CLASSICAL
Johann Sebastian Bach
Partitas
Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble / Trevor Pinnock
Linn (dist. Naxos)
CKD 730
Trevor Pinnock has recorded Bach’s keyboard partitas before, but this album represents something very different: a “re-imagining” of the pieces for chamber orchestra. (Pinnock has previously led a similar project that addressed Bach’s Goldberg Variations in the same way, though with a different arranger.) Composer Thomas Oehler was approached to create orchestral realizations of Partitas nos. 1, 2, and 5, with the Corrente section of Partita no. 6 as well; he also contributed an original piece, the pensive Brook of Light as an appendix to the program. The distribution of contrapuntal lines across multiple wind and string parts — not to mention the use of modern instruments — creates a completely different sonic experience from what one has when the music is played on the keyboard (especially the harpsichord), and while this may not turn out to be everyone’s favorite account of these familiar works, there’s no questioning the skill and taste that Oehler and Pinnock have brought to bear, or the restrained virtuosity of the musicians. Any library supporting a curriculum in orchestration should be especially interested in this recording.
Paolo Aretino
Sabbato Sancto: Lamentationes et Responsoria
Odhecaton / Paolo Da Col
Arcana (dist. Naxos)
A551
This absolutely stunning disc represents the world-premiere recording of a lost work by a nearly forgotten composer. Paolo Aretino (born Paolo Antonio Del Bivi) was a prolific composer but one who rarely left his home in the Tuscan city of Arezzo. His setting of the Passion of St. John is still occasionally performed, but none of his other works have been recorded until now. These lamentations and responsories for Holy Saturday — one of the most important days in the Christian liturgical calendar — reflect the deep sorrow and uncertainty felt by Jesus’ disciples on the day after his crucifixion and before his resurrection. Scored for male voices all singing between the tenor and low bass registers, the music is as dark and introspective as you’d expect, and it’s also deeply moving; the mood varies hardly at all, but the melodic and harmonic ideas consistently hold the listener’s interest. There’s a slight edge to the singing of the Odhecaton ensemble, a sharpness at the peripheries of their sound that occasionally hints at an almost Eastern Orthodox sonority. I cannot recommend this disc strongly enough.
Ludwig Daser
Missa Pater noster & Other Works
Cinquecento
Hyperion (dist. Integral)
CDA68414
Here’s another wonderful recording by an all-male ensemble of works by a neglected 16th-century composer — this one from the court of Munich. Ludwig Daser’s predecessor (Ludwig Senfl) and successor (Orlande de Lassus) have both gotten lots of attention in the years since their activity at Munich, while Daser has remained surprisingly obscure. This disc brings to light Daser’s unusual Missa Pater noster, several motets, and a selection of Protestant chorales, indicating Daser’s wide stylistic range. The centerpiece Mass is an obscure work even for Daser, and currently exists only in a single copy; it extensively incorporates Gregorian chant and uses plainchant melodies in addition to the Pater noster melody as a basis for the polyphonic settings of the different sections. As always, the five-voice Cinquecento ensemble brings a rich and sonorous tone to its performances, a sounds that in this case is deepened further by the addition of several more singers. For all early music collections.
Various Composers
The NID Tapes: Electronic Music from India 1969-1972 (vinyl & digital only)
The state51 Conspiracy
CONNACOL001
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, India’s National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad was the site of that country’s first electronic music studio, which was founded with help from the legendary New York composer David Tudor. This compilation is drawn from 27 reels of archival tape dating from that period, and is released to coincide with the publication of a book about this remarkable chapter in India’s musical history. It features works by composers previously unheard of outside the small regional avant-garde scene: Gita Sarabhi, I.S. Mother, Atal Desai, S.C. Sharma and Jinraj Joshipura. The music itself is, as one would expect, very much of its time: lots of bleepy analog synthesizer sounds, but also some pieces that seem to draw on field recordings or seek to mimic natural sounds (note in particular Mathur’s My Birds). All of it is fascinating, and a very fun listen as well as a window on a musical milieu previously undocumented in the West.
Scott Scholz
Whip Sigils
No Part of It
No cat. no.
