DAVID SHIFRIN - CLARINET TRIOS   ARTISTLED 11101-2

American classical clarinettist David Shifrin is one of only two wind players ever to have been awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize. He is in constant demand as an orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber music collaborator, and is professor of clarinet at the Yale University School of Music. On this CD, Shifrin is joined by the husband-and-wife partnership of cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han, both of whom recently received Musical America’s ‘Musicians of the Year’ award, for a recording of clarinet trios by Beethoven, Brahms paired with four selections from the romantic Eight Pieces by Max Bruch. Beethoven’s light-hearted Opus 11 Trio for clarinet, cello, and piano dates from the composer’s early years in Vienna, where he had travelled in 1792 to study with Haydn, and this is on piece from a period that produced numerous early masterpieces that to establish Beethoven’s reputation among the Viennese culturati. Brahms’s brilliant Trio in a minor, op. 114, is a late work written in 1891, a year after the composer had effectively retired. Brahms was inspired to write it after being impressed by the supreme artistry of clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld. Max Bruch’s Eight Pieces, op. 83, for clarinet, cello (or viola) and piano, were composed in 1909 and are quintessentially Romantic vignettes, impassioned yet introspective. David Finckel rightly describes Shifrin as ‘a consummate artist, one whose unsurpassed instrumental ability is matched by a deep and ever-evolving musicality that makes playing with him always a creative adventure.’

HAYDN - STRING QUARTETS     HYPERION CDA67793 & CDA67781

The string quartet form was first used in the later part of the eighteenth century. Joseph Haydn’s first string quartets had five movements but he soon adopted the standard four movements form: a fast movement, a slow movement, a minuet and trio and a fast finale. Haydn, often called ‘the father of the string quartet’, sometimes played his quartets in an impromptu ensemble of which Mozart was a member. Mozart himself went on to write 26 string quartets but never quite reached Haydn’s achievement in this difficult musical genre. The quartets on these two CDs date from 1793 and were written when Haydn returned home to Vienna after a visit to London which had cemented his international fame as a composer and public figure. He wrote a penultimate set of six string quartets for Count Anton Apponyi, a chamberlain at the Imperial Court, who paid 100 ducats for the privilege of having them publicly dedicated to him. They were actually composed for Haydn’s concerts in London, where they proved to be a big hit. The set was broken up into two groups of three and sold to separate publishers, thus becoming the Op 71 and Op 74 Quartets, and the music is markedly different to the composer’s more intimate Viennese quartets, Op 64. The Apponyi quartets possess an orchestral sonority, and the frequent modulations, dynamic variations and increasingly virtuosic writing can be derived from elements of the six London Symphonies. They demonstrate the composer’s astonishing elegance, lyricism and his immense skill in fusing the profound with the light-hearted. There is much use of folk tunes and this forceful music is played with confidence and warmth here by the acclaimed Takács Quartet, one of the world’s great ensembles. ‘Every time one is blown away by the rightness and freshness of everything they do.’ - London Guardian.

DUO GELLAND - VIOLIN DUOS, VOL 6    NOSAG CD 181   

Cecilia and Martin Gelland make up the acclaimed Swedish-German Duo Gelland, founded in 1994 and one of the world’s leading ensembles devoted to contemporary art music as well as the history of the violin duo. Their early recordings of Cantus gemellus by Dieter Acker and the fiercely demanding one hour long cycle for two violins by Allan Pettersson showed the true potentials of the violin duo, inspiring many composers to turn to this medium. Duo Gelland have received over 100 dedications, including works by contemporary composers such as Giorgio Netti, Bernd Franke, Michael Fiday and Justin Rubin. The Duo also has a keen interest in the earlier repertory and often invites a dialogue between present and past in recital programs. Volume 6 of this outstanding ensemble’s Violin Duo’s series includes pieces dedicated to and first performed by them with music by Oleg Gotskosik, Cecilia Franke, Johan Ramström and Hans-Erik Dahlgren. These are superb performances of adventurous and exciting music played with virtuoso technique as well as passion and style.

