Catalog

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.

Mezzo-soprano Elaine Huckle has received acclaim from an early age, lauded for childhood performances of well-known liturgical works and solo recitals through adulthood. Her passion for singing developed at an early age, but was nearly derailed when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Determined to maintain her career, Huckle found an inner strength to recover—TOWARD THE LIGHT is her celebration of her recovery, and a testament to her willpower to continue a vibrant singing career. With this album—featuring performances of works by masters including Handel, Brahms, and Schubert—Huckle hopes to inspire others to press on and follow their hearts. In her own words, “This is not my story. This is everybody’s story.”

TRACER, a collection of recent chamber works by composer Richard Cornell, explores the nature of art and the collaboration that occurs naturally among artists and the interaction between creator and influence. Comprised of live recordings, this album highlights the performers' instincts to respond to one another, interpreting the music as individuals and as a group, and exploring the intricacies of the works as they are played. This release includes a visual version of Tracer, the centerpiece of the album, which serves as a computer-rendered survey of art and culture that guides and morphs the music to match the viewer's progress through time and space; as the viewer travels among an imagined world, the music responds to the imagery.

TRAVELER’S TALE was originally released in 2007 and features on-disc performances by flutist/composer Byron Petty, pianist Shuko Watanabe, clarinetist Roger Quigley, hornist Wallace Easter, guitarist Robert Trent, trumpeter Chris Magee, organist Daniel Brinson, and violinists Mark Taylor and Janice Vincent.

Whim Ensemble musically explores Dutch painter Piet Mondrian’s artistic abstractions of nature on TREES from Ravello Records. Employing the skills of prepared-piano player Ofer Pelz, percussionist Preston Beebe, and double-bassist Stéphane Diamantakiou, the ensemble combines their years of experience as composers and performers to unearth new textures and timbres for their instruments. The resulting album effuses influences of free jazz, contemporary experimental music, and more to foster a unique take on Mondrian’s creative process and influential artistic output.

On TRIUMVIRATE, composer Walter Ross' second release on Ravello Records, the concerto is showcased as a genre, illustrating that tension and opposition can create balance and richness. Throughout the three concerti, themes, timbres, rhythms, and tempos juxtapose each other, building webs of contrasting musical elements and textures. In Ross' Clarinet Concerto, the two outer movements, "Fantasia" and "Capriccio," move with the energy of dance rhythms while the middle movement, "Romanza," drifts with dreaminess and impressionistic lyricism.

First released in 2002 on Capstone Records, Phillip Schroeder’s TURNING TO THE CENTER is a subdued, atmospheric tour de force of songs written primarily for an ensemble of baritone voice, clarinet, and keyboards. Featuring texts by Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, and Rumi, the three song cycles on this release offer atmospheric and varied writing for the expected baritone, clarinet, and keyboards with occasional forays into the unexpected sound worlds of synthesizer and added percussion.

On TWILIGHT REMEMBERED (2003), musical and marital partners Robert and Kim McCormick join forces as the McCormick Duo, performing percussion and flute, respectively. The album presents a collection of contemporary compositions for these two instruments, including works from Paul Bissell, Elliot Carter, Andre Jolivet, Ralph Shapey, David Heuser, Henri Lazarof, Hilton Jones, Wesley Fuller, Howard Buss, Kent Kennan, and Daniel Adams.

TWO WORLDS CALLED HOME is inspired by composer Caleb Vaughn-Jones’s nine-year journey as an American living abroad in South Africa. In 2011, Vaughn-Jones was a gifted cellist from Baltimore who felt a calling toward the unknown. He abandoned the traditional path of an American musician building a career and instead moved to Port Elizabeth, South Africa to teach music. In this album, Vaughn-Jones employs his skill as a cellist to express the joys and sacrifices he encountered on this incredible adventure. Ava’s Lullaby, for example, was written for his daughter when pandemic restrictions kept him from returning to the United States. Lakutshon' ilanga (The Sun Never Sets), on the other hand, is an isiXhosa song written by Mackay Davashe during the Apartheid era that describes the endless search for a lost love. Joined by pianist Hsin-I Huang, Vaughn-Jones invites listeners on an unforgettable journey.

