Archive for Carson Cooman

Coming Soon from Métier Records: Carolyn Enger’s “Resonating Earth”

Divine Art’s new-music label Métier welcomes acclaimed pianist Carolyn Enger to its quickly-growing international roster for a new album to be released in the summer.

Carolyn Enger
Carolyn Enger © J Henry Fair

Resonating Earth features the music from Enger’s multimedia project of the same name. The program directly links classical music performance to environmentalism and conservation efforts with a bold aesthetic. A stylistically fluid creation with a wide range of ambient music, including John Luther Adams, Marcos Balter, John Cage, Philip Glass, Iman Habibi, Sean Hickey, Missy Mazzoli, Meredith Monk, Nico Muhly, Wolfgang Rihm and Caroline Shaw. The program seeks to transport listeners to a still, meditative space, allowing them to decompress from their daily lives, and invites introspection about humanity’s place on the planet, inspiring action to protect our beautiful, fragile world. 

Internationally celebrated American pianist Carolyn Enger has gained critical acclaim for her exquisite lyrical playing, as well as her deeply felt interpretations. Ms. Enger’s touring opportunities have included venues throughout the United States and beyond, including the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, United States Military Academy West Point, the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, The National Gallery of Art in D.C., and most recently the National Gallery in Oslo. In addition to an active performance schedule on two continents, Ms. Enger has enjoyed remarkable success as a recording artist: The New York Times selected her Naxos recording of intimate Ned Rorem miniatures, Piano Album I & Six Friends, as one of the newspaper’s “Best In Classical Recordings”, writing “Among the 90th–birthday tributes this year to the essential American composer Ned Rorem, this recording especially stands out,” while Gramophone declared, “Enger raises the miniatures to a higher level.” Recently her article, The Mischlinge Exposé: Stories of Assimilation and Conversion, was published in the book Women Defying Hitler: Rescue and Resistance under the Nazis, by Bloomsbury Academic. Ms. Enger studied at the Manhattan School of Music and is a Steinway Artist.

Album details:

  • Title: “Resonating Earth”
  • Label: Métier
  • Catalogue number: MEX 77128
  • Artist : Carolyn Enger (piano)
  • Works:
    • Quarry Waltz (Meredith Monk)
    • Bagatelle (Marcos Balter)
    • Lilt (Nico Muhly)
    • Auf einem anderen Blatt (Wolfgang Rihm)
    • Orizzonte (Missy Mazzoli)
    • In a Landscape (John Cage)
    • Nunataks (John Luther Adams)
    • Etude No. 2 (Philip Glass)
    • in the brittle quietude (Iman Habibi)
    • Gustave Le Gray (Caroline Shaw)
    • The Birds of Barclay Street (Sean Hickey)
    • Dream (John Cage)
    • Reckoning (Sean Hickey)
    • Ellis Island (Meredith Monk)
  • Album duration: 75:52
  • Recorded by Daniel Rorke at Manhattan School of Music, New York
  • Editing and Mastering by Divine Art composer/performer Carson Cooman of Overtone Audio

Announcing a New Release from Organist Carson Cooman!

Carson Cooman, composer
Carson Cooman, composer

The New Year will see the release of a new album by esteemed American composer and organist Carson Cooman, from Divine Art. The label has issued a number of Cooman’s recordings and is also producing the series of Cooman’s own compositions played by Erik Simmons (currently at volume 15). The Divine Art catalog currently includes 199 of Cooman’s compositions.

On Cooman’s new album ‘Companions’ he presents a program of contemporary music for organ recorded on the remarkable post-romantic Thomas Gaida organ of the Pauluskirche in Ulm, Germany. The album features ten works by nine composers representing six countries. The music varies widely in character and scope, from smaller character pieces and meditations to several dramatic, large-scale works. The final piece is the grand 15th organ symphony of English composer Bernard Heyes.

Carson Cooman (b. 1982) is an American composer with a catalog of hundreds of works in many forms—ranging from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes. His music has been performed on all six inhabited continents in venues that range from the stage of Carnegie Hall to the basket of a hot air balloon. Cooman’s work appears on over forty recordings, including more than twenty-five complete CDs on the Naxos, Albany, Artek, Gothic, Divine Art, Métier, Diversions, Altarus, Convivium, MSR Classics, Raven, and Zimbel labels. Cooman’s primary composition studies were with Bernard Rands, Judith Weir, Alan Fletcher, and James Willey.

