Our top pick of the best of what’s New In Music This Week: September 22^nd is:

CLASSICAL:  AMAZÔNIA – Camila Provenzale, Philharmonia Zürich, Simone Menzes – Alpha Classics

Floresta Do Amazonas, an 11-movement suite by Heitor Villa-Lobos and Metamorphosis 1 (from Aguas da Amazonia) by Philip Glass tell you right away what the theme is on this incredible album: the Amazon rainforest.  

Of course, any album that has a “cause” is only going to be effective if the music is good. This isn’t just good, this is a great recording. I hadn’t heard anything Menzes had done before, but if this is any indication we’re destined for a lot of great and thoughtful music in the years ahead.

As an added bonus the liner notes include a selection of photographs by Sebastião Salgado. If you don’t know his work, this is a great introduction to his gorgeous photography. 

Here are my other selections for New In Music This Week: September 22^nd:

CLASSICAL: ZODIAC SUITE – Aaron Diehl & The Knights – Mack Avenue Records

Composer Mary Lou Williams composed this 12-movement suite to reflect each of the astrological signs with each movement dedicated to a friend of hers born under that sign. It is perhaps best known as a work for a trio, but Williams also arranged a version for piano and ensemble in 1945.

Pianist Diehl has been performing the work in concert and now has recorded the full work in this first-ever professional recording of Zodiac Suite in this configuration.

Fans of mid 20^th-century American music will definitely want to check this out. You’ll also want to hear if the music composed for your astrological sign in any way mirrors who you might be.

CLASSICAL:  BACHEANDO – Plínio Fernandes – Decca Gold

This beautiful solo guitar album finds Fernandes playing works by Mario Albanese, Sérgio Assad, Johann Sebastian Bach, Paulinho Nogueira and Heitor Villa-Lobos. The mix of Brazilian composers with music by Bach may not sound like it makes sense on paper, but the arrangements make a convincing argument of the logic of this pairing.

Bacheando is a refreshing take on Bach’s music as well. I thoroughly enjoyed Fernandes’s playing and plan to listen to this album many more times.

CLASSICAL: FLORENCE PRICE: SYMPHONY NO. 4 – The Philadelphia Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin – Deutsche Grammophon

This is a live recording from the Philadelphia Orchestra who have been passionate advocates for Florence Price’s music. This symphony in D minor was composed in 1945 but never received a performance in her lifetime. 

Also on this digital only release is William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony which was composed in 1934 and revised in 1952. There are three movements:  The Bond of Africa; Hope in the Night and Oh, Le’ Me Shine, Shine Like a Morning Star!

This is not the first album of Florence Price’s music recorded by the Philadelphia Orchestra and one hopes it won’t be the last.

CLASSICAL: RACHMANINOFF, A REFLECTION – Yekwon Sunwoo – Decca Classics

With so many celebrations of Rachmaninoff’s 150^th this year, I expected this to be a recording of the usual works by the composer. The only commonly performed work on this record is the Prelude in C-Sharp Minor. The rest are much lesser performed works.

These include the 23 Variations on a Theme of Corelli and the 10 Variations on a Theme of Chopin. Yekwon Sunwoo plays them all beautifully and it’s nice to hear music that, for the most part, is less-performed than the rest of Rachmaninoff’s works.

CLASSICAL:  MI PAÍS: SONGS OF ARGENTINA – Federico De Michelis and Steven Blier – NYFOS Records

We are accustomed to hearing art songs from the northern hemisphere, but this album allows us to explore those songs from well below the equator. In this case, a selection of music from Argentina.

Bass-baritone De Michelis is not someone with whom I was very familiar. His singing on this album will make me want to seek out more of his work. He’s joined by pianist Biler (who is also Artistic Director of New York Festival of Song) and at times Shinjoo Cho on bandoneon, Pablo Lanouguere on double bass; Sami Merdinian on violin and tenor César Andrés Parreño.

Amongst the composers whose work is performed on this album are Carlos López Buchardo; Carlos Gardel; Carlos Guastavino, and lest you think every composer Is named Carlos, there are also works by Mariano Mores; Astor Piazzolla; Ariel Ramírez and Héctor Stamponi.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: A PRAYER TO THE DYNAMO Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Daníel Bjarnason – Deutsche Grammophon

You can argue that this is mostly made of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s music written for films (The Theory of Everything/Sicario), but this is such a beautiful recording that if you didn’t know those details, it wouldn’t even occur to you these were film scores.

