Catalog #: RR7840
Release Date: June 26, 2012
21st CenturyChamberOrchestralOrchestraString OrchestraViolinESSAYS AND SKETCHES is an album unreleased works of American composer and longtime Sam Houston State University faculty member Newton D. Strandberg. Featuring performances by orchestras and ensembles from around the globe, the four pieces on this recording—Essay for String Orchestra, Amenhotep III, String Trio, and Acts for Orchestra—serve as an astute collection of Standberg's output as a composer. More than a musical release alone, ESSAYS AND SKETCHES serves as a retrospective of Strandberg's prolific career, housing a collection of writings, visual art, scores, and more, all compiled by Strandberg's peers, students, and admirers from SHSU.
Catalog #: RR7845
Release Date: July 1, 2012
21st CenturyOrchestralVocal MusicChoirOrchestraCANTATA FOR THE CHILDREN OF TEREZIN, Mary Ann Joyce-Walter's debut release on Ravello Records, features two of her works for orchestra: Cantata for the Children of Terezin, featuring the Kiev Chamber Singers and soprano Oxnaya Oleskaya, and Acaldama. Using poems written by children incarcerated at the Terezin concentration camp during the second world war, Joyce-Walter composed the Cantata in order to evoke a universal compassion and empathy for the most innocent and vulnerable among us.
Catalog #: RR7847
Release Date: August 28, 2012
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalFlutePianoViolaWith THE PALEST ROSE, a collection of works for solo piano, chamber ensemble, chorus, and orchestra, Oregon-based composer Mark Vigil strives to appeal to the listener's heart, urging them to hear the music based on its beauty alone. This release serves as a retrospective of Vigil's varied works for a variety of configurations, and serves as an astute sampling of his compositional output as a whole.
Catalog #: RR7849
Release Date: August 7, 2012
21st CenturyChamberElectronicFlutePianoBruce Mahin’s TIME CHANTS was originally released in 1995, and was lauded as “a well-constructed essay” by Twentieth Century Music.
Catalog #: RR7841
Release Date: September 4, 2012
21st CenturyAvant-GardeElectroacousticElectronicVoiceTHE MCLEAN MIX: RAINFOREST IMAGES was originally released in 1993 was lauded as "awesome" (ClassicalNet) and "one of the more convincing Fast-West syntheses since Philip Glass's music for Kundun" (Twentieth Century Music).
Catalog #: RR7854
Release Date: September 25, 2012
21st CenturyConcertosOrchestralGuitarString OrchestraWind EnsembleTHROUGH THE REEDS is a collection of woodwind concerti from American composer Walter Ross. Ross, a lifelong musician and composer, has historically worked most closely with instruments in the woodwind family; the four concerti on this album, all of which feature a woodwind solo, highlight his preference for the family and his keen ability to compose works for oboe, bassoon, and flute.
Catalog #: RR7855
Release Date: September 4, 2012
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoPhillip Schroeder's MUSIC FOR PIANO was originally released in 2004, and was lauded as "resonant music played with exceptional grace" (New Classics) and "viscerally relaxing" (NewMusicBox).
Catalog #: RR7856
Release Date: September 4, 2012
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicElectronicPianoVoicePhillip Schroeder's SONGS OF MY AFFINITIES was originally released in 2003, and was lauded as "gems of the American repertoire" (New Music Connoisseur) and "striking and beautiful" (Sequenza21).
Catalog #: RR7858
Release Date: September 4, 2012
21st CenturyAvant-GardeElectroacousticElectronicSaxophoneTHE ELECTRIC PERFORMER was originally released in 1997 was lauded as "awesome" "at times Cageian and Crumbian" (ClassicalNet).
Catalog #: RR7859
Release Date: September 4, 2012
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicPianoVoiceFANTASIES FOR ADULTS AND OTHER CHILDREN was originally released in 1999 was lauded as "awesome" and "at times Cageian and Crumbian" (ClassicalNet).
Catalog #: RR7860
Release Date: September 4, 2012
21st CenturyAvant-GardeVocal MusicElectronicPercussionVoiceGODS, DEMONS, AND THE EARTH was originally released in 1995 was lauded as "awesome" (ClassicalNet) and "surreal" (Twentieth Century Music).
Catalog #: RR7846
Release Date: October 30, 2012
21st CenturyAvant-GardeElectroacousticElectronicVoiceFROM MOOG TO MAC is a collection of Deutsch's compositions for and performances on the Moog synthesizer spanning the last 30 years, from works written using the original "portable electronic music studio" to those written on the modern variations. This historic release features developmental tracks tracking the genesis and improvements on the synthesizers, in which Deutsch frequently pushes the boundaries of both musical content and technological innovation.
