Cycle World June 2017

A new recording of world premieres addressing a topic of our national discourse: diaspora. If There Were Water, from Philadelphias 2017 Grammy-nominated choir, The Crossing, is a testament to the expressive range of the human voice. These two strikingly diverse, yet equally compelling unaccompanied compositions were commissioned for The Crossings Month of Moderns festival and premiered in June 2017.

Vocalist and composer Kavita Shah makes work in deep engagement with the jazz tradition, while also addressing and advancing its global sensibilities. A lifelong New Yorker of Indian origin hailed for possessing an “amazing dexterity for musical languages” (NPR), Shah incorporates her ethnographic research on Brazilian, West African, and Indian musical traditions into her original repertoire.

Few performers are more familiar with the musical language of the French composer Olivier Messiaen than the American conductor Kent Nagano. Nagano has had Messiaen's orchestral works and oratorios in his program for several decades now, and he also participated in the world premiere of Saint François d'Assise, Messiaen's only opera. During the year 1982 Nagano spent his time with Messiaen in Paris, where not only an artistic relationship but also a close personal one developed between the two musicians.

Ukrainian composer Silvestrov is known for his "metaphorical" style of music, which sounds transparent, but is technically and emotionally complex. "Music should be so transparent that one can see the bottom and that poetry shimmers through this transparency." (Valentin Silvestrov)

A selection of works by the greatest harpsichord composer of all — François Couperin, and from contemporary British composer Graham Lynch, who is a very worthy successor with music that is expressive, descriptive, deep and exceptionally rich, showing that the harpsichord is capable of real expression. The Lynch pieces are receiving their first recordings. Established virtuoso Assi Karttunen is from Finland and this is her first album for Divine Art, and a showcase for her amazing talent at the keyboard.

Ondine is proud to release these world premiere recordings of two new Zemlinsky arrangements by Richard Dünser (b. 1959) with Lapland Chamber Orchestra conducted by John Storgårds. The works of Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942) - much admired by composers such as Mahler, Schoenberg and Berg - have gained more attention during the last decades. He wrote only 27 works with an opus number, but several of them can be considered among 20th century masterpieces. In 2013 composer Richard Dünser (b. 1959), pupil of Francis Burt and Hans Werner Henze, made two new rich arrangements of works by Zemlinsky. Seven Songs of Night and Dream (Sieben Lieder von Nacht und Traum) is an orchestration of songs from opp. 2, 5, 6, 8 and 10 based on the themes of night and dream. In this recording the songs are sung by mezzo-soprano Jenny Carlstedt. Chamber Symphony is a 40-minute orchestration of Zemlinsky's String Quartet No. 2. In this orchestration the limitations of a string quartet is set free by using a larger ensemble. Zemlinsky's String Quartet contains references to the works of his most famous pupil, Arnold Schoenberg.

Described by The Telegraph as "the crème de la crème of young British-based musical talent", and praised in BBC Music Magazine for their "irresistible combination of arresting programing and vocal flair assembled around pianist Joseph Middleton", the newly formed Myrthen Ensemble brings together rising stars in the world of art-song and Lieder. This disc features performances by founder members Mary Bevan, Clara Mouriz, Allan Clayton, Marcus Farnsworth and Joseph Middleton. Joseph Middleton writes to introduce the recording: "The moon has, since antiquity, inspired artists, musicians and wordsmiths. The programme on this disc looks to its many characteristics for inspiration. The songs are at turns consoling, sometimes seductive in serenades and occasionally paint the moon as a threatening force through its extinguishing of the sun's rays. The moon’s silver beams cast their magic in music by Brahms and Schumann in the first of these CDs, and in the second, inspire the exquisite treatment of 'Clair de lune' by a selection of the finest French song composers. Short English nocturnal overtures begin each disc".

Act III of François-Frédéric Guy's Beethoven Project. On the programme: Beethoven's complete music for cello and piano with cellist Xavier Phillips, recorded by Nicolas Bartholomée at the Arsenal in Metz. In 2008 Guy embarked on a major Beethoven project that has included recording and performing in concert all 32 Beethoven Sonatas and the 5 Piano Concertos. Guy is a dedicated chamber musician and he regularly performs Beethoven’s chamber music for strings and piano as well, with Tedi Papavrami and Xavier Phillips. As part of the Beethoven project, Guy has performed the complete cycle of 32 Sonatas in Washington, Paris, Monaco and recently at the Festival Berlioz in La Côte-Saint-André (August 2013). Born in Paris, Xavier Phillips started playing the cello at the age of 6. His encounter with Mstislav Rostropovitch proved especially fruitful since it marked the beginning of a long collaboration during which Xavier Phillips received the guidance and encouragement of the master cellist.