Some CD HotList readers may actually know Scott Scholz — he directs the music library for Lincoln City Libraries in Lincoln, Nebraska, and is a radio and podcast host among other endeavors. He’s also a gifted guitarist and composer, and was prompted to produce this project during the COVID lockdowns. The pandemic led him to investigate musical responses to similar situations in the past, which in turn led him to dive into European and Middle Eastern early music and learn how to transcribe neumatic notation; he learned to play the oud and the saz, and eventually created a series of compositions that incorporate all of these elements and more. On these seven tracks, he layers instruments, what sound like vocal samples, and various other elements, creating pieces that at times explicitly invoke Medieval European and Arabic music but also incorporate elements of skronk, avant-rock, and minimalism to create a musical whole that is simultaneously familiar and alien — it’s sometimes deeply contemplative and sometimes aggressively noisy, but always interesting and often fun.
Carl Philipp Stamitz
Six Trios
L’Apothéose
Linn (dist. Naxos)
CKD684
I’ve always known Stamitz primarily as a composer of magnificent concertos and chamber music for the clarinet, but obviously there’s much more to his oeuvre than that. For example, take this exquisitely lovely set of trios for flute and violin (or two violins), and continuo, which he published while on a two-year sojourn in London. The pieces reflect the popularity of the galant style in late-18th-century Europe, an aesthetic that favored accessibility and naturalness of melody and relative simplicity of arrangement — however, these trios are notable for the degree to which Stamitz was able to work creatively, sometimes even surprisingly, within that stylistic boundary. The playing, on period instruments, by L’Apothéose — especially that of flutist Laura Quesada — is an absolute joy throughout, and the recorded sound is both rich and intimate. Highly recommended to all classical collections.
JAZZ
Chien Chien Lu
Built in System (Live from New York) (digital only)
Giant Step Arts
GSA 020
This is vibraphonist/composer Chien Chien Lu’s second album as a leader, and it acts as a showcase for the talents of someone who sounds like she’s been on the scene for decades. Also featuring trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, bassist Richie Goods, and drummer Allan Mednard, the album consists entirely of original compositions, through which you can hear her background in classical percussion (note in particular the harmonically knotty “Boulanger’s Variation”) as well as the influence of Chinese folk music (“Hsiu Chin,” “Full Moonlight”). The “built in system” referenced in the title is Lu’s personal philosophy concerning fate, travel, and cultural heritage, all themes that emerge in the music in various ways (including in the titles). The pieces tend to be long and somewhat discursive, giving Lu and her sidemen plenty of space to stretch out. This is quite a special album from a unique talent.
Gregory Lewis
Organ Monk Going Home
Sunnyside
SSC 1662
Thelonious Monk was both a highly influential and a very prolific composer (as well as a notoriously idiosyncratic pianist). But relatively few of his compositions are recorded regularly, partly because so much of what he wrote was just so very odd. The casual jazz fan could be forgiven for being familiar with little more than “‘Round Midnight” and “Epistrophy.” But Monk is much beloved of jazz players, and organist Gregory Lewis is among Monk’s greatest fans. The fifth volume in his Organ Monk series finds him, alongside guitarist Kevin McNeal and drummer Nasheet Waits, delving into some of the more obscure corners of Monk’s book, pulling up less familiar material like “Who Knows,” “Two Timer,” and “Brake’s Sake.” (There’s also a lovely original ballad by Lewis.) He and his crew play with gusto, and at times an almost manic energy, but the groove is always solid and often — as one would expect with this configuration — funky.
Ted Piltzecker
Vibes on a Breath
OA2
OA2 22216
The latest recording by vibraphonist Ted Piltzecker as a leader is also his first outing with a larger ensemble. This septet includes trumpeter Brad Goode and tenor saxophonist/bass clarinetist John Gunther (who gets a lot of featured time in these arrangements), and the group operates nimbly in the space between a medium-sized combo and a small jazz orchestra. The program is filled with fun and sometimes slightly odd choices: for example, opening with two quiet numbers, the first of them a slow, torchy arrangement of “If I Only Had a Brain” and the second a take on “Nature Boy” that opens with drifting impressionism and then evolves into a midtempo lope. The energy level picks up with Piltzecker’s original “Roaring Fork Closure,” a strutting hard-bop workout with a subtle and highly effective horn chart. Elsewhere there’s a great arrangement of the enigmatic Lee Konitz composition “Subconscious Lee” (note the unison lines played by the vibes and the bass clarinet) as well as contemplative performances of Keith Jarrett’s “In Your Quiet Place” and Hoagy Carmichael’s “New Orleans.” Strongly recommended to all jazz collections.
Jon Menges
Spirit of 3, Spirit of 4
Menges Music
No cat. no.
