The closer we get to the holidays, the more new recordings get released. Let’s just say that New in Music November 13th offers a deluxe, super-expanded list of titles that I think you should explore.
Plus, last week I missed out on quite a few albums that I couldn’t hear before travel plans got in the way. The result, the more the merrier!
My top pick is:
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: IN SYMPATHY – Mischa Zupko / Timothy McAllister / Civitas Ensemble / ~Nois Quartet – Cedille Records
With In Sympathy, I have discovered a composer I completely admire. Zupko is adventurous and filled with emotion in equal parts. This unique combination pays off wonderfully in this deeply felt recording.
The album is anchored by the world premiere recording of the title work – a ten-minute composition for cello, piano, saxophone, violin and “nine tuned, resonating wine glasses.” Who got to drink the wine that tuned those glasses?
Saxophonist McAllister is joined by the Civitas Ensemble in performing this work that was written for them both. There is a lot of science and technology applied to In Sympathy (the composition) and it would take too much space to reveal it all. But the beautiful thing is you don’t need to know any of that to enjoy the piece.
Civitas also performs Zupko’s Anechoic Rhapsody with McAllister.
~Nois Quartet performs two tracks.
But the center of it all is McAllister who has played Zupko’s work for over 25 years.
There’s a daring to this work, a nerdy component with all the science and technology, but at its center is a strongly beating heart. That heart is what I most responded to and why I plan to continue to listen to this album for quite some time.
Here are the other fine releases that are New in Music November 13th:
ART SONG: FELLOW CITIZENS: SONGS OF MIGRATION AND BELONGING – Nicholas Phan / Myra Huang – AVIE Records
What could be more appropriate for an album about migration than to have music by composers from America, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and the UK. And for their backgrounds to include Belize, Nigeria, Palestine, Russia and more.
All of this to say that this kaleidoscope of creators is a perfect fit for tenor Phan’s examination of who our fellow citizens are.
This is a thoughtful and carefully curated program with works by Béla Bartók, Irving Berlin, Antonín Dvořák, Shawn Okpebholo, Florence Price, Franz Schubert, Ralph Vaughan Williams and more.
That Okpebholo’s The Beautiful can sit side-by-side with Schubert’s Der Wanderer is only possible if Phan makes it all work together. An album like this requires absolute commitment and Phan more than meets the task of his own assignment.
Pianist Huang gracefully and tastefully accompanies Phan.
I’ve long admired Phan for both his talent and his passionate commitment to telling important stories through his singing. Fellow Citizens is amongst his finest efforts to date.
CLASSICAL: CONTINUUM II – Víkingur Ólafsson – Deutsche Grammophon
This album was released last week, but I had it down for this week. My apologies for denying you a week of pleasure listening to this positively sublime performance of music by one of pianist Ólafsson’s favorite composers to play: Johann Sebastian Bach.
As the title suggests, this is a follow-up to his 2024 album, Continuum, which is part of his exploration of Bach’s music.
Ólafsson experiments with using two different pianos on this album. The Six Little Preludes are performed on a grand piano. There are six chorales and one piano concerto performed on the upright. One composition, Air on the G String is performed on both.
There’s a spirituality to this album and the reverence and passion with which Ólafsson plays this music that is completely palpable. Continuum II serves as the perfect salve for troubled times.
To watch my 2023 interview with Ólafsson, please go HERE.
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: PROPHECIES OF FIRE – John Luther Adams / Sandbox Percussion – Cold Blue Music
You might not think that a nearly 37-minute composition, performed on bass drums, timpani, tom-toms, snare drums, tam-tams and orchestral bells could possibly be enjoyable.
Think again!
This isn’t just an enjoyable record, it’s a fiercely powerful one with the climate crisis as its theme.
You don’t have to have images of wildfires in Europe, rising sea levels on the West Coast of America or super-charged hurricanes to feel what is at stake. Adams’ music, powerfully played by Sandbox Percussion, brings it all to life. I had a deeply visceral response to Prophecies of Fire.
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: LOOP 8/9 – Phillip Golub – Greyfade
I was surprised back in 2025 by how much I liked Golub’s Loop 7. I’m more intrigued by the direction he has taken with Loop 8/9.
He continues his exploration of loops and microtonal music, but there’s something more ruminative here; philosophical even.
The instruments here are a retuned acoustic piano, electric guitar, synthesizer/electronics and vibraphone. Along with musicians Joseph Branciforte, Ty Citerman and Aaron Edgcomb, Golub has created pensive music that dared me not to listen. It dared me to try to do anything else while I played it. It dared me to be completely present.
Challenge accepted and mission accomplished.
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: FEVER DREAM – Amanda Gookin – Bright Shiny Things
I’ll be up front: Fever Dream is not going to be for everyone. Solo contemporary classical cello music is not everyone’s cup of tea.
I happen to like it. This exquisitely performed album features works by Camila Agosto, inti figg-vizueta, Sarah Hennies, Seong Ae Kim, Jessie Montgomery and Pamela Z.
Gookin’s playing here is unbelievable. The journey Fever Dream takes listeners on is not always easy. It’s not always fun. But it fervently explores the human condition in a way I hadn’t heard before.
So intrigued with this album, I played it straight through the first time I heard it. The second time I played the tracks in reverse order. That wasn’t just an experiment. It was designed to see if a journey that starts in trouble and ultimately takes flight (the name of Montgomery’s composition) can also start in flight and find itself at the beginning.
Gookin’s Fever Dream is a stunning accomplishment.
JAZZ: BJERGE, STRAND – Jakob Bro – Loveland Music
How I would have loved to have been at The Village in Copenhagen for the two days that composer/guitarist Bro spent in the studio with bassist Larry Grenadier, drummer Jorge Rossy and jazz legend Charles Lloyd on saxophone.
Bro & Lloyd wrote nine of the ten tracks here.
Those are divine compositions played as if a higher power was coursing through each musician’s veins. This is a deeply spiritual album.
The album is said to feature Charles Lloyd. But the grandmaster is clearly the anchor of this recording. It takes a wise man to know when to step back and let others take the limelight. By letting Lloyd take the lead on many of these ten tracks, Bro proves he is one of them.
JAZZ: AMALTHEA – Sylvie Courvoisier – Pyroclastic Records
There’s an old school hipness to this very modern new album from pianist/composer Courvoisier. Part of that is the configuration of her new quartet: Patricia Brennan on vibraphones, Thomas Morgan on double bass and Dan Weiss on drums.
But it’s mostly about the way Courvoisier explores the piano on this album and how and when she encourages her fellow musicians to join in. Often when they do, there’s an undeniable groove to be felt.
Not to take anything away from her bold album, but this is a thinking person’s jazz album. Even if I wanted to check my brain at the door, this album is way too smart to let this be just a passive listening experience. Amalthea asks for and deserves more.
I find this album utterly irresistible.
JAZZ: FANTASY & REVERIES – Brad Mehldau– Nonesuch Records
I remember the first time I heard Brad Mehldau. It was on KJZZ radio in Los Angeles. I immediately went to see him live at Café Largo. That was in 1995. I also recall an interview he did in which he discussed how he started as a classical pianist and chose to move to jazz.
The duality of his classical background and his being a revered jazz musician and composer can be found, once again, on Fantasy & Reveries. I can hear both of his passions in every track of this solo piano album.
Perhaps dualities are the guiding principle of this album. It is dense, but beautiful. It is complicated, yet simple. It is jazz yet it is classical. It is graceful, yet melancholic.
What impresses me most is that this music is very much alive. It is written and performed as only one of our greatest musicians can do. 31 years later, Mehldau is still making compelling music.
JAZZ: DAVE PALMER TRIO PLAYS CY COLEMAN, VOL. 1 – Dave Palmer Trio – Notable Music Company
Composer Cy Coleman is one of my favorite Broadway composers. He wrote the music for Sweet Charity, City of Angels (aren’t we overdue for a revival of this show?), The Life and On The Twentieth Century.
This all-too-brief but massively enjoyable EP features five of his songs: Where Am I Going? from Sweet Charity with vocals by Gaby Moreno, the title tunes from Seesaw and Wildcat, When in Rome (I Do As the Romans Do) cut from Little Me with vocals by Hilary Gardner and A Moment of Madness.
Palmer’s playing (along with Reggie Hamilton and Joey Waronker) reminds me of the sophistication that was, in my humble opinion, a signature part of what makes Coleman’s music so unforgettable.
At a brief 19-1/2 minutes, I’m already jonesing for Vol. 2.
JAZZ: ONE HUNDRED YEARS TODAY – Jenny Scheinman – RPF Records/Royal Potato Family
This haunting album from violinist/composer Scheinman is deeply personal for her. It was inspired by her discovery of a box of postcards that her grandmother (a Jewish Palestinian pianist) received from friends who were facing changing political times in Europe leading up to the second world war.