With a potent timbre and powerful volume, the saxophone is an instrument that demands respect. Nicki Roman—saxophonist with the award-winning Fuego Quartet—is deftly able to wrest control of the mighty woodwind, making the most of its range and tone. On Ravello Records’ UNQUIET WATERS, Roman takes listeners on a tour of the saxophone’s capabilities, from Leonard Bernstein’s jazzy syncopated rhythms to lyrical wedding marches, to complex works free of barlines. Each piece is different from the last, showcasing not only the breadth and potential of saxophone repertoire, but Roman’s own virtuosity and technique as a performer. Roman is accompanied by longtime collaborator and pianist Casey Dierlam Tse, another herald of new music who plays in lockstep to enrich the saxophone’s tone.

Ravello Records is pleased to announce the first installment of its compilation series, VANGUARDS VOL. 1, presenting a deep cross-section of the label's contemporary and eclectic catalog. The album features performances by the London Symphony Orchestra, pianist Kate Boyd, the McCormick Percussion Group, the New Hudson Saxophone Quartet, pianist Amy Briggs, the Grammy-nominated Strung Out Trio, and many more in works by contemporary composers such as Alan Beeler, Stefan Poetzsch, Michael Veloso, Lisa Miles, Hubert Howe, Scott Brickman, Alan Schmitz, and others.

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.

Ravello Records presents VANISHING POINT, featuring saxophonist Allen Harrington and organist Lottie Enns-Braun in an unusual instrumental pairing not often heard in classical repertoire. “The saxophone and organ are wind instruments that rarely occupy the same space at the same time,” says Enns-Braun, “and it is our contention that this seemingly incongruous combination is actually quite perfect.”

Ravello Records proudly presents VERDI’S GUITAR, an album by guitarist Alan Rinehart made up of six fantasies for solo guitar by 19th-century composer guitarist/composer Josef (Johann) Kaspar Mertz. Each fantasy is based on an opera of the great Giuseppe Verdi, including such famous works as Nabucco, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata.

Weaving together vocal musical styles of the past and present, composer and conductor Thomas Juneau, with the Juneau Vocal Alliance and Summit Chorale, present their debut Ravello Records release, VISIONS ETERNAL. Replete with transcendent performances and sweeping moments of musical euphoria, Juneau creates a stunning choral vision of eternal serenity and triumph.

Korean-born Hee Yun Kim returns with a compelling selection of works that reflect her unwavering curiosity about social justice, Eastern philosophy, and transformative change at large on VOYAGE WITHIN. This Navona Records release is first and foremost a journey into the self, and only second a musical exploration. Kim adeptly weaves her insights into profound and harmonious compositions, capturing the essence of her experiences and contemplations. The resulting music is both introspective and reflective, with a foresight and precision that’s almost scientific in nature.

WAKING THE SPARROW, the premiere recording on PARMA RECORDINGS from classical and baroque guitarist Robert Nathanson and soprano Nancy King, performing as Duo Sureño, is the result of a twenty-year long journey exploring the grandeur of the human voice blended with the vibrancy of the guitar. Interpreting the work of five notable modern composers who were, in turn, inspired by the words of poets throughout the ages, Nathanson and King deliver a stunning performance that is rich in its variety and impressive in scope.

Ravello Records is pleased to announce the release of the late composer-performer Frank A. Wallace’s album, WALLACE PLAYS WALLACE. This multi-disc compilation is a wide-ranging culling of the noted guitarist/composer’s decades of masterful classical guitar performances of his own compositions. In the wake of the artist’s passing in 2020, the album distills his prolific output down to all of Wallace’s own solo classical guitar works that he played, recorded, and released during his lifetime. Wallace’s music, known for its extraordinary breadth of color and concept, has been heralded as “beautifully played and superbly recorded” by Classical Guitar Magazine. Wallace displays his trademark blend of sophisticated virtuosity and transfixing musicality in this crowning consummation of his recorded solo works.

WHAT SHE SAW features two epic, large-scale works from composer Douglas Anderson. These gripping vocal works focus on the lives of two archetypal women: Cassandra of ancient Greece and The Woman of modern times. The first work, Cassandra Songs, tells the story of a Trojan priestess gifted with the power of prophecy but cursed to never be believed. The 11 songs that comprise this first work depict the arc of her tragic struggle. THROUGH/IN, the second major work on the album, is a one-woman chamber opera in which the modern Woman confronts herself through the looking glass. With words by Andrew Joffe, WHAT SHE SAW is a dramatic tour-de-force.

WHEN WIND COMES TO SPARSE BAMBOO was originally released in 2003. Saxophonist Demetrius Spaneas performs works by Bach, Rands, Britten, Persichetti, Debussy, Martino, Tower, and Heim with contemporary grace, providing new and varied settings to standard and contemporary works.