Our top choice this week is:

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: A LEFT COAST – Tyler Duncan and Erika Switzer  (Bridge Records)

What do you know about classical music from British Columbia? Exactly as much as I do. Which is why this album featuring baritone Duncan and pianist Switzer is such a wonderful discovery.

The music they perform comes from those they met at the School of Music at the University of British Columbia. This includes Stephen Chatman, Jean Coulthard, Iman Habibi, Melissa Hui, Jocelyn Morlock, Jeffrey Ryan and Leslie Uyeda.

The last four tracks truly stand out to me. They are from Ryan’s Everything Already Lost. With titles like Bill Evans: Alone, Autumn Again, Night Music and Schumann: Fantasie, Op. 17 meant I skipped ahead to her them first. And I was richly rewarded with thoughtful works beautifully performed. Then I went back and listened to the entire 64 minutes and realized there are treasures all the way through.

Here are the rest of what’s New In Music This Week: June 23^rd that I particularly liked:

CLASSICAL: FLORENCE PRICE – Chineke! Orchestra – (Decca Classics)

In 2015 Chi-chi Nwanoku founded the Chineke! Orchestra. The mission was the assemble an orchestra comprised of Black and ethnically diverse musicians from the UK and Europe. 

In celebration of the 70^th anniversary of composer Florence Price’s death, the orchestra has released a recording filled with two more familiar works with a final composition that was only rediscovered in 2009. 

The album opens with Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with Jeneba Kanneh-Mason on piano and conducted by Leslie Suganandarajah. That is followed by Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E Minor which is conducted by Roderick Cox. The discovery is His Resignation and Faith from Prce’s Ethiopia’s Shadow in America.

On September 30^th the Chineke! Orchestra will release an album of works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

CLASSICAL: MOZART: SONATAS FOR PIANO & VIOLIN – Renaud Capuçon & Kit Armstrong (Deutsche Grammophon)

If you love Mozart, the piano and the violin, you’ll love this collection of performances of his sonatas for the two instruments. With 92 tracks lasting 4 hours and 15 minutes, this is nirvana for those who love this work. There are 16 sonatas on this recording available digitally or in a 4-CD set. 

Pianist Armstrong has been in the public eye for 20 years. Capuçon is a passionate advocate of chamber music and has performed with the likes of Martha Argerich, Daniel Trifonov and Yuja Wang.

In Los Angeles our classical music station, KUSC,  plays Mozart in the Morning. This fine collection will get you through half your day!

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: SHATTER – Verona Quartet  (Bright Shiny Things)

Cellist Jonathan Dormand, violinists Jonathan Ong and Dorothy Ro and violist Abigail Rojansky make up this fine quartet. Shatter is their second album and it offers three incredible compositions by contemporary American composers.

The album opens with the first-ever recording of Reena Esmail’s String Quartet (Ragamala). Joining the quartet for this work is Hundustani vocalist Saili Oak. Julia Adolphe’s Star-Crossed Signals follows and the album concludes with Michael Gilbertson’s Quartet.

Verona Quartet commissions Gilbertson’s work which was a 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist.

JAZZ:  STANDARDS – Noah Haidu (Sunnyside Records)

Pianist Keith Jarrett collaborated with drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Gary Peacock for the 1983 album Standards, Vol. 1. At the same sessions for that album enough music was recorded to release Changes in 1984 and Standards, Vol. 2 in 1985.

Pianist Haidu celebrates the 40^th anniversary of that first album with his own standards album. Wisely he’s not re-recording the tracks from those albums, though the selections are part of Jarrett/Peacock/DeJohnette repertoire. He has his own combination of songs that are performed with drummer Lewis Nash, bassists Peter Washington and Buster Williams. Saxophonist Steve Wilson is a guest on the album as well.

The album concludes with the originals Last Dance I and Last Dance II. Don’t expect Donna Summer. This is a beautiful conclusion to this beautiful album.

JAZZ: THE ANCESTRAL CALL – José Soto

This fascinating album from pianist/composer Soto combines a jazz ensemble with a string quartet to explore Costa Rica’s Bribri community, its survival of colonization and its resilience in still being around.

Amongst the artists joining Soto on this album are Milena Cassado, George Garzone and Francisco Mela. 

You think you know what to expect with a strong quartet and with a jazz ensemble. But by throwing them together and including improvisation in the music, Soto has come up with an album that deserves multiple listenings.

JAZZ: GO WEST!: THE CONTEMPORARY RECORDS ALBUMS – Sonny Rollins (Craft Recordings)

Saxophonist Sonny Rollins was only 26 when he recorded Way Out West. The album found him recording six tracks with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne. 

One year later he released Sonny Rollins and The Contemporary Leaders which featured 8 tracks recorded with Hampton Hawes on piano, Manne on drums, Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Barney Wessel on guitar. 

This three LP box set (plus digital and CD release) combines both these albums along with a third album of six alternate takes from both recording sessions.

This is early Rollins and such great music to listen to. If I had the vinyl set it would be played repeatedly!

MUSICALS: OPERATION MINCEMEAT – Original Cast Recording  (Sony Masterworks Broadway)

What began as a show at a fringe festival four years ago has turned into the smash hit musical comedy on the West End in London right now. The musical takes place in 1943 and centers on the role a stolen corpse plays in turning the tide during World War II.

It sounds like a Monty Python skit, but this really took place in April of 1943. The British fooled Hitler’s army into believing that the Allies would be invading Greece and Sardinia. The end result was the liberation of Sicily.

The team of David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts are responsible for the Book, Music and Lyrics. Starring in the musical are Geri Allan, Christian Andrews, Seán Carey, David Cumming, Claire-Marie Hall, Hodgson, Jak Malone, Roberts and Holly Sumpton.

Listening to this album made me want to book a trip to London to see this show.

That’s all I have for you of New In Music This Week: June 23rd.

Enjoy the music and enjoy the weekend.

Main Photo: Art from Chineke! Orchestra’s Florence Price album

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