Classical Music Discoveries

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10 Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25 Dominique Beaulieu, conductor CMD Philharmonic of Paris in Orleans

SEI SOLO Bach’s Six Sonatas & Partitas for Violin Alone Thomas Bowes, violin Thomas Bowes' SEI SOLO shines the spotlight on the sonatas and partitas for solo violin composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1720. Bowes believes that these six stand-alone compositions, while each individually offering insight into Bach's genius reveal more when taken as one epic work - and especially when set against the tragedy in Bach’s life in the year of composition. The three discs in Bowes’ album contain a total of six tracks. Each disc starts with a sonata and concludes with a partita, moving through different keys. The sonatas showcase a larger, more abstract expression, while movements in the partitas are more focused on elements of the dance. Bowes views these six compositions as a vehicle for exploration into the existential, taking his cue from Bach’s cryptic title ‘sei solo’, which reads ‘you are alone’, punning on the Italian for ‘6’ and ‘you are’. Though the performer flies solo on all of the tracks, he reaches well beyond the limitations of just one instrument. The focus and attention the violinist brings to all six tracks draws the listener into a meditative state of mind. It’s almost as if Bowes is performing solely for each individual listener, providing an intimate experience that demands attention yet allows room for contemplation.

Die ägyptische Helena (The Egyptian Helen), Op. 75, is an opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on 6 June 1928. Strauss had written the title role with Maria Jeritza in mind but, creating quite a sensation at the time, the Dresden opera management refused to pay Jeritza's large fee and cast Elisabeth Rethberg instead as Helen of Troy. Jeritza eventually created the part in Vienna and New York City. As inspiration for the story, Hofmannsthal used sources from Euripides and Stesichorus. Strauss made changes to the opera in 1933, five years after the premiere, working with the director Lothar Wallenstein and the conductor Clemens Krauss. Joana Filipe Martinez - conductor/producer CMD Grand Opera Company of Barcelona Spain Download now at: http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p632/R_Strauss%3A_The_Egyptian_Helena_%28digital_download%29.html

CYBERISTAN: The Electro-Acoustic Music of Ken Walicki Dr. Ken Walicki is an American composer and director of the Composition Program at California State University, Fullerton. He is widely recognized and acknowledged for his dramatic and engaging music, often using innovative instrumentation. Walicki was one of the first composers to use turntables in his music. Walicki conveys the effects of globalization and increasing dependency on technology with CYBERISTAN, a Ravello Records release. Each piece contains its own environment and its own space. The natural acoustic sounds juxtaposed against man-made sounds of electronic instrumentation supports a dichotomy of two worlds vying for supremacy but inevitably merging into one homogenous identity. The compositions invoke many aspects of such a state, such as the spacious elegance of Black Water and the eponymous Cyberistan, the airy and hopeful Sabah, the verbose call and response of the bass and electronics in Light and a more primal piece, nada Brahma, commissioned and composed for the Kronos Quartet. Walicki brilliantly captures the awe of the exotic and contrasts it elegantly with the foreboding nature of modernity. In its entirety, CYBERISTAN is a snapshot of a world that is slowly succumbing to an indifferent sameness through a more connected, yet dehumanized world.