THE VERDEHR TRIO - AMERICAN IMAGES 4   CRYSTALCD949

Acknowledged as a leader in the field of new music, the remarkable Verdehr Trio has for more than thirty years has concentrated on creating, defining and promoting music intended for the violin-clarinet-piano trio. The American ensemble consists of violinist Walter Verdehr, clarinettist Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr and pianist Silvia Roederer, who together have established a large repertoire by commissioning over 200 new works from some of the world’s most prominent and exciting composers - known and unknown, young and old, from the USA and abroad. A handful of earlier trios by Bartok, Stravinsky, Milhaud, Khachaturian, Berg, Krenek, Poulenc and Ives showed the potential tonal and musical possibilities of this grouping. The Trio has also rediscovered as well as transcribed 18th and 19th century pieces for inclusion in its concert programs. Now, largely thanks to them, there are more than 230 works for violin-clarinet-piano and this has become a viable chamber music medium. The Trio’s efforts, appropriately entitled The Making of a Medium, are being captured in a series of recordings under the same name from Crystal Records. Volume 19 in this acclaimed project, called American Images 4, features passionate and technically brilliant performances of adventurous music by Ricardo Lorenz (Compass Points), Kevin Puts (Three Nocturnes), August Read Thomas (Dancing Helix Rituals), Lee Hoiby (Rock Valley Trio) and Stefan Freund (Triodances). AMERICAN IMAGES 5 (CRYSTALCD949) has also been released and has music by Margaret Brouwer (Trio), Roberto Sierra (Recordando una melodia olvidada), Gernot Woflgang (Sketchbook) and William Wallace (Sonata a Tre). ‘A true ensemble of outstanding players who have obvious love for the music.’ - American Record Guide.

SHOSTAKOVICH - STRING QUARTETS   CEDILLE CDR 90000 127

Dmitri Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Leon Trotsky’s chief of staff, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the Stalinist bureaucracy. Periodically banned, the composer also received accolades and state awards and served in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. His orchestral works include 15 symphonies, often complex and requiring large scale orchestras, and he also wrote many wonderful smaller scale works. This release is the first installment in the Pacifica Quartet’s much anticipated, four-volume CD survey of the complete Shostakovich string quartets: The Soviet Experience: String Quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich and his Contemporaries. The Soviet Experience is the first Shostakovich quartet cycle to include works by other important composers of the Soviet era, adding variety and perspective to the listening experience. This superbly performed series of audiophile recordings, superbly produced and engineered by multiple Grammy Award winner Judith Sherman, will appeal to everyone interested in great Russian music of the 20th century. Each two-CD installment is priced as a single CD and this first set includes Shostakovich’s intense String Quartet No. 5, the surprising String Quartet No. 6, the inventive and compact String Quartet No. 7, and the deeply personal String Quartet No. 8. Nikolai Miaskovsky is the only major Soviet composer who was also a member of the pre-Revolution generation of Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov and his masterfully written String Quartet No. 13, icluded here, demonstrates great ingenuity and craftsmanship within a conventional harmonic language. This gripping music is played by the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois-based Pacifica Quartet, an ensemble that has already performed the cycle in Chicago, New York and the University of Illinois (where they have been Quartet in Residence since 2004). Highly recommended.

DEBUSSY, ELGAR, SIBELIUS - VIOLIN MUSIC     GUILD GMCD 7358

The years 1917-18 proved to be an interesting period for three great composers active at the early part of the 20th century. Up until this time each was known primarily for his orchestral music but in 1917/18 the three composers decided to write for smaller combinations involving the violin. This CD allows a comparison of their respective compositional styles in, perhaps, an unfamiliar context. Debussy was to die soon after completing his Violin Sonata; Elgar wrote three valedictory chamber works beginning with the Violin Sonata within this period before entering virtual creative silence apart from the final masterpiece, the Cello Concerto. Sibelius was to continue his quest for symphonic unity with the final version of his Fifth Symphony before ending his career with the last three big orchestral works, symphonies Six and Severn and finally Tapiola in 1926 - four works that place him at the pinnacle of 20th century music. Greek-born violin virtuoso Efi Christodoulou and the impressive pianist Margaret Fingerhut here give outstanding, intelligent performances of sonatas by Debussy and Elgar together with the unjustly neglected Six Humoresques of Sibelius, written in 1917.