As an active concert organist, Cooman specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Over 300 new compositions by more than 100 international composers have been written for him, and his organ performances can be heard on a number of CD releases and more than 3,000 recordings available online. Cooman is also a writer on musical subjects, producing articles and reviews frequently for a number of international publications. He serves as an active consultant on music business matters to composers and performing organizations, specializing particularly in the area of composer estates and archives.

Companions (DDA 25241) – Coming January/February 2023

Recording date: May 8, 2022
Artist: Carson Cooman (organ of Pauluskirche, Ulm, Germany)

Works:

  • Prismatic, Op. 24 (Carol Williams, b. 1962)
  • Companions (Carlotta Ferrari, b. 1975)
  • Three Short Fantasy Pieces (Thomas Åberg, b. 1952)
  • Recitative (Carson Cooman, b. 1982)
  • The Grave of Keats (Carlotta Ferrari, b. 1975)
  • Peace Prayer No. 1 (David Lasky, b. 1957)
  • Sursum Corda (Tate Pumfrey, b. 1998)
  • Voluntary in F major (Phil Lehenbauer, b. 1960)
  • Canzona  (Michael Calabris, b. 1984)
  • Organ Symphony No. 15 (Bernard Heyes, b. 1951)

Announcing Music for Organ by Polish composer Marian Sawa, performed by Carson Cooman

Hot on the heels of the latest album of organ music by Carson Cooman (DDA 25218, “Antiphonies”) played by Erik Simmons, Divine Art returns to Cooman the performer for a new disc of music by Polish composer Marian Sawa.

Carson Cooman is only 38 but has become one of the most important figures in American musical life, as a composer of over 1300 works, an active concert organist, writer, reviewer and an active consultant to musicians in many areas of business including estate management and publishing. This new album will be his fifth for Divine Art as performer of works by another composer. The organ used is the remarkable 2014 Fleiter of St. Ludgerus in Billerbeck Germany, recorded via the Hauptwerk system.

Marian Sawa
Marian Sawa © Marian Sawa Society

Marian Sawa (1937-2005) has become very well known in his native Poland, but his name and work has not yet been discovered by the international community although an album of his violin music was issued by Naxos a few years ago. His music is now being promoted by the Marian Sawa Society (Towarzystwo im. Mariana Sawy) to which Carson Cooman is a consultant. His organ works are powerful, distinctively modern yet essentially tonal and can compete with any of the major organ works of the 20th century. Stephen Sutton, CEO of Divine Art, remarked to Cooman on first hearing this album, that in his view this music is magnificent, and deserves to give Sawa a far greater reputation than he currently enjoys outside Poland.

Recorded between December 2020 and February 2021, this new recording will be released on CD and in all digital /streaming formats in July.

Album Details

TITLE:  Marian Sawa: Music for Organ
Catalogue Number: DDA 25219
Playing time: 76:12
PERFORMER : Carson Cooman

WORKS:

  • Sequence I: Dies irae
  • Resurrection
  • Aria
  • Passacaglia II
  • Three Dances on Old Style
  • Suite
  • Fantazja Jasnogórska
  • Łomza Prayer
  • Sequence II: Victimae paschal laudes

Divine Art Announces Vol 14 of Carson Cooman’s Organ Music: ‘Antiphonies’

Organist Erik Simmons’ ongoing recording series of the organ music of American composer Carson Cooman continues with Vol. 14, a collection of diverse pieces from 2013–20. Two suites, Three Autumn Sketches after a Watercolor by Maria Willscher and Suite circulaire, are joined with a series of varied single movement piece—ranging from the intense, monolithic memorial of Preludio del ricordo, to the calm stasis of Desert Marigold, to the ebullient energy of Fantasia canonica.  The new album follows a year-long break after 13 instalments in this series which has produced glowing reviews for Cooman’s seemingly endless inspiration and ability to produce a vast output (he has reached Op. 1365 by the age of 39) of fresh and imaginative works.  The album features the wonderful voices of the Orgel Fleiter instrument (2014) at the Propsteikirche St. Ludgerus in Billerbeck, Germany, recorded with the awesome Hauptwerk system.  The instrument has 72 speaking stops across four manuals and pedals and has been designed predominantly in the grand French symphonic style.

