It’s a busy time for composer/pianist Marc-André Hamelin. On February 2nd his album New Piano Works was released. It was Hamelin’s first recording of his own compositions since 2010’s Études. Hyperion Records, his label, was acquired and the floodgates of his dozens of releases on Hyperion were suddenly available for streaming. It is, as Hamelin says, a veritable “treasure trove of recordings.”

This weekend he joins the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for performances on March 2nd at The Wallis in Beverly Hills and a March 3rd performance at Zipper Hall at the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles. Hamelin will be performing Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces for Cello and Piano and César Franck’s Piano Quintet in F Minor.

I last spoke with Hamelin in 2019. His new album (one of my selections for New In Music This Week: February 2nd) was part of our conversation as were his concerts. It also served as an opportunity to see how his point-of-view may, or may not, have changed in that time.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To watch the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: You’re going to be playing two pieces in these concerts with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. One of them is Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor. That’s a work you recorded in 2016. How much does the personality and the musicianship of any given other four musicians make a difference in the end result of this, or any other piece of music that you’re performing? 

It does. But the fun, I think, of getting with a new group that you haven’t played with before, is to just to discover each other’s musicianship and finding common ground. Also, suggesting differences and new ways of doing things that they might not have thought of. It’s an area that’s very, very rich in surprises and possibilities. That goes for any piece in the repertoire, really.

With all five musicians in a quintet, or four in a quartet, is there any place to hide? 

Maybe small ones. But especially with a work that’s so well known as the Franck Quintet. It’s really one of the big five along with the Brahms, Schumann, Dvorak and Shostakovich. We hear it so often that people know how it goes, or at least most of them do. So, in that sense, there is little room to hide and for mistakes. In a lesser known work, belonging to the byways of the repertoire, then maybe, since the piece is not heard very often, perhaps it’s more acceptable to be faulty. It will matter a lot less, I guess. Of course, we always strive for as much perfection as possible. Or at least, fidelity to the composer’s thought.

Apropos of that statement, do you feel like works are museum pieces and should be slave to what the composer’s thoughts were? Or is there room for this music to live and breathe and have its own life in 2024 versus the life it had when it was composed?

There’s several ways of thinking about this. On one hand, being a composer myself, I don’t pretend to have all the answers. Nobody does. But being a composer allows you to feel a little closer to the works you perform and especially how they were created. Sometimes you can see the process. I have a pretty good idea of how I want my pieces to go, but there is so much you can do in the way of notation to convey that. You have to leave something to the performer’s individual views or ways of understanding musical notation.

On the other hand, there are several different types of composers. There are composers who will allow great variations of interpretation. For example, I can think of Grieg, who once said to someone this is not really the way I saw it, but don’t change anything, I love individuality. There are other composers who are thankful for any performance, even though it may fall short of their expectations. There’s lots of nuances within the individual composer’s appreciations and that’s what makes the whole world richer.

When we spoke five years ago, you mentioned that you, “Have the luxury, at this point in my career, to be playing, without exception, pieces that I really love.” How do you think your perspective on what those pieces are has shifted since then?

It’s pretty much the same, actually. I keep introducing favorites. Sometimes I come back to old ones because it’s always very healthy and also very fascinating to revisit things that you haven’t played for quite a few years. It’s always really startling. I see sometimes how much they have changed without you doing a single thing. In the meantime, you have changed yourself. Therefore, your approach has changed. When I play these pieces for myself, after not having played them for many, many years, they will be completely different. That’s only because of my personal evolution and, hopefully, my increased understanding of what the composer wants.

Do you find that there are pieces that intimidate you? 

I’m a little less inclined – quite a bit less inclined – these days to play the big virtuosic things. I’m much more interested in meaningful communication at this point rather than showing myself off on stage. That, to me, is really not very satisfying. A recital is really a one-to-one act of communication. An offering, an act of sharing with the audience. I’m always thinking every single second of the audience, rather than myself. Because what else am I doing this for? I just really adore sharing discoveries and perhaps new ways of doing things that people already don’t. 

Is there something that you think is pivotal to communicate to an audience now that perhaps reflects either who you are as a person right now or the times that we’re living in?

I really concentrate on the music. Generally a concert really should be, in the best of times, abstracted from whatever else is happening in the world. However, I will say this though. Maybe two or three days after the 2016 election I was giving an all-Mozart concert at the 92nd Street Y in New York. So many people at the end told me, thank you. We needed that. And I won’t say any more.

New Piano Works is your first album of material you’ve composed to be released since Études in 2010. Why this work and why now?

It’s really more for practical reasons than anything. I’ve been very fortunate in having been published by Edition Peters who are one of the major publishers. They originally solicited me, and the first thing they published with it was this volume of 12 études which I recorded along the same time. Since then I published a number of piano pieces which hadn’t been recorded. So it’s basically a collection of almost everything that I’ve written for piano since then.