ANTON REICHA - WOODWIND QUINTETS, VOL. 2     CRYSTAL CD262

Anton Reicha was born in Prague in 1770 into the family of a town piper. His father died when Anton was only ten months old and his mother was uninterested in his education. From the age of ten the young composer was raised and educated in music by his uncle, Josef Reicha. When the family moved to Bonn, Josef secured for his nephew a place at the Hofkapelle. He also studied composition secretly at the University of Bonn until the city was captured by the French in 1794, when he had to flee to Hamburg, where he made his living by teaching harmony and composition. Between 1799 and 1801 he lived in Paris, trying unsuccessfully to become an opera composer. He then lived in Vienna for a while, producing large semi-didactic cycles of works such as 36 Fugues for piano, but it was during the later Paris period that he wrote a series of wind quintets, some of the earliest important music for wind ensembles. Ideas he advocated in his music and writings include polyrhythm, polytonality and microtonal music, none of which were accepted by the composers of the time. A contemporary and lifelong friend of Beethoven, Reicha is now best remembered for this substantial early contribution to these quintets and for his teaching of illustrious pupils such as Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz. This release is part of the Westwood Wind Quintet’s outstanding series featuring all Reicha’s 24 woodwind quintets, which resemble mini-symphonies and are masterpieces of the highest order. ‘The Westwood Wind Quintet has a standard of ensemble playing that is nothing short of breathtaking’ - International Record Review.

BACH CHAMBER CONCERTOS       CHAMPS HILL CHRCD 014

Johann Sebastian Bach composed remarkably few instrumental orchestral works. The most famous of these are his six Brandenburg Concertos, which were written in Baroque Italian Concerto style. No two of the Brandenburgs (self titled ‘Six Concerts Avec Plusieurs Instruments’) are alike in their instrumentation, but each a masterpiece in its own right. This double CD set features recordings of three of these concertos. The Second Concerto contains an interesting quartet of solo instruments - the trumpet, recorder, oboe and violin - which Bach combines to create harmonious and exuberant music. The light and witty Fourth Concerto suggests the urbane court of the Parisian salon. Concerto No.5, thought to be the last of the six in order of composition, is perhaps the most interesting of them all and is sometimes regarded as the precursor of the piano concerto. Recorded in the intimate Music Room at Champs Hill, these inspiring works are performed here by the excellent London Conchord Ensemble on modern instruments and with piano. Daniel Pailthorpe has also arranged two of Bach’s best known chorales - Sheep may safely graze, and Jesu, joy of Man’s desiring. The other works here are Bach’s Suite No. 2 in B minor for flute & strings, Concerto in A major for oboe d’amore, Concerto in C minor for violin & oboe, and Concerto in D minor for two violins.

I SAW THREE SHIPS    MANOR HOUSE MUSIC 002

The Manor House Music ensemble features some of the UK’s finest classical musicians who play and record with many other chamber ensembles, individually touring across the globe and appearing in many classical and film soundtrack recordings. Founder Vaughan Jones, a skilled violinist and prolific arranger, is joined on this delightful recording of 23 famous Christmas carols by Louise Bevan (violin), Adrian Smith (viola) and Julia Graham (cello). ‘The idea behind arranging the carols on this disc was to capture the spirit of these memorable melodies whilst unlocking their musical potential. In each case (with the exception of the two Charpentier Noels), I have taken the single line melody as the starting point. All harmonisations and variations have been approached from scratch with many original counter melodies and other such material written as an extension to the original source. In this way, they are more ‘re-creations’ than ‘arrangements’ in the traditional sense. - Vaughan Jones. As well as the mysterious title track, the carols here include We Three Kings of Orient Are, While Shepherds Watched, The Holly and the Ivy (which probably has its roots in Pagan usage), God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Here We Come A-Wassailing, the lovely In the Bleak Midwinter written Gustav Holst to words by Christina Rossetti, Once in Royal David’s City, O Come, All Ye Faithful (also known as ‘Adeste Fidelis’) and the traditional Wexford Carol from Ireland. The Manor House Quartet play with elegance and skill and the sprightly arrangements give a fresh charm to some of the season’s best-loved music - the perfect accompaniment to present wrapping or to wake up to on Christmas morning. For more details visit the Manor House Music website

