Genre: Chamber

As leading instrumentalists of their generation, the musicians of Trio Verlaine, David Harding (viola), Lorna McGhee (flute), and Heidi Krutzen (harp), offer spellbinding interpretations, and a kaleidoscopic range of colors in their debut Ravello Records release SIX DEPARTURES, including both old and newly commissioned works.

This album features works by composer Michael Sidney Timpson that combine three different "spheres of influence:" European avant-garde, American jazz and pop, and various Asian musical traditions. These spheres "collide" with inventive friction, often fuse to "reinvent" convention, and merge to "fertilize" the mind with inspirational seeds for further hybrid creativity.

The conch shell exemplifies the versatility, sublimity, and transcendence of nature - a natural dwelling, a biological work of art, and, as shown by the City of Tomorrow, an instrument. NATURE, the debut Ravello Records release by the City of Tomorrow wind quintet - consisting of Elise Blatchford, flute; Stuart Breczinski, oboe; Camila Barrientos Ossio, clarinet; Laura Miller, bassoon; and Leander Star, horn - showcases works by four contemporary composers that explore the evolution of humanity's relationship with nature.

Ravello Records announces the second installment of its compilation series, VANGUARDS 2, presenting a deep cross-section of the label's contemporary and eclectic catalog. The album features performances by the London Symphony Orchestra, pianist Gregory Hall, the McCormick Percussion Group, mezzo-soprano Elaine Huckle, the Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Musica Viva, guitarist Alex Lubet, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and many more in works by contemporary composers including Mary Ann Joyce-Walter, Herbert Deutsch, Walter Ross, Rachel Lee Guthrie, Mark Vigil, Kim Halliday, Andrew May, Mel Mobley, Marga Richter, and others.

Presenting contemporary works that blend multiple genres, from classical and avant-garde to heavy metal and world music, the McCormick Percussion Group, hailed as "a very skilled and important contemporary percussion ensemble" by Audiophile Audition, expands the boundaries and possibilities of the percussion ensemble's repertoire on their latest Ravello Records release BETWEEN ROCK AND A HARD PLACE.

Composer Debra Kaye's debut Ravello Records release, AND SO IT BEGINS, catapults the listener into her deep universe of sound - an expedition down one New York City street and up another, through the warp and weft of interior landscapes, to Taos Mountain, on a journey through a dream, a dying, a love - as she blends her classical roots with traces of jazz, pop, world music, the pulse of city rhythms, and the expansiveness of spacious landscapes.

It is often not until the brutal weight of loss and grief bears down upon us that we are forced to ponder the meaning of life and reconsider our own path of existence. Composer Masatora Goya presents his debut Ravello Records release, DREAM OF SAILING, a collection of chamber works inspired by the life and passing of Goya’s father, Masahiro.

Inspired by the worlds of literature and nature, composer Michael Matthews, in his Ravello Records release, STRING QUARTETS, follows in the tradition of such 20th-century composers as Webern and Shostakovich, using his expressive musical language to explore existential and humanistic discourses about society, nature, and our place as individuals in the world.

As a ferocious wind storm spins up all things in its path, The Tornado Project, conceived by composers Ricardo Climent and Paul Wilson, cuts a path through the repertoire of 21st-century electroacoustic music, presenting a collection of works for flute, clarinet, and computer-generated sound that explore the chaotic beauty of this trio. With performances by two American wind virtuosi - clarinetist Esther Lamneck and flutist Elizabeth McNutt - these works showcase the skills of the musicians, their dynamic relationships with the computer, and the composers' innovative, colorful, and resourceful styles.

On his debut release on Ravello Records, SONG OF THE CENTRAL TREE, enigmatic Australian composer Ron Nagorcka presents an eclectic collection of his chamber and electroacoustic works that highlight his affinity and aptitude for creating complex and asymmetrical rhythmic patterns, utilizing just intonation, and, in a number of works, reflecting the Australian landscape. Nagorcka’s intricate cross-rhythms, use of the didjeridu and microtonal melodies reflect the influence of Australian indigenous culture, while the theory behind the rich contrapuntal and harmonic textures he achieves using microtones has roots in ancient Greece and Asia as well as medieval and renaissance Europe.

