It Floats Away from You
Byrne:Kozar:Duo
New Focus Recordings FCR378 (newfocusrecordings.com)

A debut album from the Byrne:Kozar:Duo hits an impressive mark, with finely curated and exquisitely performed new works for soprano and trumpet.

Undoubtedly, this ensemble is a unique one. It unveils surprising tonal ecosystems and colouristic effects rarely heard, originating from an elliptic Renaissance sensibility. The duo endeavours to “guide the way, providing a template for integration across multiple parameters as a powerful vehicle for expression and depth.” Once moving past such novelties, the listener embraces a lustrous, generous universe of diptych-infused dedication, perfectly integrated in a concordant yet plural narrative. The skilled synthesis from these two musicians is one reason for this achievement. The other: the compositions themselves, boasting sensitive text settings and idiomatic constructions.

Austere, even stark, music like Li Qi’s Lonely Grave (with a fixed media component) sets a compelling foil to such pieces as Alexandre Lunsqui’s Two Patches and Jeffrey Gavette’s Proof of Concept for Floating Child, the latter exemplifying the duo’s textural and rhythmic possibilities, inspired by heavy metal music and Meredith Monk.

While each track is well ordered, the disc plays more as a recital rather than a coherent album. That is not necessarily scabrous, especially when considering a debut record. Indeed it might compel the listener to leave the audio space and seek live performances from this new duo, having whet the aural appetite with unexpected soundscapes. Let the armchair listener witness first hand the energy, intimacy and aired spell, the Byrne:Kozar:Duo so masterfully conjures.

Lovers and Mourners – Variations and Sonatas from 17th Century Germany
Dorian Komanoff Bandy; Hank Knox; Elinor Frey
Leaf Music LM263 (leaf-music.ca)

The artfulness of virtuoso composer-performers, nurtured and cherished in the 17th century, is at the centre of this lovely new release, cleverly reinforced by violinist Dorian Komanoff Bandy’s choice of repertoire. Presented here are variations and sonatas from 17th-century German composers Schenck, Walther, Biber, Pisendel and Becker. Variations, arguably a favourite compositional technique of that time, allowed both composers and performers to display their respective abilities and imagination by the way of building up rich melodic and harmonic material over a short, repeated theme, usually in the bass. Similar to lovers and mourners, going through spiraling, intense emotions, the music here expresses meandering states via “stylus phanansticus,” a popular compositional style of that time that was free flowing, improvisational and characterized by swirling virtuosic elements.

Bandy’s virtuosity is on full display here – relentless, precise and, above all, dazzling. He draws beautiful colours out of his Baroque violin, even amidst the fast passages or more uniform material. The emotional scope of his interpretation is impressive, especially in Biber’s sonatas. The Baroque-style articulations are brought to life with well thought-out phrasing and back and forth trading of ideas within the ensemble. Harpsichordist Hank Knox and gambist Elinor Frey, although mostly in the supporting roles in this repertoire, are nevertheless essential in building the overall sound and direct a spotlight on the inventiveness of these compositions.

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Tendres échos
Anne Thivierge; Mélisande Corriveau; Eric Milnes
ATMA ACD2 2871 (atmaclassique.com/en)

Flutist Anne Thivierge, viola de gambist Mélisande Corriveau and harpsichordist Eric Milnes, playing period instruments, bring works from François Couperin’s Concert Royal No 2 for Flute and Continuo in D Major and Minor and the Pièces de clavecin, the 14th suite (of 27) from his book Ordres to life – together with works by Marin Marais, Michel Blavet and Jean-Marie Leclair.

Couperin’s work is marked by expressiveness enhanced by rich ornamentation, which – unusual for the time – is never left to the discretion of the performer, but always precisely specified. Here he adopts what came to be called style brisé (broken style) in which the notes of the chord are not all played together, but one after the other (originally in imitation of lutists).

Marais, who studied with Jean-Baptiste Lully, had come under the latter’s development of a style that melded the French and the Italian (of Corelli). Marais’ Pièce for Viola de gamba and Continuo Suite No.1 in D Minor soars in its rhapsodic La follette movement and ends with the soulfully expressive Gigue La favorite.

