Pianist Eliza Garth is an advocate for contemporary classical music and also likes to find nooks and crannies in the concert music canon to present. On her latest recording, By the River, Garth plays from both repertoires. All of the programmed pieces are based on hymn tunes, from Lutheran chorales to shape note spirituals.
The latter is featured in “Variations on an Early American Hymn Tune” by David Froom (1951- 2022). “Holy Manna” is treated to a simple lining out of its melody at the piece’s outset. After this unassuming opening, the material is thoroughly developed in multiple sections, building to arcing counterpoint at breakneck speed. Scott Wheeler (b. 1952) also employs variation techniques in “Beach Spring.” It too culminates in…
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The border wall between the U.S. and Mexico is a symbol of division, and unfortunately representative of a manufactured political climate. During a 2020 trip along this structure, Jacob Kirkegaard and cellist 
With Figures of Glass (Piano Etudes – Edits), 
Songs introduces 
Setting aside initial plans for a second chapter of THE HARP, 
As indicated by the title, 
Pieces for Broken Piano turns a weather‑wrecked 1916 Gebrüder Stingl grand into an accidental “prepared” instrument, as 
Catrin Finch has been at the top her field for a long time now. The Welsh harpist was appointed to the ancient office of Royal Harpist by Prince Charles in 2000, was nominated for a Classical Brit Award in 2004 and her World Music collaborations with Seckou Keita resulted in their winning the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Duo.
Vadim Neselovskyi is a Brooklyn-based composer who teaches jazz piano at Boston’s Berklee, yet as Perseverantia shows, the ties to his native Ukraine remain strong (now 48, Neselovskyi left Ukraine at the age of 17). To that end, the recording, issued on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, coincides with the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of his home country on February 24, 2022. Clocking in at 71 minutes, the work is an 11-movement suite of stylistically expansive character scored for piano and string trio. Neselovskyi himself performs on piano alongside the Netherlands-based Ysaÿe String Trio (Rada Ovcharova, violin; Emlyn Stam, viola; Willem Stam, cello). In honouring the ongoing struggles of the Ukrainian people, Perseverantia is a fitting follow-up to 2022’s…
Unsuk Chin describes her music as a conscious attempt to render in sound the visions she encounters in her dreams. This ear-catching profile album from Ensemble Intercontemporain presents three of the Korean-born, Berlin-based artist’s works: a triptych of visionary panels that flicker and swarm with kaleidoscopic colours.
Violin is a site of adventure for 
Luminous, barely breaking the silence with miniscule gradations and returns, a Jacob’s Ladder of chimes ushers in