It’s sort of a dull reason, but, I’ve really come to realize very quickly that even if you publish a score and make the music available, the music is going to be a lot more appreciated and more pianists are going to go to it if they can hear it first. That’s why I recorded these things. 

The album opens with Variations on a Theme of Paganini, a piece most concertgoers or classical music fans have heard for years. How do you approach something that is as familiar as that for a transcription versus something that an audience may not know as well?

It was really a fun thing to do and I instinctively chose the theme simply because it’s one of those things which is easy to elaborate on. I mean, the structure is very simple. It’s very easy to remember and you can riff on it in just a gazillion different ways. A piece like that, for me, is an expression of freedom in a sense. I couldn’t resist having fun and quoting different composers. I’m sure you heard, variation seven I think it is, there’s a passage and one of the variations in the Beethoven Sonata, opus 109, it’s in E major. I transposed it to A minor and for 16 bars, it’s already a Paganini variation. I didn’t have to change anything. That was a lot of fun. When I came across this little bit I thought, I can’t not use this. This is too good. And it happens to be quite funny.

Do you, as a composer, have any conversations with you as a pianist in terms of what is truly possible to play versus what you want to express in the notes themselves?

At the beginning when I started to write, I just wrote whatever I wanted. Whatever I heard, without really too much concession to pianistic comfort. I was wondering why nobody was playing my things. Even I had trouble and I wrote them. So over the years, as I gained experience, I was able to make things sound the way I wanted without them being so difficult. But I’ll always carry that reputation of my things being almost unplayable. But I can assure you that there’s a lot that I wrote which is perfectly approachable. 

Are there other ways in which you feel you have evolved as a composer? 

I think that my harmonic system, such as it is, because I’ve never tried to explain it, really hasn’t changed that much. I think if anything has changed, I think I’ve gotten to think more about expressing pure music than thinking in pianistic terms. 

Your Hyperion Recordings now available for streaming. Do you feel this new way of distributing music, however challenging it might be economically for a performing artists like yourself, balances out with this newfound exposure that people can suddenly have to countless recordings of yours?

I think exposure is really the priority here. We should be thankful for that. A lot of people, over the last few years, have complained to me, we can’t find you on Spotify. We can find your early recordings on other labels. Hyperion resisted for the longest time and purely for financial reasons. But now that they’ve been bought by a large corporation, the justification is there. I think people are just so pleased as punch that Hyperion is finally being heard. The catalog is a golden treasure trove of discoveries and wonderful performances.

What do you think the role is of a transcription in allowing listeners new ways of hearing works that they’re familiar with, or new ways of hearing music that they’re not familiar with, for that matter?

In many cases, it’s about expanding the repertoire. A lot of solo instrumentalists are envious of something like the Franck Violin Sonata and they want to play it. So there are arrangements for cello, for flute and other solo instruments as well. I’ve always been fascinated by composer’s views of other composers; appreciations of other composers. I think really a transcription is just another way of expressing that. It’s paying tribute, let’s say. You think of what Busoni did with the Bach Chaconne from the D minor Partita. He really built a wonderful cathedral of sound. There are some people who don’t like the transcription, but I personally view it as a tremendous act of reverence for a composer.

Amongst my favorite transcriptions are Liszt’s transcriptions of Wagner. I think those are really interesting because we’re so used to his big, huge orchestral arrangements. To have it pared down to one instrument, I find it endlessly fascinating and a different way of hearing Wagner. 

The only ones that I’ve played are the Liebestod (from Tristan und Isolde) and also the Tannhauser Overture. But that particular one, I don’t like pianistically. It’s in E major and it feels, under the fingers, like completely the wrong key. 

It’s interesting you say that because I spent a little bit of time over the years with Stephen Sondheim. He and I were talking once about The Ballad of Sweeney Todd. He said it’s published in F minor, but it sounds so much better in F-sharp minor. I went to my piano at home and played it. He was right. It’s shocking how even a half-step difference can have such profound effects on a piece of music.

Keys are a very important. They have personalities. They really do. Gerald Moore, the famous pianist, expresses that very, very eloquently. He guards against sometimes indulging transposition – a singer’s transposing. Because you can stray too far from the original mood of the song.

Liszt is quoted as having said, “My piano is to me what a ship is to the sailor. It is the intimate, personal depository of everything that’s stirred wildly in my brain during the most impassioned days of my youth. It was there that all my wishes, all my dreams, all my joys and all my sorrows lay.” What is your piano to you?

An extension of my thought. An instrument of communication and sharing and joy.

To watch the full interview with Marc-André Hamelin, please go here.

