Peter Tchaikovsky/Victor Kissine "Piano Trio"

Peter Tchaikovsky/Victor Kissine

Piano Trios

Gidon Kremer: violin

Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė: violoncello

Khatia Buniatishvili: piano

Two compositions bracketing the history of Russian chamber music. A revelatory account of Tchaikovsky’s piano trio op.50, juxtaposed with Victor Kissine’s “Zerkalo” of 2009, a work dedicated to performers Kremer, Dirvanauskaite and Buniatshvikli, and inspired by two lines from Anna Akhmatova: “The mirror dreams only of the mirror / Silence watches over silence.” Issued on the eve of a major tour with dates in both Europe and Japan, and with Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili and Lithuanian cellist Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė hailed as two of the most gifted players of their generation, this newest project from Gidon Kremer is certain to be one of the events of the season.

You should be able to find this album in fine record stores but for your convenience, here is the link to the page on Amazon where you can preorder:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OB4SU4?ie=UTF8&tag=various02-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B004OB4SU4

Craig Taborn "Avenging Angel"

Craig Taborn

Avenging Angel

Craig Taborn: piano

“Avenging Angel” is Craig Taborn’s distinguished contribution to the great solo piano tradition at ECM, a powerful, purposeful and rigorous album, which rises to the challenges of the format and transcends them. The disc explores the textural dimensions of sound, builds new structures, uncovers a rugged lyricism. Recorded in the optimal acoustics of the recital room at Lugano’s Studio RSI, with Manfred Eicher producing, it’s Taborn’s first disc under his own name for ECM, following on from inspired sessions with Roscoe Mitchell, Evan Parker, David Torn and Michael Formanek.

You should be able to find this album in fine record stores but for your convenience, here is the link to the page on Amazon where you can preorder:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004SQAF70?ie=UTF8&tag=various02-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B004SQAF70

Thomas Zehetmair / Ruth Killius

Manto and Madrigal

Thomas Zehetmair: violin

Ruth Killius: viola

Violinist Thomas Zehetmair whose recent Paganini recording from St. Gerold met with overwhelming critical acclaim last year and violist Ruth Killius have shared many years as musical collaborators in the Zehetmair quartet. The couple’s spectacular duo performance at last autumn’s ECM festival in Mannheim raised the expectactions for their new programme, a carefully composed anthology of contemporary pieces for violin and viola. Next to Bohuslav Martinů’s virtuosic and accessible “Madrigals”, written in 1946 in American exile, the central piece here is “Drei Skizzen” by Heinz Holliger, a triptychon with the instruments tuned in the scordatura of Mozart’s fomous “Sinfonia concertante” for violin, viola and orchestra. It was commissioned by the duo as an encore piece for their frequent renderings of Mozart’s masterworks on the concert platform. Its first movement “Pirouetts harmoniques” is entirely based on shimmering harmonics, whereas the second one is an exuberant perpetuum mobile. The cycle concludes with a six-part chorale that requires both string players to hum an extra voice. This idea, which is realised by the duo to a most stunning effect effect, was itself inspired by Giancinto Scelsi’s solo piece “Manto” for a “singing viola player”. The programme is complemented by compositions by Nikos Skalkottas, Béla Bartók and short pieces by Rainer Killius and Johannes Nied.

You should be able to find this album in fine record stores but for your convenience, here is the link to the page on Amazon where you can order:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038QBP7U?ie=UTF8&tag=various02-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B0038QBP7U

Meredith Monk "Song of Ascension"

Meredith Monk

Songs of Ascension

Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble
Todd Reynolds String Quartet
M6 Voices
Montclair State University Singers