AND THAT MOMENT WHEN THE BIRD SINGS Simon Andrews Simon Andrews has earned a reputation as a creator of eloquent concert music that blends harmonic complexity and lyricism, introversion and broad gestures, and delicate timbres and bold statements. Here, on his recording debut, AND THE MOMENT WHEN THE BIRD SINGS, he offers up 10 compositions performed in a variety of configurations, from duos to trios and quintets, all of which emphasize his proficiency in both vocal and instrumental music. The opening track, Violin Dialogues I and II, presents violin and piano in conversation. The first Dialogue contrasts two sets of ideas, each instrument’s individual voice rising and falling until the two come together in a hard-won consensus. If Dialogue I is oppositional, Dialogue II is conversational, its narrative more about two characters who agree on the destination and differ only on the best way to reach it. The album’s title track, borrowed from the poem “Song” by Seamus Heaney is by turns lyrical and passionate, intimate and robust, as the five performers’ instruments weave their way through various combinings. The four movements of For the earth is hollow and I have touched the sky, performed by The Newstead Trio, is a musical response to a concert which the composer attended at the American Composers Orchestra of music by Frank Zappa. An even more pop-cultural reference is the composition’s title track and fourth movement, which is a musical representation of a quote from an episode of Star Trek, originally “…for the world is hollow and I have touched the sky.” The album’s first track to feature solo voice is My dove, my covey, an early lyrical poem by W.H. Auden, performed by a trio of oboe, violoncello and piano (played by Andrews,) After an extended violoncello solo, the piano presents a continuous stream of notes, giving the feeling of suspended time over which soprano Celeste Godin’s voice floats. In similar fashion, The heart has narrow banks, a beautiful poem written by Emily Dickenson, was chosen by the composer because it allowed him to create a more flexible harmonic language that could express lyrics such as “blue monotony” and “a wall of unattempted gauze” while keeping a consistent musical thread throughout. Inspired by a visit to New Mexico, Abiquiu Trio, performed the Trio Clavino, displays the impact of the desert landscape and the work of Georgia O’Keeffe on Andrews. The language of all three movements, which is not “programme music” in the strict sense of the term, is a response to different facets of those two influences. The music of the piece’s final movement, begun during a short stay at Christ in the Desert, a living monastery where church services are intoned to Gregorian chants, is a strong reminder that in addition to his more secular work, Andrews is also noted for his compositions of church music. Simon Andrews is an English composer who has lived and worked in the US for more than three decades. A winner of the 1985 Benjamin Britten Prize, Andrews’ music has been commissioned and performed to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. His multi-faceted career as a composer, conductor and teacher led him to undertake his own edition-completion of the Mozart Requiem, which has also been incredibly well-received. Andrews has also composed music for two documentaries, The Amish and Us and Saving Pennsylvania, for PBS.

On PARTS TO PLAY, critically acclaimed violinist Moonkyung Lee turns from the symphonic environment of the critically lauded label debut, TCHAIKOVSKY, on which she performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, to a more intimate setting, with only pianist Martha Locker as her partner on a selection of works that include both stunning solo performances and intricate yet simple duets. Choosing to include Prokofiev’s “Sonata for Solo Violin” amid compositions from six contemporary composers who collectively represent three decades of works is indicative of Lee’s ability to tease out the subtle nuances of every piece she performs. The three-movement suite moves from the simplicity of Moderato’s Classical sonata format through the more lyrically, introverted Andante Dolce to the clever finale, Con Brio. Similarly, her transit through Benjamin Ellin’s composition for solo violin, “Three States at Play,” is a nuanced journey through three movements, in which the more serene second movement is bookended by two outer movements that are quite rhythmically active. When performing duets with Locker, such as on Rain Worthington’s “Jilted Tango,” Lee’s violin seamlessly integrates with the piano to create an atmosphere both spirited and poignant, capturing the “push and pull in a dance of love” implied by its title. Another sort of dance entirely is captured on the duo’s performance of the vibrant and upbeat “Grand Tartanella.” Moonkyung Lee’s career includes numerous accolades, awards and scholarships including the Yale Chamber Music Celebration, and an NYU/Steinhardt Doctoral Fellowship for Doctoral Studies, of which she was the first ever classical string performer recipient. Her extensive array of performances, both in Europe in the US, include collaborations with many eminent ensembles, conductors and performers. Among the venues at which she has performed are Lincoln Center. the Berlin Konzerthaus, Dvorak and Smetana Halls in Prague, and the Seoul Arts Center Recital Hall. Her PARMA label debut, TCHAIKOVSKY WORKS FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA, won the silver medal at the 2017 Global Music Awards and was chosen by Spotify for their Classical New Releases playlist. Pianist Martha Locker performs as both a soloist and chamber musician in both the United States and abroad. As a soloist she has performed with the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra and the New Juilliard Ensemble; as a chamber musician and performer of contemporary music she performs throughout New York at such venues as Symphony Space and New York University. She has been a fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center and has been a guest artist at the Kyoto International Music Festival and the New York University Summer String Seminar, among many others.