All photos of Marc-André Hamelin (Photo by Sim Cannety Clarke/Courtesy Colbert Artists Management)

The post Marc-André Hamelin: A Franck Conversation About His Music appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

My top pick for the best of what’s New In Music This week is:

JAZZ: TO THE SURFACE – Lawrence Fields – Rhythm ‘n’ Flow Records

Pianist/composer Fields is someone to get to know NOW. This album is a fine way to start if you haven’t discovered already through his collaborations with Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah; Terri Lyne Carrington; Joe Lovano; Branford Marsalis; Nicholas Payton; Sound Prints (Dave Douglas) and more.

But that would expose you to his playing. This, his debut album, gives you nine tracks that show off what a fine composer he is. The one cover is of I Fall in Love Too Easily (a Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne composition).

The highlight of the album is Moving On which was written for someone who had recently passed away. The journey this nine-minute track travels is one that perfectly mirrors to process of grief.

Joining Fields on To The Surface are drummer Corey Fonville and bassist Yasushi Nakamura.

Here are the other albums that are on my list for New In Music This Week: February 2^nd.

CLASSICAL:  HAMELIN: NEW PIANO WORKS – Marc-André Hamelin – Hyperion Records

Hamelin has long been one of my favorite classical pianists. With this album he proves to be one of our most interesting composers as well. On the liner notes it says Hamelin “sees himself as a pianist who happens to compose.” He does both quite brilliantly.

This 64-minute album opens with his transcription of Variations on a theme of Paganini. He joins a lofty list of composers who have created new works around the theme:  Brahms and Rachmaninoff being the most popular. Hamelin’s will surprise you with its energy and freshness.

The album continues with his My Feelings About Chocolate which leaves the listener with a multitude of possibilities about what those feelings are (seems a bit love/hate, but don’t we all have that feeling, particularly when we realize how much chocolate we’ve eaten?).

I could go on about each track. Suffice to say that this is a terrific album and one I’ve listened to repeatedly.

CLASSICAL:  DANCE! – Daniel Hope/Zürcher Kammerorchester – Deutsche Grammophon

Violinist Hope not only offers up two hours of “dance music,” he performs music from all over the world and many different style of dance. Certainly Shostakovich is not going to offer dance music that is in any way similar to Henry Purcell. Nor is Edward Elgar going to be similar to Florence Price. Nor Brahms to Astor Piazzolla.

What’s most enjoyable about this album is the wide range of music and styles to explore. Through it all Hope is beautifully front and center. It sounds like all the musicians are having fun with this music. I’m sure you will, too.

CLASSICAL/JAZZ:  RHAPSODY IN BLUE REIMAGINED – Lara Downes/SCFM Orchestra/Edwin Outwater– Pentatone Music

Pianist Downes collaborates with arranger/composer/pianist/saxophonist Edmar Colón on this thoughtful and intriguing reimagining of Gershwin’s 1924 work. 

What Downes and Colón have done is imagine all the influences (musical, political, sociological) that surrounded Gershwin at the time he composed Rhapsody in Blue. They also find parallels in what was going on in the world one hundred years ago to our world today.

If that sounds academic, it’s not meant to. Downes and Colón follow an impressive list of artists who have re-considered Rhapsody in Blue for their times. That list includes Duke Ellington (with Billy Strayhorn, of course); Chick Corea, Marcus Roberts and more.

I can’t wait for an opportunity to hear this work in concert. For now, this EP will more than suffice and certainly be a must-have for fans of Rhapsody in Blue.

JAZZ:  TRIO FASCINATION (EDITION ONE) – Joe Lovano – Blue Note Records Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series

How appropriate that this re-issue of Lovano’s 1998 album with bassist Dave Holland and drummer Elvin Jones gets released the same date as To the Surface by his collaborator Fields.

Nine of the ten tracks were composed by Lovano who can be heard on four different saxophones and clarinet on the album.

Ben Ratliff, writing in the New York Times said that this album, “will be one of this year’s jazz standard-bearers.” It was and remains a great record. This marks the first time Trio Fascination (Edition One) has been released on vinyl.

JAZZ: DOWN WITH IT – The Blue Mitchell Quintet – Blue Note Records Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series

The 60s were a swinging time for all kinds of people and certainly one of them was trumpeter Blue Mitchell. Who wouldn’t swing on the track called Hi-Heel Sneakers which opens this album.

There are two compositions by Mitchell amongst the six tracks on this album. They are March on Selma and Perception which was co-written with his pianist – Chick Corea (who was all of 24 years old).

Also performing on this album are Junior Cook on tenor saxophone; Al Foster on drums and Gene Taylor on bass.

