Sysinternals Suite 2023 05 24

American Roots Music thrives on growing new branches from its grand traditions, and the band Mr Sun, and its individual members, have long been actively re-shaping the acoustic musical landscape. For Mr Sun’s tenth anniversary, this celebrated company of virtuoso string players has reinterpreted the legendary Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker Suite, bringing this monumental reimagining of the iconic Tchaikovsky piece into the acoustic string band world.

Following their first album for Linn (Dvorák: Legends Op. 59, Czech Suite Op. 39), the WDR Sinfonieorchester and Cristian Macelaru pursue the same folk vein with two orchestral works by Béla Bartók. Based on a rather childish tale (prince, princess, fairies, and of course a happy ending!), the music of the ballet The Wooden Prince - recorded in full here - has all the ingredients of a masterpiece: masterful scoring for large forces, use of musical themes, an effortless amalgam of folk and late-Romantic elements. Composed in 1923 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the merging of the towns of Buda and Pest - alongside commissions by Ernö Dohnányi and Zoltán Kodály - the century-old Dance Suite is a six-movement work that has become one of Bartók's best known compositions. Born in Timi?oara, a short distance from Hungaria, Macelaru can boast an unparalleled understanding of Bartók, as evident here.

Critically acclaimed pianist/composer Aaron Diehl's penchant for the past influencing the future has come full circle with his fully realised suite of Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite - the first fully-fledged professional recording of this incredible music. Solely paying tribute to Mary Lou Williams was not the goal, as Diehl's mission is to give honour and praise to one of the greatest composers of the 20th century and the forgotten rich history of Black Classical Music.

At the height of her art, the composer and jazz pianist Lorraine Desmarais offers a new work that celebrates the estuary of St. Lawrence River, connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Reminiscences of landscapes surveyed and loved, of people met and appreciated feed the movements of the music suite with pictorial accents. Requisitioning the full potential of the piano, an instrument that is at once melodic, harmonic, and percussive, Lorraine Desmarais paints a fresco with an extensive palette, sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract.