Kim Richey celebrates the 20th anniversary of her album Glimmer with, A Long Way Back: The Songs of Glimmer, featuring new recordings of the songs from Kim's classic album. Whereas Glimmer, produced by Hugh Padgham, had a pop sheen to its sound, A Long Way Back. . . strips everything down to a more raw essence. Produced by Doug Lancio, who also plays most of the instruments, A Long Way Back. . . allowed Kim to reinterpret these songs and give them a fresh, yet timeless sound. Other musicians on the album include Nielsen Hubbard and Dan Mitchell.
Acclaimed American composer Mark Abel’s sixth album for Delos extends his growing command of chamber writing while also delivering three major new vocal works. Celebrated sopranos Isabel Bayrakdarian (four times a Juno Award winner) and Hila Plitmann (a pair of Grammys and a longtime Abel collaborator) are joined by mezzo Kindra Scharich in presenting the song cycles Trois Femmes du Cinema and 1966, and debuting Two Scenes from “The Book of Esther,” a provocative excerpt from an opera in development. The album’s impressive array of instrumentalists includes pianist Carol Rosenberger (making the final recording of her epic career); fellow pianists Dominic Cheli, Sean Kennard and Jeffrey LaDeur; Alexander String Quartet violist David Samuel; Pacific Symphony concertmaster Dennis Kim and young cello star Jonah Kim.
Wild at Heart is the second album in the “Chaconne Project” series on Sono Luminus which reaches into the realm of parallel universes — connecting the past to the present, into the future. A collection of contemporary chaconnes that echo reincarnations of Bach’s iconic work, Wild at Heart is in essence a stark contrast to the first release, Heroine. All music for acoustic, solo violin, it reflects a spectrum of sounds from delicate harmonics to extended-technique driven, hardcore noise with a touch of ethnic flare – new responses to the iconic Bach Chaconne. The composers featured on this album are Yoon-Ji Lee, Elizabeth Hoffman, Annie Gosfield and John King, who each introduce a unique voice, pushing sonic expectations of the violin in unexpected ways.
Love Is is the eighth studio album by Kim Wilde, released in spring 1992. Kim Wilde found herself working with Rick Nowels on this album, the same songwriter who had written for Belinda Carlisle and later for Madonna amongst others. Three of the eleven tracks were produced by him while the remaining eight were produced by Ricky Wilde. The majority of the tracks on this album were co-written by Kim. She'd taken a long hard look at herself, resulting in the song "Who Do You Think You Are?", in which she reflects on how she had behaved through the years in her career. There were more love songs on this album; titles such as "Touched By Your Magic" and "Heart Over Mind" are an indication of the themes of the lyrics.