With the music on One Hundred Years Today, Scheinman makes a tangible connection to that time and, in doing so, links it to current events. The music is of that time and this time simultaneously.
She’s joined by Bill Frisell and Julian Lage on guitar, Carmen Staaf on piano, Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollensen on drums.
Together they have created a musical tapestry of old-meets-new. Scheinman says in the press release, “Every song is like a message in a bottle to a future generation, and at the same time the opening of a message from 100 years before.”
She plays on this album like her life depends upon it. And that the lives of her ancestors did. That personal connection comes through loud and clear.
Those circumstances are unforgettable. So, too, is this music.
OPERA: HANDEL: GIULIO CESARE IN EGITTO – Sabine Devieilhe / Jakub Józef Orliński / Il Pomo D’oro / Francesco Corti– Erato
I’ve spent some quality time with this recording just so I could hear its two stars: soprano Devieilhe and countertenor Orliński sing this glorious music.
This recording comes from the widely acclaimed 2026 European concert tour the two singers starred in.
I’ll be honest, Handel hasn’t always been a favorite composer of mine. It actually took hearing Orliński, Cécile McLorin Salvant and others perform his work for me to wake up and smell the coffee.
Now that I’m fully stimulated, Giulio Cesare in Egitto is performed brilliantly on this album. I’ve listened to the entire opera twice since first gaining access to this recording. The quality of the singing and the orchestra’s work make this a truly memorable performance of Handel’s 15th opera.
LEFT TURNS:
HOLIDAY MUSIC: VOICES OF THE GILDED AGE: THE CHRISTMAS ALBUM – Cast of The Gilded Age – Concord Theatricals
The only place I am likely to put holiday albums is in left turns for reasons previously documented in other columns.
So why is this one included? What Broadway fan isn’t going to want to hear Christine Baranski (doing We Need a Little Christmas because she’d be perfect in Mame), Denée Benton, Laura Benanti, Carrie Coon, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Donna Murphy, Kelli O’Hara, Adrienne Warren and more.
The one track that moved me more than any others (I’m not that jaded) is McDonald, Murphy and O’Hara doing I Remember written by Stephen Sondheim for Evening Primrose. This version has the verse he composed for Barbra Streisand’s Christmas Memories. This recording is like buttah!
POP MUSIC: HOTCAKES/PLAYING POSSUM – Carly Simon – Rhino Records
This could easily have been in reissues, but it’s also a left turn from what you expect from Cultural Attaché.
I’ve long been a fan of Carly Simon’s and this pairing of her album Hotcakes from 1974 and Playing Possum from 1975 offers an opportunity to revisit one of my favorite artists.
That voice. Her songs. What’s not to love about her? I know that during the final edit of this week’s massive New in Music I will be listening exclusively to her music!
QUICK HITS (due to the high volume of titles even some truly outstanding recordings can be found here):
CLASSICAL: DOMENICO SCARLATTI SONATAS, VOL. 3 – Angela Hewitt – Hyperion
Pianist Hewitt makes everything she plays seem simple. It isn’t, of course, which is the gift of her talent.
It’s been nine years since her second volume of Scarlatti’s sonatas was released and over 10 since the first record was.
What joy it is to have another sublimely masterful recording of Scarlatti’s music to enjoy. She’s released recordings of 49 of them so far. Only 506 more to go! I hope she does it!
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: ASHWAAQ – Amir ElSaffar – Maqām Records
This seven-movement work from composer and multi-instrumentalist ElSaffar had its premiere in 2014 but has only now been recorded. ElSaffar’s Ashwaaq combines western music with Middle Eastern influences. It’s an intoxicating combination made even more interesting by setting the words of Ibn Arabi to music.
Some will hear this as world music. Others as contemporary classical. There are also jazz influences throughout. I loved the way all these various genres coexisted in such a homogenous way. I think there are lessons to learn just from listening to Ashwaaq.
GENRE DEFYING: TRACES IN THE SAND – Stephan Micus – ECM
Though this is his 27th solo album for ECM, I’d never encountered this one-man band and world traveler. His travels inspire his music, and as a traveler myself, I was keen to explore the world through his musical prism.
He collects instruments as he travels the world and plays them on each of his albums. There are twelve instruments from twelve different countries used on this bewitching and contemplative album.