The latest release from trumpeter/composer Jon Menges is an all-original program presented in two formats: the first six tunes are played by a trio (with guitarist Pete McCann and bassist Evan Gregor), while the second set of six tracks is performed by a quartet (with saxophonist Nathan Childers, bassist Joe Fitzgerald, and drummer Robert Weiss). Menges’ compositions tend toward the quiet and gentle, even when they swing solidly, as they usually do: “Mina Buta” departs from the general vibe with a swaying Latin beat, and the lovely “The Spirit Within” is a strutting medium-tempo swinger, as is the beautifully arranged “Somethin’.” To my ear the ballad “Angelynne” is just a bit too meandering, but overall this is a hugely enjoyable album — a master class in modern straight-ahead jazz.
Mathieu Soucy
Recollecting
Inner Bop
No cat. no.
Guitarist Mathieu Soucy characterizes his music as “bebop with a French accent,” and if you’re not exactly sure what that’s supposed to mean, join the club — it certainly does not mean bebop with a Gypsy flavor or an accordion. Nor does it mean jazz that partakes of a leisurely, flâneur vibe: this is hard-swinging, sprightly, and frankly serious-sounding old-school jazz. Not to say that it isn’t joyful, by any means: listen to Soucy’s solo on “Blues for Barry” and there’s really no doubt that he’s having the time of his life. But his compositions are complex (the album opening “Lennie’s Changes” is aptly titled, and “Mike’s Mudrá” has even more of that academic Tristano vibe) and the playing is virtuosic, and his quartet both supports and pushes him. Guest vocalist Caity Gyorgy brings an old-school cool to two tracks, and Soucy’s take on the Thelonious Monk composition “Reflections” is a particular highlight. Highly recommended.
FOLK/COUNTRY
High Fidelity
Music in My Soul
Rebel
REB-CD-1879
Bluegrass gospel is a uniquely exciting and exhilarating musical subgenre, and most bluegrass groups incorporate gospel music as one element of their repertoire. There have been some notable exceptions: Doyle Lawson’s bands have often been very heavily focused on gospel music, and Ralph Stanley spent more time than most on religious material as well. High Fidelity is a Nashville-based quintet that has always included gospel songs on their albums, but decided to go whole hog this time: Music in My Soul is an all-gospel program that includes both classic and original songs, all of them delivered with admirable commitment and unquestionable virtuosity. Highlights include the a cappella “I’m a Pilgrim” and fiddler Corrina Rose Logston Stephens’ original “The Mighty Name of Jesus,” but there’s really not a weak track here.
Viv & Riley
Imaginary People
Free Dirt (dist. Redeye)
DIRT-CD-0113
I’m kind of a sucker for husband-and-wife duos, partly because I’m just kind of a romantic and partly because I think husband-and-wife duos tend to make really amazing music together — even when their relationship isn’t particularly happy. (Heck, sometimes an unhappy relationship makes the music even better: I’m looking at you, Richard and Linda Thompson.) Now, in the case of Viv & Riley, the music seems to come from a very real place of deep love, commitment, and a willingness to negotiate conflict. Not to get too therapy-ish, but songs like “Is It All Over” and “Flashing Lights” sound to me like documents of commitment (“The General,” on the other hand, mines a darker seam). And “Suave Island” sounds an awful lot like a paean to domestic contentment, unless I’m misunderstanding the couplet “Dryers broke but we’re still fine/Hanging clothes out on the line.” This is a gentle and thoroughly lovely album.
Mary Beth Carty
Crossing the Causeway
Self-released
MBC002
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Mary Beth Carty comes from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, a region noted for its production of world-class folk musicians. In addition to excellent original compositions, Carty has an impressive repertoire of French Canadian, Irish, and Scottish tunes and songs, which she sings in English, French, and Gaelic. She’s one of those rarest of things: a virtuoso musician who never calls attention to her virtuosity, instead arranging and performing the selected tunes and songs in ways that make you say “What a lovely tune” rather than “Wow, listen to that technique.” And every song and tune on this program is a solid winner: the sad ones are sweet, the rollicking ones are gentle, the happy ones are heartwarming. Strongly recommended to all libraries.
