I Will Not Remain Silent

I Will Not Remain Silent for violin and orchestra
Sharon Roffman, violin; IRIS Orchestra, Michael Stern conductor.

Reach Out, Raise Hope, Change Society for SATB chorus, wind quintet, and percussion; the University of Michigan Chamber Choir and musicians from the School of Music, Jerry Blackstone, conductor.

With themes central to our times, the Milken Archive of Jewish Music: The American Experience is releasing its first new album since 2015 with I Will Not Remain Silent, by prominent American composer Bruce Adolphe. Featuring two compositions, the album explores themes of social justice through the prism of 20th-century activist Rabbi Joachim Prinz.

“The Milken Archive release of I Will Not Remain Silent and Reach Out, Raise Hope, Change Society brings together two very different works about violence, injustice, human rights, and hope at a moment when there is an urgent need once again for this message to be powerfully sounded in America,” said Adolphe. “I appreciate that the Milken Archive recognizes the significance of these works and the importance of Prinz’s message.”

Available on Amazon.

The End of Tonight

The elegant, dreamy, and moving poems by Nathalie Handal were the inspiration for this piece. The gorgeous singing of three mezzo-sopranos mixed with a choir of three lyrical cellos is a sensuous sound; and added to it is the rich harmonic pallet provided by the piano. Hai-Ting Chinn, Suzanne Schwing, and Virginia Warnken sing hauntingly and beautifully throughout; an amazing trio of cellists — Colin Carr, Nicholas Canellakis, and Sophie Shao — play with stunning beauty and virtuosity. The pianist, whose delicate filigree and pulsating bass lines enhance the sextet of singers and cellos, is Lenore Davis, who had the vision to commission the work for her innovative series, St. Urban Concerts. Available on Amazon and iTunes.

Joshua Bell & Marija Stroke perform music from Einstein’s Light

A digital download from Sony Classical, Einstein’s Light consists of five movements for violin and piano inspired by music that Albert Einstein loved and played: Mozart’s Sonata K.378 and Bach’s Sarabande from Suite No. II in D Minor. Composed for the film by Nickolas Barris, the music of Einstein’s Light is available as sheet music for performers (with optional visualizations from the film that may be shown during performances) from Lauren Keiser Music/Hal Leonard. Click here to listen. 

Do You Dream in Color

The poem for this extended song (20 minutes) is by the mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin, who, at Bruce’s request, wrote about her experiences and perceptions being blind, and about how some people have treated her. She premiered the work in both the voice and piano version, as it is on the Bridge recording, and also the orchestral version, which she has sung with the Human Rights Orchestra of Europe conducted by Alessio Allegrini and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jeffrey Kahane. Available on Amazon and iTunes.

Chopin Dreams, pianist Carlo Grante

Available as a CD or digital download from Naxos American Classics,  Chopin Dreams presents Italian pianist Carlo Grante playing two major piano works he commissioned and premiered: Chopin Dreams and Seven Thoughts Considered as Music. An added bonus: 6 piano puzzlers in the style of Chopin from Bruce’s Piano Puzzler show on Performance Today. The review of Chopin Dreams in Gramophone in January 2017 wrote of Bruce Adolphe: “…his original compositions convey a compelling voice, high craft, authenticity, communicative immediacy and substance.” Click here to listen.

Milken Archive/Naxos: American Classics

Bruce Adolphe
2004 Grammy for Best Producer!
Ladino Songs of Love and Suffering
Mikhoels the Wise (excerpt)
Out of the Whirlwind (oratorio based on texts and melodies by victims and survivors of the Holocaust). Performers: sopranos Lucy Shelton, Erie Mills; mezzo Phyllis Pancella; tenor John Aler; baritone Nathaniel Watson; guitarist Eliot Fisk; French hornist David Jolley; Seattle Symphony with Gerard Schwarz; CCM Wind Symphony with Rodney Winther. Available at Amazon. It is possible to listen to the album if you subscribe to Naxos on the Naxos website.

Music@Menlo Live!: Bridging the Ages

Bruce Adolphe: String Quartet No. 4 (Whispers of Mortality)
Miami String Quartet
With Schubert’s Death and the Maiden available at Amazon. 

Artistled: For David and Wu Han

Adolphe: Couple
Plus music by Jalbert, Tsontakis, and Auerbach
Available at Artistled

New World Records: Turning, Returning

Music by Bruce Adolphe: String Quartets 1 and 2; In Memories of…; And All Is Always Now.
originally on CRI; The Brentano String Quartet and pianist Marija Stroke
Available at New World Records

Delos: Five American Clarinet Quintets — David Shifrin, clarinet

Music by Bruce Adolphe; Ellen Taaffe Zwillich; Bright Sheng; Joan Tower; John Corigliano.
Ida Kavafian, Ani Kavafian, violins; Walter Trampler, viola; Fred Sherry, cello.
Available at Amazon

Summit: Dorian Wind Quintet: American Premieres

Music by Adolphe, Tower, Shifrin, De Jong, Hoiby
Available at Amazon

Soundbrush Records: 25 x 25 (twenty-five premieres for twenty-five years)

Founded in 1988 by conductor Harold Rosenbaum, The New York Virtuoso Singers has become this country’s leading exponent of contemporary choral music. To celebrate it’s 25th anniversary, the group commissioned America’s leading composers to each write a work, creating a unique panorama of contemporary choral music. Works by: Mark Adamo/Bruce Adolphe/William Bolcom/John Corigliano/Richard Danielpour/Roger Davidson/David Del Tredici/David Felder/John Harbison/Stephen Hartke/Jennifer Higdon/Aaron Jay Kernis/David Lang/Fred Lerdahl/Thea Musgrave/Shulamit Ran/Joseph Schwantner/Steven Stucky/Augusta Read Thomas/Joan Tower/George Tsontakis/Richard Wernick/Chen Yi/Yehudi Wyner/Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
Available from Soundbrush Records

Marita and Her Heart’s Desire (A Musical Fairy Tale)

Telarc
with Itzhak Perlman and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Available from Amazon

Tyrannosaurus Sue

A Cretaceous Concerto
performed by The Chicago Chamber Musicians
A powerful portrayal of the life and times of a Tyrannosaurus rex named Sue told in seven dramatic scenes. (The Tyrannosaurus named Sue is portrayed by a trombone!)
Available from The Learning Maestros 

Tough Turkey in the Big City

Follow the comic blunders of Tom Turkey as he leaves the farm to try his luck in the big city — a tussle at the Turkey Club, a romance with a Park Avenue pigeon, and a mix-up at the Thanksgiving Day Parade!
Available from The Learning Maestros

Red Dogs and Pink Skies: A Musical Celebration of Paul Gauguin

“Color is the language of the listening eye,” said painter Paul Gauguin. Listen to Gauguin's paintings in this colorfully evocative musical homage.
Available from The Learning Maestros

Witches, Wizards, Spells and Elves: The Magic of Shakespeare

Experience the magic and sorcery in Shakespeare's plays with a wicked depiction of a witch's bubbling cauldron, a puckish clarinet that slips and slides with quicksilver virtuosity, and the magical, dizzying dance of four fantastic fairies!
Available from The Learning Maestros

Oceanophony

Plunge into an ocean of music to meet the sarcastic fringehead fish, pufferfish, stoplight parrotfish, an octopus, and a love-struck seahorse. Swim through marine snow, and discover the mysterious world of coral music.
Available from The Learning Maestros