2013 – Walter Simmons

Picks of the Year: 2013

wswebmaster on December 2, 2018

During the past year there were three recordings that met my criteria for Want List inclusion: a) little-known music of the past hundred years, b) in impeccable performances, and c) represented via the finest audio technology. The last criterion is …

A. TCHEREPNIN Piano Music 1913-61. Sonata No. 1. Sonata No. 2. Quatre Préludes Nostalgiques. Prelude, Op. 85, No. 9. Moment Musical. Petite Suite. Rondo à la Russe. Entretiens. Polka. Scherzo. Expressions. La Quatrième

wswebmaster on December 2, 2018

A. TCHEREPNIN Piano Music 1913-61 ● Alexander Tcherepnin, Mikhail Shilyaev (pns) ● TOCCATA CLASSICS TOCC-0079 (79:48)Sonata No. 1. Sonata No. 2. Quatre Préludes Nostalgiques. Prelude, Op. 85, No. 9. Moment Musical . Petite Suite. Rondo à la Russe. Entretiens. Polka. Scherzo. Expressions. La Quatrième Alexandre Tcherepnin (1899-1977) was a composer …

RAMEY Piano Music, Vol. 4. Incantations. Cossack Variations. Three Early Preludes. Sonata No. 3. Epigrams, Bk. II. Lament for Richard III. Sonata No. 7

wswebmaster on December 2, 2018

RAMEY Piano Music, Vol. 4 ● Stephen Gosling (pn) ● TOCCATA TOCC-0153 (79:18)Incantations. Cossack Variations. Three Early Preludes. Sonata No. 3. Epigrams, Bk. II. Lament for Richard III. Sonata No. 7 This is the fourth volume of piano music by the American composer Phillip Ramey …

PERSICHETTI Harmonium

wswebmaster on December 2, 2018

PERSICHETTI Harmonium ● Sherry Overholt (sop); Joshua Pierce (pn) ● MSR CLASSICS MS-1432 (60:17) Persichetti composed Harmonium—a cycle of 20 songs set to poems selected from Wallace Stevens’s eponymous 1923 collection—in 1951. It was the most ambitious work the 36-year-old composer had written …

AMERICAN CHORAL MUSIC . PERSICHETTI Mass. SCHUMAN Carols of Death. BOLCOM The Mask. I. FINE The Hour-Glass. FOSS Psalms

wswebmaster on December 2, 2018

AMERICAN CHORAL MUSIC ● James Morrow, cond; Univ. of Texas Chamber Singers ● NAXOS 8.559358 (73:15)PERSICHETTI Mass. SCHUMAN Carols of Death. BOLCOM The Mask. I. FINE The Hour-Glass. FOSS Psalms This appears to be the second CD Naxos has released that features the University of Texas Chamber Singers, under the sensitive …

MORAVEC Northern Lights Electric. Clarinet Concerto1. Sempre Diritto! Montserrat—Cello Concerto

wswebmaster on December 2, 2018

MORAVEC Northern Lights Electric. Clarinet Concerto1. Sempre Diritto! Montserrat—Cello Concerto ● Gil Rose, cond; Boston Modern Orchestra Project; David Krakauer (cl); Matt Heimovitz (vc) ● BMOP 1024 (70:42) It’s almost a decade since American composer Paul Moravec won the Pulitzer Prize, and throughout the …

The Houston Connection

wswebmaster on December 2, 2018

As regular readers may be aware, I have a fondness for American wind band music—especially from the generation of composers who contributed to that repertoire during the 1950s and the 20 or 30 years that followed. During the decades of …

BARBER String Quartet (inc. original finale). Serenade. Dover Beach . HANSON String Quartet. Concerto da Camera . R. THOMPSON Alleluia (trans. Ying Qt)

wswebmaster on December 2, 2018

BARBER String Quartet (inc. original finale). Serenade. Dover Beach . HANSON String Quartet. Concerto da Camera . R. THOMPSON Alleluia (trans. Ying Qt) ● Ying St Qt; Randall Scarlata (bar) Adam Neiman (pn) ● SONO LUMINUS DSL-92166 (74:02) [Package includes Blu-ray surround sound audio disc in addition to standard CD] This is …

American Classics. BARBER Piano Sonata. COPLAND Piano Variations. GRIFFES Roman Sketches. WEBER Fantasia

wswebmaster on December 2, 2018

AMERICAN CLASSICS ● Lori Sims (pn) ● TWO PIANISTS RECORDS TP1039152 (62:51)BARBER Piano Sonata. COPLAND Piano Variations. GRIFFES Roman Sketches. WEBER Fantasia From the photos accompanying this CD, Lori Sims appears to be a rather young pianist. Her bio notes that she was born in …

AND IF THE SONG BE WORTH A SMILE: Songs of American Composers. Songs by Bolcom, Getty, Heggie, Garner, Corigliano, Woolf.

wswebmaster on December 2, 2018

AND IF THE SONG BE WORTH A SMILE: Songs of American Composers ● Lisa Delan (sop); Kristin Pankonin (pn); Susanne Mentzer (mez)1; Matt Haimovitz (vc) ● PENTATONE PTC-5186 099 BOLCOM Four Cabaret Songs. GETTY Poor Peter. HEGGIE My true love hath my heart. Three Folk Songs. …