ROCK/POP
The Pretty Flowers
A Company Sleeve
Double Helix
DHR 235235-0013
What, you may well ask, is the difference between “indie rock” and “indie pop”? One answer is “guitars,” but that’s not a good answer because most indie pop involves guitars. A better answer might be “big, noisy, messy-sounding guitars.” And this brings us to The Pretty Flowers, whose new album is an absolute riot of big, noisy, messy-sounding guitars. It’s also a riot of messaging around the theme of “pushing back against meaningless authority” – which might lead one reasonably to ask “So how is this not a punk album?”. And I’d say the answer is “hooks.” Because no matter how noisy the guitars get, the vocal harmonies and the earworm melodies manage to cut through very effectively. This is a perfect album for a long commute home after a crappy day at work with a terrible boss. (Not that I’ve ever had a day like that myself.)
Cesare vs. Disorder
Antidote (vinyl & digital? only)
Serialism
SERLP002
Cesare vs. Disorder appears to be one person only: Italian-Polish producer Cesare Marchese. I’m guessing that his pseudonym reflects the goal of fighting against musical entropy, because the overriding impression I get from his unique brand of dance music is one of tidiness. Don’t get me wrong — his music swings and percolates and is wonderfully funky. But it also feels disciplined and careful, in all the best ways. Highlight tracks here include the UK garage-derived “South East” and “Brixton ’98,” the thumping (but not overbearing) house workout “B Urself,” and the absolutely irresistible “Jupiter’s Rain.” But everything here is worth both listening and dancing too. (There’s supposed to be a digital version available with a bunch of additional tracks, but danged if I can find it online. My promo copy includes those additional tracks, and I can attest that they’re worth seeking out.)
Rhys Chatham; David Fenech
Tomorrowstartstonight
Klanggalerie (dist. MVD)
GG435
This is one of those unusual albums that could have gone equally easily into either the Classical or the Rock/Pop category. On the one hand, it’s clearly art music; on the other, it’s made largely with electric guitars. The complete lack of liner notes makes it a bit difficult to say more than that with any confidence, but the sounds definitely sound like they come from electric guitars, and we know that Chatham himself is a prolific guitarist, as is his collaborator David Fenech. As for the music itself: it’s gorgeous, in a very minimal way. This is minimal music of what I call the “wind chimes” variety, in that a small number of pitches repeat in constantly shifting patterns, without anything that sounds like deliberate harmonic movement. The three long tracks that make up this album seem all to incorporate variously processed and distorted guitars, with perhaps a few other source materials (is that a real rooster crowing?), and the music floats and shimmers and sometimes unsettles.
Mae Simpson
Chandelier & Bloom
Self-released
No cat. no.
Mae Simpson’s songwriting and singing both draw on a variety of influences, yet manage to create from them a powerful and coherent style all her own. Yes, you’ll hear more than a hint of Janis Joplin in her delivery on the funky “Sally,” and there’s a cowpunk edge to the stomping “Why,” and a strong Latin/Caribbean flavor to the swaying, strutting “California-Carolina.” But Simpson’s sound is more than the sum of those elements – it’s a vibe all her own, one that comes not only from her graceful piledriver of a voice and her unique songwriting, but also from the strong and supple grooves that her band creates. This appears to be her first full-length album, and it’s frankly pretty amazing.
Electronic
Get the Message: The Best of Electronic (2 discs; expanded reissue)
Parlophone/Warner
No cat. no.
Originally issued in 2006 as a 15-track single-disc compilation, Getting Away with It is a retrospective of 1990s singles by Electronic, a band headed by the duo of Bernard Sumner (Joy Division, New Order) and Johnny Marr (The Smiths). For both of them, Electronic was a pressure-release valve, a chance to get away from the bands that had defined them and taken over their lives and to make music that they felt like making. Not having listened to these songs in a long while, I was struck when hearing them again by the fact that this music is much more organic-sounding than that of New Order, and much more electronic-sounding than that of The Smiths (especially when Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant is contributing vocals). Maybe that shouldn’t be a surprise. But the other thing that startled me was how much more gentle and mainstream most of the songs sounded than I had remembered. This reissue adds a second disc of deeper cuts and remixes.
Lee Gamble
Models
Hyperdub (dist. Redeye)
CD-HDB-065
“Extracting haunted fragments of synthetic corrupted chatter and indecipherable non-words to sculpt dreamy pop simulacrums,” read the press materials, “Gamble takes the concept of pop producer to its logical extreme.” Now, one may disagree with what it really means in practice to take “the concept of pop producer to its logical extreme,” but the first part of that sentence is a pretty good characterization of the music on Lee Gamble’s latest album. On “She’s Not” he channels Cocteau Twins through a gauzy electro filter; on “Phantom Limb” he turns what sounds like a bass line played on a cello and uses it to create the harmonic scaffolding for wispy clouds of melody; “Blurring” takes a burbling percussion part that evokes early-80s Peter Gabriel and envelopes it in floating chords that appear and disappear according to an odd pattern. There is rhythm on this record but nothing that could be called a “groove” — nevertheless, it’s consistently compelling.