Catalog #: RR7861
Release Date: October 30, 2012
21st CenturyAvant-GardeElectroacousticFlutePianoThe works of Andrew May nearly defy classification, seamlessly blending the personal expressiveness of traditional classical performance with the alien landscape of ambient computer music. On IMAGINARY FRIENDS, his debut release, May invites the listener to experience the drama of people and machines making intimate chamber music together, blurring the lines between human and inhuman, and traditional and experimental.
Catalog #: RR7862
Release Date: November 13, 2012
21st CenturyConcertosPercussionPianoCONCERTO FOR PIANO WITH PERCUSSION ORCHESTRA is the fifth Ravello release from the acclaimed McCormick Percussion Group. Living up to their reputation as vanguards of percussion repertoire, the Group uses this album to explore the possibilities of collaboration between piano and percussion wherein neither steals the spotlight. Along with Ji Hyun Kim ("a masterful pianist" - Piano Magazine), the McCormick Percussion Group performs the works of Igor Santos, Mel Mobley, David Gillingham, and David Noon with precision, emotion, and purpose.
Catalog #: RR7863
Release Date: November 13, 2012
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicClarinetString QuartetVoiceCASINO UMBRO is the debut Ravello release from Israeli composer Amos Elkana, bringing listeners into a sonic world comprised of thoughtful, expressive, and emotional works for chamber ensemble, voice, and orchestra. Ranging from the dreamy, jazz-like Casino Umbro to the linguistic and tumultuous Arabic Lessons to the imaginative and fanfaric Tru'a, CASINO UMBRO conveys the essence of humanity and international relations through communicative and sophisticated musical expression.
Catalog #: RR7865
Release Date: January 29, 2013
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalGuitarLifelong guitarist Alex Lubet has created a unique niche, combining his instrumental experience with his traditional studies of composition. On SPECTRAL BLUES, a full album of his works for steel-string acoustic guitar, Lubet combines the characteristics of blues and Eastern styles with classical methods of composition to create remarkably unique pieces that push the boundaries of the instrument. Combining natural harmonies with single-string multiphonics and dyads, Doppler bends, and more, Lubet presents multi-layered guitar music with an edge.
Catalog #: RR7873
Release Date: January 29, 2013
21st CenturyOperaStage WorksChoirElectronicVoiceTHE ETERNAL TAO, a one-act multimedia opera for voices instruments, video, electronics, dancers, and lighting presents the text of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching translated and re-imagined in the context of modern society. Through this opera, which has parallels with traditional opera, but differs from singer-oriented opera in the sense that the vocalists are a part of the ensemble as a whole, composer, director, and choreographer Kyong Mee Choi seeks to have viewers experience a shared moment of seeing ourselves with open eyes and understand our purpose in the world.
Catalog #: RR7872
Release Date: February 26, 2013
21st CenturyVocal MusicViolinVoiceLEANING TOWARD THE FIDDLER is a recording of original works by Seattle-based violinist and singer Hope Wechkin, which also includes her inventive arrangements of traditional Balkan folk songs. Wechkin's virtuosic and innovative pairing of voice and violin, which she performs simultaneously, fuses folk, classical, and world music into a blend of genres that emerges "full-bore, all-out, utterly unselfconsciously" (Seattle Times). The works on LEANING TOWARD THE FIDDLER range from themes of passionate longing to humorous musical feuds between lovers, highlighting Wechkin's ability to perform in a wide breadth of styles with great ease and skill.
Catalog #: RR7867
Release Date: February 13, 2013
21st CenturyOrchestralOrchestraComposed with integrity, mystery, and ambition, the orchestral works of Marga Richter thrive on the emotional and the visceral, conjuring vast and majestic imagery with poetic and dramatic underpinnings. POETIC IMAGES BEYOND POETRY includes three of Richter's works for orchestra, each of which present a tonal and moving representation of their various influences: Out of Shadows and Solitude, inspired by the flight of a condor over clouded mountaintops; Quantum Quirks of a Quick Quaint Quark, based on Richter's early dance music and boogie-woogie; and Spectral Chimes: Enshrouded Hills, permeated with imagery from Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
Catalog #: RR7869
Release Date: February 26, 2013
21st CenturyChamberClarinetPercussionString OrchestraTRACER, 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.