Catalog

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Fuego Quartet, featuring saxophonists Nicki Roman, Erik Elmgren, Harrison Clarke, and Gabriel Piqué, makes their Ravello Records debut with the innovative MIGRATION, a collection that demonstrates the versatility and complexity of the saxophone as it migrates through genre boundaries.

The breadth of musical textures and colors capable of being produced by a piano and saxophone pairing is larger than expected. Turning expectations upside-down, METROPOLIS, the debut release on Ravello Records by the Harrington/Loewen Duo, comprised of saxophonist Allen Harrington and pianist Laura Loewen, highlights the adventurous and unpredictable approach to the two instruments.

“A poet who composes,” Chinese artist Gordon Eagle presents cross-cultural sounds and styles in his music for soprano and piano. MELANCHOLY IS LIKE A PLUME OF SMOKE features a collection of five songs with music and lyrics penned by Eagle. This new Ravello Records album mingles ancient Chinese poetic traditions and Western sounds in one forward-thinking recording.

McDUO is the latest Ravello release from Robert McCormick and Kim McCormick. The Tampa-based husband-and-wife duo are the featured performance on this release, which includes compositions from James Lewis, Daniel Adams, Paul Reller, Stephen Montague, Howard Buss, Chihchun Chi-Sun Lee and Hugo Weisgall. The McCormick Duo has been featured on several recordings since forming to develop and perform repertoire in the flute/percussion and flute/marimba idioms.

MUSIC FOR KEYBOARD PERCUSSIONS is the debut Ravello release from the McCormick Percussion Group, and explores the musical potential of keyboard-based percussion instruments. This album features the works of Chihchun Chi-Sun Lee, Sven David, Sandstrom, Edward Jay Miller, Daniel Adams, Stuart Saunders Smith, and Michael Sidney Timpson.

“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.

On MARIMBA CONCERTI WITH PERCUSSION ORCHESTRA (2006), Robert McCormick conducts his McCormick Percussion Group – an ensemble comprised of 20 marimbists and accompanied by guest pianist Corey Holt Merenda throughout. Guest conductor Cayenna Rosa Ponchione appears on her composition The Creation, the album’s concluding track.

MANY NEW TRAILS TO BLAZE showcases three musicians in an intellectually driven, globally inspired set of compositions. Each work, from the genre-crossing Sonata for Three to the tonal balancing act in Flying Over Water, presses boundaries, and the three instruments work together to draw every ounce of potentiality from the notes. Notable trumpet and cornet player James Zingara has performed around the globe and his album of trumpet recordings, Textures, is already a key member of the Ravello Records catalog. With his colleagues, pianist Chris Steele and clarinetist Denise Gainey, Zingara performs a collection of works that show off the virtuosity of each musician alongside intricate compositions.

Ravello Records welcomes Michael Wittgraf to its family of artists. Wittgraf is releasing his debut album MANIFOLD, an expansive effort with numerous layers hidden in the composition. Choosing texture over melody, the visceral compositions of MANIFOLD draw the listener in to the arresting music, and sound as if it would take lifetimes to unpack the complex layers building to Wittgraf’s stellar debut.

On LO & BEHOLD, percussionist Ralph Sorrentino brings percussion instruments to the fore to highlight their versatility in solo and chamber music settings. Five pieces, from a variety of composers, highlight the moods, emotions, timbres, and textures that can be expressed by the instruments of the percussion family. The revelatory album introduces innovative compositions into the percussion repertoire, and the performers’ technical prowess yields a collection of engaging and musically sensitive performances.

Ravello Records and The Sonic Arts Ensemble present LIVE FROM THE MULTIVERSE, an album leveraging the possibilities of online performance and expanding the boundaries of contemporary music. Musicians from three different continents connect through the internet on low latency, high quality audio networks to perform repertoire ranging from composed, notated scores to freely structured pieces born from masterfully executed ensemble improvisation. With the utilization of extended techniques, singing bowls, and imaginative sound design, the ensemble develops and thrives in an enticing and innovative soundscape.