JAZZ:  BLACK JAZZ RECORDS: THE COMPLETE SINGLES – Various Artists – Real Gone Music

A few years ago Real Gone Music re-issued 20 albums that had been recorded for the Black Jazz label. These were songs and performances recorded over 50 years ago. This release is a sampler of music from all those re-issues. A damn is it good!

No doubt jazz aficionados will recognize many of these names far more readily than I, but whether you know them or not, this is definitely worth checking out. The artists selected for this 15-track celebration of the label are:  Walter Bishop, Jr.; Doug Carn; Jean Carn; Cleveland Eaton; Rudolph Johnson; Calvin Keys; Kellee Patterson; Gene Russell (producer for the label) and Chester Thompson.

Listening to this sampler has made me want to go back and get those 20 albums already released.

JAZZ/CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: DISSOLVE – Richard Nelson/Makrokosmos Orchestra – Adhyâropa Records

This is our week for hybrid works (though isn’t that where music is anyway?). Composer guitarist has released this new EP with three compositions that fall in equal parts to new music and jazz. 

The three tracks are Dissolve, Float and Cohere. 40 minutes of music that showcases Nelson’s imaginative writing, but also an orchestra filled with massively talented musicians.

In addition to Nelson, they include Rex Benincasa on percussion; John Carlson on trumpet; Ken Filiano on bass; Rob Garcia on drums; Adam Kolker on saxophone; Scott Neumann on drums; Matt Pavolka on bass; Arco Sandoval on keyboards; Marshall Sealy on horns; Jacob Varmus on trumpet and more.

Imagine if Leonard Bernstein were still alive, but as a much younger man. This feels like the kind of music he might write. It’s interesting to note that this music was recorded in 2017 and 2019. It’s too bad it took this long to get released, but I’m certainly grateful it was.

VOCALS:  SEA SONGS – Bryn Terfel – Deutsche Grammophon

Bass-baritone Terfel is a Welshman through and through. Though he’s found fame on opera stages around the world, he seems most at home in his albums celebrating music from the British Isles. This album is no exception.

Sea Songs has many a song you’ll recognize including Drunker Sailor, Sloop John B and The Irish Rover. You might recognize some of the artists joining him for various tracks on Sea Songs: Eve Goodman, Simon Keenlyside and Sting. Calan and the Fisherman’s Friends, a Welsh folk band, also join in.

Simply put Sea Songs is pure joy. Pour yourself a pint (or two) and enjoy this nearly one-hour excursion out to sea with Terfel.

That’s it for New In Music This Week: February 2^nd.

Enjoy the music!

Enjoy your weekend!

Main Image: Part of the album cover for “Down WIth It”

The post New In Music This Week: February 2nd appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

For a couple weeks I’ve suggested that once the dog days of summer were over the floodgates would open. With New In Music This Week: September 8^th, I’m able to prove that theory correct. This is perhaps the longest list we’ve had of great new recordings.

Our top pick for New In Music This Week: September 8^th is:

JAZZ:  Brilliant Corners – Thelonious Monk – Craft Small Batch Recordings

This vinyl release of Monk’s legendary 1957 recording should be on the top of any hard bop jazz fan’s list. With only 4,000 copies being made, you’ll need to move quickly to get this album.

Some of jazz music’s greatest musicians are found on Brilliant Corners with Monk:  bassist Paul Chambers, alto saxophonist Ernie Henry, bassist Oscar Pettiford, drummer Max Roach, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins and trumpeter Clark Terry. They don’t all appear together as the album was recorded over various sessions in 1956. But the end result is the stuff of legends.

Technically the album is only available for pre-ordering and at $109 it is an expensive proposition. Listen to the album on any streaming service and then figure out how great it wil sound completely remastered.

The rest of New In Music This Week: September 8^th includes all of the following recordings:

BROADWAY MUSICALS: Sweeney Todd – Original Broadway Cast Recording – Arts Music and Reprise Records

This is the OBCR of the 2023 revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street that stars Josh Groban as Todd and Annaliehg Ashford as Mrs. Lovett. Maria Bilbao as Johanna; Nicholas Christopher as Pirelli;  Jordan Fisher (who has since left the production) is Anthony; Jamie Jackson as Judge Turpin; Gaten Matarazzo is Tobias; Ruthie Ann Miles as the Beggar Woman and John Rapson as Beadle Bamford.

This production and this recording uses the original 26-player orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.

This is only available now on streaming and digital platforms. A physical releases and any vinyl releases have yet to have announced dates.

CHORAL: Scenes from Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound – London Mozart Players and Crouch End Festival Chorus – Chandos Records

British composer Hubert Parry is not as well-known as fellow countrymen Benjamin Britten or Ralph Vaughan Williams, but he’s a fascinating composer as this one-hour work makes very clear.

