A new variety of downloadable releases hit streaming services this month from Navona. As usual there is a little bit of something for everyone from large orchestral tone poems, to more intimate chamber music. Four works by Richard E. Brown are included in Voices of the Night (Navona 6425) which takes its title from the opening "Nocturnal Fantasy". The work is based on a Longfellow poem and is constructed into three interconnected segments. The music here is in a Neo-Romant

We are almost to the next potential summer blockbuster season and with that will come big action hopeful blockbusters to try and entice us all into the theater. There were a few new interesting film music releases that are worth taking notice for as we get ready for the summer. Some special "limited edition" releases are worth mentioning as we begin here. Classical music fans will be quite familiar with Raymond Leppard as one of the influential conductors responsible for a

Consolations Margaret Maya Magub, violin. Hsin-I Huang, piano. CRD Records 3540 Total Time: 65:12 Recording: ****/**** Performance: ****/**** Listeners may not be quite familiar with violinist Margaret Maya Magub, but they may have seen her playing with the likes of Adele, Bono, Paul McCartney, and Sting. She has also performed as a soloist with the Mozart Chamber Players, the Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields, and at numerous chamber music festivals. For this re

Christopher Gordon: Chamber Music Magic Fire Ensemble Magic Fire Music 007 Disc One: 15 tracks – 65:57 Disc Two: 8 tracks – 56:50 Recording:****/**** Performance: ****/**** Australian composer Christopher Gordon is known for his many period film scores. Many do not get as much attention here in the states as they perhaps should. Film music fans will certainly want to track down his work on Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) at the very least, but this new release of a variety of his

Quite a number of years ago, I had the chance to hear the score for Touching the Void. This 2003 documentary/adventure film had a score from a composer I had never heard of at the time, Alex Heffes. It was an impressive effort and over the next decade it was always a delight when one of his scores made it my way to review. Now he has given everyone a chance to hear a little bit of his work in underscoring with a new digital release from Silva records. Sudden Light is a co

Vine: Complete Piano Sonatas Xiaoya Liu, piano Dynamic 7931 Total Time: 69:56 Recording: ****/**** Performance: ****/**** Australian composer Carl Vine (b. 1954) is an influential figure the country’s chamber music life but is also known for his work with the Sydney Dance Company. It was here where he served as a resident composer and further developed his craft. In 1990, his first piano sonata would be commissioned by the company. For this new Dynamic release, we ge

May is always a bit of a busy month with one semester coming to an end and then this year a 2-week intensive run through music history. It boggles the mind how quickly a 2-week session runs through music history. All the Middle Ages and Renaissance in 3 hours, a quick Baroque characteristics and Classical era overview with reviewing form in the next 3 hours! So, needless to say I was a bit tired this past week. We also had a chance to take a brief vacation so reviews and o

New Suns Variant 6 Open G Records 195269 164461 Total Time: 56:12 Recording: ****/**** Performance: ****/**** New Suns is the debut album of the vocal sextet Variant 6. The group’s focus on expanding chamber choral music tends to lead to a host of new commissions and collaborative efforts. The Philadelphia-based group’s program here consists of six works by five composers including two rewritten specifically for them. The album opens with a stunning piece by Benjamin

A couple digital only releases to bring to everyone's attention this week from the Parma family of labels. Perhaps the most fascinating is Chinoiserie: Building New Musical Bridges (Navona 6417). The album features music performed on guitar and guzheng by Duo Chinoiserie. The latter is a Chinese stringed instrument which allows for the versatility of a stringed instrument, a relative of the zither, with fixed bridges on the ends and movable ones in the center. The instrume

David Colson: Rise—Music in Times of Uncertainty Western Brass Quintet; Benjamin Kamins, bassoon., Matthew Strauss, percussion.; Clocks in Motion Percussion Capitol Quartet Navona 6416 Total Time: 68:51 Recording: ****/**** Performance: ****/**** Rise is the title of one of the four chamber works featured on this new Navona release of music by David Colson. He teaches music at Western Michigan University and also leads Birds on a Wire-a new music ensemble. Among h