María Dueñas’ debut album, Beethoven and Beyond, is an exhilarating musical exposition, illuminating the intricate weaving of virtuosity and expression that characterizes the young violinist’s style. The album’s tour de force lies in its exploration of cadenzas. This musical endeavor amplifies the dynamic interplay between the perennial works of legendary composers and Dueñas’s nuanced, innovative interpretations.
Kicking off the album with Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, Dueñas unveils the musical palette she will [...]
Rosalind Ventris is releasing her debut solo viola album featuring a unique and often unheard collection of music titled Sola: Music for Viola by Women Composers.
Ventris chooses music for unaccompanied viola that was composed between 1930 (Imogen Holst’s impressive Suite for Viola) and the present day (a 2020 lockdown miniature by Thea Musgrave). The primarily British and Irish program features substantial works by important yet often overlooked twentieth-century composers, including Imogen Holst, Lillian Fuchs, Elizabeth Maconchy, Elisabeth Lutyens, and Grayna Bacewicz. In addition, Ventris includes [...]
François-Frédéric Guy is releasing his firsrt recording of the music by Chopin. Secret Garden is Guy’s poetic imagination that combines fantasy and consistency in his phrasing in dialogue with his instrument’s unique and charming timbres. This recital, paying homage to the master pianists of the early twentieth century, revives an art of singing in a way that seems utterly natural, such as the clarity and fluidity of the playing. Secret Garden was recorded on a 1905 Pleyel piano, a sublime instrument restored at the workshop of Pianos Balleron.
Nocturne in B-Flat Minor, Op. 9 No. 1, opens the recording. The warm and [...]
Wayne Alpern is a New York City composer, arranger, and scholar. Alpern is fluent in composing in many styles of music, from pop, jazz, and world idioms that use classical techniques to yield a sophisticated contemporary style that crosses any genre label and sits in the category of “good” music. Going by Duke Ellington’s classification, there are only two types of music, good and bad. Alpern’s innovative compositions, recompositions, and rearrangements have been performed and recorded by distinguished artists from diverse musical traditions. The Shape of Strings features director Monica Bauchwitz and the String [...]