Immediate Family

Richard Tucker Award-winners Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez – dubbed “America’s fastest-rising husband-and-wife opera stars” (Associated Press) – look forward to releasing their first album together: a recording of romantic love duets by Verdi, Puccini, Bernstein, and others, recorded with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Patrick Summers’s leadership in London. The album is slated for release in May 2014, and it will be the couple’s first release as exclusive recording artists for Warner Classics.

One of the best-kept secrets of twentieth century Russian music is the work of Polish-born Soviet composer Moisey (Mieczyslaw) Weinberg, often spelled as Vainberg. Weinberg was born in a Warsaw ghetto to a family of itinerant Jewish theatrical performers. He made his debut as pianist at the age of ten, and by age 12 was studying at the Warsaw Conservatory. With the outbreak of war in 1939, Weinberg fled to Minsk, enrolling in the conservatory and studying with Vasily Zolotaryov. In 1943 Weinberg sent the score of his first symphony to Dmitry Shostakovich, who was impressed and arranged for Weinberg to be invited to Moscow under official approval. This was the beginning of their long friendship and of Weinberg's career as a Soviet composer.
Weinberg was the only member of his immediate family to survive the Nazi Holocaust. His father-in-law was executed as ……..

From Allmusic

Tinctures in Time is the first original music Bernstein has ever written for the MTO, which from the beginning had exclusively been a vehicle for his arrangements of other people's songs, from Count Basie to Prince. Most of the album was composed in 2019, a tough year for Bernstein: Henry Butler had recently passed, and there were serious injuries and death in his immediate family. Like a lot of people do, Bernstein got through it by working. "I was spending a lot of time on planes, going to visit people in hospitals," he says. "So what else am I going to do with my time? I ended up with all this music."

Ernst Krenek - Karl V. - Stage Work with Music in two parts
Czech Philharmonic Chorus of Brno / Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn / Marc Soustrot
2xCD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 520 MB | Full Artwork (incl. Libretto): 460 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Gold" # 337 1082-2 | Country/Year: Germany 2001
Genre: Classical | Style: Opera, Early 20th Century

Krenek’s Karl V is the kind of opera that can be appreciated on several different levels. (…) Remarkably, it’s the earliest large-scale opera to use the 12-note system, though Krenek triumphantly refutes the notion that adherence to this technique inhibits creativity and emotional power. The composer’s widow has claimed that this performance, recorded in connection with the Beethoven Festival in Bonn last year, is by far the finest she has ever heard. With wonderful singing from David Pittman-Jennings as Karl and superb commitment from conductor Marc Soustrot and his fine orchestra, there is little reason to disagree with this verdict.

K'é (kinship), the foundation for Diné identity and survival as a people, transcends immediate family and extends in relationships ranging far across Navajo society. Featuring new songs by Herman Cody and Radmilla Cody, K'é Hasin (Kinship and Hope) honors the unifying force of Diné culture and community and includes Navajo and English lyrics.

Replete with an excellent Eliran Kantor (Fleshgod Apocalypse, Ex Deo) cover art - commissioned by Stainthorpe, "The Ghost of Orion" posits My Dying Bride back on the proverbial doom-death throne. In fact, they’ve never sounded better. From the doleful lay in 'Your Broken Shore' to the grim 10-minute epic 'The Old Earth,' "The Ghost of Orion" is the product of a vibrantly creative band unwilling to rest on their laurels or past glories.
My Dying Bride‘s three decades of misery almost came to an end several years ago. Following 2015’s universally lauded "Feel the Misery" album, vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe’s daughter, just five years old at the time, was diagnosed with cancer. Shocked and heartbroken, Stainthorpe put all band activities on hold while he, his immediate family, and My Dying Bride put their collective energies into eradicating what Stainthorpe called, "the cruellest of God's bitter and loveless creations"…