OF TIME & PLACE Monica Houghton Composer Monica Houghton has a musical and academic resume that is made even more exceptional by her experiences as a true citizen of the world. Her travels around the globe have led her to incorporate non-Western instruments and musical practices into several of her compositions as well as to find inspiration trekking through Peru, or by exploring the remote and desolate areas of the American West. On CHAMBER WORKS, her debut on Navona Records, Houghton incorporates these influences along with many others to deliver eight stunning performances showcased in a variety of musical configurations. CHAMBER WORKS opens with “Andean Suite,” a four-movement piece, that gleans its inspiration from Houghton’s journey on foot through the mountains of Peru. The sense of freedom exhibited by the opening movement, “With the Condors,” is buoyed by the closing movement, “Dance,” which employs folk music idioms of the Andes to express pure joy. “The Twelve Causes from the Circle of Becoming” reflects the essence of Tibetan Buddhist Wheel of Life paintings. In the spirit of those paintings pianist James Winn delivers an intricate and powerful performance. The Argenta Trio brings the three movements of “Wilderness Portraits: Three Places in Nevada,” capturing Houghton’s quiet sense of awe at the beauty of the natural world. Three of the album’s pieces, “Three Songs without Words,” and “Stay Shadow,” and “Corpo Sonoro,” gather inspiration from poets as disparate in place and time as New Spain’s Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, who worked in the mid-17th century and the Tang Dynasty poet Tu Fu. The four poetic pieces in “Corpo Sonoro” are here performed by pianist Halida Danova, for whom it was composed, and are based on poems by the Brazilian poet Maria Davico. Turning her creative gaze on Beethoven, Houghton composed “Epigram,” performed by the Cleveland Chamber Collective, in response to his last quartet. The album concludes with the floating, mysterious “Sky Signs” which is, the composer says, a fantasy inspired by the fluctuating changes so common in the natural world. With multiple awards testifying to her abilities as a composer, her works for large ensembles have been performed by an impressive array of orchestras, including the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. Among the distinguished ensembles who have commissioned, performed or recorded her chamber works are the Cleveland Chamber Collective, Cleveland Duo and James Umble, the Argenta Trio, and Panoramicos, all of which are featured on this album. Her works have been performed at festivals internationally, including the Virginia Arts Festival and Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, and presented in collaboration with the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society and the Nevada Museum of Art, among many others. In addition to her concert music, Houghton is the composer and co-librettist of an opera, The Big Bonanza, which won the New Music New England Concert Award from the Boston Metro Opera in 2010 and was premiered in a fully staged production with orchestra by Nevada Chamber Opera in April 2016.

REASON & REVERENCE Christopher Keyes Diego Vega Ferdinando De Sena Willem van Twillert Andrew Schultz REASON AND REVERANCE represents an aural exploration of our world’s complexities. By comparing and contrasting present triumphs with past regrets, the composers on this album develop a compelling, philosophical reflection of the world we live in. Conducted by Petr Vronský, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra delivers a master class in cohesiveness while tackling a wildly diverse, yet wholly complete set of compositions. The album starts strong with Christopher Keyes’ An Inescapable Entanglement. Keyes binds minimalist elements with late 16th and early 17th century forms of concerto to create a controlled chaos of instruments and voices playing distinct parts simultaneously. In his intent to create an antiphonal sound, Keyes employs eight loudspeakers to project the music achieving a thickened, full texture. Red Rock is a symphonic poem commissioned by the Henderson Symphony and its music director, Taras Krysa, which premiered in the Fall of 2013. The music is based on the interaction of two musical materials, the first, calm and diatonic, presented by the French horns after the introduction and elaborated by the trumpets and the woodwinds; and the second, more angular and chromatic, also introduced by a solo French horn in the second section. Similar to a sonata form, these materials go through transformations and developments in the middle section, and return evolved and reconciled at the end of the movement. The piece suggests a gliding trip over the stunning landscape of the Red Rock canyon, with its sharp geological contrasts, its ever changing shapes, and its surprising colors. Fernidnando De Sena’s Deciphered Reverence explores the idea of divine presence and creates an interpretation through the consistent, triumphant swelling of the orchestra. De Sena’s piece captures the many moods, modes, and colors in the music to translate his vision of life and celebrate its ambiguity and omnipresence. Composed by Willem Van Twillert, multiple styles set the foundation for Branches of Singularity. Multiple developments transitions from one style to another -- from medieval, baroque, and renaissance, to romance, film and church music – create an enticing and evoloving piece. Andrew Schultz’ Symphony No. 2 – Ghosts of Reason ties the whole album together. Slowing the pace of the otherwise energetic album, Schultz’s composition paints a haunting atmosphere by drawing out the wistful bleakness of its wandering melodies. REASON AND REVERENCE wouldn’t feel complete without this track carrying a reminder that appreciating our phenomenal world comes with both the triumphs of the present and the hauntings of the past.

