Three unique pairings — guitar/flute, oboe/harpsichord, and clarinet/piano — each with a fascinating repertoire focus. Plus early vocal music, piano concertos, solo piano, and a wide-ranging album for harp.
New Releases Apr. 1: Dynamic Duos
Cavatina Duo
Cavatina Duo (Bosnian guitarist Denis Azabagić and Spanish flutist Eugenia Moliner) presents five new works that draw inspiration from Romani culture and musical traditions written for them by Clarice Assad, Sergio Assad, Matthew Dunne, Stacy Garrop, and Atanas Ourkouzounov. The duo aims to break down inherited negative cultural stereotypes of the Romani people. Azabagić and Moliner believe that the artificial boundaries dividing “us” and “them” can be dissolved through music as we discover our shared humanity.
Oboist Debra Nagy, founder and artistic director of the Cleveland-based period instrument ensemble Les Délices, presents an album on the eponymous label with her longtime collaborator, harpsichordist Mark Edwards. The program features François Couperin’s 1er Concert in G major from Concert Royaux and J.S. Bach’s Oboe Sonata in G minor, BWV1030b (better known as Flute Sonata in B minor, BWV 1030) as well as ingenious new arrangements for oboe and harpsichord of Couperin’s 6eme ordre for solo harpsichord and Bach’s Violin and Oboe Concerto in C minor. The composers were both revered organists, neither having written or experimented with opera, who nevertheless studied and incorporated Italian style into their works.
Julian Bliss is one of the world’s finest clarinetists, excelling as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, and jazz artist. James Baillieu is one of the leading song and chamber music pianists of his generation. As a duo, they revel in the versatile chamber music delights of the husband-and-wife composers Robert and Clara Schumann. Selections include Robert Schuman’s Romances, Op. 94 and Fantasy Pieces, Op. 73, as well as world premiere recordings of art songs by both Clara and Robert in new arrangements by Bliss himself.
In her debut album on Decca, acclaimed harpist Ashley Jackson presents her own arrangements of spirituals and works by Margaret Bonds, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Alice Coltrane. The album also includes Debussy’s “Danse Sacrée” and original compositions by contemporary composers Brandee Younger, João Luiz Rezende, and Jeromy Thomas. Jackson sings on a few selections and is supported by the Harlem Chamber Players for the Coltrane and Debussy. The repertoire mirrors the recital program she recently toured, described as an immersive audio experience that touches on themes from African mythology, the antebellum spiritual tradition and water’s transportive, transmogrifying nature.
Beatrice Rana performs four of Bach’s keyboard concertos (BWV 1052 in D minor, 1053 in E, 1054 in D, and 1056 in F minor) in a new recording with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. The internationally acclaimed Italian pianist describes Bach as “an important figure in my life … My piano studies began when I was very young, and Bach was there from the very start.” For Rana, part of the genius of Bach’s music lies in the way it “transcends its era and the musical technologies of its time and still feels modern to listeners today.” The recording follows Rana’s 2022 tour of the concertos with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta performed without a conductor. “As we played, the concerto for soloist and orchestra simply became an extension of chamber music.”
Ukrainian pianist Dmytro Choni is internationally recognized for his technically impeccable pianism, stupendous virtuosity, clarity of articulation and finest sensitivity. In recent years he garnered international attention by winning numerous awards, including the bronze medal at the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition and fourth prize at the 2021 the Leeds International Piano Competition. His debut solo album on for Naïve Classiques features works by Claude Debussy, Lowell Liebermann, Franz Liszt, and Valentin Silvestrov. Choni describes the program as relating “a narrative of travel between the two opposing worlds of Dante’s The Divine Comedy.” Hell is represented in Liebermann’s Gargoyles and Liszt’s Dante Sonata, while Paradise is symbolized in the divine music of Silvestrov’s 3 Bagatelles and Debussy’s Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut and L’Isle Joyeuse. Dmytro Choni makes his Chicago debut on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts on April 30.
Formed in 2015 by lutenist Albane Imbs, the early music ensemble Les Kapsber’girls has a permanent core of four women musicians: two singers, a viola da gamba player, and Imbs as artistic director on plucked instruments, with guest artists based on the nature of each project. The French ensemble’s name is a nod towards one of the most celebrated Italian composers of the early 17th century, Hieronymus Kapsberger (1580-1651), to whom they paid honor in their award-winning debut album. Their third album of madrigals and works for solo lute is devoted to Baroque women composers Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677), Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704), Lucia Quinciani (1566-1611), Francesca Caccini (1587-1641), Antonia Bembo (c.1643-1715), and Francesca Campana (c.1615-c.1665).
