Various - Chamber Music - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

New from Navona Records and Craig Morris comes CHAMBER MUSIC FOR OUR TIMES, a stirring album of original chamber works. MUSIC FOR OUR TIMES is the work of a master craftsman with an ear for poignant lyricism. The album features four pieces, each of which exhaustively explores the colors and timbres available to the chamber ensembles. Critics have called Morris's music Inchextremely intelligent, complex and powerful,Inch and CHAMBER MUSIC FOR OUR TIMES is further evidence of that. It opens with Romance, for Violin and Piano, which finds the violin and piano in one of the most deeply-intimate musical settings imaginable. The delicate interplay between these two instruments suggests both the tenderness and the passion of a budding courtship as it develops from one moment to the next. This is followed by Colors, a piece for string quartet that delves into the rich timbral contrasts that define this centuries-old musical form. The second portion of CHAMBER MUSIC FOR OUR TIMES's program consists of a pair of piano quartets. Johnny and Tony, in particular, is a masterful homage to the chamber music of Brahms and Dvorak, and further reveals Morris's skill for counterpoint and melody. Moods, the second piano quartet and concluding piece on the album, offers an upbeat and lighthearted finale to the collection. CHAMBER MUSIC FOR OUR TIMES is the result of Morris's lifetime of study and practice of the art of composition. His work reveals his profound love and commitment to 19th-century Romantic music; and yet, this background serves merely as a launchpad for his own compositions. Far from derivative, Morris uses his deep understanding of the idiom to create novel and captivating works-works that lovers of tonal chamber music are sure to find at once familiar and refreshing. Album Tracks 1. Romance for Violin and Piano 2. String Quartet Colors 3. Piano Quartet #1 John

Painters sometimes talk about the intensity of the light they encounter in Australia. Peter DART, born in Sydney in 1953, brings something of that brightness to his compositions, which are further animated by buoyant rhythms and a lively sense of humor, even mischief. They are, at the same time, anchored in a secure command of counterpoint, and given a timeless quality by his fondness for modal harmony. Most important of all, the technical mastery that gives these works their surefooted appeal is suffused with straightforward human warmth. Album Tracks 1. Triptych for two pianos~I. Sirens 2. Triptych for two pianos~II. Circles 3. Triptych for two pianos~III. Poseidon (Passacaglia) 4. Four Short Songs for mezzo-soprano and piano~No. 1. This is just to say 5. Four Short Songs for mezzo-soprano and piano~No. 2. Poem (As the cat) 6. Four Short Songs for mezzo-soprano and piano~No. 3. The Locust Tree in Flower 7. Four Short Songs for mezzo-soprano and piano~No. 4. To 8. Traceries for cello and piano~I. Prelude (Cantilena and Arabesque) 9. Traceries for cello and piano~II. Fugue 10. Traceries for cello and piano~III. Tarantella 11. Traceries for cello and piano~IV. Samba 12. Traceries for cello and piano~V. Lullaby 13. BirdTalk for two marimbas and pre-recorded sounds 14. Of heaven and earth for mezzo-soprano, flute, percussion and piano~I. Here's a little mouse 15. Of heaven and earth for mezzo-soprano, flute, percussion and piano~II. From spiraling ecstatically 16. Of heaven and earth for mezzo-soprano, flute, percussion and piano~III. I am a Little Church (Aeterna Christi munera) 17. Of heaven and earth for mezzo-soprano, flute, percussion and piano~IV. Nobody loses all the time (Uncle Sol)

This twelfth in the Toccata Classics exploration of the music of Ferenc Farkas (1905-2000) once again puts his chamber music with flute in the spotlight - here with an oboe chaser. As with previous albums in this series, the music highlights the characteristics that make Farkas' music so appealing catchy tunes, transparent textures, buoyant rhythms, a fondness for Baroque forms and a taste for the folk-music of his native Hungary that marks him out as a true successor to Bartók and Kodály. The works in this recording are all reworkings - by Farkas or the two soloists here - of music first written for different forces and now taking on a new lease of life. Album Tracks 1. Early Hungarian Dances from the 17th Century~I. Allegro moderato 2. Early Hungarian Dances from the 17th Century~II. Andante moderato 3. Early Hungarian Dances from the 17th Century~III. Allegro 4. Early Hungarian Dances from the 17th Century~IV. Allegro 5. Sonatina No. 1~I. Allegro con slancio 6. Sonatina No. 1~II. Largo 7. Sonatina No. 1~III. Presto 8. Három dal Kis Ferenc verseire~Gyógyulóban for flute and piano 9. Sonatina No. 2~I. Allegro molto 10. Sonatina No. 2~II. Andante 11. Sonatina No. 2~III. Scherzando 12. Variazioni ungheresi 13. Meditazione for flute and piano 14. Alla danza ungherese 15. Aria e rondo all'ungherese for flute, oboe and piano 16. Three Burlesques for piano~No. 1. Allegro 17. Three Burlesques for piano~No. 2. Moderato, comodo 18. Three Burlesques for piano~No. 3. Allegro 19. Sonatina No. 3~I. Allegro non troppo 20. Sonatina No. 3~II. Andante moderato 21. Sonatina No. 3~III. Allegro 22. Epithalamium for oboe and organ 23. Cantiones optimae~I. Bátorítás a halál ellen (Encouragement Against Death) 24. Cantiones optimae~II. Könyörgés (Imploration) 25. Cantiones optimae~III. Mária-ének (Song to Mary) 26. Cantiones optima