Yolanda Kondonassis - Five Minutes for Earth - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The album FOUR MINUTES for woodwind quartet contains 18 four-minute works, written by 18 composers from 9 countries. A woodwind quartet, sometimes casually called wind quartet, is an ensemble of four woodwind instruments, or music written for four instruments. The usual scoring is flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon. The instruments in a woodwind quartet usually have different ranges that allow for rich harmonies with high and low tones. Since these four instruments are from different subgroups of the instrument family, wind quartet music has timbral variety from each instrument's resonance. The composers of the album include Giovanni Albini, Aaron Alter, Jerome de Bromhead, Ricky Chaggar, James C. Danly, Lars Fetzek, Martin Lennartz, Chan Wing Lun, Allen Molineux, Claudio Passilongo, Andrew Sigler, Randall Snyder, José Jesus de Azevedo Souza, Stamatia Statherou, Alan Terricciano, William Toutant, Michail Travlos and Douglas Wagoner.

The album TWO MINUTES for solo flute contains 36two-minute works, written by 35 composers from 14 countries, collected and performed by Iwona Glinka. Award-winning recording artist and renowned flutist Iwona Glinka presents a recital composed of pieces whose creativity is rooted in various popular trends in the 21st century. These pearls were created somewhat off the beaten track of the artistic activity of their creators, commonly associated with other forms and different instruments. The composers of the album include Aaron Alter, Christos Sp. Anastassiou, Scott Brickman, Jerome de Bromhead, Daniele Ciminiello, Jorge Delgado, András Derecskei, Alexandros Georgiadis, Alessandro Giannotti, Connor Gibbs, Robert Herschbach, Ssu-Yu Huang, Joshua Ivar Dubé, Rebecca Kaiserin, Hari Kanakis, Vasileios Kolovos, Martin Lennartz, Daiwei Lu, Chan Wing Lun, Kaori Nakano, Giorgos Papamitrou, Helena Papari, Athina Pavlaki-Pirounia, William Price, Brandon Psenicka, Marco Scorsolini, Soheil Shirangi, Greg A Steinke, Neil Stipp, Jason Taurins, Anna Terzaroli, Michail Travlos, Jean-Pierre Vial, Yiola Voutsina-Papagiannidi, and Peter S Walton.

Antonio Ruiz-Pipo was one of the bravest and most progressive of the Spanish composers to escape the Franco dictatorship. His Andalusian background, Catalan training, residence in Paris and an enduring admiration of his 'saint' Manuel de Falla have all shaped his oeuvre. These solo and chamber works offer an overview of his career, from the poignant Estancias to the Mediterranean-influenced Trio en miniaturas which also represents Ruiz-Pipo's fascination with the music of antiquity. Infused with elements of French lyricism and sultry Spanish moods, Ruiz-Pipo's complex but humane musical idiom is richly deserving of discovery. Internationally acclaimed guitarist Wolfgang Weigel was born in 1954 in Saarbrucken. He studied at the music academies of Saarbrucken and Lubeck between 1970 and 1975, and later he became close friends with guitarist Karl Scheit in Vienna who became his artistic mentor. Weigel began to develop his international career as a performer and teacher in the 1980s and began to concentrate on contemporary music, focusing mainly on the repertoire of post-Franco Spain and South America.