Summer / Jaworski / Arcadia Players / Watson - Full Fathom Five - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

With SUMMER'S DISTILLATION, Joseph Summer, as composer, offers a new look at the timeless texts credited to William Shakespeare. As artistic director, Summer presents settings by Brahms, R. Schumann, and Benjamin Pesetsky, curating an overall impressive collection of works for voice, harp, and horns. Sonnets V and VI for voice, horns, and harp is raw and unfiltered-in a complex tonal language which illuminates stark text is the foreground. Sonnet CIV is an art song for mezzo soprano wherein the harp accompaniment plays the role of a lute or acoustic guitar. It is simultaneously heavy and graceful. Sonnet XCI for voice and horns, on the other hand, is regal and declamatory. Sonnet LXXIII for vocal ensemble, harp, and horns paints a dark forest scene-a cacophony of textures as soloists take turns, yet no voice or instrument is background. Finally, Sonnet CXXXIII, a duet for tenor and soprano against the scene painting of harp and horns, is a complaint about the interminably long delay between Summer's proclamation of adoration for his (eventual) wife, Lisa Summer, and her prorogued agreement to accept his offer of love. If by Your Art from The Tempest is a through-composed soprano aria with atmospheric harp accompaniment. The harp's echoed scale fragments guide the thoughts of the actress-starting in pain and finishing in sweet respite. O God, That I Were a Man from All's Well That Ends Well is a monologue running the gamut of emotions, from InchI would eat his heart in the marketplaceInch to Inchshe is undone.Inch This is balanced by music of centuries later, with Robert Schumann's Drei Gesänge (Three Songs), Op.95, for soloist and harp, presenting settings of texts by Karl Julius Körner and three of the Hebrew Melodies by Lord Byron. Some of the highest inspiration for this album is Brahms' Vier Gesänge, Op.17.

The follow up to Nicki Minaj's debut album Pink Friday Roman Reloaded features the mega hits InchBeez In The TrapInch and InchStarships.Inch This 3LP reissue is on standard black vinyl Trifold gatefold with matte coating, with bonus material on vinyl for the first time, including InchHigh School.Inch This package is presented on standard black vinyl.

This 2023 by Zorn's most recent quartet Incerto is a beautiful and moody suite of nocturnes inspired by the night imagery of Shakespeare. Heart wrenchingly beautiful, the music carries you to a rich romantic world of modern lyricism, blending elements of jazz balladry with classical atonality and minimalism into a vibrant new sound world. Featuring four of the most accomplished musical masters out of the Downtown scene-trusted members of Zorn's inner circle-this is modern chamber music at it's very best!