Stephen Dankert

For many, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the sound of carols sung from King’s College Chapel, and each year over the festive period millions around the world enjoy the Choir’s A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols. This two-part collection celebrates 100 years of the iconic service with a mix of brand-new performances and historical recordings not heard since the original BBC broadcasts.

As a world-renowned piano virtuoso, Stephen Hough has demonstrated time and again his prodigious skills in brilliant performances of the great concertos, though as a recording artist, he has revealed a wider range of repertoire and unexpected interests. This Hyperion release of Edvard Grieg's Lyric Pieces is an example of how Hough sometimes ventures into quiet, less familiar byways that offer him a variety of expressive possibilities. These miniatures are far removed from blockbuster showpieces, and their picturesque scenes and delicate melodies suggest the careful handiwork of the craftsman. They also reflect Grieg's nostalgia for the Romantic past and love for Norwegian fairy tales and folkways, which he expressed with disarming simplicity and succinctness. Hough's program of 27 selections from the larger collection of 66 pieces, published in 10 books, extends from the early Arietta of 1867 to Remembrances of 1901, giving a generous representation of Grieg's intimate musings and evocative character studies.

A sprawling masterpiece, akin to the Beatles' White Album, the Stones' Exile on Main St., or Wilco's Being There in its makeup, if not its sound. Rock, folk, blues, country, Latin, and bluegrass have all been styles touched on in Stephen Stills' career, and the skilled, energetic musicians he had gathered in Manassas played them all on this album. What could have been a disorganized mess in other hands, though, here all gelled together and formed a cohesive musical statement.

Fourteen years after his last solo outing, STILLS ALONE, Stephen Stills unveiled 2005's MAN ALIVE!, a remarkably vital and dynamic album that features the veteran performer penning almost every song and playing many of the record's instruments. Although David Crosby is absent, Stills's other CSNY mates, Graham Nash and Neil Young, turn up separately. While Nash subtly sticks to backing-vocal duty, Young contributes his typically incendiary electric-guitar lines to the hard-rocking "'Round the Bend" and offers up vocal harmonies and acoustic-guitar work on the spare, soulful "Different Man." A more unlikely cameo comes in the form of pianist Herbie Hancock's prominent presence on the 11-minute epic "Spanish Suite," which also features Latin percussion great Willie Bobo. Of course, Stills is the main attraction on MAN ALIVE!, with his husky voice carrying every song, including the socially conscious CSN-like track "Feed the People" and the blues-tinged "Piece of Me".

Grainger’s mastery of choral textures shines out of this wide-ranging collection of folk-song arrangements, each highly individual and memorable. Plus his friend Grieg’s finely scored religious settings. Superior performances by Stephen Layton and Polyphony.

During his lifetime Enrique Granados was highly valued above all for the poetry of his piano playing – and his compositions also breathe the same poetic spirit. Stephen Marchionda honors the composer on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth with a highly personal selection from these works. His own arrangements for the guitar create an illuminating link to Granados’ roots in Spanish folklore.

This release brings together ALL of Morton Feldman’s compositions for cello and piano, including unpublished works and a first recording.