K. Litton A. Litton - Works for Viola & Piano - SUPER-AUDIO CD [Super Audio CD (SACD)]

When Mono recorded their previous album, OATH, withlongtime production partner and friend, Steve Albini in 2023,they never fathomed that it would be the final studio albumthey made together. Albini tragically died the following year,and that loss left an incalculable void in the lives of not justeveryone who ever knew Steve, but everyone with anattachment to any of the thousands of records he helpedbring into world over the past four decades. He brought aclarity to the chaos, and a selfless sense of service to art andartists that was unrivaled. On both a personal and practicallevel, the loss left Mono faced with profound grief anduncertainty. Albini had become a fundamental part ofMono's unmistakable sound, and the thought of replacinghim was daunting, to say the least. Enter Brad Wood(Touché Amoré, The Smashing Pumpkins).Chosen for both his familiarity with Mono's creative andtechnical working process - as well as his decades-longfriendship with Steve Albini - Brad Wood entered Albini'sstoried Electrical Audio studios in September 2025 to recordwhat would become Snowdrop. Once again working withChicago-based conductor and orchestral musical director,Chad McCullough, Mono enlisted a 10-piece orchestra aswell as an 8-piece choir for the eight massive pieces thatmake up Snowdrop. With the band performing and Woodrecording in the same hallowed space where most ofMono's records had been made in their quarter-centuryhistory, the songs on Snowdrop carry an extra weight. Mixedby Wood at his Seagrass home studio in Los Angeles, thealbum is equally intimate and enveloping.Where there could easily be a pall hanging over Snowdrop,there is instead an extraordinary air of gratitude. Rather thansteep in heartache, there is a poignant appreciation for theresonance of life well-spent with a dear friend - and theyearning for what may come. Snowdrop is the sound of aband turning shock

Ronald Brautigam - Complete Works for Solo Piano 11 [SUPER-AUDIO CD] date 02/28/2012

On the violin Henri Vieuxtemps made his quick way from one success to the next, and Robert Schumann even compared him to Niccolo Paganini. However, the viola was his secret love, and he created some of his most beautiful compositions for it. Christian Euler and Paul Rivinius have set standards with their recordings of English viola music and works by Paul Hindemith, and their Vieuxtemps interpretations are guaranteed to delight avid viola fans- and not only them! The cantabile playing style so typical of the Franco-Belgian violin school and such an important influence on Vieuxtemps and then on his pupil Ysaye is especially effective when executed on the viola. When Christian Euler plays the beginning of the Sonata op. 35 and it's long melody lines and the standout Barcarole not only so very airily and freely but also with sonorous intensity, the result is pure listening joy. The Elegy op. 30 is perhaps the most beautiful contribution to the program. From the very beginning Paul Rivinius employs dryly speckled chords to produce an atmosphere in which the melancholy song of the viola is able to unfold in endless lament. And then at the end, when things really get down to business, what remains is astonishment at all that can be done and is done on the viola.