This broadcast is now available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/76hzbHXCoPI

HIPSTER ZOMBIES FROM MARS PIANO MUSIC FOR A POST-IRONIC AGE Nicholas Vines, composer Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, piano Nicholas Vines presents HIPSTER ZOMBIES FROM MARS, his third PARMA Recordings album. This collection of three major piano works by Dr. Vines was recorded on location at Cornell University with artist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough at the piano. For all of the flash one might expect from the album title, Vines bypasses gimmickry in order to capture something sophisticated. Standouts include the four-movement Terraformation for pianoforte, inspired by Kim Stanley Robinson’s science-fiction novel “Red Mars.” Vines depicts the technology’s influence on nature by lifting traditional classical forms and acclimating them to a modernist viewpoint. McCullough captivates the listener with his careful attention to the futuristic timeline into which Vines’ tone clusters have been poetically mapped. Indie Ditties: Twelve Scapes for Piano is a social commentary on the modern hipster movement. The multi-genre piano melodies are thoughtfully constructed, telling a story that is both interesting and musically complex. Concentrating carefully, a keen listener will hear familiar incidental phrases in the most unexpected of places (hint: Movement III, Bad Appletude is not about produce). Vines describes his compositional technique as “ firmly rooted in the technical resources of the Western classical canon, while embracing sounds and ideas from an array of popular, experimental, Australian and non-Western traditions. This combination of rigour and pluralism gives rise to music at once vectored and kaleidoscopic.” Popular media outlets have called the work of Dr. Nicholas Vines “exquisite,” “riveting,” “arresting,” “edgy, bright and entertaining as hell.” HIPSTER ZOMBIES FROM MARS does not fail to deliver on these accolades.

REFLETS Eliane Rodrigues "In each of the Nocturnes, she plunges into their collective heart traversing their boundless emotional range with an aristocratic imperiousness that sets her interpretations apart from almost anyone else’s." -Raul de Gama, World Music Report (NOTTURNO) With two critically-lauded releases on Navona Records (NOTTURNO, performing works by Chopin, and a four-CD box set, BEETHOVEN – 8 CONCERTI) pianist Eliane Rodrigues returns with REFLETS showcasing the pianist’s nuanced and thoughtful performances of fifteen works by Claude Debussy. While it might seem that child prodigies are commonplace in the world of classical music, only a few truly make a lasting impact, one that lives on long after those prodigies have passed well into their adulthoods. Mozart began to play piano at the age of three, Beethoven did so at seven and a half, and Georges Bizet did so before his tenth birthday. Pianist Eliane Rodrigues, who began composing at three, played her first recital at five and first performed with an orchestra when she was just six years of age, can certainly be counted among those prodigious musicians, as evidenced on her latest recording, REFLETS. The album opens with “Suite Bergamasque,” one of Debussy’s most well-known piano suites. The dynamic contrasts in the moods of the suite’s four pieces are well suited to Rodrigues’ sensitive and vivid style. Debussy is credited as one of the ‘founders’ of Impressionist music, distinguished by its focus on suggestions and atmosphere, a world that Rodrigues also inhabits here, as evidenced by her cascading and powerfully textured performance of Debussy’s “Ballade.” “Pour le Piano,” certainly one of the composer’s most moving works for solo piano, features rapid, brilliant passages that fully emphasize the pianist’s virtuosity. That impressionistic ability to invoke a mood or a feeling carries on with “First Arabesque in E Major,” one of a pair composed early in Debussy’s career. “Images,” comprised of two ‘books’ of three pieces each, ranging from the subdued “Homage à Rameau” to the energy of “Mouvement,” marked by the torrent of notes in its finale. Eliane Rodrigues was born in Rio de Janiero, where the performances that she gave in her childhood bore fruit when she was awarded the Gina Bachauer prize at the Van Cliburn Competition in the United States at only 18 years of age. She has gone on to perform internationally, as well as to hold the position of professor at the Royal Conservatoire in Antwerp. She has also recorded more than 25 CDs, recorded both live and in the studio; REFLETS on which Rodrigues plays a Fazioli Concert Grand F728, was recorded in Belgium at Academy One Studios.

