Two highly anticipated debut albums are the cornerstone of this week’s new releases. Under the direction of multi-instrumentalist/conductor Claire-Ombeline Muhlmeyer, the debut from Ensemble Tumbleweeds fully embraces 17th-century Venice. Another newcomer, countertenor John Holiday, presents a solo album for voice and piano. In orchestral news, Peter Fisher leads the Chamber Ensemble of London on their second album of classical delights. We hear a recording made in November of 2025, when Music director Nathalie Stutzmann became one of the few women conductors to conduct Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony. Finally, the Kansas City Symphony under the direction of Michael Stern is joined by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and the Sphinx Organization’s vocal ensemble EXIGENCE (Dr. Eugene Rogers, director) to present the first commercial release devoted exclusively to music of Joel Thompson.
New Releases July 21: John Holiday, Nathalie Stutzmann, and more.
In 17th-century Venice, music underwent a series of profound transformations. It was a time of splendor, marked both by the development of musical writing and by advances in instrument making, with the rise of the violin and the recorder, experimentation with continuo without bass or keyboard, and the golden age of the sackbut. Under the direction of French multi-instrumentalist and conductor Claire-Ombeline Muhlmeyer, the debut album by Ensemble Tumbleweeds fully embraces this rich effervescence through works by Dario Castello, in whose music the sackbut rivals the violin in virtuosity, as well as Alessandro Grandi, Giovanni Girlamo Kapsberger, Biagio Marini, Marco Uccellini, and Giralomo Frescobaldi. All of them spent time in La Serenissima, and each in their own way contributed to the extraordinary flourishing that would, in the following century, establish Venetian influence across Europe.
Led by music director Nathalie Stutzmann, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra leads presents Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony recorded in November 2025. One of the few women conductors to record the work, Stutzmann describes the great Austrian late-Romantic as one of her favorite composers. In a feature in The New York Times marking the composer’s 200th birthday, Stutzmann said: “I always was fascinated by the feelings I was getting when I was listening to a Bruckner symphony. . . . People always think about the grandeur of his music. But there are also so many moments of intimate feelings. The way he writes is so Romantic, but the form itself is super Classical, it’s even from the Middle Ages sometimes. . . . When you finish a concert with him, you feel like you went over five centuries of music in Europe.”
As a finalist of NBC’s The Voice in 2020, countertenor John Holiday’s fan base extends well beyond the world of classical music. His highly anticipated debut solo album reflects both the breadth of his artistry and the clarity of his artistic voice. Praised as one of the finest countertenors of his generation, Holiday brings together a thoughtfully curated program spanning spirituals, contemporary works, and art song. From intimate moments at the piano to collaborations with pianist Kevin Miller, the album includes works by Hall Johnson, Robert L. Morris, H. Leslie Adams, world premieres by Theo Morrison and Carlos Simon, and arrangements by Holiday accompanying himself at the piano. Rooted in themes of resilience, faith, and love, Over My Head offers a portrait of one of the most important and impactful artists performing today.
Directed by violinist Peter Fisher, the Chamber Ensemble of London, a virtuoso group of hand-picked string players whom The Times counts amongst “a handful of the world’s finest musicians.” Their second album draws on the rich tradition of light classical music. The program features Rhapsody for Clarinet & Strings by Geoffrey Bush and 5 Pieces for Clarinet & String Orchestra by Clive Jenkins, both featuring clarinetist Peter Cigleris. Another work by Jenkins included here is Fantasy for Horn & Strings featuring hornist Alexei Watkins. Watkins is also featured in Orion (Serenade for Horn & Strings) by Andy Meyers; as well as Lullaby by composer Luke Whitlock. Bassoonist Sarah Watts performs her composition Everywhere Is Somewhere Else and is the soloist for the contemplative Sunday Afternoon by composer Nigel Brooks as well as A Little Waltz by Gordon Jacob. Other works include “Canto popolare” extracted from Edward Elgar’s concert overture In the South; Lennox Berkeley’s single-movement Andantino, which he adapted from his Festival Anthem; and one of Frederick Delius’s earliest surviving compositions, Romance featuring cellist Michael Mace. Peter Fisher is the violinist for Elgar’s “Canto popolare” and Vers le Sud (Towards the South) by Terence Higgins. Fisher also plays the album’s title piece, Don Shearman’s Quiet Summer Evening.
The Kansas City Symphony under the direction of Michael Stern joined by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and the Sphinx Organization’s vocal ensemble EXIGENCE (Dr. Eugene Rogers, director) present a landmark recording—the first commercial release devoted exclusively to the music of Joel Thompson. The career of composer Joel Thompson has risen rapidly since the premiere of his breakthrough choral work Seven Last Words of the Unarmed in 2015. Each of its seven movements sets to music the final words spoken by an unarmed Black man before his death. Since then, Thompson has received numerous prestigious awards, earned commissions from many of America’s leading orchestras and ensembles, and became the first Composer-in-Residence at Houston Grand Opera. Today, his compositional voice is widely recognized as one of the most compelling and socially engaged in American music, giving expression to the experiences and aspirations of historically marginalized communities. With Seven Last Words of the Unarmed as the centerpiece, the album also includes To Awaken the Sleeper for orchestra and narrator (Joel Thompson), The Places We Leave featuring Joyce DiDonato, and breathe / burn: an elegy featuring Yo-Yo Ma. The album concludes with The Caged Bird Sings for Freedom, a work for choir, piano (Ruben Reyes), and clarinet (Raymond Santos).
