Matiegka: Six Sonatas, Op. 31 David Starobin, guitar. Bridge 9567 Total Time: 74:32 Recording: ****/**** Performance: ****/**** The repertoire for solo guitar is often populated by the rich heritage of Spain and Latin America where it was an essential part of bringing those rhythms and musical stylings to a broader audience, as well as from Italy. At first glance, one might assume that this new Bridge release is by some contemporary composer, but Wenzeslaus Thomas Mat

The new romantic dramedy by writer-director Allen Wolf (Harlem Grace), is an adaptation of his novel The Sound of Violet. It focuses on a developing relationship between a young man with autism and woman that he falls in love with and is determined that she is his soul mate. He is unable to realize though that she is a prostitute and this results in his family trying to disconnect the two. Conrad Pope is a familiar name for film music fans in his role as a brilliant orchest

Un Milagro de fe/A Miracle of Faith Border CrosSing/Ahmed Anzaldua Bridge Records 9568 Total Time: 59:57 Recording: ****/**** Performance: ****/**** The Minnesota-bases ensemble Border CrosSing, under its founder Ahmed Anzaldua, was formed in 2017 with a mission to bring to light the great variety of Latin American culture and choral music. For this release, they have chosen works by four contemporary composers all focusing on aspects of faith traditions. The album its

George Pal’s adaptation of the classic H.G. Well’s novel The Time Machine (1960) is one of those iconic films of its time. As a child of the late 1960s, early 1970s, this film had its own fascination with its fantastic story and colorful imagery. Mostly, it was a popular television matinee movie for me growing up and it has always been a film with these nostalgic connections for others as well. It also bears one of the more popular scores of composer Russell Garcia (1916-

I wanted to post the program notes here for my Improvs for Hope album which was released back in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. When the pandemic hit, my wife asked if it would be possible for me to create some new music that she could use as “prelude” for her streaming worship. The pieces were to be reflective in nature and the idea was they had direct permission for their use. Improvs for Hope features these piano impressions that are spur-of-the-moment improvisations

Restless Nation: The Music of Andy Teirstein Cassatt String Quartet; Marco Ambrosini, nychelharpa; Mivos String Quartet; Yair Dalal, oud. Andy Teirstein, dulcimer, harmonica. Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra/Jiri Petrdlik Navona Records 6396 Total Time: 64:00 Recording: ****/**** Performance: ****/**** Andy Teirstein is a bit of a modern Renaissance man. His music may be familiar to some from his various scores for the BBC and PBS, but he has numerous concert pieces includ

Marvel film adaptations have proven to be box office gold while the superheroes of DC Comics tend to enter the fray in a much scrappier fashion. One of their iconic characters though The Batman, has had plenty of film appearances and reboots. The latest one finds Robert Pattinson (Tenet, Twilight) assuming the cape and cowl. The current film’s run time is listed at almost three hours so it will win the award for longest superhero movie to date. The release is set for the f

Dragon’s Domain Records has kicked off the year with a new compilation of music by a neglected film music master, Ernest Gold. Like many of the artists fleeing the Anschluss, Gold was a concert composer and musician. He landed in New York City where he worked as an accompanist and wrote a variety of songs. His first symphony was performed by the NBC Orchestra in 1939, the year after he had arrived in the US. A second symphony would find its way to Carnegie Hall in 1945, b

When I was a kid grabbing each issue of Fanfare, one of the articles I skipped to first was Royal S. Brown's film music column. He did not really do an in depth review of these scores because he was mostly commenting on their recorded releases. For me, I just wanted to see who he was going to attack and if he left my favorite composers alone. As a reviewer for Film Score Monthly, it is always difficult to really decide how best to help people learn about new film scores.

The Cambridge Symphony Orchestra will be returning to the Somerville (MA) Theater stage on March 13, for an afternoon concert starting at 4:00 pm. Tickets are now available for this exciting event conducted by Music Director Cynthia Woods. It has been an honor to be a part of the ensemble for almost four years now and the last couple have had their stresses on the orchestra which powered through with a series of on-line concert programs which can be discovered on their YouTu