Surround Sound

Soprano Gabrielle Haigh and pianist Randall Fusco perform art songs of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Giuseppe Martucci, Ottorino Respighi, Elsa Sangiacomo Respighi and Vittorio Rieti.

Music by Mari Kotskyy, James Sproul, Paul Portelli, Kit Grahame, Ed Frazier Davis, Vasiliy Medved, Xavier Shuang Xu, SangUn Kang, and Ariel Sol Bertulfo Schwartz Performed by Coro Volante; Brett Scott, music director.

Five works by Daron Hagen, all premiere recordings, performed by pianist Tracy Cowden; soprano Ariana Wyatt; tenor Brian Thorsett and cellist Benjamin Wyatt. Repertoire is "Rapture and Regret" for soprano, cello, and piano; "Five Nocturnes" for piano; "Vegetable Verselets" for soprano and piano; "Suite for piano" and the "Muldoon Songs" for tenor and piano.

Charles Metz performs on an Italian virginal (made by Francesco Poggi around 1590).

Music by Michal Ossowski, Hyunjung Byun, Joe L. Alexander, Ion Marmarinos, Jose Gonzalez Granero, Scott McIntyre, Brian Field, Alan Goldspiel, Tim Knight, Jakub Polaczyk, and Ellen Harrison. Performed by Coro Volante; Brett Scott, music director.

Tenor Kyle Stegall and fortepianist Eric Zivian perform Robert Schumann's two Liederkreis song cycles, as well as five lieder by Clara Schumann. Eric's fortepiano was made by Franz Rausch in 1842, the year after the Liederkreis were both written!

Works of Telemann, Hindemith, von Biber, Bunch, Schnittke, Bacewicz, Hovhaness, Toch, Rolla, Mamlok, Say and del Águila. Performed by Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio, violin and viola.

Performed by Gwendolyn Mok, featuring works by composers who have a direct link with Beethoven himself. The works will show the lineage from Haydn all the way to Liszt and will feature three historic pianos, each one paired with the pieces selected for this album. Thanks to the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies for loan of two of the keyboards.

With Christin Schillinger and Jed Moss (compositions by Adrienne Albert, John Steinmetz, Geoffrey Burch, Damian Montano, Jenni Brandon, Michael van Bebber and Kyle Hovatter).

Zachary Gordin, baritone and Bryan Nies, piano perform chansons of Reynaldo Hahn.

Left Coast Chamber Ensemble performing Carl Schimmel - String Quartet #2 "Six Faces". On the album Roadshow: Music of Carl Schimmel.

Commissions by countertenor Ryland Angel ("Now Fatal Change" by Tarik O'Regan), with countertenor Ryland Angel and violinist Lara St. John.

Cantatas of Handel, Rameau and Steffani/instrumental suites of Telemann and Sammartini. Dominique Labelle, soprano; Musica Pacifica.

Benvenue Fortepiano Trio (with Jodi Levitz, viola and Carla Moore, violin) perform Robert Schumann's Märchenbilder, Fünf Stücke im Volkston and the Piano Quintet, op. 44.

This serenata was performed once and then shelved - for 300 years! Nicholas McGegan OBE directs Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and members of the Philharmonia Chorale; soloists are mezzo-soprano Diana Moore (Primavera), soprano Suzana Ograjenšek (Estate), counterenor Clint van der Linde (Autunno), Tenor Nicholas Phan (Inverno) and baritone Douglas Williams (Giove). 

Also available as Pure Audio Blu-Ray with 24/192 DTS-HD surround and PCM stereo mixes.

Livia Sohn, violin; Benjamin Loeb, piano.

Royal Music from the Tudor and Stuart Courts (with Ryland Angel, vocalist; Dongsok Shin, virginal and Parthenia, A Consort of Viols). Featured are arrangements of Scottish folk songs by Richard Einhorn.

Soprano Dominique Labelle and composer/pianist Yehudi Wyner perform his song cycle "The Second Madrigal: Voices of Women" (written for Ms. Labelle). The rest of the disc features Maurice Ravel (Trois Chansons de Mallarmé), Benjamin Britten (Cabaret songs), and four songs each by Camille Saint-Saëns and Reynaldo Hahn.

Trefoil (Drew Minter and Mark Rimple, countertenors and plucked instruments; Marcia Young, soprano and harps) performs "Fleur de Valeur: A Medieval Bouquet". Music of 13th Century Trouvères, Gilles Binchois, Guillaume Dufay, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, Johannes, Johanne Ciconia, John Dunstable and several anonymous composers.