Erik Simmons
Erik Simmons © Charissa Simmons

Erik Simmons started playing the organ at age 10 when he was a chorister at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Glendale, California. His primary organ teacher was Richard Slater. Erik has furthered his studies by working with Lanny Collins, Barbara Baird, and Lee Garrett, and through master classes with various clinicians, including Harald Vogel. Erik holds a BA in applied mathematics and MS in mathematical modeling from Humboldt State University. He has recorded many CDs, including one of the organ music of American composer James Woodman, and this ongoing critically-acclaimed series of albums of the music of Carson Cooman for Divine Art.

Carson Cooman, composer
Carson Cooman © Colby Cooman

Carson Cooman (b. 1982) is an American composer with a catalog of hundreds of works in many forms—ranging from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes. His music has been performed on all six inhabited continents in venues that range from the stage of Carnegie Hall to the basket of a hot air balloon. Cooman’s work appears on over forty recordings, including more than twenty-five complete CDs on the Naxos, Albany, Artek, Gothic, Divine Art, Métier, Diversions Altarus, Convivium, MSR Classics, Raven, and Zimbel labels. Cooman’s primary composition studies were with Bernard Rands, Judith Weir, Alan Fletcher, and James Willey. As an active concert organist, Cooman specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Over 300 new compositions by more than 100 international composers have been written for him, and his organ performances can be heard on a substantial number of commercial recordings and more than 3,000 recordings available online. Cooman is also a writer on musical subjects, producing articles and reviews frequently for several international publications. He serves as an active consultant on music business matters to composers and performing organizations, specializing particularly in the area of composer estates and archives.

Album details:

Release date: May 15, 2021
Title: ‘Antiphonies’ (Carson Cooman Organ Music Vol. 14)
Recorded between August 2020 and January 2021
Label: Divine Art
Catalog number: DDA 25218
Performer: Erik Simmons (organ)

Works:

  • Fantasia canonica
  • Two from the British Isles:
    • Prelude on ‘Kingsfold’
    • Postlude on ‘Hyfrydol’
  • Three Autumn Sketches after a watercolor by Maria Willscher
  • A St Patrick Silhouette
  • St Michael Antiphonies
  • Desert Marigold
  • Preludio del ricordo
  • Suite circulaire

(Playing time 72:11)

Sample Our June Releases on YouTube

Preview our three June 12, 2020 releases now on our YouTube Channel:

New Album of Carson Cooman Organ Music from Philip Hartmann

Organist Philip Hartmann to record an album of music by Carson Cooman recorded on the organ of Pauluskirche, Ulm, Germany.

Divine Art Records has for some time championed the music of prolific American composer Carson Cooman, and as well as two orchestral and one chamber albums has reached Volume 13 in the Cooman Organ Music series, performed by Erik Simmons. While that series takes a short break,  Divine Art has welcomed the acclaimed German organist Philip Hartmann to its artist roster for a new album of organ works by Cooman recorded on the magnificent organ of Pauluskirche, Ulm, Germany, an instrument constructed by Thomas Gaida in 2013 after Gebrüder Link (1910). 

While some of the works have appeared in the Simmons series, Hartmann provides a different interpretation on a different instrument which makes comparisons interesting as each player makes individual interpretative and stop-combination choices.

The new recording will be released worldwide (CD and digital/streaming) on 12 June 2020.

Invocazione brillante

Recorded in Ulm, Germany on June 19-21, 2019 – Coming June 2020

Performer: Philip Hartmann
Works (all composed by Carson Cooman):

  • Musica da processione (2018)
  • Arioso (2013)
  • Cortege, Intermezzo and Litany on the Joseph-Hymnus (2017)
  • Romanza (2000)
  • Praeludium in festo S. Philippi apostoli (2017)
  • Diptych for New Life (2017)
  • Arioso Cantabile (2018)
  • Suite in F (2017)
  • Prelude on ‘Das ist köstlich’ (2018)
  • Invocazione brillante (2017)
  • Two Nantucket Sketches (2018)
  • Lullaby (2018)
  • Sonatina No. 4 (2017)

Album playing time  76:14

Philip Hartmann
Philip Hartmann

Philip Hartmann

German organist Philip Hartmann studied musicology at the universities of Berlin and Hamburg followed by studies in church music at the Musikhochschule in Bremen. He also participated in organ masterclasses with Daniel Roth (Paris) and Ben van Oosten (The Hague). From 1986 to 1991, Hartmann was cantor and organist at the Protestant town church in Ehingen (Donau). Since 1991, he has worked as a church musician in Ulm at the Pauluskirche, and since 1999 also as a cathedral organist at Ulm Cathedral (Ulmer Münster). In 2004, he became the director of the Martin-Luther-Kantorei, and in 2005 he was appointed district cantor (Bezirkskantor) for the Ulm deanery.