Traces in the Sand is Micus’ meditation on water and specifically inspired by his almost daily swims in the Mediterranean. I could hear the sound of the water, the ambient sounds of nature and all that Mother Earth has to offer us in this music.
The Garden of Mirrors by Micus from 1997 is being released on vinyl today, too.
JAZZ: DELIGHTS – Twin Talk – Shifting Paradigm Records
I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this trio album from Katie Ernest, Andrew Green and Dustin Laurenzi. The opening track, Red Cent, had me fearful the whole album would sound like that. My patience was rewarded less than two minutes into that track. I continued listening and found myself sucked into their world and happily so.
What followed assured me that Twin Talk had much more on their minds. This is a bold album with music that doesn’t play it safe. And a rewarding one for those willing to go on the ride they’ve laid out.
REISSUES:
CLASSICAL: GOLDBERG VARIATIONS – András Schiff – ECM New Series
This recording was originally released in 2003 and marked the second time pianist Schiff had chosen to put Bach’s Goldberg Variations on tape. Two decades separate the two recordings.
The previous record was a studio recording. This comes from a live performance in Basel, Switzerland in October of 2001.
Listening to it, I could tell this was a freer performance – even with all of Bach’s repetitions built into the concert. Schiff has long been hailed for his approach to Bach’s music. This may not be my personal favorite of all the recordings, but it is quite good indeed.
This is the first vinyl release of the album.
JAZZ: AFTER MIDNIGHT: THE COMPLETE SESSIONS – Nat ‘King’ Cole and his Trio – Blue Note Tone Poet
This year marks the 70th anniversary since Cole’s After Midnight was released in 1956. It featured his performances of such classic songs as Just You, Just Me, It’s Only a Paper Moon, Route 66 and When I Grow Too Old to Dream. There were 12 tracks on the original release.
This complete session includes 17 songs and an alternate take of You’re Looking at Me.
I love Cole’s singing and playing. There are so many great songs on this collection, that I’d likely play this album regularly. Blame it on my non-youth.
JAZZ: MOODSVILLE, VOLUME 4 – Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis with Shirley Scott – Craft Recordings and Acoustic Sounds
This album with saxophonist Davis and Scott on piano (not the organ as she was most commonly heard) was released in 1960. It features eight tunes including It Could Happen to You, I Cover the Waterfront, The Man I Love and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.
George Duvivier is on bass and Arthur Edgehill is on drums.
This is a low-key and moody album perfect when all you need in the world is just some good music.
JAZZ: MOODSVILLE, VOLUME 7 – AT EASE WITH COLEMAN HAWKINS – Coleman Hawkins – Craft Recordings and Acoustic Sounds
This album was released in 1960 and features tenor saxophonist Hawkins with Tommy Flanagan on piano, Osie Johnson on drums and Wendell Marshall on bass.
This, too, is a low-key and relaxed album that finds Hawkins keeping it simple at a time when he was often showcasing his dexterity and ability to play quickly.
It’s worth noting that the Moodsville series was designed as an alternative to easy-listening music. It’s mostly a series of albums of late-night jazz with major artists.
JAZZ: MOODSVILLE, VOLUME 9 – The Tommy Flanagan Trio – Craft Recordings and Acoustic Sounds
This album with pianist Flanagan was released in late 1960. The other members of this trio were Roy Haynes on drums and Tommy Potter on bass.
There are seven tunes, mostly ballads. Flanagan has one original on the album, Jes’ Fine and one solo piano track, Come Sunday.
MUSICALS: RENT – Original Broadway Cast Recording – Decca Broadway
In La Vie Bohème, the cast raises a glass To Music! Rentheads will likely raise their own now that the Jonathan Larson musical’s OBCR is finally released on vinyl. This 3-LP set contains all 43 songs from the musical.
There’s also a booklet with interviews with many of the cast and creative team from this landmark musical.
While at BroadwayFest this summer, I saw how thrilled audiences were to see and hear most of the original cast of Rent tell stories and sing the songs they know and love.
If you’d like to see my interview with Adam Pascal, please go HERE.
To put this in Rent terms: It’s been approximately 16,197,360 minutes or 30.816 Seasons of Love since the world first heard this music.
Twenty-four titles. Most of them new; a few of them old. All of them worthy of your time and attention.
Enjoy the music!
You might notice that multiple people’s names appear in gold type. Those have links to my previous interviews with them. I hope you’ll check them out.
Main Photo: Part of the album art for In Sympathy (Courtesy Cedille Records)