In the hands Bjarnason and the ISO, this is more than a soundtrack compilation or collection. Jóhannson was one of the most interesting composers of his time. Sadly he passed away in 2018 at the age of 48.

The last work on the album, A Prayer to the Dynamo, is not from a film score. This marks the first-ever recording of that 30-minute suite.

JAZZ:  DYNAMIC MAXIMUM TENSION – Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society – Nonesuch Records

This incredible album was actually released on September 8^th, but only recently was I introduced to it. This nearly two-hour work is massively ambitious and that ambition pays off from the opening moments of Dymaxion and never lets up until Mae West: Advice closes out the album.

Argue has incredible ability to write for a big band and his ensemble returns the favor with incredible playing. The album takes its name from the three words R. Buckminster Fuller used to create “dymaxion” a concept related to improving daily life.

Argue collaborated with Cécile McLorin Salvant on the song cycle Ogresse which I hope to one day see and hear. (You can hear here on the last track of the album). In the meantime, Dynamic Maximum Tension is an album I’ve already listened to several times and I am certain it will be at the top of critics lists at the end of the year. 

JAZZ:  WITNESS TO HISTORY – Eddie Henderson – Smoke Sessions Records

At 82 years young, trumpeter Henderson is still making great music. Witness to History, his latest album, comes half a century after Realization, his 1973 album that marked his first recording as a leader.

Joining him for the 8 tracks on this wonderful album are pianist George Cables, bassist Gerald Cannon, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison and drummer Lenny White. Mike Clark, also a drummer, joins for the opening track Scorpio Rising, which was composed by Henderson.

Eddie Henderson how not just been a witness to history, but part of it. This album continues him on that path.

MUSICALS: OKLAHOMA! COMPLETE ORIGINAL SCORE – Sinfonia of London – Chandos Records

Nathaniel Hackmann (currently appearing as Biff in Back to the Future: The Musical) sings Curly; Sierra Boggess sings Laurey; Rodney Earl Clarke (multiple roles in productions of Porgy and Bess) sings Jud Fry; Jamie Parker (now appearing in Next to Normal at Donmar Warehouse) sings Will Parker and Louise Dearman (first actress to play Elphaba and Glinda in Wicked) sings Ado Annie in this studio recording of the full score from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical.

John Wilson conducts the Sinfonia of London Orchestra in this wonderful recording that offers fans of this musical nearly 100 minutes of music. This recording of Oklahoma! is much more than just OK.

OPERA: LA DIVINA: MARIA CALLAS IN ALL HER ROLES – Maria Callas – Warner Classics   

Is it too early to suggest holiday gifts? Because this embarrassment of riches is perfect for the Maria Callas fan in your life. This is a 131-CD box set that offers studio recordings, live recordings and staged performances. All in this has at least one recording of each of the 74 opera roles she performed over the course of her career.

This includes two studio recordings each of Bellini’s Norma; Donizetti’s Lucia Di Lammermoor; Ponchielli’s La Gioconda and Puccini’s Tosca. But don’t fret, there are live performances of those and many more.

The reason for this extraordinary collection is the 100^th anniversary of Callas’ birth on December 2, 1923. One wonders what the former Maria Anna Sophia Cecilia Kalogeropoulos would think of all this attention. (Of course she’d love it!)

MUSICAL/OPERA (adjacent): FRANK’S WILD YEARS / RAIN DOGS / SWORDFISHTROMBONES – Tom Waits – Island/UMe

In 1990 Tom Waits collaborated with director Robert Wilson on a play/musical/opera entitled The Black Rider. I saw it at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in 2006. So forgive me for indulging my passion for Tom Waits by including the first three of five re-issues of albums by Waits in this week’s list.

Waits is one of our most fascinating and talented artists and these three albums serve as an excellent example of what makes him so incredible. These three titles were released on streaming and CD on September 1st, but I’m including them this week timed to the release of the new vinyl versions of each record.

Waits and his collaborator Kathleen Brennan oversaw the remastering of these releases. Two more albums, Bone Machine and The Black Rider will be released on vinyl on October 6th. Great news for Tom Waits fans! Obviously I’m one of them!

That’s the full list of New In Music This Week: September 22nd.

Enjoy the music! Enjoy your weekend!

Main Photo: Part of the album cover of Swordfishtrombones by Tom Waits

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