Continuing in the series of Cuban recorded Ansonica Records projects comes CORO DEL MUNDO – choir of the world. With tracks ranging from sacred to secular, and from delicate to aggressive, the surprising cohesiveness of the composers’ work is astonishingly beautiful and impassioned. Schola Cantorum Coralina and Vocal Luna contribute exquisite vocals to the proceedings. L Peter Deutsch’s Dance to the Revolution, takes inspiration from the writing of Emma Goldman. Goldman was one of the seminal writers and activists in the development of early-20th-century anarchist thought. The composer explains, “what drew me to her writing was her inclusion of interpersonal relationships, not only political or economic ones, in the vision of ideal society.” Deutch’s Where Everything is Music transports the listener to Havana. Deutsch notes: “The lyrics for "Where Everything is Music" are excerpted from a poem by Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet and mystic, in the classic and well-loved translation by Coleman Barks. As with much of Rumi's writing, the text asks us to recognize the greater reality of the spiritual compared with the physical world. I intend this piece, like some of my other work for voice and a single instrument, to be more of a dialogue between the chorus and the instrument than for "accompanied chorus." Schola Cantorum Coralina is featured on Canto del Bongó, Qué Rico É, and Gozando En La Habana. Conrado Monier’s Gozando En La Habana received mention in the Choral Music Contest sponsored by the Cuban Agency of Musical Copyright (ACDAM) and the Cuban Music Institute. Monier’s second composition on CORO DEL MUNDO, Gozando En La Habana (Enjoying Havana), is an a capella tour de force effortlessly conjuring up the sights and sounds of the City of Columns. Cuban composer and conductor Guido López-Gavilán’s Qué Rico É! is a shimmering choral mambo that leaves the listener breathless with the incomparable speed and precision of Schola Cantorum Coralina. Vocal Luna’s contribution to CORO DEL MUNDO is profound. On Cemento Ladrillo Y Arena, Murmullo, and Silencio their voices range from brassy brilliance to delicate, angelic whispers. Nowhere is this more apparent than their performance of Cynthia Folio’s four-part piece At the Edge of Great Quiet. The emotion they bring to each movement sits right at the surface of this elegiac composition. J.A. Kawarsky’s Sacred Rights, Sacred Song also shines with Vocal Luna’s participation. Sacred Rights, Sacred Song, a multi-movement piece, envisions Israel as a healthy Jewish democracy in which the spiritual civil rights of all Jews are protected; Judaism is expressed and celebrated freely and equally by men and women and in its myriad forms of observance; and matters of personal status and spirit are governed by a public Jewish Law that welcomes vibrancy and creativity. Michael Murray’s El Lunar (The Mole), based on a poem by Juan Clemente Zenea, depicts the adoration of a beautiful woman. Caminando (Walking), based Nicolás Guillén’s poem focuses on the extreme poverty and scarcity faced by many Cubans in the 1930’s. The extraordinary desperation and bleakness Guillén depicts is emphasized by the implication of cannibalism toward the end of the piece. Both of Murray’s pieces are lush with solemn, hypnotic tone. Meira Warshauer’s We Are Dreamers is an adaptation of the Jewish psalm Shir Hamalot (A Song of Ascents). In ancient times, the Shir Hamalot was sung as Jews walked into Jerusalem for festival holidays. Today it is most commonly chanted as part of the Birkat Hamazon (Grace After Meals) on Shabbat. Schola Cantorum Coralina takes this ancient psalm and, with Warshauer’s expansive, dreamlike arrangement, creates a wonderous, at times trance-like atmosphere. With its blend of religious and cultural influences, CORO DEL MUNDO is proof that different faiths and beliefs can sit together comfortably at the same musical table.

FANCY COLORS David Taddie David Taddie’s new album FANCY COLORS blurs the spectrum between acoustic and electronic music into an unorthodox wave of sound. In contrast to the primary characteristics of each type of music, Taddie creates sophisticated, complex compositions by blending the sounds of string and woodwind instruments with the influence of computer-generated effects. Written and recorded over two decades, FANCY COLORS is the result of Taddie’s exploration of timbre and space using the electronic medium. The eight tracks on the album expand the boundaries of the otherwise conventional sounds of instruments like the flute and piano to a grandiose level. The album’s debut track “Wayward Country” fuses together alto and bass saxophone samples as well as interactive electronics to process the sound in real-time to create a spontaneous, improvised sense of time and space. The composer’s arrangements evoke many emotions, mostly notably the little dramas and anticipations that get the listeners heart racing. Like the emotional “A Rift in Time,” the composition builds tension quickly, only to release it slowly through tender melody through the string section. “Triptych,” which runs over 13 minutes long, builds patiently. The composition buzzes and twinkles with gongs, bells, and anklets, the whispered vocals reciting poetry adding to the production. FANCY COLORS shows the listener just how far the sound of an instrument can really go when manipulated by electronics. The album offers an expansive palette for listeners who enjoy a little more depth to their art.