SPOHR, ROLLA & KALLIWODA - WORKS FOR VIOLIN/VIOLA  MANOR HOUSE MUSIC 001

This invaluable recording features works by three composers who were much admired in their day but have since fallen our of the standard chamber music repertoire. There are some strong similarities between the three men. Ludwig Spohr (usually known as Louis Spohr outside his native Germany), Alessandro Rolla (technical innovator and ‘teacher of the great Niccolo Paganini’) and Prague-born Johan Wenzel Kalliwoda were all highly prolific composers as well as violinists who conducted and held senior orchestral posts. Spohr was an eminent violinist whose sweetness of tone was admired throughout Europe and whose career as a perfomer was only eclipsed by the dazzling innovations of Paganini. Rolla wrote over 500 works, including many pieces that were important in the development of Violin and Viola technique, using rapid chromatic passages as well as flying staccato and left hand pizzicato. Kalliwoda composed over 250 works or series of works, including an opera, seven symphonies, concertos, sacred music, and a commission for the inaugural concert of the New York Philharmonic Society in 1842. All three composers toured extensively as celebrated violinists, performing to large audiences throughout Europe. They shared a mastery of counterpoint, often using surprising harmonies which guide their works into interesting realms. Three delightful duos for violin and viola, one from each composer, are stylishly played on this recording by the excellent Vaughan Jones and Reiad Chibah.

RUSSIAN MUSIC FOR CELLO AND PIANO    CEDILLE CDR 90000 120

The WarnerNuzova duo cellist Wendy Warner and pianist Irina Nuzova makes its recording debut with five late-Romantic Russian works on an album dedicated to the memory of one of Warner’s mentors, the illustrious Russian cellist, composer, and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich. Fittingly, two of the pieces were originally written for Rostropovich: Nikolai Miaskovsky’s lovely though rarely heard Sonata No. 2 in A Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 81; and Alfred Schnittke’ s brief, Baroque-inspired Musica nostalgica, for violoncello and piano. This is the first American recording of Miaskovsky’ s mellifluous Sonata No. 2, a work that’s rarely performed outside Russia and so will be a discovery for most listeners. Alexander Scriabin’ s Etude Op. 8, No. 11, originally written for solo piano, is a beautiful encore piece brimming with chromatic harmonies; Sergei Prokofiev’ s charming Adagio from Ten Pieces from Cinderella, Op. 97b, is based on a duet from his ballet; and Sergei Rachmaninov’s Sonata in G Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19, is a riveting four-movement work from the same period as his Second Piano Concerto. The recording quality is commendably natural and this recently formed duo perform this emotional Russian music with warmth, clarity and elegance.

DVORAK - STRING QUARTETS    NIMBUS NI6114

Dvořák was strongly drawn towards chamber music for he was a viola player and greatly admired the work of the Classical masters - in particular Beethoven. The String Quartet in C major is the most significant of Dvořák’s fourteen quartets before the final two examples completed in 1895 after his return from America. Premiered in 1882, it presents a greater challenge to performers, which may explain its relatively infrequent performance these days, as well as a most satisfying reward to the listener receptive to its mastery of composition. Quartet No. 12 (American) - composed in 1893 - is probably the best known of Dvořák’s quartets and has a popularity which almost rivals that of the 9th Symphony. It draws upon influences of Dvořák’s fellow countryman, Smetana, as well as negro spirituals and native America birdsong. Both these works are performed here by the outstanding Wihan Quartet (Leos Cepicky-violin; Jan Schulmeister-violin; Jiri Zigmund-viola; Ales Kasprik (cello). Formed in 1985, they are heirs to the great Czech musical tradition and have a growing international reputation for interpreting their native musical heritage. In October, the Quartet gave performances in Shrewsbury of Beethoven’s Quartet Op 18 No 1, Quartet Op 14 No 1 and the superlative Quartet Op 59 No 1 ‘Rasumovsky’. This was the first in a series of six concerts in Shrewsbury lasting until May 2010, featuring the Quartet playing some of Beethoven’s finest music. Their latest concert at the Lion Hotel received an enthusiastic ovation from the full house. This new CD reveals a true empathy with their compatriot Dvořák’s music and enhances the Wihan Quartet’s reputation for fine musicianship and expressive energy.