Conductor William Vann leads the ensembles listed above along with mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, bass-baritone Neal Davies, soprano Sarah Fox and tenor David Butt Philip in this terrific recording of Parry’s work from 1880.

Also on the record is Parry’s 1887 composition Blest Pair of Sirens for orchestra and chorus.

CLASSICAL:  For Clara: Works by Schumann & Brahms – Hélène Grimaud and Konstantin Krimmel – Deutsche Grammophon

Perhaps the most intriguing love triangle in classical music is that of Robert Schumann, his wife Clara and up ‘n’ coming composer Johannes Brahms. As Robert’s mental struggles grew in intensity, Brahms became a close ally to both Schumanns, but a more romantic relationship developed with Clara.

Pianist Grimaud celebrates Clara Schumann with Robrrt Schumann’s Kreisleriana and Brahms’ 3 Intermezziand the 9 Lieder und Gesänge. Joining her for the lieder is baritone Konstantin Krimmel.

From the first movement of the Kreisleriana you know immediately how beautifully the whole album is going to be performed.

CLASSICAL: Bruckner Live – Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra – Warner Classics/Erato

This is a terrific idea for a collection of all 9 of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies:  nine different concert performances led by seven different conductors. Most of the recordings have been previously unreleased.

Bernard Haitink conducts the 1^st and 7^th symphonies. Riccardo Chailly conducts the 2^nd and 9^thsymphonies. Kurt Sanderling conducts the 3^rd; Klaus Tennstedt the 4^th; Eugene Jochum the 5^th; Mariss Jansons the 6^th and Zubin Mehta the 8^th. The concerts date from 1972-2012.

The recordings will be available as a physical box set and individual streaming albums for each symphony. What a great way for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to celebrate Bruckner’s 200^th birthday.

CLASSICAL: Hommage – Sergio Tiempo – Avanti

Pianist Tiempo released an album of Chopin’s 24 Preludes in 1990. During a 33-year recording career he’s had significant mentors along the way. 

With his new album Tiempo celebrates and collaborates with this illustrious group of individuals. This includes pianists Nelson Freire, his sister Karin Lechner, Alan Weiss and cellist Mischa Maisky.

Perhaps no one has been more influential and important to Tiempo than the legendary pianist Martha Argerich who joins him for her first-ever studio recording of Franz Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor D. 940.

The album also includes works by Brahms, Chopin, Carlos Guastavino, Francisco Mignone, Ravel and Tchaikovsky.

CLASSICAL: Infinite Voyage – Emerson String Quartet with Barbara Hannigan – Alpha Classics

For 47 years the Emerson String Quartet has been one of classical music’s finest ensembles. This October they will officially end their careers, but not without this wonderful new recording as a going away present.

This 72-minute recording includes Paul Hindemith’s Melancholie, Op. 13; Alban Berg’s String Quartet, Op. 3; Ernest Chausson’s Chanson perpétuelle, Op. 37 and Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10.

Soprano Hannigan joins for the Hindemith and the Chausson features Hannigan and pianist Bertrand Chamayou.

CLASSICAL: Piano Concerto – Homage to Beethoven – Boston Modern Orchestra Project – BMOP Sound

Two days ago American composer/conductor/pianist Joan Tower turned 85. (Seems like a good week for people to have their birthdays celebrated in recordings.)

Pianist Marc-André Hamelin is the soloist for her 1986 piano concerto which runs just over 21 minutes. Anytime Hamelin is at the keyboard, you know you’re in for something good. Bassonist Adrian Morejon joins BMOP for Tower’s 2013 composition Red Maple. Flutist Carol Wincenc is the soloist for Tower’s Rising from 2010 and her Flute Concerto from 1989.

Gil Rose conducts BMOP. I strongly recommend this album.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: Starlighter – Kinan Azmeh & Brooklyn Rider – In a Circle Records

Elements of world music meet contemporary classical music in Starlighter.

Syrian composer/clarinet player Azmeh composed the three-movement suite The Element that opens this album.  The title track was composed by violinist Colin Jacobsen. The quartet Brooklyn Rider (who perform on all six tracks on the album) composed Dabke on Martense Street and the album closes with Russian violinist and composer Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin’s Everywhere Is Falling Everywhere.

There is incredible music on this album that is well worth your time.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: Vent – Catherine Gregory and David Kaplan – Bright Shiny Things

If you like your classical music from both the traditional repertoire and the contemporary repertoire you’ll enjoy this album featuring flutist Gregory and pianist Kaplan.

Vent features world premiere recordings of works by Gabriela Lena Frank (Five Andean Imposivations) and Timo Andres (Steady Gaze). Joining those works are Schubert’s Variations on Trockne Blumen, Prokofiev’s Flute Sonata in D and David Lang’s Vent.

