by Mike Telin
Although Luciano Berio composed his Sequenza VIII for Carlo Chiarappa, it was the violinist’s student, Francesco D’Orazio, whose performance of the piece from memory ultimately left a lasting impression on the composer. On Friday, December 9 at Transformer Station, D’Orazio gave a stunning performance of that work and other contemporary Italian compositions for solo violin. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Excellent performances of chamber music written by 7 of the 34 members of the Cleveland Composers Guild were featured in a collaborative concert with the Syndicate for the New Arts on Sunday evening, December 4 at Historic St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ohio City. [Read more…]
by Jeremy Reynolds
Last January, on the Innova label, composer Aaron Helgeson released Poems of sheer nothingness, a 53-minute album of works for soprano and small instrumental ensemble. James Baker leads the Talea Ensemble, featuring soprano Susan Narucki. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The New York-based period instrument ensemble Quicksilver, co-directed by violinists Robert Mealy and Cleveland’s own Julie Andrijeski, have released an enthralling album titled Fantasticus: extravagant and virtuosic music of the German seventeenth century. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
In June of 2014, the dynamic duo of Jason Vieaux (guitar) and Julien Labro (bandoneón, accordion, and accordina) gave a spectacular closing concert of that year’s Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival. For those of us who were lucky enough to be in attendance, we can now relive that evening via Vieaux’s and Labro’s latest studio recording, Infusion, released on Azica Records on October 28, 2016. If you were not there, buy this album ASAP. It’s a must-have. [Read more…]
by Jeremy Reynolds
Ghosts is an apt title for an album featuring Robert Schumann’s solo piano music. The composer had just finished his Geistervariationen (“Ghost Variations”) before entering a mental asylum for treatment of his schizophrenia, which manifested itself as spirits, ghosts, and demons playing him strange, otherworldly music. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Quire Cleveland’s live recording from its May 2016 concerts featuring the sacred music of William Byrd is distinguished by any measure, but it also comes with more than a little nostalgia. This is one of the last recordings to be engineered under the sure hand of Tom Knab, who died in August. The album is dedicated to his memory. (Read an appreciation here.) [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
College of Wooster music professor Jack Gallagher has released a retrospective CD of his piano music on the Centaur label, performed by Miami University professor Frank Huang, and recorded at the studios of WFMT in Chicago. More than just a sound album, the disc also represents an Enigma Variations-style introduction to Gallagher’s family and friends, to whom most of the pieces are dedicated. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
For her latest recording, Mean Fiddle Summer: Modern American Violin Works, Lina Bahn has tapped the repertoire of composers she has admired and championed during her impressive, yet still young career. With a playing time of one hour and fifteen minutes, the CD is a fascinating listen as Bahn performs pieces representing a variety of styles ranging from fiddling to works inspired by Ysaÿe and Bartók. From start to finish, the violinist demonstrates her adroit technical facility, kaleidoscope of colors, and consummate musical taste. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Name four chamber works scored for oboe, viola, and piano. Then name four chamber works for oboe, viola, and piano that are based on poetry. Most of us would give up before getting to the second question. But the Jackson Trio — oboist Roger Roe, violist Michael Isaac Strauss, and pianist R. Kent Cook — have turned up pieces by August Klughardt, Felix Harold White, Josef Holbrooke, and Charles Martin Loeffler that fit the criteria for their fascinating album, Wordless Verses, released on the Oberlin Music Label. [Read more…]