To guide your last-minute shopping, the staff of ClevelandClassical.com has compiled a list of 18 CDs by artists who work or have a regular presence in the classical music scene in Northeast Ohio. Support your local musicians by gifting their music to family and friends!
Darrett Adkins, cello — Myth and Tradition
by Jarrett Hoffman
Myth & Tradition unfolds like a series of trials that our protagonist, cellist Darrett Adkins, must overcome. Alongside the impressive Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, directed by Timothy Weiss, Adkins conjures a mythical bird in the world premiere recording of Su Lian Tan’s five-movement Legends of Kintamani (2016). Next he navigates the brainy twists and turns of Philip Cashian’s Concerto for Cello and Strings (2012), another work written for Adkins. Read the review
Ayreheart: Barley Moon
by Jeremy Reynolds
Far from being an outdated or even obsolete instrument, the lute makes a stirring pitch for its continued relevance in the hands of the ensemble Ayreheart, which released Barley Moon in June 2016 on the Sono Luminus label. In this album, four modern day troubadours with lutes and drum and sweet, sweet voices harken for an hour to a simpler musical era. Read the review
Duende: Travel Notebook
Ethan Miller, saxophone, Krystin O’Mara, guitar
by Jeremy Reynolds
Guitar and flute may be a standard instrumental duo, but guitar and saxophone? Travel Notebook convincingly combines the talents of guitarist Krystin O’Mara and saxophonist Ethan Miller on Cleveland-based Duende’s debut album, released earlier this year on the Centaur label. Read the review
Martina Filjak, piano
by Jeremy Reynolds
In the eight years since Martina Filjak won the gold medal at the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition the Croatian pianist has performed around the world with distinguished orchestras and conductors. In December 2016 Filjak released a solo album titled simply Martina Filjak, Piano on the German Solo Musica label. Read the review
Christopher Houlihan plays Bach
by Daniel Hathaway
Organist Christopher Houlihan’s two previous recordings were devoted to music by Maurice Duruflé, Jehan Alain and Louis Vierne — three go-to composers for demonstrating the talents of a young organ virtuoso. His most recent release on Cleveland’s Azica label takes on more dangerous interpretive material: some of the more monumental works of Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as Houlihan’s own arrangement of Bach’s Concerto in the Italian Style. Read the review
Dana Jessen: Carve
by Mike Telin
On her debut album Carve, bassoonist Dana Jessen challenges listeners to discard any preconceived notions they may have about the instrument, and allow themselves to be swept away into a magical world of colorful acoustic and electronic soundscapes. Released on Innova Recordings, Carve features four alluring commissioned works by American composers — Paula Matthusen, Sam Pluta, Peter V. Swendsen, and Kyle Bruckmann — interwoven with playful improvisations by Jessen. Read the review
Les Délices: Age of Indulgence
by Daniel Hathaway
When an ensemble’s programs are as carefully curated as those of Cleveland’s Les Délices, it makes perfect sense to preserve them nearly intact in the form of a recording. Age of Indulgence is a case in point. Presented twice in November of 2015, the program delivered everything the ensemble is known for: expert, accessible performances of French Baroque repertoire using a small number of players in inventive combinations, always chosen to make an artistic point without pretense or pedantry, and performed without intermission in the course of an hour and a quarter. Read the review
Dan Lippel, guitars
Steve Reich: Electric Counterpoint
by Jeremy Reynolds
Daniel Lippel has released an EP on the New Focus Recordings label comprising a single work by Steve Reich: Electric Counterpoint (1987), also the title of the 15-minute EP. Lippel is co-founder and director of New Focus Recordings, and has served as resident guitarist of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) since 2005, and of the new music quartet Flexible Music since 2003. He studied at Oberlin with Steven Aron, and with Jason Vieaux at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Read the review
Spencer Myer: William Bolcom Piano Rags
by Mike Telin
The popularity of ragtime peaked during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, influencing composers like Erik Satie, Claude Debussy, and Igor Stravinsky. The genre experienced a resurgence during the early 1970s with the publishing of Joshua Rifkin’s and Gunther Schuller’s compilations of music by noted ragtime composer Scott Joplin. But it was the 1973 movie The Sting, and its soundtrack featuring Joplin tunes, that thrust the genre back into popular culture. It was during that same time that American composer William Bolcom published his first set of rags. Read the review
