Duo della Luna: Mangetsu

Duo della Luna (Susan Botti, soprano/composer; Airi Yoshioka, violin)
Released July 9, 2021. New Focus Recordings: fcr305

"A rare ensemble combination of voice and violin, Duo della Luna presents an album that is sonically beautiful and contextually adventurous. Mangetsu is dreamy and poetic yet cutting edge and experimental. The thread that connects a variety of compositions on this album is the unique ensemble sound throughout: deep, eloquent, potent. Susan Botti (voice/composer) and Airi Yoshioka (violin) venture into themes of life and creation, imagination, female power and love with a magical artistic rapport…Yoshioka’s violin playing is simply gorgeous, the colours and the precision equally alluring…There is a certain kind of magic that happens when the music is expressed in so few voices. The sound becomes unadorned and pure, and these two performers take full advantage of it."
— The Whole Note

Duo della Luna (Susan Botti, soprano/composer; Airi Yoshioka, violin) releases Mangetsu, centered around the multi-movement title piece that Botti wrote that catalyzed the duo's formation. Botti's sensual setting of otherworldly texts is contrasted with her inventive arrangements of Bartók's famous violin duos that excavate original folk song texts, as well as the iconic American song, "Wayfaring Stranger," and two Italian traditional songs. Kaija Saariaho's Changing Light and Linda Dusman's Triptych of Gossips round out this collection that features the duo’s seamlessly integrated and balanced ensemble style through text settings that point to the timeless link between song and text in folkloric traditions.

Turina Trios and piano quartet

Complete Piano Trios and Piano Quartet
Damocles Trio / Lawrence Dutton, guest violist
Released Fall, 2004. Claves Records: 50-2409.

[Double four-star rating] “…the pieces have a similar way of boiling up to chunky rhetorical climaxes often with sweeping strings in octaves, which the Damocles Trio brings off with great swagger.  The contrasted dance variations of Trio No. 1 and the superimposed speeds in the tiny scherzo of No. 2 are elliptical delights, played with finesses, and the recording keeps them intimate without getting swamped by big build-ups.”
— BBC Maganzine

For a number of years Claves Records has dedicated its efforts to the music and memory of Spanish composer Joaquín Turina. During the 90’s a colorful series of recordings was made featuring artists such as Maria Bayo, Ricardo Requejo and the Sine Nomine Quartet. And today a young trio from New York will accompany us a bit further on this musical journey through Andalusia with Turina’s three piano trios.

The Damocles Trio, Adam Kent (piano), Airi Yoshioka (violin) and Sibylle Johner (cello), has made Spanish music one of its specialties. Knowing that Turina is still relatively unknown among broader audiences, the artists took it upon themselves to provide a detailed commentary for the booklet that accompanies this CD. This recording is rounded off with Turina’s Piano Quartet in A Minor, which the trio performs together with Lawrence Dutton, the well known violist from the Emerson Quartet.

Trios Brasileiros

Complete piano trios of Villa Lobos
and world-premiere recording of Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez’s Trio Brasileiro
Damocles Trio
Released February 2010. Claves Records: LC3369.

“…the Juilliard trained Damocles Trio makes a compelling case for this music. Violinist Airi Yoshioka and cellist Sibylle Johner understand that the composer’s melodic lines need to sing, while pianist Adam Kent lightens the texture wherever possible and points rhythms to emphasize the music’s unflagging energy. Once again, these first-rate musicians give us a highly accomplished and sympathetic performance. Sound is excellent. Highly recommended.”
— Fanfare Magazine

After a first recording entirely dedicated to the Spanish composer Joaquín Turina; the Damocles Trio of New York is back at Claves with a double album once again deeply imbued with a strong Latin flavour. On the programme are trios with piano by two sons of Rio de Janeiro – Heitor Villa-Lobos and Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez.

The three trios by Villa-Lobos are youthful works; written before the composer made his pivotal journey to Paris. Surprisingly; it is in these early works that he seems the least Brazilian; as if it was his later expatriation that would induce a (re)discovery of his roots. In his introduction; Etienne Barilier writes: “In Rio de Janeiro he was above all a romantic; an impressionist – and French. These youthful works might disappoint if we were to consider them from a Brazilian angle. But they are none the less rich and promising. Moreover; they allow us the pleasure of discovering the road that was gradually to lead the composer to himself.”

Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez was born in 1897; ten years after Villa-Lobos. Like him; he infused his work with the folk music of his homeland. And; like him; he was first influenced by European romanticism and French impressionism; only becoming a truly “Brazilian” composer in the early 1920s. His Trio Brasileiro was written in 1924.

