Catalog

MIND & MACHINE is the first of two electro-acoustic compilations to be released on RAVELLO RECORDS. Featuring the work of seven composers on six tracks, MIND & MACHINE explores the incredible range of works that can be categorized as electro-acoustic, a music in which styles are dictated by the technology that is at the heart of its performance. As far-ranging as are the works themselves are the composers of these pieces.

MIND & MACHINE VOL. 2 is the second electro-acoustic compilation to be released on Ravello Records. Each of the seven composers featured on MIND & MACHINE VOL. 2 offers his or her own striking exploration into the means by which technology can be used to alter time and form to create entirely new musical experiences. This diverse assortment of composers have all taken different paths to reach that goal. The sounds of nature are manipulated or integrated into pieces such as Tom Prescott’s The Singing Forest and Jennifer Bernard Merkowitz’s Les Crapauds de la Fontaine, while Joshua Tomlinson’s Convergences utilizes the natural elements of metal and wood.

Taktus Duo’s MIRRORED GLASS is all about examining similarities and differences, like reality and the image in the mirror. Creating a two-sided album, percussionists Greg Harrison and Jonny Smith take inspiration from piano composers Ann Southam and Philip Glass and filter their music through the sounds of the marimba.

MISSOURI BREAKS from composer and guitarist Stuart Weber is a musical meditation on the tension between natural history and modernity. In collaboration with the Sirius Quartet, Weber’s work is largely set in the untamed American West. Night Scribe considers the periodic appearance of Halley’s Comet and wonders where humanity might find itself when the comet next appears in the year 2062. Missouri Breaks takes its musical cues from the Missouri River as it flows through north-central Montana; the tempo is set by the river’s current, the glittering sunlight reflecting off the water inspires Weber’s guitar technique. Weber is deeply familiar with his subject matter, as he credits his upbringing in the Northern Rocky Mountains for giving him the time and space to develop as an artist.

Composer Steve Rouse constructs unique and indelible sound worlds on his album MORPHIC RESONANCE, his first release with PARMA Recordings. The album is a revue of Rouse’s chamber music from the last two decades and beyond, and the works featured on MORPHIC RESONANCE demonstrate Rouse’s powerful gifts to create compelling and idiosyncratic musical statements.

Ravello Records proudly presents MUSIC FOR GUITAR AND ELECTRONICS, an album of original works for guitar from composer Mike Frengel. The collection spans 20 years of Frengel’s creative output and features unconventional guitar tunings, instrumental preparations, and virtuosic performances.

MUSIC FOR SOLO PIANO AND VIOLIN AND PIANO was originally released in 2006 and was lauded as “an attractive release” (American Record Guide) and as having “distinctive harmonic and melodic language” (JIAWM). Featuring the complimentary performances of pianists Robert Conway, Lenore Hall, and Tomoko Deguchi and violinist William Bouton, MUSIC FOR SOLO PIANO AND VIOLIN AND PIANO highlights Laurel Firant as an expert of small ensemble and instrumental composition.

MUSIC FROM 3 CONTINENTS presents the choral works of Bruce Mahin and Graham Hair performed by Scottish Voices, harpists Jacqueline Pollauf and Helen Thompson, and clarinetist Alex South. Representing an international collaboration between artists from around the globe, the works on this album draw from various texts and inspirations, uniting to illustrate the connectedness of music and its influence. Included on MUSIC FROM 3 CONTINENTS are Bruce Mahin's Time², three settings of poems by Robert Penn Warren, unified by the nexus of "time passing," and Whitman Psalms, a piece considering the enormity of God and attempting a hypothetical conversation between man and God; and Graham Hair's O Venezia, a progressively accumulating song cycle drawing texts from Venetians and visitors, and Songs from the Turkish, a piece exploring the mysticism of Islam.