Hartmann has played more than 600 organ recitals throughout Germany and Europe and has also appeared as organist and choirmaster in various TV and radio productions as well as on a solo CD of the organ music of Andreas Willscher, recorded on the 2013 Link-Gaida organ in the Pauluskirche. Hartmann has a particular interest in American and British organ music as well as contemporary compositions. He has given numerous world premieres, and about 40 works by contemporary composers have been dedicated to him.

Carson Cooman, composer
Carson Cooman, composer

Carson Cooman

Carson Cooman (b. 1982) is an American composer with a catalogue of hundreds of works in many forms—ranging from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes. His music has been performed on all six inhabited continents in venues that range from the stage of Carnegie Hall to the basket of a hot air balloon. Cooman’s work appears on over forty recordings, including more than twenty complete CDs on the Naxos, Albany, Artek, Gothic, Divine Art, Métier, Diversions Altarus, Convivium, MSR Classics, Raven, and Zimbel labels. Cooman’s primary composition studies were with Bernard Rands, Judith Weir, Alan Fletcher, and James Willey. As an active concert organist, Cooman specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Over 300 new compositions by more than 100 international composers have been written for him, and his organ performances can be heard on a number of CD releases and more than 2,000 recordings available online. Cooman is also a writer on musical subjects, producing articles and reviews frequently for a number of international publications. He serves as an active consultant on music business matters to composers and performing organizations, specializing particularly in the area of composer estates and archives

Two New Carson Cooman Albums Coming in 2019

Erik Simmons, organist
Erik Simmons, organist

Divine Art Records will be releasing two more volumes this year in its continuing series Carson Cooman Organ Music. The extraordinarily talented and prolific writer, organist, composer and teacher, who among many activities is composer in residence at the Memorial Church at Harvard, was recently the subject of an extended feature in the Organ (UK). His writing encompasses many styles – a great deal of liturgical and other works suitable for church performance but also symphonies (for orchestra and for organ), and pieces in all the baroque and classical forms in his own accessible yet modern language. Volume 11 of the series is titled ‘Portals’ after Cooman’s Third organ Symphony of that name, the principal work on the album. This Symphony in itself is specifically religious in concept. This will be released in July 2019. The second album is one that Cooman has prepared especially for Christmas with variations and fantasies on many popular seasonal melodies. Highly recommended for any church Christmas fellowship – give the organist a night off! The Christmas disc will be available by October. (Note: Volume 13 is already recorded and will be scheduled for release early in 2020)

Both albums are beautifully performed by Cooman’s regular collaborator Erik Simmons. Recordings are made via the Hauptwerk system from the Sonnenorgel (Sun Organ) of Stadtkirche St. Peter & Paul, Gorlitz, Germany, a gorgeous instrument constructed 1997-2006 with a large, rich specification.

Portals: Carson Cooman Organ Music, volume 11

Recorded December 2017-April 2018
Divine Art (DDA 25195)
Erik Simmons, organ

Works

  • Carillon after the Bells of Ulm Cathedral
  • Legends: Nos.  1, 2, 3 and 4
  • Tiento de falsas
  • Prehiera pastorale
  • Praeludium in festo S. Thomae apostolic
  • Praeambulum festivum
  • Organ Symphony No. 3 ‘Portals’ (5 movements)

How Great Our Joy: Carson Cooman Organ Music, volume 12 (The Christmas Collection)

