Erika Fox – Paths (CD Review)
Erika Fox Paths Goldsfield Ensemble, Richard Baker, conductor NMC Recordings Once one hears Paths, the octogenarian Erika Fox’s first CD, their first reaction may mirror mine: one of incredulity. How…
CD Review: Riot Ensemble
Speak, Be Silent Riot Ensemble, Aaron Holloway-Nahum, conductor Works by Chaya Czernowin, Anna Thorvaldsdóttor, Mirela Ivičević, Liza Lim, and Rebecca Saunders Huddersfield Contemporary Records HCR20CD 2019 Riot Ensemble’s latest CD…
Caroline Shaw – Orange (CD Review)
Caroline Shaw – Orange Attaca Quartet Nonesuch/New Amsterdam CD Winner of the Pulitzer prize in 2013, Caroline Shaw has been a busy musician in the years following, performing as a…
Album Review – Nightflower
On January 25, 2019, Long Echo Records released composer Elliot Cole’s debut solo album, Nightflower. This album occupies the vague space between the generated and constructed, and lives up to…
Matthew Shipp Trio – “Signature” (CD Review)
Matthew Shipp Trio Signature ESP (ESPDISK 5029CD) Pianist Matthew Shipp has recorded prolifically, but Signature is the first outing of his current piano trio. Joined by bassist Michael Bisio and…
Anna Webber: Clockwise
Anna Webber Clockwise Pi Recordings (2019) Saxophonist/flutist/composerAnna Webber, a thirty-five-year-old who has already won a Guggenheim Fellowship and numerous other plaudits, makes her Pi Recordings debut with Clockwise.Joined by an…
Noteworthy in 2018: Schell’s picks
Unlike those big-media favorites lists that appear in mid-December to grease the skids of the Great Shopping Season, my year-end reckonings dawdle until the last moment and don’t claim to…
Best of 2018: Instrumental and Recital CDs
Best of 2018: Instrumental and Recital CDs Best Recital Hanging Gardens Works by Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern Jacob Greenberg, piano with Tony Arnold, soprano Rather…
Best of 2018: Orchestral CDs
Best of 2018 – Orchestral CDs In ictu oculi Kenneth Hesketh BBC Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Christoph Mathias Mueller Paladino Three large orchestra works by British composer Kenneth Hesketh…
Best of 2018: Composer Portrait CDs
Best of 2018: Composer Portrait CDs 2018 saw the release of a bevy of excellent recordings of music by contemporary composers. These were the portrait CDs that most frequently captivated…