On Blavet’s Sonata for Flute and Continuo in D Minor Op.2 No.2, the flute is clean and vibrant, the continuo gently sympathetic, as the musicians immerse themselves in the music’s warm beauty. An alert sense of rhetoric is evident in the intricately wrought, magical performance of Leclair’s Trio Sonata for Flute, Viola de gamba and Continuo in D Major.

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Boulder Bach Festival
Boulder Bach Festival; Zachary Carrettin
Sono Luminus DSL-02265 (sonoluminus.com)

Recorded immediately after the 2022 Boulder Bach Festival, this disc contains several of the highlights featured in that year’s performances, including Bach’s Concerto for two violins, BWV 1043, and the magnificent Concerto for harpsichord, BWV 1052, as well as two vocal works by Johann Christoph Bach. 

For early music aficionados, what makes this recording most interesting is that these works are performed on modern instruments – apart from the harpsichord, of course – with period-based nuances such as using a Baroque bow for the double bass, or a classical bow on a viola, added at the discretion of the performer. By making these decisions by ear, rather than adherence to convention and 20th-century tradition, the musicians tailored their sound to the overall interpretation, producing a result that is more forthcoming and strident than period instruments, but with the shapes and phrasings that listeners have come to expect. 

These interpretations portray Bach at his most dramatic and invigorating, with performances that are full of energy and joy. The Concerto for two violins is serious yet playful, abounding with communicativeness and ample musical dialogue between the soloists and orchestra. The Concerto for harpsichord, always serious, is imbued with a lightness and grace that keeps it from becoming funereal, but it is also played deliberately enough that it contains all the gravity demanded of it.

The vocal works by J.S. Bach’s older cousin Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703) – not to be confused with J.S. Bach’s uncle, who had the same name and introduced J.S. to the organ, or J.S.’ eldest brother who also had the same name and mentored J.S. after his parents died – are beautiful in their simplicity, and a fine contrast to the density of Johann Sebastian’s musical vernacular. With two excellent performances of two of Bach’s finest concertos, this disc is not one to be overlooked, and is an excellent testament to the talent present at the Boulder Bach Festival.

Bach Generations
Albrecht Mayer; Berliner Barock Solisten
Deutsche Grammophon 486 4183 (store.deutschegrammophon.com/p50-a157976/albrecht-mayer)

Curated by oboist, Albrecht Mayer, Bach Generations is the latest in a series of portrait albums featuring the Bach family. Beginning the incredible legacy, Johann Sebastian’s early musical influences began with his father who played the violin and extended to his father’s first cousin, composer Johann Christoph.  Johann Sebastian went on to become one of the most prolific composers of all time, teaching all ten* of his children music with four of them becoming notable composers. Each of these composer sons had their own style and relationship to their father’s music. This album showcases three generations of the Bach family with music by JS Bach’s uncle, Johann Christoph, Johann Sebastian himself as well as two of his sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach. 

Bach Generations opens with the JS’s Concerto for Oboe d’amore which is best known today as the Harpsichord Concerto No.4 in A Major. Following this beautiful work are transcriptions of concertos by Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christoph Friedrich, a Badinerie and Air from Johann Sebastian’s Orchestral Suites Nos.2 and 3, as well as a Bach family favourite, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel’s Bist du bei mir. Concluding with Ach, dass ich Wassers g’nug hätte by Johann Christoph Bach, Mayer ties in the third generation of the Bach family legacy with this lovely transcription for English horn, solo violin, strings, and continuo.

Played with Berliner Barock Solisten in traditional Baroque style, Mayer elegantly performs these works on modern instruments. With his rounded tone, expressive playing and virtuosity on the oboe, oboe d’amore and English horn, he showcases the beauty of expression throughout the Bach generations.

The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos
Garrick Ohlsson; Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra; Sir Donald Runnicles
Reference Recordings FR-751SACD (gtmf.org/beethoven-piano-concertos-recording)

Ludwig van Beethoven’s five piano concertos are monumental contributions to the Western Art Music canon, providing an overview of musical evolution through masterful compositions that have remained in the core repertory for over two centuries. Always an innovator and disruptor of established trends, these works trace Beethoven’s progression from traditional forms to increasingly original ones. For example, Beethoven’s Fifth Concerto, the “Emperor” begins with a piano-centric cadenza at a time when it was customary for the orchestra to play a lengthy introduction. Although this seems like a mildly interesting break from convention in the 21st century, such re-inventions were edge-of-your-seat moments for Beethoven’s audience. 