Fall of Baghdad: String Quartets of Ge-Gan Ru

String Quartets No. 1 “Fu”, No. 4 and No. 5
Airi Yoshioka (Violin), Madeleine Shapiro (Cello), Veronica Salas (Viola), Mayuki Fukuhara (Violin)
Released worldwide, July 2009. Naxos Records: Chinese Classics 8.570603.

“Mesmerizing.”
— The New York Times

ModernWorks is a string quartet directed by cellist Madeline Shapiro. (The other players are Airi Yoshioka and Majuki Fukuhara, violins, and Veronica Salas, viola.) They interpret this music brilliantly, and they have done great service to music by advocating this creator. I hope this recording finds a large audience, or at least the right audience. This composer has something to say, and staying power.

Music of Laura Kaminsky

Vukovar Trio and Wave Hill for Violin and Piano
Ensemble Pi
Released April, 2013. Albany Records: Troy1393-94.

Laura Kaminsky is an astute and voracious listener. For decades, the journeys her ears have taken have benefited audiences in her native New York City through all the concert programs she has presented at venues like Town Hall, the 92nd Street Y, Miller Theater, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Roulette, The New School, and Symphony Space, where she currently serves as Artistic Director. But in addition to the staggering amount of music of others she has made available to the public, she has also crafted a formidable oeuvre of original musical compositions that are deeply individual responses to the world around her. Social and political themes have been common in Kaminsky’s work, as has an abiding respect for and connection to the natural world. Her music has also been deeply informed by her extensive travels -- from Eastern Europe and West Africa, to throughout the Americas. All seven works featured in this recording -- the first devoted exclusively to her music -- share common elements. Prevalent is the persistent use of irregular rhythms, repeating patterns that shift constantly as well as the narrative aspect of the solo and chamber works.

Elias Tenebaum: Keep Going

Vukovar Trio and Wave Hill for Violin and Piano
Ensemble Pi
Released August, 2010. Parma Records: RR 7087.

Keep Going: The Music of Elias Tanenbaum features the chamber and solo works of the late Elias Tanenbaum performed by Ensemble Pi. The pieces demonstrate Tanenbaum's ability to turn his emotional reactions to world events into music that illustrates both the life-changing grief and need for change that those events cause. As Tanenbaum himself said, "What is there left in any of us but to keep going?" Ensemble Pi is a new music ensemble dedicated to performing the music of both living composers and undiscovered composers of the past. Keep Going is the ensemble's tribute to Tanenbaum, whose beautiful and thought-provoking music has never received the widespread recognition it deserves.

Invisible Curve: music of Chen Yi and Karen Tanaka

Azure Ensemble
Released June, 2008. New World Records: 80683.

The sound worlds of Chen Yi (b. 1953) and Karen Tanaka (b. 1961) are very different places, but they are linked by some important elements. Both composers show fastidious craftsmanship: The timbres, textures, and harmonies are chosen with such care that each piece feels like a three-dimensional sculpture. Both were born in the Far East and show an approach to composition that is organic rather than reliant on imposed forms. A prolific composer of chamber, orchestral, and vocal pieces, Chen Yi tries to distill from Chinese and Western traditional music the essential character and spirit and to develop materials abstractly in accordance with new concepts. During her youth she absorbed the folk music and culture of the Chinese countryside, and it has become a key inspiration for her compositions. Karen Tanaka has composed extensively for both instrumental and electronic media, including several major orchestral works. Major influences on Tanaka s music are French composers such as Debussy, Ravel, and Messiaen, as well as the scientific musical research at IRCAM. Tanaka's recent works develop new directions in her musical language using the latest technology and reflecting different aspects of contemporary culture. Her love of nature and concern for the environment has influenced many of her works, including these three chamber pieces.

George Walker: Great American Chamber Music

String Quartets No. 1 and No. 2
Son Sonora String Quartet
Released January 2008. Albany Records: Troy: 1082.

Continuing Albany Records' series of music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker, this recording focuses on his chamber music. The music ranges from his first string quartet composed in 1946 to the piano sonata composed in 1985. Walker is the recipient of six honorary doctoral degrees and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2000.

Stuart Saunders Smith: At SIXTY selections

Hearts for solo violin and A River Rose for violin and vibraphone
Released October 2008, 11 West Records.

AT SIXTY was a birthday celebration honoring Stuart Saunders Smith and his contributions to music. A series of four concerts was held on March 7-8, 2008. One concert highlighted his percussion music, another featured music theater; the other two concerts were of Stuart's solo and chamber music. AT SIXTY was hosted by the University of Akron Percussion Department, directed by Dr, Larry Snider.