New Focus Recordings

Eren Gumrukcuoglu – Eren Gümrükçüoğlu: Pareidolia (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

January 16, 2024 0 Comment

Eren Gümrükçüoglu’s compositional world fuses unique timbres with gestural instrumental writing to craft a kind of abstract sonic cinema. There is a symphonic quality to many of these works despite their scoring for ensembles seven players and smaller, with orchestration and color occupying an essential role in Gümrükçüoglu’s writing. Equally influential is Gümrükçüoglu’s background in modern jazz, which presents itself not so much in full garb, but obliquely, in refracted form, coloring the rhythmic and harmonic material at pivotal moments and shaping his process for generating material.

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Escher String Quartet, Paulina Swierczek, Miranda Cuckson, Jacob Greenberg – Anthony Cheung: All Roads (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

January 15, 2024 0 Comment

Composer Anthony Cheung releases All Roads, a follow up to FCR215 Cycles and Arrows. Featuring performances by the Escher Quartet, violinist Miranda Cuckson, soprano Paulina Swierczek, and pianists Jacob Greenberg, Gilles Vonsattel, and Cheung himself, All Roads encapsulates Cheung’s penchant for drawing on broad sources of inspiration and filtering them through an incisive and discriminating compositional process to produce substantial, structurally airtight works.

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Eric Huebner – Earth: Music for Solo Piano by Stephen Barber (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

January 14, 2024 0 Comment

Eclectic composer Stephen Barber releases this collection of character pieces that reflect his unique career straddling the worlds of popular music, film scoring, and contemporary classical composition. Barber’s collaborators over the years include Stevie Ray Vaughn, David Byrne, Natalie Merchant, Willie Nelson, Ornette Coleman, Gilberto Gil, and the London Symphony. These colorful works are performed by critically acclaimed pianist Eric Huebner.

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Duo Gelland – Resistance/Resonance (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

December 31, 2023 0 Comment

Resistance/Resonance is an album of violin duets written by composers of the Twin Cities-based 113 Composers Collective. These 6 pieces provide ample field for Duo Gelland (Cecilia and Martin Gelland, violinists) to display their wide-ranging voices, from pure noise to the luminous ringing of harmonics. Swedish-German Duo Gelland was formed in 1994; since then more than 200 works have been dedicated to the ensemble. They have worked with filmmakers and choreographers as well as composers, and enrich that work with scholarship and research into historical lost repertoire. Their long collaboration is obvious on this cd, in the way they match tone color and balance, and their synchronized interaction across complex rhythmic structures.

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Duo Noire – Night Triptych (2018) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

December 31, 2023 0 Comment

You might not expect much from an unknown American guitar duo, on an album with indifferent graphic design and a program of completely unfamiliar music. And you would be making a major error. Duo Noire, true to its name, consists of a pair of African American guitarists, the first ones to graduate with Master’s degrees from the Yale University School of Music. But the list of “firsts” only begins there. All-contemporary programs of guitar music are not common, and this may be the first to feature exclusively female composers. All the works were commissioned by Duo Noire, and they’re a varied group, from the humorous Hocus Pocus by Brazil’s Clarice Assad (a member of the famous Assad family, who are without exception worth hearing, and a bit more oriented toward classical composition than the others); the epic Byblos by Armenian-American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian; the minimalistic yet gospel- and jazz-flavored Soli Deo Gloria by New Orleans-born Courtney Bryan, which is intended not as a sacred work but as one exploring the boundary between sacred and secular; the titular Night Triptych, by Persian-American Golfam Khayam; the Four Haikus of another Iranian American, Gity Razaz, which include Persian influences; and the final Loop the Fractal Hold of Rain, which despite its scientific title features influences from bluegrass guitar. All these works include extended techniques (sample the second movement, “Shamans,” of the Assad work, where a spoon is used to produce eerie guitar overtones), and the duo handles a large variety of technical demands well. Another star of the show is producer William Coulter, a guitarist himself, whose crystal clear, close-up guitar sound is absolutely exemplary. A truly pathbreaking recording that is greatly satisfying in its own right.

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Duo della Luna – Mangetsu (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

December 29, 2023 0 Comment

The voice and violin duo Duo della Luna (Susan Botti and Airi Yoshioka, respectively) brings a remarkable versatility and integrated ensemble approach to a rarefied instrumental combination. Both musicians take advantage of their impressive range to broaden the scope of expressive possibilities within this duo formation. On Mangetsu, that range is in full bloom, from Botti’s fluid text delivery in different languages and vocal styles to both performers’ virtuosic navigation of extended techniques and gymnastic passagework. Throughout, the duo is engaged in a intertwined dialogue between the two players, always balanced elegantly, with each fulfilling an equal and essential role in the musical texture. Their sensitive performances are captured in a sensual recording by Grammy award winning engineer and recording industry luminary Todd Whitelock.