Recorded during live performances at the 2022 Grand Teton Music Festival, located near Wyoming’s Rocky Mountain range, this complete set of Beethoven concertos features the festival’s orchestra conducted by the renowned Sir Donald Runnicles and pianist Garrick Ohlsson, a student of the late Claudio Arrau. This collection is decidedly level-headed, providing consistently reliable results, but also limiting the impact of climactic moments. These interpretations are charming, but perhaps lack the precipitousness and risk-taking that is required to turn them into something beautiful and breathtaking.

Despite its overall conservatism, there are some striking moments on this disc, including the glorious Adagio from the fifth concerto, in which the balance between winds and strings is notable, particularly for a live recording. Performing the complete set of Beethoven’s piano concertos is an expansive and impressive task, and this collection is well-suited for those seeking an all-encompassing survey of these magnificent works.

For Clara
Hélène Grimaud; Konstantin Krimmel
Deutsche Grammophon (deutschegrammophon.com/en/artists/helenegrimaud)

“Imagine, since my last letter I have again an entire volume of new things ready. I shall call it Kreisleriana. My music seems to me to be wonderfully entwined, for all its simplicity.” So wrote Robert Schumann to his wife Clara in April 1838 regarding the set of eight pieces which he named after a fictious character created by E.T.A. Hoffmann. Dedicating the collection to Chopin, it became one his most renowned compositions and is featured on this splendid DG recording titled For Clara together with the three Intermezzi Op.117 and the set of Lieder und Gesange Op.32 by Brahms performed by pianist Hélène Grimaud with baritone Konstantin Krimmel. 

The French-born pianist refers to Schumann as “the most literary of composers” and she returns to his music having previously recorded Kreisleriana in 2009 and the Piano Concerto in 2022. Not surprisingly, her performance is subline. The first, third and seventh in the set display a flawless technique while the neverending changes in mood throughout are treated with a stylish sensitivity.

The three Intermezzi by Brahms from 1892 are quietly introspective, each one of a deeply personal character. These autumnal works were among the last the composer wrote and Grimaud approaches the score with a delicate poignancy.

With their themes of loss and disillusionment, the set of nine Lieder und Gesange written in 1864 with texts by Georg Friedrich Daumer and August von Platen may seem a dark choice for these challenging times. Nevertheless, Grimaud and Krimmel are a formidable pairing, with Krimmel’s warm tone and fine diction together with Grimaud’s sympathetic partnership resulting in a most satisfying performance. Bravo to both artists – Robert, Clara and Johannes would all have been pleased!

Franz Liszt – Transcendental Etudes
Haochen Zhang
BIS BIS-2681 (bis.se)

Liszt’s 12 Études d’exécution trancendante (or Transcendental Etudes) comprise perhaps the greatest documents of musical Romanticism, a high watermark in the history of the piano, amounting to nothing less than the creation of modern keyboard technique. That Haochen Zhang has even attempted these studies is a testament as much to his audacity as it is to the unbridled virtuosity that he displays in his performance of them. 

These studies teem with such outrageous difficulties that, in their day (1831) they were the most difficult works for the piano; even now there’s but a handful of pianists who can play them authoritatively. Lazar Berman’s (Melodiya, 1963), Boris Berezovsky’s (TELDEC, 1996) and Leslie Howard’s (Hyperion, 2016) have always been considered benchmark recordings. 

We must add Zhang’s exquisite recording to this short list. To play these works at all requires a formidable technique; to play them so as to convey their poetry rather than the effort required to play them is a gift afforded to very few. Clearly Zheng is one of those. 

Throughout the performance of the 12 studies Zheng displays technical prowess to deal with the pyrotechnics required of a stellar performance of the works. He rises above mere gratuitous display of pianism to reach a plateau of intense emotional conviction – especially in the first four etudes. Moreover, he also knows how to enter the introspective core of such pieces as the beautiful Ricordanza and Harmonies du soir.

Saint-Saëns – Complete Symphonies
Malmo Symphony Orchestra; Marc Soustrot
Naxos 8.503301 (naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.503301)

Anyone trying to dismiss Camille Saint-Saëns as a minor composer and pushing him to the sidelines would be surprised hearing this already much praised new set of his complete symphonic output. The conductor is Marc Soustrot a highly accomplished French musician, specialist in French Romanticism and he puts his heart and soul into these performances. The Swedish orchestra follows him every inch of the way and with HD sound this set becomes a clear first choice.

