Sono Luminus

Boundless is a new album performed by Mina Gajic (piano) and Zachary Carrettin (violin). It features Schubert Sonatinas recorded in DXD at a Recital Hall at a Private Wildlife Sanctuary in Boulder, Colorado on July 29-31, 2019…

The six partitas for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach are among the greatest and most inspired works of all keyboard literature. Although they are the first works that Bach decided to publish, they represent the composer's genius at the height of his maturity, matched only by the Goldberg Variations. Performed on a stunning copy of a North German instrument of Bach's time, rich and expressive, but also clear and incisive, built by Tom and Barbara Wolf, each of the partitas is a microcosm, ranging from the poetic and pastoral (no. 1, in B flat Major), to the epic and tragic (no. 6, in e minor). Bach shows himself to be playful, profound, meditative, theatrical, virtuoso - and always the greatest composer of counterpoint of all time.

For this, their second album, ZOFO returns with exciting, high energy duet works by another group of noted 20th century composers, all American – George Gershwin, Conlon Nancarrow, Allen Shawn, Samuel Barber, John Corigliano and Paul Schoenfield. The pieces featured on Mosh Pit explore a wide range of evocative dance styles and rhythms, from Gershwin’s driving rumba in “Cuban Overture” to Barber’s sensuous “Hesitation-Tango” to Paul Schoenfield’s dizzying “Boogie” from Five Days from the Life of a Manic Depressive. Drawing inspiration from classical, modern, jazz, and rock and roll forms, the Mosh Pit repertoire and ZOFO’s inspired performances might tempt you to the dance floor.

Sono Luminus collaborates with the chamber orchestra Inscape to produce the aurally stunning Sprung Rhythm, an exciting collection of works from three composers that express new and diverse voices in American music. All of the music recorded here is for acoustic instruments -- no computers, no electronic processing -- and it is music that is long on harmonic and melodic interest ... without sounding overly neo-Romantic or derivative. The most beautiful examples are pieces by ... Joseph Hallman (b. 1979), beginning with Three Poems of Jessica Hornik, sentiment-laden songs written for the pretty, intonation-sure voice of soprano Abigail Lennox, who sings them here. Showing off Hallman's sure handling of instruments even more are the Imagined Landscapes, miniatures based on the nightmarish dreamscapes of H. P. Lovecraft that exploit all sorts of unexpected sounds.

Pianist Bruce Levingston has had a long and celebrated association with Philip Glass and his music. In 2004, the composer wrote his musical tribute to the painter Chuck Close especially for Levingston who premiered the work at New York City's Lincoln Center. The following year, Glass joined Levingston in the same venue for a series of piano duos in a concert that also featured Levingston's longtime friend and Chelsea Hotel neighbor actor Ethan Hawke.