Recorded November 2018-January 2019
Divine Art (DDA 25196)
Erik Simmons, organ

Works

  • Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves’
  • Fantasy on ‘Veni Emmanuel’
  • Little Partita on a Polish Carol
  • Variations on a Basque Noel
  • Little Fantasia on ‘In dulci jubilo’
  • Carol Paraphrase on a Motive of Wilhelm Wiesmann
  • Voluntary on ‘O du frohliche’
  • Meditation on ‘Es ist ein Ros’
  • Rhapsody on a German Carol
  • O Sleep, Dear holy Babe
  • Rondino for St Joseph
  • All My Heart this Night Rejoices
  • Triptych on a Sorbian Carol
  • Three Pastorales on a German Carol
  • Fantasy on ‘Adeste Fideles’

The Organ Magazine Spotlights Carson Cooman

The Winter 2019 issue of The Organ Magazine has an extensive feature on composer and artist Carson Cooman. You can hear his organ music in our new discounted set of 10 recordings by Erik Simmons!

Carson Cooman

Carson Cooman has an impressive and growing discography. In particular, there is a series of ten CDs, under the rubric “Organ Music by Carson Cooman.” These are on the Divine Art label, a cooperative enterprise which allows the artist control over the production process and marketing. The titles of the CDs are short and evocative, and are taken from a track on the given recording.

One of the most delightful features of these recordings is the organist, Erik Simmons. His playing is as clean and concise as the music; he allows each score to speak (or sing) for itself. Another contribution he makes is in the organs chosen for each CD. These are virtual models, in most cases made by Jiří Žůrek of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Hymnus features an organ modeled by Gernot Wurst.) The Žůrek models are part of the Sonus Paradisi project. All of these recordings are played on virtual organs, and they are chosen from all over Europe. We hear the Cavaillé-Coll organs at the Abbey of St-Etienne in Caen and Notre- Dame in Saint-Omer; the 1831 Bätz organ in the Domkerk of Utrecht; the two Marcussens of the Laurenskerk in Rotterdam; the 1732 Engler in Basilica Maria-Himmelfahrt in Krzeszów (Grüssau); the Rosales in Trinity Cathedral, Portland, Oregon; and still others.

In other words, the recordings offer a virtual world tour and compendium of organ tonal concepts in addition to the music. The use of digital technology is highly cost-effective as well; there is no need to travel, transport heavy equipment, rent a church, and record in the wee hours when traffic is light. Post-production is light, as the recordings are entirely Hauptwerk-to-disc. At the same time, the lifelike quality of the model gives a faithful idea of the instrument and acoustic. The present writer was struck, in particular, by the power of the bass, where there is so often some loss in conventional recordings. Digital calleth unto digital.

The repertoire for each CD is chosen around a coherent theme. The titles are usually chosen from one piece on the recording, but the pieces themselves have relationships to each other. So the two-CD set titled Preludio heavily favours works evoking historic models. Italian predominates (ricerare, canzona, concertino, passacaglia, “Rondo estatico”), though we also find an allemande, a rondeau, a tambourin, and a “Kleine Speilmusik” and “A Bedfordshire Voluntary” to boot. The liner notes explain: The works included on this album are largely bound together by inspiration from various facets of early music. Without any question, my favourite period of the pre-20th century organ literature is the late Renaissance and very early baroque. Though the late/ high baroque gets far more attention, it is this earlier period that holds significantly greater musical interest for me, in part because the music is so often imbued with a tremendous freedom of harmony and mode that was largely lost until the 20th century.

Meanwhile, Masque is a collection of preludes and fugues, rounded out with a short work titled Preghiera and a longer Symphony for Organ. The title of the first movement of the Symphony, “Masque,” gives us the CD title. The preludes and fugues are this writer’s favourite part of the album, because of the wealth of invention, not only in the preludes, but in the themes of the fugues and their treatment. These “dry” forms display the composer’s fecundity and musicality with telling clarity.”

—Jonathan B. Hall, The Organ

Carson Cooman Recordings on Divine Art

Two New Discount Sets

Save 25% off the original prices of two multi-volume recording series when you purchase our new discount sets of music by Michael Finissy and Carson Cooman.