I have always been fond of this tremendously talented French composer/pianist who had a long productive life from the mid 19th into early 20th century. The fondness I mentioned originated when my father took me to the first concert of my life at age seven right after the War. The program started with Danse Macabre and my dad explained to me the story of the ghosts and the skeletons, the midnight bells, the devil’s violin solo and the final rooster call.... Wow!  I also became quite addicted to the Carnival of the Animals.

Saint-Saëns was a child prodigy and wrote a symphony when he was 15 but was cautious like Brahms and didn’t give it a number. He called it Symphony in A Major and it is a tribute to Mozart. It’s a charming work, quite expertly written; it is interesting that he used the same four notes (C, D, F, E) Mozart used to build the last magnificent contrapuntal movement of the Jupiter Symphony.

His numbered symphonies began two years later with No.1 in E-flat Major and I found it thoroughly enjoyable. It has a gorgeous second movement (March, Scherzo) with a melody one wants to sing along with while the Adagio has a long, sustained clarinet solo, so enchanting I wished it would never end. To top it, the Finale even has a military band that sounds like a Napoleonic march. This is French Empire music. In fact, the symphonies were admired by Berlioz and Gounod.

After a competition entry symphony, again without a number, Urbs Roma (now almost never played) the boy keeps honing his skills with the Second Symphony, already a mature work with an energetic, syncopated fugue and an elegant presto, a somewhat Italianate finale where the influence of Mendelssohn is noticeable.

However, the best is yet to come. 

It is so interesting that in many a composer’s career there is a sudden qualitative leap, a divine inspiration that produces a work so superior to and unlike what has been written before. Such a work is the magnificent Third Symphony in C Minor. It’s a masterpiece of the first order, highly innovative with an organ and two pianos added. Much recorded by the greats, it’s always a highlight in the concert hall. There is a cyclical theme (à la Liszt) which underlines the structure, is capable of many transformations and keeps everything together. The first movement is exciting with the cyclical theme in restless, constant motion while the second movement simply glows with religious piety with the wonderful support by the organ. The tempo picks up in the incisive Scherzo where the two pianos are added. After a suspenseful Transition an explosion ff of the organ is very effective. The symphony ends triumphantly with a final accelerando and a long-reverberated organ note.

As an added bonus, this fascinating set also contains the four inspired and atmospheric symphonic poems, including my old friend the Danse Macabre and three others all inspired by Greek mythology.

Sergei Rachmaninoff – Symphonies 2 & 3; Isle of the Dead
Philadelphia Orchestra; Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Deutsche Grammophon 486 4775 (deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/rachmaninoff-symphonies-nos-23-isle-of-the-dead-nezet-seguin-the-philadelphia-orchestra-13001)

Mention the name Sergei Rachmaninoff today and the chances are that pianist Yuja Wang and her incandescent recordings of his work come to mind. Not this time, however, for what we have here is the enigmatic and towering figure of Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the mighty Philadelphia Orchestra. The result is a double disc featuring Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 and Rachmaninoff’s first orchestral masterpiece Isle of The Dead, performed in all their solemn grandeur.

Symphony No.2 is a work of immense power and maturity. Its richness of themes makes it the most absorbing of the composer’s three symphonies. The penultimate Adagio is one of the greatest symphonic movements in Russian music. It becomes perilously sentimental in places, but its lush harmony and exquisite orchestration are so genuinely felt that you’ll forgive any excesses.

Symphony No.3 is very nearly as powerful; a great surge of orchestral energy follows the hushed Orthodox chant of the opening, and the singing interludes between the music’s recurring motifs are of Rachmaninoff’s most alluring kind.

The Isle of The Dead is an amazingly powerful piece, whose sepulchral air works its way insidiously into the memory.

Throughout the program Nézet-Séguin fires up the Philadelphia Orchestra to get into the guts of this extraordinary music. His sense of the passion and grand design of the works is non pareil. His interpretation is thrilling and he maintains a tight balance and responsive tempi throughout.