This is a terrific album with work that certainly is rarely performed together and those world premiere recordings are well worth exploring.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL:  Together – Carlos Simon – Decca Classics

Another artist who is pairing the old and the new on a recording is composer/pianist Carlos Simon. With the participation of mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, violinist Randall Goosby, baritone Will Liverman and cellist Seth Parker Woods, Simon explores his own arrangements of spirituals and popular songs (including Sade’s Love Is Stronger Than Pride) with original compositions.

This is a beautiful album whose spirituality provides the emotional support that our challenging times require. 

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: Between Breaths – Third Coast Percussion – Cedille Records

I’ll be honest, the idea of a percussion quartet has never inspired me. To be more honest, that’s too bad because if every percussion quartet sounded as good as this album by Third Coast Percussion, I’ve been missing out on some great music.

This album opens with Missy Mazzoli’s Millennium Canticles. That is followed by TCP’s own In Practice; Tyondai Braxton’s Sunny X; Ayanna Woods’ Triple Point and closes with Gemma Peacocke’s Death Wish.

All of these are world premiere recordings. 

If, like me, you find yourself a bit reluctant to explore music performed only by percussion artists, I encourage you to take Between Breaths out for a spin. It just might leave you breathless.

JAZZ:  On Becoming – House of Waters – GroundUP

You don’t often find a hammered dulcimer and six-string bass as featured instruments on a jazz album. But that’s precisely what Maz ZT and Moto Fukushima play as House of Waters. It’s a fascinating combination that is enhanced by drummer Antonio Sanchez and special guest appearances by vocalist Priya Darshini and guitarist Mike Stern.

For those willing to exploring beyond the standard trio, quartet, quintent, etc… format, this is an album for you.

JAZZ:  Natural Impression – Mafalda Minnozzi – MPI Records

One listen to this lovely album by Italian jazz vocalist Minnozzi will have you asking the question, “why haven’t I heard her before?”

Many of the tracks she performs will be familiar like Ne Me Quitte Pas and One Note Samba. Whether you know them or not, you’ll find this album on repeat.

Minnozzi is joined by pianist Helio Alves, bassist Eduardo Belo, drummer/percussionist Rogerio Boccato and guitarist and music director Paul Ricci. 

There are also some amazing special guests on the album: Doug Beavers on trombone; Don Byron on clarinet, Kassin on percussion; Joe Locke on vibraophone; John Patitucci on bass and Michael Wolff on keyboards.

JAZZ:  Frozen Silence – Maciej Obara Quartet – ECM 

Alto saxophonist Obara and his quartet first recorded for ECM with 2017’s Unloved. That was followed by 2019’s Three Crowns. Now with their third ECM record, Obara maintains the same line-up of musicians: Gard Nilssen on drums; pianist Dominik Wania and bassist Ole Morten Vågan.

The album title references the circumstances during with Obara composed the music on this album: being in isolation during the pandemic. Lest you think this will be a dark album without any relief, rest assured by the time these quick-moving 47 minutes of Frozen Silence is over, you will have traveled a wide breadth of emotions.

JAZZ:  Between Two Worlds – Terrell Stafford – Le Coq Records

Performing a streaming concert at the Village Vanguard in the early months of the pandemic resonated with trumpeter/composer Stafford in ways he probably couldn’t imagine in that moment. He was performing the song that serves as the title of this new record that features percussionist Alex Acuña; pianist Bruce Barth; drummer Jonathan Blake; saxophonist Tim Warfield and bassist David Wong.

Music by McCoy Tyner and Horace Silver are amongst the covers on this 63-minute album. My personal favorite is Blood Count by Billy Strayhorn. Several of the compositions were written by Stafford as tributes to family members.

I recommend fixing your favorite cocktail (if you drink), turning the lights down low and giving Between Two Worlds a true and thoughtful listen.

OPERA:  The Lord of Cries – Boston Modern Orchestra Project – Pentatone

Composer John Corigliano and librettist Mark Adamo’s The Lord of Cries had its world premiere on August 5, 2021 at Santa Fe Opera. The opera combines the story of Euripides’ The Bacchae with Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It sounds like a bizarre combination, but ultimately makes a lot of sense dramatically.

Counter-tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, for whom the main role was written, sings the lead role of Dionysus in this recording. He is joined by Matt Boehler, Wil Ferguson, Kathryn Henry, Jarrett Ott, David Portillo with Gil Rose leading the BMOP.

This is a fascinating mash-up of stories and an even more interesting opera.

OPERA:  Turandot – Maria Callas – Warner Classics

Fans of soprano Maria Callas who are also vinyl collectors will definitely want to get this vinyl only release that documents Callas in this role that fits her like a glove. It is a mono recording, but her performances more than makes up for the lack of stereo sound.