Composer Joseph Koykkar, described by American Record Guide as writing “music with a crystalline kind of clarity and rhythmic urgency that places him among the more exciting of contemporary composers,” presents his debut full-length release on Ravello Records DOUBLE TAKES AND TRIPLE PLAYS. Featuring works spanning a 20-year period in the composer’s career, this album exemplifies Koykkar’s practical approach to writing, dictated by the bounds and the interplay within chamber ensemble combinations, occasionally using computer-generated sounds.

Since the robust development of the symphonic form in the 18th century, many composers, from Haydn, Beethoven, Mahler and Stravinsky, have written within the genre, creating engaging sonic worlds in and of themselves. Inspired by Arnold Schoenberg’s two chamber symphonies, American composer Douglas Anderson presents three of his chamber symphonies on his debut release on Ravello Records, which aim to envelope the listener in a varied and multifaceted musical environment all the while exploring the genre using the necessarily limited timbral and harmonic palette of a small ensemble.

On his Ravello Records release BALANCING ACTS, composer and sound designer Russell Pinkston showcases a selection of his compositions for acoustic instruments and electronic sounds. Most of these pieces combine the two, capitalizing on the absolute precision and unlimited sonic potential of electronic media, while still taking advantage of the spontaneity and expressivity of live performance. Several works feature interactive software written by the composer, which tracks a live performer and generates an electronic accompaniment in real time.

Although Don Gillis (1912 – 1978) is most known for his Symphony No. 5½, A Symphony for Fun (1945), premiered by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1947, the American composer, conductor, and educator wrote prolifically in nearly all contemporary styles and genres, with a catalog of more than 150 works including ten symphonies and six string quartets. Near the beginning of his career, between 1938 and 1939, he composed three suites for wind quintet, which have never been recorded – until now.

From Stravinsky-esque rhythms and impressionistic harmonies to Xerox® machine-inspired gestures, Eight Strings & a Whistle – comprised of flutist Suzanne Gilchrest, violist Ina Litera, and cellist Matthew Goeke – present a diverse selection of contemporary and 20th-century works that highlight the ensemble’s blend of technical prowess and emotive interpretation on their debut Ravello Records release ALBERT’S WINDOW.

On his debut Ravello Records release IMMERSION, ABSORPTION, CONNECTION., composer Edgar Barroso presents a retrospective collection of works that explore his interest with modern science and technologies, social customs, spirituality, and more, using a variety of ensemble combinations and extended techniques for an array of textures and tonal colors.

On their seventh Ravello Records release, PLOT: MUSIC FOR UNSPECIFIED INSTRUMENTATION, the McCormick Percussion Group, directed by Robert McCormick, delivers a diverse collection of works that explore and expand the bounds of the percussion ensemble, featuring the use of improvisation, taped field recordings, and computer-generated graphical scores.

“We’re really trying to find a whole new language,” says harpist Heidi Krutzen, “and a new way of moving our instruments forward.” New languages and propulsive forward motion abound on MAXWELL, MUHLY, & COULOIR, the second Ravello Records release from the elegant, unusual duo COULOIR. Krutzen and cellist Ariel Barnes utilize their unconventional timbral combination to maximum effect in Serere by composer James B. Maxwell. Originally composed for the Canadian company Ballet Kelowna, the piece features gossamer, glacial sonorities as well as aggressive, pounding rhythmic structures, all bound together over the course of an epic sonic journey.

Delivering a diverse cross-section of dynamically rhythmic and tonally expressive chamber works, composer John K. Leupold II presents his debut release on Ravello Records, EXASPERATING PERPETUATION. Described by the Washington Post as “an imaginative exploration of instrumental timbres,” Leupold’s music seeks to enhance the tonal possibilities of the instruments through the use of tension, personification, and imagery.

Violinist Mikylah Myers and flutist Francesca Arnone perform diverse electroacoustic pieces on their first collaborative album REACT, released on Ravello Records. The works on this album demonstrate well the potential range of electroacoustic music in facilitating both experimental and traditional compositional ideas. The featured composers explore new ways of creating and organizing sound, and as performed with either computer or other interactive electronics, the violin and flute help construct unique sonic landscapes.