Composer Frederic D’Haene creates a remarkable musical world in MUSIC WITH SILENT AITAKE’S. When he was 25 years old, D’Haene began his life-long fascination with gagaku music, or traditional Japanese court music, that has informed his compositional style throughout his career. This study of a musical style different from that of his own culture resulted in what the composer calls “paradoxophony” or “paradoxical coexistence.”

Steven Kemper makes his debut on Ravello Records with his electroacoustic album MYTHICAL SPACES. Kemper combines acoustic instruments and electronics to create meditative compositions that explore the connections between real and imaginary worlds. Kemper writes that “myths represent traces of our collective imagination, and similarities between myths from different cultures point to a shared human experience.”

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.

World-renowned clarinetist F. Gerard Errante’s latest Ravello release NEW MUSIC FOR CLARINET … ANOTHER LOOK is a retrospective compilation of avant-garde works previously recorded by Errante in the LP era. These innovative works of the late 20th century, mostly written for or dedicated to Errante, display his wide-ranging mastery and consummate musicality in an idiom that is challenging as well as engaging and compelling.

NIGHT VOICED, the new release by San Francisco composer Mark Winges, is a collection of warm sounding and texturally rich works featuring the viola in a lush variety of solo, duo, and trio contexts. The title of the album is based on the individual composition of the same name, which is from a poem by Carolyn Forché, "a viola, night-voiced, calls into its past but nothing comes," and reflects the often nocturnal feeling of the program. Other titles such as wary-gliding, ghostly, "Melted Red, Frozen Black", and "Here (marginally buoyant)," offer a hint of the delightful vignettes and turns the music takes along the way.

Ravello Records proudly presents Escape X’s sophomore release, OUR FAVORITE THINGS. The album, which is the group’s first project with Ravello, features the music of contemporary composers and artists ranging from award-winning jazz artist Joe Locke to internationally-renowned New Zealand composer John Psathas and many others. Jazz, percussion, and pop all find a home on OUR FAVORITE THINGS.

PHANTASM is a digital release featuring the culmination of Missouri-based composer, saxophonist and audio engineer Eric Honour’s two-year project to blend all of his interests into one entity. Honour received these compositions for saxophone and computer and took them on tour, finally recording the program in studio. The resulting music explores the connections between old and new, ranging from rural folk sounds to experimental microtones and explorations of saxophone technique to physically triggered computer processing.

Composer and guitarist Jonathan Badger presents his newest album, PIANO QUARTETS, on Ravello Records. This EP of works for piano and saxophone trio is the artist’s first leap into the classical music world; his earlier albums have included an eclectic mix of musical styles ranging from post-rock to neo-baroque chamber music.

Ravello Records proudly presents the digital single PIECE BY PIECE, the PARMA debut of composer Beth Mehocic (ma•ho´•sick). Her work of the same name is scored for flute, bass clarinet, trumpet, bass trombone, violin, contrabass, and percussion and is performed by the Moravian Philharmonic Chamber Players. Piece by Piece was commissioned by the Erick Hawkins Dance Company of New York City in honor of their former director and composer-in-residence, Lucia Dlugoszewski. Dlugoszewski is known for her developments in avant-garde music technique and experimental music; thus, Mehocic includes a number of these techniques in the piece, including pitch bends, rapid glissandi, muting techniques, and extreme ranges.

Stuart Weber's PIECES OF ROAD is a heartfelt, profound homage to the spirit of the American West. At once traditional and original, the classical guitarist manages to capture the essence not only of his native Rocky Mountains, but of nature and comfort at large.

PIPING THE EARTH was originally released in 2003 and was lauded as “strong and original” (Fanfare) and “a major release” (New Music Connoisseur). Featuring perfectly interpreted performances by pianist Gayle Martin Henry, flutist Renee Siebert, and Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Prism Chamber Orchestra, PIPING THE EARTH provides listeners with an adept sampling of Judith Shatin’s orchestral prowess.

Follow composer Richard Carr as he guides you through his world-travel experiences in his Ravello Records release PLACES I’VE WALKED. The feeling of authenticity cannot be understated in these compositions, divided into four parts.