BELOVED OF THE GODS: MOZART & MENDELSSOHN   MELBA MR 301121

This beautifully produced 5.1channel SACD recording features masterpieces by two divinely inspired composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Felix Mendelssohn.The excellent Dean-Emmerson-Dean trio (clarinettist Paul Dean, his brother violist and composer Brett Dean, and pianist Stephen Emmerson) perform Mozart’s unusual and delightful Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano in E flat major, K498 ‘Kegelstatt’ written by Mozart to be played with his close friends. The piece’s title ‘Kegelstatt’ refers to the ‘bowling alley’ where Mozart spent happy hours playing skittles and composing in the days immediately prior to writing this Trio. The ebullient performance and high spirits of Emmerson and the Dean brothers during the making of this recording echoes Mozart’s joy in making music with close friends and congenial musicians. The Dean-Emmerson-Dean trio follows this with Stephen Emmerson’s five-movement Papamina Suite, an effervescent arrangement of music from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Emmerson’s arrangement presents the ensemble with unique opportunities to break new ground in Mozart’s music - from sublime arias to buffo duets to superbly re-imagined orchestral textures. The brilliant young Tinalley String Quartet completes this release with the Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op.13, ‘Ist es wahr’ one of the central pieces in their winning performance at the Banff International Chamber Music Competition in 2007. Their performance of the Mendelssohn quartet, written astonishingly when composer was a mere eighteen, reveals remarkable sonorities and articulation with at one point the ensemble sounding like an accordion behind the solo fiddle, at another like a symphony orchestra accompanying a sotto-voce recitative. From lyrical moments to thundering climaxes, Tinalley offers persuasive support for the proposition that the string quartet is the perfect ensemble. Beloved of the Gods is an elegantly presented and enjoyable selection of marvelous music played by some of Australia’s most gifted musicians. Highly recommended.

ANDREAE - STRING QUARTETS    GUILD GMCD 7328

Swiss musician Volkmar Andreae’s work as a composer was completely overshadowed by his career as a conductor, but this outstanding new CD, the second from Guild to feature his chamber music (GMCD 7307 - Piano Trios), contains his two string quartets and a delightful late Divertimento for flute and string trio. The performances by The Loncrian Ensemble of London and Anna Noakes (flute) are wonderful and the music reveals influences from Richard Strauss to the later French Impressionists. Highly recommended.

BEETHOVEN - EARLY STRING QUARTETS   NIMBUS ALLIANCE NI 6105

The string quartet form was first used in the later part of the eighteenth century. Joseph Haydn’s first string quartets had five movements but he soon adopted the standard four movements form: a fast movement, a slow movement, a minuet and trio and a fast finale. Haydn, often called ‘the father of the string quartet’, sometimes played his quartets in an impromptu ensemble that included Mozart, who went on to write 26 string quartets of his own. Mozart never quite reached Haydn’s achievement in this difficult musical genre but Ludwig van Beethoven composed brilliantly in the form throughout his career, writing sixteen in all. This is the second release from the Wihan Quartet on Nimbus Alliance, recorded live in the Convent of St. Agnes, Prague in 2007/8, following on from their acclaimed release of The Late Quartets. The double CD features the Beethoven’s String Quartets Nos. 1 to 6, recorded live in the Convent of St. Agnes, Prague in 2007/8. The Wihan Quartet can also be heard on BEETHOVEN - MIDDLE STRING QUARTETS (Nimbus Alliance NI 6109), again recorded live in Prague. The 3-CD set includes Beethoven String Quartet in F Major Op. 59 No. 1; String Quartet in F Major Op. 14 No. 1; String Quartet in E minor Op. 59, No. 2; String Quartet in C major Op. 59, No. 3; CD3: String Quartet in E flat Major Op. 74 ‘Harp’; String Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 ‘Serioso’. Highly recommended.

BEETHOVEN - LATE STRING QUARTETS    NIMBUS ALLIANCE NI 6100

Ludwig van Beethoven’s ‘late quartets’ brought the string quartet to a sublime level that has never been surpassed. By the time he wrote them he was almost totally deaf, which makes these works profoundly personal and gives the music great intensity. They often take the listener by surprise as they explore strangely rarefied harmonies, moving from prayer-like tranquillity to profanity, from sweet melody to forthright debate. On this three-CD box set from Nimbus Alliance, these amazing string quartets are performed by the excellent Wihan Quartet, who bring fine musicianship to these complex, humane and spiritual masterpieces.