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Deviant Septet – Sid Richardson: Borne by a Wind (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]

December 29, 2023 0 Comment

Boston born composer Sid Richardson releases his debut recording, shaping the program around literary influences that have had a strong impact on his work. The centerpiece of the album is a setting of poetry from the African-American experimentalist poet Nathaniel Mackey’s collection “”Blue Fasa,”” scored for the Deviant Septet with Mackey narrating. Solo works for pianist Conrad Tao and violinist Lilit Hartunian and an ensemble work for the Da Capo Chamber Players round off this excellent introduction to Richardson’s work.

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Desdemona – Finola Merivale: Tús (2022) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 28, 2023 0 Comment

Irish composer Finola Merivale releases her debut album, a collection of works spanning ten years of her life, and featuring the Desdemona Ensemble, a group Merivale has collaborated closely with since moving to New York City. Merivale’s music establishes its own reference point, existing within but not being defined by the aesthetic frames of academic new music and chamber music.

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Movses Pogossian – Bach: 6 Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001-1006 (2017) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 10, 2023 0 Comment

Acclaimed Armenian born violinist Movses Pogossian releases his performance of the full set of Bach’s iconic Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. Pogossian’s soulful and thoughtful version strikes an ideal balance between various approaches to Bach. He incorporates the best characteristics of historically informed performance alongside aspects of the expansive, violinistic style associated with 20th century readings. His deep understanding of the structure of these works provides the foundation for the entire recording, elucidating the genius craft behind the fugues, the elegant harmonic architecture of the slow movements, and the brilliant “fortspinnung” or “spinning out” of motivic and episodic material in the fast movements. His lively articulation in dance movements is matched with a lyrical purity in the slower material. Pogossian mines the spiritual core of the slow movements brilliantly, preserving forward direction at deliberate tempi that allow him to explore the emotional color of each note. His approach is influenced by close work with György and Márta Kurtág, whose essential insights on Bach and music in general have inspired legions of wonderful musicians the world over. Pogossian is Professor of Violin at UCLA and can be heard as a soloist and chamber musician worldwide, as a champion of new compositions and virtuoso performer of works in the traditional canon.

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Borderlands Ensemble – The Space in Which To See (2021) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 7, 2023 0 Comment

Hailing from the American Southwest, the Borderlands Ensemble was formed in 2017 to reach across social boundaries and bring communities together through concert music. the space in which to see, their debut release, was catalyzed by a project entitled “Place and Identity in the Borderlands” which specifically explored connections between the shared cultural identity of Arizona and Mexico. Led by artistic director Johanna Lundy, three collaborators brought their specialized knowledge to the project: Dr. Jos’e Luis Puerta, guitarist; Dr. Luis E. Coronado Guel, Mexican historian; and Jessica Gonzales, visual artist who created paintings inspired by the music that are included in the album artwork. The collection of music on this release speaks both to the group’s commitment to building cultural bridges through chamber music as well as its refined and impactful performances.

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Bergamot Quartet – In the Brink (2022) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 7, 2023 0 Comment

Bergamot Quartet releases its first full length recording with premieres by Suzanne Farrin, Tania León, Paul Wiancko, and Ledah Finck, who is also a violinist in the group. The critically acclaimed quartet merges a refined chamber music sensibility with a versatile and precise approach to contemporary scores, making a valued contribution to the repertoire with works that can be performed by new music specialists and generalized quartets alike.

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Bobby Mitchell, Tom Rosenkranz – Scherzinger Etudes (2021) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 6, 2023 0 Comment

Composer Martin Scherzinger releases his second album with New Focus, Scherzinger Etudes, focusing on his piano etudes. Performed here by pianist Bobby Mitchell, Scherzinger describes these works as “a topological study of found musical sound,” taking existing music by composers such as Brahms, Schumann, and Paganini, and putting them through “a hall of mirrors” to re-examine them from new angles and open our ears to their many possibilities.

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DUO Stephanie & Saar – Bach, J.S.: The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 (2017) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 5, 2023 0 Comment

DUO Stephanie & Saar’s third release on New Focus Recordings, The Art of Fugue, is the first ever complete piano duo recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s final enigmatic work. The duo performs the work’s different movements as either four-hand, two piano or solo piano works. Bach never specified the instrumentation of the work and this new version is a kaleidoscope of textures and colors, a probing journey that seeks answers and illumination. Dated 1748, some scholars see The Art of Fugue as an academic endeavor by an aging master paying tribute to the fugue, which was by then falling out of fashion. Others consider the work as a sort of “Da Vinci Code” of numerology, puzzles and musical coding. The mystery of Contrapunctus 14, notable for both the inclusion of Bach’s name as a theme and for its unfinished state adds to the mythology and cult status that surrounds the work.Bach found fugues to be a source of endless creativity. The Art of Fugue, a collection of fourteen fugues and four canons, is an exploration of the full spectrum of contrapuntal possibilities, all derived from one monolithic theme in D minor. From a purely technical standpoint, Bach’s compositional prowess is in full display as he employs inversion, retrograde, augmentation, diminution, multiple fugue subjects, mirroring and canonic writing- all while creating an intense and emotionally gripping musical experience. Bach was a deeply devout Lutheran, and while Th Art of Fugue has no direct religious connotations, the work’s reverence for “musical math” and the severity of the techniques used are in line with Bach’s devotional output. Bach’s need to exhaust as many possibilities of permutations from one theme is in essence a quest to find meaning, an unending spiritual journey reaching towards the divine.