Violinist Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio and pianist Jim Winn perform the violin sonatas of Johannes Brahms, along with his "Sonatensatz" contribution to the multi-composer sonata "Frei aber Einsam".

Christin Schillinger, bassoon and Jed Moss, piano. All premiere recordings: Adrienne Albert - Circadia; Elizabeth Alexander - Fractals; Susan Kander - The Lunch Counter (for solo bassoon); Cindy McTee - Circle Music and Nancy Galbraith - Sonata for bassoon and piano.

Commissioned by University of North Texas (Denton); performed by the UNT Orchestra and Chorus with Richard Croft, tenor.

Pianist Gwendolyn Mok performs Johannes Brahms piano works: opp. 116 and 118 on a 1868 Erard piano, and opp. 177 and 119 a 1871 Streicher piano. The composer preferred these parallel-strung instruments to the familiar cross-strung design of Bösendorfer and Steinway.

"True Divided Light" for viola and piano (commissioned by Noe Valley Chamber Music and performed by Geraldine Walther, viola and David Korevaar, piano) and "Sonata for cello and piano" (commissioned by Chamber Music America and performed by Emil Miland, cello and David Korevaar, piano).

Nadina Mackie Jackson, bassoon; Nicholas McGegan OBE, music director and harpsichord/organ; Aislinn Nosky and Julia Wedman, violins; David Rose, viola; Raphaël Dubé, cello; Dominic Girard, bass, Lucas Harris, theorbo and guitar.

Benvenue Fortepiano Trio performs music of Robert Schumann, vol. 2 (Piano Trio no. 2 in F major, Op. 80 and Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47 with Adam LaMotte, viola).

Carol Wincenc, flute; Kevin Lawrence and Carolyn Stuart, violin; Sheila Browne, viola; Brooks Whitehouse, cello perform premiere recordings of Joan Tower's "Rising" and Arthur Foote's "Scherzo". The other works on this recording are Arthur Foote's "A Night Piece" and Amy Beach's "Theme and Variations for Flute and String Quartet".

Agave Baroque "Cold Genius", a programme of late 17th Century England in the Restoration period (Henry Purcell, William Lawes, Matthew Locke, and Nicola Matteis). It was specifically designed for performance at the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, California. This will be the soundtrack to an art film made in collaboration with the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

Drew Minter, countertenor and harp.

Debut recording of Berkeley-based period-instrument ensemble Les Grâces. Music of Michel Pignolet de Montéclair, Nicolas Bernier, Louis Couperin, Marin Marais and Jacques Duphly.

Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and three violin concerti (B-flat major, RV277, "Il Favorito" and "La Favorita"). Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin; Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan OBE, music director. Ms. Blumenstock performs on a violin made by Andrea Guarneri in 1660. This was recorded at the Scoring Stage at Skywalker Sound.

Nadina Mackie Jackson (bassoon) performs 24 solos by Jean Daniel Braun.

The Argenta Trio is a renowned piano trio featuring Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio, violin; Dmitri Atapine, cello; and Jim Winn, piano. They are the resident chamber ensemble at the University of Nevada, Reno and have recently signed on with Bridge Records. This debut recording features the two piano trios of Felix Mendelssohn and the Song Without Words, Op. 53 no. 9.

Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio, violin and viola; works by Georg Phillip Telemann, Eugen Ysaÿe, Fritz Kreisler, Henri Vieuxtemps, Augusta Read Thomas, Quincy Porter, James Winn, Erwin Schulhoff and Astor Piazzolla.

Performed by Tanya Tomkins.

Piano Trios no. 1, op. 63 and 3, op. 110, performed by Benvenue Fortepiano Trio (Monica Huggett, violin; Tanya Tomkins, cello and Eric Zivian, fortepiano).

Sung by the male a capella vocal ensemble Clerestory with repertoire from Claudin de Sermisy and Tomás Luis de Victoria to Jaakko Mantjarvi and John Musto. The members of this distinguished group have sung with Chanticleer, Philharmonia Chorale, San Francisco Symphony Chorus and the Dale Warland Singers.

Mendelssohn piano trios in d minor, Op. 49 and c minor, Op. 66 performed by The Benvenue Fortepiano Trio (Monica Huggett, violin; Tanya Tomkins, cello and Eric Zivian, fortepiano).

The Artists' Vocal Ensemble, Johnathan Dimmock, music director.