Tullio Serafin conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala di Milano. The cast also includes Mario Borriello, Renato Ercolani, Eugenio Fernandi, Giuseppe Nessi, Piero De Palma, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and Nicola Zaccaria, 

This is the first of many upcoming Callas releases from Warner Classics.

VOCALS:  A Collective Cy – Jeff Harnar – PS Classics

For whatever reason composer Cy Coleman isn’t revered the way some of his contemporaries were. He was responsible for such musicals as Little Me, Sweet Charity, I Love My Wife, On the Twentieth Century, Barnum, City of Angels (which is overdue for a first-rate revival), The Life and The Will Rogers Follies.

Singer Harnar, whose 2022 album I Know Things Now: My Life in Sondheim’s Words used his own experiences to interpret Sondheim’s songs, turns his attention to 14 of Coleman’s songs. Along the way he is joined by vocalists Danny Bacher, Ann Hampton Callaway, Liz Callaway and Nicolas King.

As with his Sondheim recording, Harnar makes each of these songs personal to him and his life.

Alex Rybeck is music director and conducts the orchestra. 

So much to choose from in New In Music This Week: September 8th. Where will you start?

Enjoy the music and enjoy your weekend!

Main Photo: Selection from the album cover of Brilliant Corners by Thelonious Monk/Courtesy Craft Small Batch Recordings

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The old joke about how you get to Carnegie Hall seems like it was written about pianists. Taking the stage for a solo recital there is, arguably, the pinnacle of success for a classical pianist.

Ax made his own debut at Carnegie Hall in 1974 and had his first recital there in 1982. Bronfman had his debut there in 1976 with his first recital in 1989. Hamelin won the 1985 Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition for Pianists and had his first solo recital there in 1988.

Some key moments in Carnegie Hall’s history of piano performances:

1891: Jan Paderewski made his US debut

1906: Artur Rubinstein made his US debut

1909: Sergei Rachmaninoff made his Carnegie Hall debut

1925: George Gershwin gave the world premiere performance of Concerto in F

1928: Vladimir Horowitz made his US debut

1957: Glenn Gould made his Carnegie Hall recital debut

1960: Sviatoslav Richter made his Carnegie Hall debut

1981: Martha Argerich made her Carnegie Hall recital debut

1989: Maria Joao Pires made her Carnegie Hall recital debut

1990: Evgeny Kissin made his Carnegie Hall recital debut

1991: Stephen Hough made his Carnegie Hall recital debut

2001: Lang Lang made his Carnegie Hall debut

There’s a lot of history in this building which gives all three musicians a lot to talk about. Hopefully they will also perform. Either way, this is definitely going to be an interesting hour or so.

And if you can’t make the Emanuel Ax: Live with Carnegie Hall livestream on April 23rd, the video will be available a few hours after its conclusion on the Carnegie Hall website.

Photo of Emanuel Ax © Lisa-Marie Mazzucco/Courtesy of Carnegie Hall

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On the program for this recital are:

Chaccone by Bach (arranged by Busoni)

Fantasie in C Major by Schumann

Six Songs by Trenet (arranged by Weissenberg)

Cypresses by Castelnuovo-Tedesco

Polonaise-Fantasie by Chopin

Scherzo No. 4 by Chopin.

Of course, there will be the inevitable encore, but we don’t know what that might be. Whatever, it will certainly make just a little bit longer a very enjoyable evening of solo classical piano.

To read our interview with Marc-André Hamelin, please go here.

Photo of Marc-André Hamelin courtesy of his website. Photo by Sim Cannetti Clarke.

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So imagine my surprise when just before leaving his home in Massachusetts to head to Los Angeles for these concerts, he had time to talk about his rather ambitious schedule and the challenges of maintaining it all.

How many major works do you keep actively performance-ready and why so many different works?

It depends. Young performers may not have had the time to work up the kind of repertoire that I have at my age (57). But I am, just as anyone else, subject to the requests of promoters. I may want to play one concerto, say the Ravel, for a whole season, but inevitably I’ll come across instances where it is being played by someone else and I’ll have to change it.

Working up the repertoire is one thing, but keeping them performance-ready is another.

Not really as long as you’ve learned them early – which is the case for almost every one of these pieces. The earlier you learn some of these things, the better you retain them. 

How does playing a piece like the Dvořák Quintet satisfy you in ways that solo recitals or symphonic pieces do not?

Everything satisfies me. I have the luxury at this point in my career to be playing, and able to play without exception, pieces that I really love. The Dvořák is an old friend. It’s one of the five great masterpieces of piano quintets. I enjoy the camaraderie of playing with people I haven’t played with before.

Looking back at the premiere of Grand Pianola Music, composer John Adams said, “it must doubtless have seemed like a smirking truant with a dirty face in need of a severe spanking.” What was your first reaction to the piece?