MY ANCESTOR'S GIFT Carlos Simon On his Navona Records debut, composer Carlos Simon masterfully combines influences from jazz, gospel, and neoromanticism. MY ANCESTOR’S GIFT incorporates spoken word and historic recordings to craft a multifaceted program of musical works that are inspired as much by the past as they are the present. Launched by “Our Ancestor’s Legacy,” the composer’s personal introduction to the themes he will musically address throughout, MY ANCESTOR’S GIFT sets out to depict the evolution of black people in America through the lens of the black woman with “Portrait of a Queen.” Dramatic spoken word poetically reveals her thoughts and feelings of throughout various time periods, reflected by musical themes that draw on melodies, textures and rhythms of those eras. Simon provides breathing room between the intense topics he explores with several brief, often conversational “Interludes” that also serve to offer emotional or explanatory context for his longer compositions, such as the sorrowful and contemplative “Elegy,” dedicated to “those wrongfully murdered by an oppressive power.” He mines his personal family history with “Generations,” which includes audio clips of sermons given by his great-grandfather, his grandfather and his father, with musical elements that feature a processed Fender Rhodes that Simon inherited from his grandfather, and Hammond B3 organ. The melodic and meditative “Be Still and Know” appears in sharp contrast to “White Only, Colored Only,” which plays George Wallace’s infamous Segregation Now, Segregation Forever speech against free-flowing improvised lines and a consistent rhythm. Hope for change, however, is offered by the interlude “Change the World,” which concludes with a quote from Martin Luther King, and by the smooth R&B-tinged vocal track “I Feel It Somewhere,” before the album concludes with another tribute to his personal history, the whimsical “Lickety Split.” Download now at: http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p605/My_Ancestor%27s_Gift_%28digital_download%29.html

LIGHT AND SHADOWS, WAVES AND TIME Gregory Wanamaker An exploration of the unique timbral characteristics and technical extensions of wind instruments, Gregory Wanamaker’s LIGHT AND SHADOWS, WAVES AND TIME is comprised of eight compositions that collectively illustrate the composer’s ability to integrate various genre influences into a distinctive whole. His music has been lauded as “pure gold, shot through with tenderness and grace” by the San Francisco Chronicle and “achingly beautiful” by the Palm Beach Daily News. The album’s first track, “des ondes et les temps,” which translates to “of waves and time,” explores the saxophone’s full range of possibilities. A solo piece performed by Casey Grev, “des ondes et les temps” waxes and wanes and rises and falls, and refers back to the composer’s 1988 work “Two Movements for Solo Flute,” providing what is essentially a more mature third movement of that piece. Wanamaker expands to a quartet setting for “…unsettled, unphased…,” whose rhythmic roots can be found in genres ranging from Eastern European folk and dance music to jazz and progressive rock. Its animated propulsive motion is halted mid-stream by a vigorous interlude, before reaching a dynamic conclusion. The somber, poignant “Elegy,” written for and performed by the Akropolis Reed Quintet, was originally composed in memory of those who died in the September 11 attacks, while the virtuosic musical fantasy, “Ragahoro Breakdown” intricately weaves elements of North Indian Raga with characteristics of a Bulgarian Horo and subtle hints of American folk music. The track that represents the second half of the album’s title, “of Light and Shadows,” is a sonata in two very contrasting movements, the first a quiet nocturne, the second its polar opposite, each exploring the extended timbres of the saxophone and extreme ranges of the piano, while the dynamic “Out of Mind, Into Body” travels a similar path, albeit one taken by John Friedrich’s solo bass clarinet. While less than two minutes in length, the spirited “Counterpunch” effectively alternates elements of driving American-style minimalist with a fusion of jazz and funk. The album concludes with a concrète version of its opening track, transforming it into the form of experimental music in which sound identities – in this case those of the tenor saxophone – are intentionally manipulated to appear unconnected to their source, creating an ambient, layered soundscape.