Alfred's Group Piano

Stuttgarter Wolfgang Dauner approaches legendary status as one of Germany’s most inventive pianist-composers. Here the quartet jumps onto a bouncy Take The A Train, riding on to Dauner’s own Waltz for a Young Girl with luscious soprano and piano solos. On Ellington’s Take The Coltrane the band rides out on a modern blues. Swiss pianist Elsie Bianchi was popular throughout the 50’s and 60’s as pianist/pianist. Her Baron Lazor features a relaxed, swinging blues, while she interprets What Is This Thing Called Love with a bluesy flair and some hip quotes. Dieter Reith co-wrote the music for 1972 Munich Olympics and worked with the likes of Stan Getz and Art Farmer.

The Gloriosa Piano Trio is one of the finest piano trios based in the U.S. today. This program includes the wonderful Saint-Saens Trio No. 2 with a work by Piazzolla, and two contemporary American works, both from 2016. “Driven by lush violin-and-cello unison melodies” and a timbre that is “fuller than the brain imagines three musicians can sound” (Jon Sobel, BlogCritics), the Gloriosa Piano Trio burst onto the music scene in January 2014 as brightly as the flame lily for which the group is named.

The Jazz Piano Quartet was a one-off collaboration between renowned pianists Dick Hyman, Roland Hanna, Marian McPartland, and Hank Jones.

Altenberg Trio Wien Consisting of Claus-Christian Schuster (piano), Amiram Ganz (violin), and Alexander Gebert (cello), the Altenberg Trio Wien made its debut during the Salzburg Mozart Week (January 1994). One of the few full-time piano trios in the world of chamber music, this Viennese group has earned a reputation as daring and consistent: its repertory includes, in addition to many works adapted from other chamber media (piano quartets and quintets, duos, triple concertos, vocal chamber music), no fewer than 200 piano trios, among them newly commissioned works. The group has served as trio-in-residence of Vienna's Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and of the Conservatory of the City of Vienna, where they offer a class for chamber music majors. They also appear regularly at the International Brahms Festival in Mürzzuschlag, Austria, where they offer master classes for young ensembles. In 1999 they won the Robert Schumann Award of the City of Zwickau, whose other recent winners have included Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Alfred Brendel. Their 2000 recording of American trios by Ives, Copland, and Bernstein won Amsterdam's Edison Award.

Steve Reich's Pulse / Quartet is performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). An artist collective committed to transforming the way music is created and experienced and Quartet (2013) is played by the Colin Currie Group, an ensemble led by percussionist Colin Currie that specializes in the music of Steve Reich; these are also the ensembles that gave the world premiere performances of the respective works.

Steve Reich's Pulse / Quartet is performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). An artist collective committed to transforming the way music is created and experienced—and Quartet (2013) is played by the Colin Currie Group, an ensemble led by percussionist Colin Currie that specializes in the music of Steve Reich; these are also the ensembles that gave the world premiere performances of the respective works.

The choice of works on this amply filled album, as well as the performances are the result of Lorenda Ramou’s research into the artistic environment of Nikos Skalkottas, in Berlin (1921–33) and in Athens (1933–49). The programme is organized as a triptych, focusing on three distinctive compositional styles. First, all surviving Berlin works for piano solo are presented in chronological order, showing how the young composer was reacting to the new and exciting jazz/dance music, but also to the people around him and to events in the musical world of Berlin in the 1920s.

The choice of works on this amply filled album, as well as the performances are the result of Lorenda Ramou’s research into the artistic environment of Nikos Skalkottas, in Berlin (1921–33) and in Athens (1933–49). The programme is organized as a triptych, focusing on three distinctive compositional styles. First, all surviving Berlin works for piano solo are presented in chronological order, showing how the young composer was reacting to the new and exciting jazz/dance music, but also to the people around him and to events in the musical world of Berlin in the 1920s. This is followed by Suites Nos 2, 3 and 4, a group of mature works composed at the beginning of World War II (1940–41).

Terry Gibbs Plays Jewish Melodies In Jazztime is a 1963 album by vibraphonist Terry Gibbs. The album has a theme which goes through different world musics, all done with a constant string of jazz. The album features Sol Sage on drums & marimba; Herman Wright on bass; Ray Musiker on clarinet; Sam Kutcher on trombone; Alan Logan on piano; and Bobby Pike on drums, but it is notable for featuring Alice McLeod on piano, who would later marry saxophonist John Coltrane. Originally released on Mercury, this CD was released in 2002 by Verve Music Group.