Vivace – A Film by Sigrid Faltin
Anne-Sophie Mutter
SWR Classic SWR19132DVD (naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=SWR19132DVD)

World-famous violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is 60 years old, a widow of two illustrious beloved husbands, an avid tennis player (her icon is Roger Federer) and in terrific physical and psychical shape. So, when award-winning German filmmaker Sigrid Faltin decided to create a documentary about her she chose to portray Mutter in an outdoor Alpine setting, in a long mountain hike near Kitzbuhel, Austria walking side by side with the filmmaker and her little dachshund, talking spontaneously about anything that comes to mind.

The most important feature of the film is her place in society represented by a few of her favorite people, her friends. They area an eminent group including Federer, German composer Jörg Widmann, Daniel Barenboim, who conducted for her in Salzburg, celebrity composer/conductor John Williams who wrote a concerto for her, her accompanist Lambert Orkis and a magician from New York, Steve Cohen. Cohen performs a little magic trick of tearing up a dollar bill into little pieces, puts it into his mouth, takes it out, blows at it and it becomes whole again, perfectly intact. Wow!

In the film there are excerpts of her playing at various ages. She was a child prodigy and could play Paganini caprices at age five or a Hungarian Dance at breakneck speed. She was discovered by the legendary Herbert von Karajan and became his protégé. This gave an immense boost and catapulted her into world fame. Today she owns two priceless Stradivari violins and has given concerts all over the world, gathering many awards and decorations. Even played at the White House for Barack Obama. Her discography is simply astounding, mostly with DGG, but also with Sony and EMI. 

But fame didn’t spoil her. She is a passionate supporter of new music, introducing many new works and sharing her considerable fortune to help young musicians and many charities. Now she is touring the world with her own chamber group, Mutter Virtuosi, comprising amazing young string players. What a delight to listen to them. Her motto is FORWARD! It just about sums her up.

John Robertson – Portraits
Bratislava Symphony Orchestra; Anthony Armore
Centrediscs CMCCD32623 (cmccanada.org/product-category/recordings/centrediscs)

Kingston-based John Robertson (b.1943) creates colourfully scored, neo-Romantic music that succeeds in sounding freshly minted, avoiding Hollywood clichés or borrowings from other composers. This CD presents six pieces, all but one under 12 minutes long.

Overture for a Musical Comedy, Op.15 evokes, for me, the song-and-dance of a 1930s cabaret. Salome Dances, Op.32 is more subtly suggestive of that legendary unveiling than Richard Strauss’ frenetic version. Cyrano, Op.53 affectionately depicts scenes of love and strife from Edmond Rostand’s classic play.

The Death of Crowe, Op.30 describes an episode in Timothy Findlay’s novel Not Wanted on the Voyage in which Mrs. Noah laments the death of her blind cat’s dear friend. The music is fanciful and poignantly lyrical, featuring an extended clarinet solo wandering over repeated descending strings. The melancholy, perturbed Overture to Robertson’s ballet Lady Jane – A Fable, Op.66 includes, writes Robertson, “various themes that will be heard later in the work.”

The 31-minute, six-movement Suite from Robertson’s opera Orpheus – A Masque, Op.64 suggests that his take on the familiar myth is closer in spirit to that of the irreverent Offenbach than to Monteverdi or Gluck, its insouciant lack of gravitas offsetting the tender beauty of Orpheus’ and Euridice’s love music. (The rocking, bittersweet waltz tune of Dancing in the Elysian Fields has become, for me, a recurrent, invigorating earworm!)

Anthony Armoré, conductor of four CDs of Robertson’s compositions on the Navona label, continues to champion Robertson’s music with enthusiasm, entirely merited.

All we are made of is borrowed
Paramorph Collective
Redshift Records TK534 (redshiftrecords.org)

Montreal-Ottawa musicians and multidisciplinary artists, An Laurence (guitar, voice, etc.) and Kim Farris-Manning (piano, voice, synthesizer, etc.), comprise the Paramorph Collective. “Paramorph” in mineralogy refers to the process of transformation of a mineral through the reorganization of its molecular structure only. Analogously, the collective aims to transform itself and its audience through “rearranging inner feelings or thoughts… seeking new perspectives.” The Collective’s nine-track debut album All we’re made of is borrowed shows the duo in twin roles: music creators and performers of scores by Canadian composers Rodney Sharman and Linda C Smith, and California-based Margot George. 