Handel: Suites for Harpsichord, volumes 1-3

Handel: Suites for Harpsichord, volumes 1-3

SET 10013
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Schubert: "Unauthorised" Piano Duos, vols 1-3 (discount set)

Schubert: “Unauthorised” Piano Duos, vols 1-3 (discount set)

SET 10012
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‘Women of History’

Divine Art Records continues its series of recordings with American organist Carson Cooman, who is organist at the Memorial Church at Harvard, as well as being a teacher, writer, speaker, music critic and incredibly prolific composer. Following three recordings including organ works by German composers Andreas Willscher and Raimund Schächer, Cooman has recorded an album of music by the Italian composer Carlotta Ferrari (b.1975). Ferrari’s compositions have been performed frequently around the word and appear on many recordings including six all-Ferrari CDs. She is currently professor of music composition at the European School of Economics in Florence, Italy.

Ferrari has written many works based on historical figures, and the five works on this album are all inspired by the lives and works of famous women, lending to the album’s title, ‘Women of History’. She writes in a distinctive modal style, utilising the modal harmonic system of ‘Restarting Pitch Space’ which was actually developed by Cooman in 2005.

The recording will be issued this July on CD and many digital formats (Divine Art dda 25178). Cooman’s own compositions continue to appear, performed by Erik Simmons, in the ongoing series from Divine Art, with three more volumes scheduled for 2018.

The release is also timely as 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein which is the inspiration for the first piece.

Tracks
Lady Frankenstein
Maria Restituta
Historia Gullielmae
Viva la vida
Esctasy (La transverberazione di Teresa d’Avila)

More organ albums from Divine Art

Divine Art has announced the latest in the new series of organ recordings made by American organist Carson Cooman, following his two recent albums of music by Andreas Willscher. The new disc features more works by Willscher and also major pieces by Raimund Schächer (b. 1960).  Schächer is an expert on early, Renaissance and baroque music which is reflected in his often very traditional style, seen here most obviously in his Sonata Antiqua. The recording features the breathtaking sounds of the Sonnenorgel (Sun Organ) at Pfarrkirche, Görlitz, Germany which Divine Art CEO Stephen Sutton considers one of the most beautifully voiced organs he has heard in fifty years.

As an active concert organist, Cooman specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Over 130 new works have been composed for him by composers from around the world, and his organ performances can be heard on a number of CD recordings. Cooman is also a writer on musical subjects, producing articles and reviews frequently for a number of international publications. He is organist of the Memorial Church at Harvard University.

Cooman is also well known as a prolific composer and Divine Art has three more albums of his organ music, performed by Erik Simmons, in the can for release later this year; these will be volumes 8-10 of the Cooman Organ Music series. The seventh in the series, ‘Owl Night’, will be officially released in March of this year.

The Schächer/Willscher organ works album is scheduled for release on May 18, 2018 on Divine Art (DDA 25168).

November Releases

Look out for three new albums in November (our last issues of 2017). We are delighted to present Volume 6 of the Carson Cooman organ music series (“The Cloak with the Stars”). Cooman also appears, this time as performer, in Andreas Willscher’s Organ Symphonies 19 & 20 and a suite ‘The Beatitudes’; and from Métier we focus on works for solo violin and violin/viola duo by Michael Alec Rose, currently teaching at Vanderbilt University, Nashville.

New Project Notes

  • May 25: We seem to be inundated with new recording projects. Soon to be announced will be a new double album of artsong, for the English Poetry and Song Society; we’re prequelling this new recording with the re-issue of four live concert recitals made between 2002 and 2006 (Diversions DDV 24162-5, August 2017). Many new chamber music discs are on the way from both sides of the Atlantic – more news soon!
  • May 2: Having just finished work on the fifth volume of Organ music by Carson Cooman, for release in July, we have just started on the next two! This wonderful series is attracting fine reviews, and given Mr Cooman’s rate of productivity we see it continuing for quite some time. Look out soon for news of two albums of fine Piano Trios from the late 19th and early 20th century – all world premieres too.

Ghost Dialogues

Among the plethora of chamber music discs featuring strings and woodwind soloists, the brass section seems still to be given relatively less attention except for early and baroque works. A new album from Métier presents a range of new works for trumpet by American composers, performed by Chris Gekker, acclaimed soloist who is also Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maryland. All approachable and melodic works though varied in style and presentation, these are all first recordings and include works by Robert Gibson, Carson Cooman, Lance Hulme, David Heinick and Kevin McKee. Performers alongside Gekker will include Rita Sloan (piano), Chris Vadala (tenor sax), and Clara O’Brien (mezzo-soprano). To be released in July 2017 (Métier MSV 28572).