A GERMAN BOUQUET - TRIO SETTECENTO    CEDILLE CDR 90000 114

The excellent Chicago-based period-instrument ensemble Trio Settecento (1700s Trio) performs a colourful cluster of Baroque sonatas on this release, the second in a planned series of four CDs illustrating the character and complexion of the era’s music as it developed in various regions of Europe. On A German Bouquet, the trio of violinist Rachel Barton Pine, viola da gamba player and ‘cellist John Mark Rozendaal, and harpsichordist and organist David Schrader presents a programme that goes beyond Bach and Buxtehude. While the CD includes works by those two giants of the German Baroque, it also offers rarely heard repertoire by Johann Schop, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Georg Muffat, Johann Philipp Krieger, Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, and Johann Georg Pisendel, some of whom were also among the greatest German violinists of the era. The composers represented here worked at churches and courts in Hamburg, Lübeck, Leipzig, Vienna, Rudolstadt, Dresden, and Weissenfels, to name only a few of the German musical centres they embellished with their compositions. Each of these places had its own peculiar indigenous qualities, and the cultural productions of each were shaped by different ways of assimilating the various cross-currents of Italian, French, and English cultures, Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Pietism. Therefore, each of the works on this program has its own distinct terroir, every one delicious and as different from the next as Gewürztraminer is from Riesling. Trio Settecento play with great verve and clearly have a profound understanding and love for the music of this period. Highly recommended.

HANDEL - CANTATAS & TRIO SONATAS    MDG MDG3090399

Handel’s cantatas are mostly chamber works, written for a solo singer accompanied by harpsichord, a few solo strings and sometimes an obbligato instrument. With Handel himself at the keyboard, they were written to show off the talents of singers at entertainments in the houses of the nobility. During his early Italian stay (1706 to 1710), he wrote a remarkable number of these works for use in the Palaces of his Italian patrons. Often a cantata can be taken as a single dramatic scene and Handel can be seen experimenting with techniques that he would use in operas. This music was written for some of the finest singers of the age and when performed today requires a singer able to encompass all of the composer’s technical demands and use them for dramatic and expressive purposes. On this beautifully-produced disc, the German soprano Johanna Koslowsky sings with purity, elegance and fine tone, paying due homage to one of the greatest of all composers. She is joined by the excellent Musica Alta Ripa ensemble, which was established in 1984 in Hanover. As well as two cantatas they perform three brilliant and melodic trio sonatas, including one for recorder and violin.

MUSIC OF EDWARD JOSEPH COLLINS, VOL. 8     ALBANY TROY 1086

Edward Joseph Collins (1886-1951) was an American pianist, conductor and composer of romantic classical music. Born in Joliet, Illinois, he studied with Rudolf Ganz in Chicago and in 1906 went with Ganz to Berlin, where he enrolled in the Hochschule für Musik in performance and composition under Max Bruch and Humperdinck. After graduating, he became a successful concert pianist and toured with the contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink. After serving as an assistant conductor at the Century Opera Company in New York, he travelled again to Europe, becoming an assistant conductor at the Bayreuth Festival. This position was cut short by the outbreak of the Second World War, during which Collins rose from Private to Lieutenant, served as an interpreter, entertained the troops as pianist, and received a citation for bravery. After the war he returned to Chicago, joined the faculty of Chicago Musical College and married Frieda Mayer, daughter of the meat-packing magnate, Oscar Mayer. Collins composed 12 major orchestral works (including a symphony, two overtures and three suites), three piano concertos, Hymn to the Earth (for orchestra, choir, and solo voices), several chamber works, more than 20 songs for voice and piano, and more than a dozen piano solo and duo scores. This eighth volume in Albany’s exemplary series features a varied selection of his distinctive and beautifully crafted chamber music, including first recordings of songs, piano solo works and his Piano Trio, Op. 1. The performers are Anna Polonsky (piano), Patrice Michaels (soprano), the Sussman/Albers/Poonsky Trio, and Jeffrey Sykes (piano).

SUPPLEMENTS D’AME     OPUS MILLESIME GCK 20091

Three young French composers, each with their own original poetic universe, present here a selection of recent chamber music pieces. Each composer demonstrates his admirable concern to re-establish a link between the public and contemporary music, adding both ivory-tower academicism and artistic concession. The excellent Prima Vista Quartet, based in Clermont-Ferrand, France play Gréco Casadesus’s Suppléments d’âme for soprano and string quintet (with soprano Lys Nordet and Daniel Grimonprez, double bass), Pierre-André Athané’s String Quartet No. 1 and Baudime Jam’s Les Horizons perdus for mezzo-soprano and string quartet (with Hermine Hugunel, mezzo). Beautifully performed and recorded, this is an album of beguiling, stylish and wonderfully accessible music. Highly recommended.