Tag Archives: Classical
Gernot Wolfgang–Vienna and the West
Fun, varied pieces for piano, winds, strings–some jazzy. Play most!
British Guitar
Modern/contemporary British works for solo guitar–short and sweet! Play!
Uri Caine–The Book of Days
Prism Quartet performs these 7 movements, sonically expressing each day of the week, telling a story with jazzy inflections. Play!
Tchaikovsky and Dvorak–Serenades
One serenade each of these composers, both formal, well-known and gracious performed by the Archi di Santa Cecilia. Play!
Shift
Mostly, quiet, lyrical solo piano pieces by contemporary composers, including Libby Larsen, Sarah Kirkland Snider and Ingrid Stolzel. Play!
Johannes Brahms–The Three Sonatas for Violin and Piano
Romantic, gracious pieces with a singing violin. Play!
Mark dal Porto–Peace, Nature & Renewal
A mix of orchestral pieces, duos and chorales, variable in style. Try the instrumentals!
MIchael John Fink–Celesta
Beautiful, very lyrical, quiet celesta pieces. Play all!
Arnold Schoenberg–and His 17 Fragments
Highly abstract solo piano pieces exploring rhythm, tones, articulations and the expanse of the keyboard. Interesting!
Cello Sonatas of Richard Strauss and Edvard Grieg
One concerto each by Strauss and Grieg, neither of whom is known for chamber works. Grieg struggled with his piece.
KaleidosCoping
Really interesting contemporary works for flute with piano, some oboe. Play!
Citizen–Solo Piano
Bruce Levingston performs pieces from different musical eras, all exploring humanity and emotions. Play!
Mark John McEncroe–Live in Ostrava
Robust symphonic works about life changing and repeating (possibly in futility), recorded live. Short works for symphonies. Play!
Caleb Burhans–Past Lives
Also a member of itsnotyouitsme, here Mr. Burhans musically expresses his grief over the deaths of friends, time lost to addictions and other life issues. Melancholic and beautiful pieces for various instruments. Play!
Caroline Shaw–Orange
Singer/composer/violinist Shaw here explores the form of the string quartet, with echoes of other composers (Bach, Mozart, Ravel…) with contemporary flourishes. Play! (This CD is the first release of a collaboration with Nonesuch and New Amsterdam in releasing works of contemporary composers.)
A Page From
Caitlin Sullivan performs these (mostly) solo works by contemporary composers, including Andres, Kahane, Snider and others–nice, slow and abstract. Play!
Violet
Contemporary works for clarinet and viola, an unusual combination! Play!
Of Love and Loss
Delicate percussion pieces, some with spoken word/singing by the percussionist and others.
Red
Works for and transcriptions of pieces, baroque to new for saxophone quartet, varied.
Carl Vollrath–Souls in Transition
Beautiful pieces for piano trio, abstract interesting plucking and rhythmic changes–play!
Four Shades of French
As in the title, all French composers works, Impressionistic, most transcribed for saxophone from other instruments. Includes some very familiar pieces. Play most!
Connections–The Music of Olivier Messiaen and His Students
Abstract, solo piano pieces ranging from lyrical to strident, composed from 1920’s onward. Messiaen had no interest in having his students imitate him–he promoted their own styles. Play!
Phil Salathe–Imaginary Birds
Fun, quirky, storey-telling works for oboe and/or English Horn. Enjoy!
David Carpenter–From the Valley of Baca
A mix of chamber pieces, instrumental or baritone with piano, quiet. Play most!
Ferrucio Busoni–The Late Works
Recognized for his rejection of Late Romanticism and exemplary of the early modern, these are piano pieces composed through his life, from elegant to powerful and strident.