“Songs of Ascension” is a major new recording from composer Meredith Monk and her vocal ensemble. Written in 2008, it is conceived as a continuous composition, a departure from Monk’s earlier collaged or episodic extended works. In recent years Meredith Monk’s been expanding into the worlds of orchestra and string quartet. On “Songs of Ascension” she teams up with a string quartet of New York players well versed in new music. With winds, percussion and two vocal groups added to her already extraordinary singers, this is one of Monk’s most musically ambitious ventures. Voices and instruments are paired and balanced against each other to an extent rare in her music. Inspirations for the work included the Song of Ascents, a group of psalms said to have been sung during pilgrimages, and a timely invitation to perform at an 8-story tower designed by visual artist Ann Hamilton. “Songs of Ascension” finds Monk playing with the musical, sonic, metaphysical and literal connotations of upward movement.

You should be able to find this album in fine record stores but for your convenience, here is the link to the page on Amazon where you can preorder: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TB6GSQ?ie=UTF8&tag=various02-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B004TB6GSQ

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Konitz/Mehldau/Haden/Motion "Live at Birdland"

Konitz/Mehldau/Haden/Motian
Live At Birdland

Lee Konitz: alto saxophone
Brad Mehldau: piano
Charlie Haden: double-bass
Paul Motian: drums

A quartet of master musicians and a programme of jazz classics. “Live At Birdland” presents the finest moments from two inspired nights at New York’s legendary club, as Konitz, Mehldau, Haden and Motian play “Lover Man”, “Lullaby Of Birdland”, “Solar”, “I Fall In Love Too Easily”, “You Stepped Out Of A Dream” and “Oleo” with freedom, tenderness, and a love of melody that only jazz’s greatest improvisers can propose.

You should be able to find this album in fine record stores but for your convenience, here is the link to the page where you can order: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004PKOKTS?ie=UTF8&tag=various02-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B004PKOKTS

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Colin Vallon Trio "Rruga"

Colin Vallon/Patrice Moret/Samuel Rohrer
Rruga


Colin Vallon: piano
Patrice Moret: double-bass
Samuel Rohrer: drums

Release Date: May 10, 2011

“Rruga”, meaning ‘path’, ‘road’ or ‘journey’ in Albanian, is the evocative title of the ECM debut by the trio of pianist Colin Vallon, bassist Patrice Moret and drummer Samuel Rohrer (who was previously heard on the ECM recordings “April” with Swiss/Dutch singer Susanne Abbuehl and “Currents” by the Wolfert Brederode Quartet). After shared musical experiences on the Swiss jazz scene, they began their trio journey five years ago, and have grown into one of Europe’s most promising bands, shaping a rugged and individual music, inspired by songs and singers, and by the music of the Caucasus region as well as by the jazz tradition. Challenging conventions of the modern jazz piano trio, the instrumentalists meet on equal terms as the music is created, arranged and developed collectively.

Listen to a few sample tracks here:

http://player.ecmrecords.com/vallon


You should be able to find this album in fine record stores but for your convenience, here is the link to the pages where you can order it:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004D0YX1U?ie=UTF8&tag=various02-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B004D0YX1U

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Mathias Eick "Skala"

Mathias Eick
Skala

Mathias Eick: trumpet, vibraphone, electric guitar, double bass
Tore Brunborg: tenor saxophone
Andreas Ulvo: piano
Morten Qvenild: keyboards
Audun Erlien: electric bass
Torstein Lofthus: drums
Gard Nilssen: drums
Sidsel Walstad: harp

Release Date: April 19, 2011

Mathias Eick’s intensely melodic trumpet occupies the center-stage in this album of self-penned tunes, which will appeal to an audience beyond “jazz”. Against the powerful backdrops offered by his sleek, modern band, driven by two drummers, he delivers richly lyrical soliloquies.
Available digitally on April 12th and on CD April 19th.

Listen to a few sample tracks here: http://player.ecmrecords.com/eick

You should be able to find this album in fine record stores but for your convenience, here are the links to the pages where you can order:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004J21H6G?ie=UTF8&tag=various02-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B004J21H6G

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/skala/id429225648

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