Nowhere near the indignation people felt at the premiere. It divided a lot of people back then probably because we weren’t ready for it. I think it is a lot of fun. You have to count like hell. It’s excessive in every possible way, but it’s one of these things that’s so much fun other once in a while. I think Adams feels very tenderly towards it – he certainly doesn’t regret it. 

The way Adams wrote that piece requires, as you said, “counting like hell.” What are the main challenges of performing Grand Pinaola Music?

What you have to be aware of is the absolute irregularity of the pulse. This is something you just feel. The very first rehearsal when we did it in San Francisco (2015) I was at sea because of a combination of the hall’s acoustics and I wasn’t really used to this kind of writing. I was hearing everything wrong and I had to drop out and wait until the next obvious cue like a page later. I got the hang of it. Your concentration can’t flag for a second.

What have you learned about the piece since you first performed it?

Having done it once gets you enough to be worried about the second performance. That’s the most valuable lesson. And you don’t have to worry about something that you were worrying about before. You get much more familiar with the grand arc of the piece and you start to hear more and more of what’s going on. The way I’ve been practicing it before this performance is not so much spending time at the piano, but listening to the recording we did and feeling the performance we did. If you study it carefully without actually playing it, half of the re-practicing work is already done.

You told Gramophone in 2017 that “sometimes inspiration, enlightenment, watershed moments, can come from the unlikeliest places.” What were some of those moments that had the most profound impact on you?

It’s always difficult to find an example. But I will say that in practicing and as well as performing in public, you have to welcome accidents and imperfections. Because they can certainly yield revelations. They can lead to breakthroughs. I find that musically perhaps the most significantly helpful kind of practicing is the one that happens away from the keyboard. I often find when I’m taking a walk, that’s when I get all kinds of illumination and things get clearer; when tempi settles, when I perceive more the architecture of the work. That’s when solutions to problems can present themselves.

If one looks at your recordings, you are just as passionate about lesser-known works as you are about the standard repertoire. How do you strike a balance for yourself and by extension your audience?

I think that if I truly love the repertoire, I would think that that enthusiasm and love for it will bleed into the public’s appreciation for it. I have a pretty narrow filter as far as what I think will be interesting to an audience. There’s tons of things I just wouldn’t play. But I try to find things that are really interesting which just captivate me and that usually is a barometer for me. I’m hoping that over the years people will have the impression that they can trust me with the programming I offer. 

Dvořák said, “My own duty as a teacher, is not so much to interpret Beethoven, Wagner or other masters of the past, but to give what encouragement I can to the young musicians of America.” Do you share his views and what’s the best path for you going forward to accomplish that goal?

As far as playing the standard repertoire, we all think we hold the truth. (He lets out a big laugh.) Even if we don’t. If I’m convinced enough about things or certain ways of doing things that will be enough. Perhaps yes. Perhaps not. There’s always a part of education when I’m presenting a recital, but it’s not in a didactic sense. All I’m doing is saying, “Look what you’ve been missing” or “This can be done in another way” or “Look how beautiful this is.” And I have the privilege of presenting it to you.

All photos of Marc-André Hamelin by Sim Canetti-Clarke/Courtesy of the LA Philharmonic

Note:  Hamelin received a Grammy nomination for his recording of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in a two-piano arrangement with Leif Ove Andsnes. Awards will be handed out in February.

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Glass has composed two previous symphonies inspired by the other Bowie/Eno collaborations. His first symphony in 1992 was inspired by Low. 

His 4th symphony in 1996 was inspired by Heroes.

The Glass work is the second half of the program. Opening the concerts is Tumblebird Contrails by Gabriella Smith. That will be followed by Adams’s Grand Pianola Music. That work received equal parts rapturous praise and intense condemnation when it first premiered in 1982. Since then it’s reputation has grown considerably.

Grand Pianola Music is a three-part composition that finds Parts 1A and 1B played one after the other without pause. That is followed by the third section called On the Great Divide. It is a large scale work that calls for two pianists (Marc-André Hamelin and Orli Shaham), an organist (James McVinnie), a vocalist (Angélique Kidjo) and a trio of singers (Zanaida Robles and Holly Sedillos – sopranos; Kristen Toedtman – mezzo-soprano).

This is one of the most exciting concerts early in 2019 and one not-to-be-missed.

The night before the first of these concerts, Marc-André Hamelin will be performing the Dvorak Piano Quintet #2 in A Major with members of the LA Phil in a concert that also includes Dvorak’s String Quartet #13 and Penderecki’s Duo Concertante for violin e contrabasso.

Check back for our interview with Hamelin about all the work he’s doing this week at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Image of Philip Glass courtesy of PhilipGlass.com

Lodger Album cover courtesy of DavidBowie.com

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