MSR Classics | What’s New from Newtown?

Recent Releases

Autumn is here, and with it colorful foliage, an upcoming election (yikes!) and the Holiday Season. While we make the transition, why not take a break now and then to investigate new and compelling listening material from MSR. From time-honored favorites to exciting discoveries, there's more than plenty here to entertain and enlighten. To paraphrase a beloved slogan: "You're going to like what you hear." Read on below for brief introductions to What's New from Newtown, all of which is available on CD, and for streaming and download.

Our most recent release features one of MSR's most valued (and prolific) recording artists, pianist Joshua Pierce. In his latest issue, all of his previously released recordings of the music for piano and orchestra by FRANZ LISZT, including the THREE PIANO CONCERTOS and six other CONCERT WORKS, have been re-combined and newly remastered by Candlewood Digital (under the supervision of Pierce himself) using the very latest audio technology. The difference between the original releases of this repertoire more than a decade ago and this latest 2CD product is stunning, the new audio being more detailed, balanced and musical. The performances are right out of the mind's ear, with Pierce's pianism going from Lisztian pianissimos all the way up to '11'. As a piano virtuoso, Liszt has big shoes to fill, and our man Pierce slips comfortably in them. Right behind Pierce's 2-CD set are World Premiere Recordings of PIERRE-MAX DUBOIS' COMPLETE SONGS as performed by mezzo-soprano Élise DesChamps and pianist Alan Huckleberry. The five song cycles range from 1959 to 1969, and being from that era, possess an interesting mix of traditional and contemporary compositional elements. DesChamps' and Huckleberry's performances are musically spotless and deeply felt; one hopes this release will bring more attention to these previously unrecorded gorgeous vocal gems. Fresh out of the box is Volume 18 in the ongoing MUSIC OF BARBARA HARBACH series, this one (Orchestral Music VIII) featuring three quite pictorial symphonies: Symphony No.12 “Tempus Fugit”, Symphony No.13 “The Journey” and Symphony No.14 “Pioneer Women”. The music still sounds very much like Harbach (your high expections being met), but like each successve release in the series one gets a glimpse of an even deeper trove from which she derives inspiration. The London Philharmonic Orchestra under David Angus are captured brilliantly by Floating Earth. Just in the door is a lush program of solo piano works by CHOPIN and DEBUSSY as performed by a newcomer to MSR, Carlos Gardels. Our soloist brings all of his skill and inspiration to the music, making each moment count. His way with the delicacy of the repertoire is remarkable, as is use of rubato. Carlos puts himself in, but never to the detriment of the score. In the Debussy Nocturnes, for example, he knows just how to ignore those bar lines when necessary! Also new for July is WAVELENGTH, a program of new and highly accessible American works for clarinet, cello and piano. The trio of musicians - clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois, cellist Dmitri Atapine and pianist Hyeyeon Park - perform with technical precision in balance with musical flexibility. Frequent readers of these MSR "What's New from Newtown" introductions will note a certain fixation upon this oft-mentioned "balance" phenomenon. Again paraphrasing (this time from a classic film), getting the balance right between the head and the hands can only be done by engaging the heart. (Can anyone identify the film?!). Another solo recording has come in, by pianist Ross Salvosa, entitled PHOENIX RISING. The program cosists of Chopin Etudes, Op.3, Guido Agosti's arrangement of three excerpts from Stravinsky's Firebird and three charming but by no means lightweight Filipino miniatures. Salvosa brings the scores to life with spirited, inflected performances. Also brand new is PRISMATIC SOUNDS, a tour-de-force of solo clarinet playing by Jeremy Reynolds. Heard in world premiere recordings of works by five contemporary composers, Reynolds does indeed reveal the full spectrum of music color of which the clarinet (in the right hands) is capable. Just released is a brand new digital remastering of BRAHMS' PIANO CONCERTO NO.2 as performed by Joshua Pierce with the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra under Kirk Trevor in top form. Pierce's handsome, inflected and often bold performance is heard in true digital clarity, but with an unmissable analog warmth. Coupled with the Brahms are attractive works by FRANCK and WEBER, each given an interpretation as convincing as that given the Brahms, again with engaging orchestral support and fine sonics.