Going up, going wild
April's new classical tracks
April’s new releases go up in the air, on the expressway, out in the woods, and off to the zoo. It feels appropriate given…. gestures vaguely at everything.
Let’s find ourselves in April’s best new classical tracks.
Up
I can admit that I’ve felt out of sorts lately, with the state of the world. And I wouldn’t say this work calmed me down, but I will say it made me feel seen. Don’t get me wrong - it’s joyful. But the way the two pianists’ rolling voices lock together feels precarious at first just thanks to the complexity. But then by the end of the first movement it becomes reassuring. Written for Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers by D. Riley Nicholson, the duo make the complexity sound effortless - as if it’s coincidental in the chaos of our lives that sometimes things happen to work out really well.
Hallelujah Junction
Also in piano duos, husband and wife duo Lukas Geniusas and Anna Geniushene released a combination of arrangements and works for two keyboards.
Nobody abstracts a protest song like Frederic Rzewski, and Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues is no exception. You might know the tune via Pete Seeger.
Rzewski’s version actually sounds like a factory - portraying the day in the 1930s when the workers broke into song about their conditions. In the set North American Ballads, Rzewski said he was emulating the chorale preludes of JS Bach. The tune is there, but it is constantly being transformed.
The title work of the album, by John Adams, also has that relentless feeling of motion. Adams named the work after the truck stop near the Cali-Nevada border, referring to the spot as “a great title looking for a piece.” The intersection of the two pianos is plenty to make a “junction,” but if you listen to the rhythm, you should also be able to pick out the word “Hallelujah.”
Hommages
United Strings of Europe’s latest release is a varied collection of works inspired by visions and dreaming, but happened to be fairly well suited to commemorating Pope Francis. The Holy Father’s fellow Argentinian Astor Piazzola was actually the subject of Osvald Golijov’s 1996 piece Last Round. But a sighing version of My Beloved Buenos Aries contained therein would surely have appealed to Pope Francis.
A premiere recording of Organum Light by Dobrinka Tabakova is inspired by Einstein’s Theory of Quantum Light. I looked up this theory to try and break it down here, and the best I’ve got is that light works kind of like a collection of tiny bullets - particles that go outward and can knock other particles loose if they hit an object hard enough. Physicists can feel free to correct me in the comments. But in the piece, you can visualize light shooting straight out - multiple particles moving side by side like voices in organum.
Women
Usually I pick one track from a new album to share with you. Sometimes I add a second. I couldn’t choose here. You should enjoy the whole album. It’s tuneful, exciting, and movingly performed by violinist Esther Abrami and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Abrami spans 800 years here - from Hildegard of Bingen to Miley Cyrus. If you enjoy the pop covers on Netflix’s Bridgerton, then just go ahead and add Flowers to your rotation. I also especially enjoyed Chiquinha Gonzaga’s Corta jaca, performed with Abrami’s own chamber ensemble. And Pauline Viardot’s Hai Luli!, shared with harpist Lavinia Meijer is a welcome instrumental version of a beautiful art song.
Here at the River: Music of Minnesota
There’s proof all over music history that landscapes make incredible inspiration for classical music. This collection of pieces for Minnesota is given a heartfelt treatment by the Winona Symphony Orchestra. One standout is Superior, by Katherine Bergman. Originally for percussion ensemble, the piece has had several lives - as a marimba solo, a chamber piece, and now the full orchestral treatment.
Shostakovich: The Cello Concertos
Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra continue their Shostakovich series with Yo-Yo Ma on board. Perfectly calibrated to grab your attention right from the start.
Dmitri Shostakovich puts his signature on the opening of the first cello concerto. The melodic line you hear spells out D-S-C-H in the music. The short, punchy, reoccurring lines sound almost like a distortion, with the timpani strokes interrupting constantly.
Nelsons and the BSO continue to engage in projects that let them immerse themselves in one composer’s musical vocabulary for an extended time, and it pays off. They play the concerto with all the bite that it deserves.
It’s an anniversary year for Shostakovich - marking 50 years since his death in 1975. So there’s no shortage of new releases of his works, with more to come.
Stewart Copeland: Wild Concerto
Yes, that Stewart Copeland.
Something completely different comes from the mind of the Police drummer. If you enjoy a soundscape-heavy piece, and maybe fall asleep with a rainforest sound machine, this album will be your happy place. Copeland makes great use of environmentalist Martyn Stewart’s field recordings of animals from around the world. In fact he jokes that if all this menagerie were in the same room “they’d be eating each other.” The entire result is creative, playful, and even gives you a chance to use that bird call knowledge you may have gained during the pandemic (or before!).
It was hard to choose one example, so rather than selecting one by sound, I just went with my favorite animal - the penguins.
All of these tracks are available for streaming now. More to come in May.