Sonatas for violin and piano K. 454 (B- flat major), K. 481 (E-flat major) and K. 526 (A major) performed by Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio (violin) and Jim Winn (piano).

Christin Schillinger, bassoon and Andrew Heglund, percussion present a programme of music for bassoon accompanied by a wide variety of instruments: marimba, vibraphone, bass drum, timpani, drum set, bells, chimes and rain stick. On the CD:"Composites" by Dean Witten, "Dirge for John Cage" by Gerhard Samuel, "Orpheus" by David Maslanka, "Nairobi, La Nuit" by Alexandre Ouzounoff, "Branches" by Paul Chihara, "Fantasy-Etudes for Bassoon and Percussion" by Verne Reynolds, and "Duet for Bassoon and One Maraca" by Michael Isaacson. Also performing are Albie Micklich, bassoon and Sharon Hickox-Young, percussion.

New Century Chamber Orchestra's debut recording with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg violin soloist and music director. This recording contains Astor Piazzolla (arr. Leonid Desyatnikov) "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires"; Clarice Assad "Impressions, Suite for String Orchestra" (commissioned by NCCO, world premiere recording); Béla Bartók "Roumanian Dances"; and George Gershwin's "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" from Porgy and Bess (arr. Clarice Assad).

Chanticleer and music director Joseph Jennings presents "The Mission Road" - a program of authentic and rich vocal repertory from the Mexican Baroque and other musical treasures of New Spain many originally performed in the California Missions, accompanied by five instrumentalists. Recorded at San Francisco's fabled Mission Dolores, the CD includes Juan Bautista Sancho's Misa en sol, (Mass in G) sung in Latin; selected works by renowned Mexican Baroque master Manuel de Sumaya, only recently discovered in the Mexican City Cathedral Archive; in addition to various vocal compositions (introit, processional, alleluia, and recessional) by anonymous Spanish/Mexican composers of the late 18th century, all sung in Spanish. While all of the original instrumental parts have been lost, acknowledged Mexican Baroque musical authority Professor Craig Russell has carefully restored these parts after two years of extensive research, allowing for these musical works to be heard as originally intended for the first time in 200 years.

Gloria Justen performs her "Sonaquifer Suite" and "Reflections" for solo viola.

Includes all six sonatas from "Les Délices de la Solitude" and the "Les Phénix" concerto, all featuring Nadina Mackie Jackson as soloist. The CD is concluded with Correte's Concerto #1 in G Major for Organ, with Paul Jenkins as soloist. Musica Franca is comprised of musicians from Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony and Les Violons du Roy.

Features Mathieu Lussier, and includes sonatas from Opus 14, 26, 40, 50 & 66. This music is a true celebration of all aspects of the basso continuo with an enormous range of colour and expression. The addition of the contrabassoon, theorbo, baroque guitar, organ and harpsichord provide constantly interesting realization of the possibilities in this music.

Written and directed by Philip Kan Gotanda.

Recorded live with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (Nicholas McGegan OBE, music director) and Philharmonia Chorale (Bruce Lamott, director). Soloists are Dominique Labelle and Susanne Ryden, sopranos; Ryland Angel, alto; Michael Slattery, tenor; and Neal Davies, baritone. This double CD also has performances of Alessandro Scarlatti's "Audi, Filia", "Salve Regina" and "Nisi Dominus". 

With sopranos Dominique Labelle and Christine Brandes; Nicholas McGegan OBE directing the Arcadian Academy (Elizabeth Blumenstock and Lisa Weiss, violins; Phoebe Carrai, cello; David Tayler, lute, theorbo and guitar and Nicholas McGegan OBE, harpsichord). Repertoire: Serenata - Puote si poco Amor "Cupido e Onestà" (Christine Brandes, Cupido; Dominique Labelle, Onesta); Lisa del foco mio "Clori, e Lisa" (Dominique Labelle, Clori; Christine Brandes, Lisa); Amica, hora che Aprile "Filli e Clori" (Dominique Labelle, Clori; Christine Brandes, Filli); Ahi, che sarà di me? "Floro e Tirsi" (Christine Brandes, Floro; Dominique Labelle, Tirsi).

Featuring sopranos Jennifer Smith and Christine Brandes, alto David Daniels, tenor Jamie MacDougall and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (Nicholas McGegan OBE, music director) and Philharmonia Chorale (Bruce Lamott, director). The final chorus is the well-known "Rule Britannia".