WORLD/ETHNIC
Gregory Isaacs
Red Rose for Gregory (reissue)
Greensleeves
GREWCD118
Gregory Isaacs
Rebirth of the Cool Ruler
VP
VPGSCD7064
The late Gregory Isaacs was a triple-threat reggae artist: a label owner, a fine roots-and-culture singer, and one of the architects (and arguably the greatest exponent) of the “lovers rock” style. His success in the latter role was made possible in part by his ability to portray himself simultaneously as an impecunious and heartbroken “loving pauper” and as a prolifically successful ladies’ man. The 1988 recording Red Rose for Gregory, made with the great dancehall producer Gussie Clarke, stands with Isaacs’ 1982 album Night Nurse as perhaps his most compelling work in that vein; this new Greensleeves reissue is of a later CD version that preserves the original tracklist but expands the content by presenting several of the songs in extended showcase mixes — and by adding an extended mix of “Mind You Dis” for good measure. Rebirth of the Cool Ruler is a tribute album, one that takes some late-80s recordings Isaacs made for producer King Jammy and adds newly recorded guest vocals from a variety of singers and toasters (Shaggy, Chaka Demus, Alborosie, Bounty Killer, etc.) to create “combination” tracks on which Isaacs’ original vocals alternate with the singing or chatting of the guest performer. The result is enjoyable and will be welcomed by Isaacs’ many fans.
Aga Khan Master Musicians
Nowruz
Smithsonian Folkways
SFW CD 40597
The Aga Khan Master Musicians are an international ensemble consisting of instrumentalists from Central Asia, China, the Middle East, and North Africa. While skeptical listeners might note that there is little that stylistically unites the musical traditions of (for example) China and North Africa, and might therefore suspect this project of being more of an exercise in feel-good multiculturalism than in musical coherence, I urge open-mindedness in this case. For example, check out the way Wu Man’s pipa creates a colorful blend with composer Feras Charestan’s qanun on the lovely “Awdeh,” or the way viola d’amore player Jasser Haj Youssef draws on both the traditional Arabic maqam structure and on Bach’s solo violin sonatas while improvising on “Cadence.” This excellent album actually turns out to be a perfect example of how to do musical multiculturalism right.
Male Choir ‘Ukraina’
Orthodox Hymns of Ukraine (reissue)
Alto (dist. Alliance)
ALC 1478
Although this one could easily have gone in the Classical section, I’m putting it in World/Ethnic because of the strong ethnic/regional focus. This disc is not just a program of Orthodox hymnody, but also a gesture of resistance; although it was originally issued in 1989, long before the current Russian aggression towards Ukraine, it is being reissued now along with a clear statement of intent and of opposition to the Russian patriarchate (“All composers here were born in Ukraine”). So how’s the music? Glorious, with that particular intensity of delivery and density of harmony that typifies sacred music in the Orthodox tradition. Featured composers include Dmytry Bortniansky, Artemy Vedel, and Mykola Lysenko.
Prince Far I
Under Heavy Manners (expanded reissue)
VP/17 North Parade
VPCD4218
Michael Williams, a.k.a. Prince Far I, was a unique talent among reggae “deejays” (a term used in that context to mean what we would call “rappers” or “MCs” in America). He used his deep and stentorian voice to deliver consistent messages of religious and cultural exhortation, never indulging in “slackness” (i.e. sexually explicit or violent lyrics) and rarely if ever “riding the rhythm” the way his contemporaries did: instead of fitting the rhythm of his delivery to the accompanying music, he often simply used the music as a backdrop to his carefully prepared messages. Heavy Manners was originally issued in 1977, when he was operating at the peak of his powers, and includes such timeless tracks as “Deck of Cards,” “You I Love and Not Another,” the delightful “Big Fight,” and of course the powerful title track. Six years later Prince Far I had joined the ever-growing ranks of talented musicians killed during Jamaica’s perennial spasms of senseless violence. This significantly expanded reissue adds alternative mixes and dub versions.
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