Duo Mignarda: Magnum Mysterium
by Hannah Schoepe
In their latest album, Magnum Mysterium: Advent & Christmas Music for Lute and Voice, the Cleveland-based Duo Mignarda creates a sense of historical purity — the perfect tranquil holiday setting. Released on the group’s personal label, the CD was recorded in Immaculate Conception Church and the Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus in Cleveland in 2016. Mezzo-soprano Dona Stewart and lutenist Ron Andrico are joined by double harpist Frederick Lautzenheiser, who adds texture and color to several tracks. Read the review
Mozart Among Friends
James Howsmon, piano, Marilyn McDonald, violin
by Jeremy Reynolds
There’s something special about a musical collaboration that has spanned many years — a level of comfort in each other’s styles coupled with a delightful joie de vivre that produces some tight, sparkling ensemble. There’s a solid hour of this nuanced joy in pianist James Howsmon and violinist Marilyn McDonald new album, Mozart Among Friends, a collection of sonatas released on May 26 on the Oberlin Music label. Read the review
Nikita Mndoyants: Davidsbündlertänze
by Daniel Hathaway
Russian pianist Nikita Mndoyants chose 29 short works — the longest just over four minutes — for his debut recording on the Steinway & Sons label, proving that sublimity can be achieved in very small stretches of time. The composers would agree. Beethoven’s Op. 126 Bagatelles, Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, and Prokofiev’s Sarcasms were highly thought of by their creators, even though their formats left little room for the development of ideas. Read the review
Quire Cleveland —
Richard Davy: St. Matthew Passion
by Daniel Hathaway
Recorded live at performances in April of 2017, Ross W. Duffin’s reconstruction of Richard Davy’s St. Matthew Passion was three decades in the making. The original work, the earliest polyphonic passion setting by a known composer, is uniquely but only partially preserved at the end of the early 16th-century Eton Choirbook. Duffin supplied music for eleven missing movements at the beginning of the work, as well as the missing voices for the next dozen movements for which only alto and bass parts survive. Read the review
Soulmates: Music for Cello, Clarinet, and Piano
by Samantha Spaccasi
The strong connections on Soulmates — the newest recording from clarinetist Amitai Vardi, cellist Uri Vardi, and pianist Arnon Erez — are evidenced by the group’s communication and cohesiveness. Featuring Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat, Jan Radzynski’s Concert Duos, and Brahms’s Trio in A, the CD is a multifaceted exploration of engaging chamber works, played with vivacity, elegance, and poise. Read the review
Third Coast Percussion: The Book of Keyboards
by Jarrett Hoffman
With their latest album, The Book of Keyboards, Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion drops you into another world. The inhabitants: six bafflingly good players, one revelatory composer in Philippe Manoury, a family of four tuned percussion instruments, and you — and after hearing this music there’s no going back. Read the review
Brian Thornton: Brahms Cello Sonatas
by Hannah Schoepe
Capturing the essence of human emotions, Brahms’s cello sonatas are undeniable gems. Cleveland Orchestra cellist Brian Thornton and pianist Spencer Myer share a beautiful interpretation of the sonatas in their new album Johannes Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano, released on the Steinway & Sons record label. The playing on the album is magnificent, and the balance between the players is beautiful.
Read the review
Under One Sun
Jamie Haddad and Friends
by Jarrett Hoffman
Eight core musicians from three continents gather around the music of Billy Drewes in the latest release on the Oberlin Music label, Under One Sun. The album’s wide array of instruments, moods, and vocal styles makes for a fun and exploratory 70 minutes of jazz. Read the review
Cicilia Yudha:
Selected Piano Works by Casadesus & Dutilleux
by Jeremy Reynolds
In addition to being the founder of one of the premiere piano competitions in the world — the predecessor of the Cleveland International Piano Competition — Robert Casadesus was one of the finest pianists of the 20th century, as well as a prolific composer. In December of 2016, Indonesian-born pianist and Youngstown State University piano professor Cicilia Yudha released an album of selected works for piano by Casadesus and his contemporary Henri Dutilleux. Read the review
Published on ClevelandClassical.com December 13, 2017.
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