Smith’s remarkable Thought and Desire is an engaging piano solo until 3’45” when the pianist begins singing in her soft soprano. At that moment the piano’s identity suddenly shifts, its role thereafter is to accompany. It’s a delightful perceptual shift for listeners. Four of the tracks are original works by the Collective, evoking an overall peaceful, soft and layered aesthetic space through spoken word, electronics and guitar-supported song. Margot George’s rousing Fruiting Bodies forms the album’s centerpiece. Farris-Manning’s custom-built organ synthesizer’s sustained chords are animated by Laurence’s crashing electric guitar clusters and sustained single tones. This 21-minute commission presents dichotomic extremes: of sound pressure and distortion, sustained keyboard vs plucked strings – counterpointed by shimmering stacked organ chords evoking ecclesiastical regions.

The album notes ask listeners to reflect on the title – All we’re made of is borrowed – and to hold onto “the time we have left as medicine.”

Live in Toronto
Spindle Ensemble; Evergreen Club Gamelan Ensemble
Hidden Notes (spindleensemble.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-toronto)

Live in Toronto, the 2022 collaboration between the seven-musician Toronto group Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan and the UK Spindle Ensemble (violin, cello, piano, marimba), is nothing short of captivating.

Spindle pianist Daniel Inzani’s composition Lucid Living firmly establishes ECCG’s degung gamelan voice, amplified by Spindle’s tight harmonies. Evoking monochrome hues of early morning light, the musical palette is enhanced with the addition of Spindle’s marimba and piano before opening into full daylight. Inzani’s music took me on an impressionistic Joycean journey.

Orpheus by Spindle’s Harriet Riley begins as an homage to Stravinsky’s ballet of the same name. Its Western roots however soon give way to ECCG’s Southeast Asian tones, reminding me of American composer Lou Harrison’s gamelan-centric approach in some of his works. Riley found exquisite ways to blend the 11 instruments at her disposal: the strings (violin and cello) overlap ECCG’s wind (suling, a ring flute) making for an enchanting sonic exchange.

ECCG suling soloist Andrew Timar’s composition Open Fifths: Gardens takes us to the EP’s summit, a work featuring complexity of a kind I associate with the best modal jazz improvisation. The performers play off one another with a sensitivity that finds the fruitful common ground between the musical worlds the two ensembles inhabit. When Timar’s low-sounding suling gambuh invites the cello into the conversation we witness an unanticipated aural blending and the unfolding sound palette celebrates all the voices present.

My only question lies in Open Fifths’ ending. The suspended silence before the last note – reminiscent of a certain Chopin piano Prelude in E Minor – caught me off guard. Open Fifths, like the rest of this EP, is filled with happy surprises.

Composing Israel – The First Three Generations
Various Artists
Neuma 177 (neumarecords.org)

Ten compositions spanning six decades present an overview of “the first three generations” of Israeli composers, variously performed by 24 musicians including members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and five different pianists.

Toccata, Op.34, No.5 for piano (1943) is a wild, whirlwind dance by Paul Ben-Haim (né Paul Frankenburger, 1897-1984), a German refugee who helped found the “Eastern-Mediterranean School” of Israeli composition. German refugee Tzvi Avni (né Hermann Steinke, b.1927) studied with Ben-Haim and dedicated his Capriccio for piano (1955, rev.1975) to his mentor. Like Toccata, it embraces the volatile rhythms of Middle-Eastern music.

Arabesque No.2 for flute and harp (1973) by Ben-Haim student Ami Maayani (1936-2019) mixes Arabic rhythms with glissandi suggesting quarter-tones in its exultation of exoticism. Bashrav for chamber orchestra (2004) by Betty Olivero (b.1954), based on classic Persian music, while clearly Middle-Eastern in mood and materials, is less “folkish,” filled with explosive bursts and sudden silences.

I enjoyed all these much more than the non-Middle-Eastern-sounding piano pieces by Abel Ehrlich (1915-2003), Arie Shapira (1943-2015) and Ari Ben-Shabetai (b.1954) or the electronic collage of Bedouin children speaking by Tsippi Fleischer (b.1946), all dating from the 1980s.

In the 19-minute Wire for soprano and chamber ensemble (1986) by Oded Zehavi (b.1961), Denise Lundine keens a Hebrew poem, her “voice crying in the wilderness” over bursting percussion, the French horn emulating liturgical shofar (ram’s horn) elephantine trumpetings making this, by far the CD’s longest work, also its most “Jewish.”

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