keyboard Concerto in E Major and Cantata 170.
The album closes with composer Philip Lasser’s reworking of Bach’s Air on the G String. Easily one of Bach’s most beautiful and enduring compositions. I enjoyed the way Lasser reimagined it.
Dinnerstein, as one would expect, plays beautifully and elegantly throughout the recording. She asks the same of Baroklyn who rise up to join her in making a wonderful hour of music.
CLASSICAL: ROMANZA – Andreas Ottensamer/José Gallardo – Deutsche Grammophon
If you don’t think an album of music performed by clarinetist Ottensamer and pianist Gallardo can be compelling, jump to the 8th track on this fine recording. They perform the second movement from Nino Rota’s Clarinet Sonata in D Major. Then start at the beginning.
You won’t want to miss their interpretation of works by Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Erik Satie, Robert Schumann and Alec Templeton. There’s even more to explore in the second half of this recording.
I assure you when you get to the final track, a beautiful arrangement of Gustav Mahler’s Rückert Lieder: Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, you’ll be more than convinced that this is a romanza you’ll want to continue for a very long time.
CLASSICAL: SHOSTAKOVICH 24 PRELUDES AND FUGUES – Yulianna Avdeeva – Pentatone
In 2023, pianist Avdeeva released her album Resilience. It was the first time anyone heard a recording of her playing Shostakovich’s music. She clearly responded to it. (As she also responded to this year being the 50thanniversary of his death).
Now she’s tackling one of the composer’s most fascinating and challenging works. These 24 pieces take a minimum of 2 hours and 15 minutes to play. Shostakovich wrote the works in all of the major and minor keys. This recording lasts 2 hours and 27 minutes.
It’s a commanding recording and a worthy addition to previous recordings by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Alexander Melnikov, Tatiana Nikolayeva and Keith Jarrett (it’s a big week for him, too. See below.)
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: OS GUARDIÕS DA MAGIA – João Luiz/Leo Brouwer – Rocinate Records
Composer Brouwer wrote two of the three pieces on this record specifically for guitarist Luiz. They are the title work which was composed in 2019. The first four tracks comprise the Sonata Cubana n.7. Both works were un-published and this marks their first recording.
The album also includes O arco e a Lira written for two guitars and cellos. Cellists Clancy Newman and Raman Ramakrishnan join for a stunning conclusion to this fine recording.
I haven’t heard a lot of the Cuban-born Brouwer’s music. But this album will have me going down a rabbit hole of discovery!
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: TRACTUS – Arvo Pärt – ECM New Series
This is the first-time Tractus has been released on vinyl. The recording, made in September 2022, was originally released in November 2023. The stunningly beautiful record is a collection of works by Pärt that are based on or inspired by scripture and other religious sources.
As an atheist I often get asked how I can listen to music that has religion as part of its central thesis. Music this beautiful transcends any particular religion, regardless of text. Music alone can convey so much. Music this good conveys even more.
There is something totally calming in our turbulent times about Tractus that reflects our need for peace. Our desire for simplicity. Our absolute requirement of simple, human decency.
Whether or not that’s in the text is a moot point. That’s what I’ve taken from this album since its original release. I can only imagine how much better that will sound on vinyl. Vinyl records force you to be at one with the music and listen. Tractus is an album that won’t work for you unless you do just that. And you should listen to it!
JAZZ: NEW VIENNA – Keith Jarrett – ECM
This live recording comes from Jarrett’s 2016 European solo tour. The title tells you right away that it is from his appearances in Austria.
The first nine tracks are Jarrett improvisations. They range from the fast-paced and almost dizzying (though not even remotely lacking in focus) to hauntingly quiet and ruminative. As one would expect with Jarrett, these nine tracks take you on a musical journey. The kind that only Jarrett could create.
After 61 minutes of what he calls New Vienna (not just the name of the album, but of those tracks), Jarrett concludes with a performance of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
This recording is being released to celebrate Jarrett’s 80th birthday. What a great gift he’s given us all who love his music.
JAZZ: PORTRAIT OF A MOMENT – Tommaso Perazzo/Marcello Cardillo/Buster Williams – Red Records
Amongst the three musicians on this highly entertaining album there are 139 years of life experience being brought to the fore. Drummer Cardillo and pianist Perazzo are 28 years old each. They met ten years ago while going to school in Amsterdam. Five years later they were attending the Manhattan School of Music. They studied with bassist/composer Williams who is now 83.
What began as a teacher/student relationship has turned into a musical partnership that showcases what old souls Perazzo and Cardillo are and how young Williams’s spirit is.
The trio has accomplished an album that feels classic and fresh. Respectful of the past and looking forward. Each musician contributed songs to the record. There are two covers: Mulgrew Miller’s Soul Leo and Wayne Shorter’s Footprints.
MUSICALS: NEXT TO NORMAL – Original London Cast Recording – Ghostlight Records
Just a couple weeks ago I put this 2024 London production of Next to Normal on Best Bets as a film of this highly acclaimed and successful production was beginning to air on Great Performances on PBS.
The cast album has been released digitally with a CD due in the fall. It’s a terrific recording of the Tim Kitt and Brian Yorkey musical that won the Pulitzer Prize and three Tony Awards (including Best Original Score).
Caissie Levy plays Diana Goodman, the wife battling bipolar disorder. Jamie Parker plays her husband, Dan. Jack Wolfe and Eleanor Worthington-Cox play their children Gabe and Natalie. Trevor Dion Nicholas plays various doctors and Jack Ofrecio plays Henry, Natalie’s boyfriend.
This is a full recording of the show’s music. There are 38 songs running 1 hour and 44 minutes.
A superb cast brings this challenging musical fully to life on this recording. (And in the film which is available on PBS.org through July 1, 2025.)
That’s all for New In Music This Week: May 30th.
Enjoy your weekend!
Enjoy the music!
Main Photo: Part of the album cover for Ones & Twos (Deluxe Edition) (Courtesy Blue Note Records)