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Ashley Bathgate – 8-Track (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

December 3, 2023 0 Comment

Cellist Ashley Bathgate releases her third solo album featuring her performance of Steve Reich’s Cello Counterpoint alongside three new works that take advantage of the versatile format of soloist with layered tracks. Composers Emily Cooley, Alex Weiser, and Fjóla Evans wrote works that expand on Reich’s template, exploring harmonic, dramatic, and gestural contrasts. The homogeneity of timbre inherent in works for layered tracks of the same instrument gives the listener a sense they are hearing a hyper-cello; the compositional strategy both echoes studio techniques that are ubiquitous in commercial music while also amplifying more Romantic impulses of extroverted expression and immersive textures.

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Andy Kozar – The Consent of Sound and Meaning: Music of Eric Richards (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

December 3, 2023 0 Comment

The Consent of Sound and Meaning opens with the declamatory A Fanfare for Diebenkorn for three trumpets, all played by loadbang’s Andy Kozar. Richard Diebenkorn was an abstract expressionist painter based in California; one can hear Richards capturing the austerity of reorganized visual elements in the pointed staccato notes followed by a sustained tone. Wingsets is the largest work on the album in terms of instrumentation. Written for a vibrantly colorful ensemble of nine instrumentalists and nine singers (including the baritone soloist, here Steve Hrycelak), it sets two simultaneously overlaid texts drawn from the Catholic liturgy. Richards contrasts clusters with wide leaps of a ninth in the solo part, and the short work evokes Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles in its spare, direct quality.

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Andy Kozar – A Few Kites (2020) [FLAC 24bit, 48 kHz]

December 3, 2023 0 Comment

Trumpeter Andy Kozar (loadbang) releases “”A Few Kites,”” a collection of electro-acoustic works written for him that reflect the diversity in this essential medium. Featuring works by Paula Matthusen, Ken Ueno, Quinn Collins, Scott Worthington, Jeffrey Gavett, Heather Stebbins, Eve Beglarian, and Tyler Harrison, Kozar’s versatility and virtuosity is in consistent display across this engaging release. A native of Pittsburgh, Andy Kozar is a New York City based trumpeter, improviser, composer and educator that has been called a ‘star soloist’ by TimeOutNY, noted for his ‘precise trumpeting’ by New York Classical Review and has been said to be agile as he navigated leaps and slurs with grace…he shifted between lyricism and aggression deftly by the International Trumpet Guild Journal. A strong advocate of contemporary music, he is a founding member of the contemporary music quartet loadbang which has been called inventive by the New York Times, cultivated by The New Yorker, and a formidable new-music force by TimeOutNY.

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American Wild Ensemble – Duos and Trios (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]

December 2, 2023 0 Comment

This album collects several of our recent commissions written for a portion of our larger septet: two flute, clarinet, and cello trios and two flute and cello duos. We can’t wait to share these incredible new works by Aaron Travers, David Clay Mettens, David Liptak, and Margaret Brouwer. Each of these works responds to nature in a different way and explores a variety of familiar and extraordinarily unfamiliar timbres and techniques to showcase these instruments in creative and unexpected ways.

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Alicia Lee – Conversations With Myself (2022) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 2, 2023 0 Comment

Clarinetist Alicia Lee releases Conversations With Myself, a collection of works for solo clarinet with and without electronics, chronicling a year of artistic activity in isolation. Works by Pierre Boulez, Dai Fujikura, Isang Yun, Unsuk Chin, and Hideaki Aomori make for a program that highlights music by composers of Asian descent and Boulez’ iconic work exploring the dichotomy between live performance and pre-recorded material.

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Ah Young Hong – Michael Hersch: I hope we get a chance to visit soon (2020) [FLAC 24bit, 48 kHz]

December 2, 2023 0 Comment

Composer Michael Hersch tackles difficult subject matter unflinchingly, delving deep inside the nature of pain, anguish, and suffering in works that frequently explore illness and mortality. I hope we get a chance to visit soon is no exception. The companion piece to his 2012 monodrama, On the Threshold of Winter, which set texts by Romanian poet Marin Sorescu who succumbed to cancer, I hope we get a chance to visit soon engages with the loss of Hersch’s close friend Mary Harris O’Reilly to the disease. Hersch’s own bout with cancer is always lurking in the subtext of these powerfully topical works, manifest in his chosen sonic world that primarily sets texts from correspondence between O’Reilly and Hersch, some of which were exchanged while both were in treatment. These texts are often set in opposition to fragments from the poetry of Rebecca Elson. The work is scored for two soprano soloists and chamber ensemble. Hersch divides the texts between the words of O’Reilly and Elson, establishing contrasting roles and perspectives on the situation that the protagonist finds herself in. That the formal release of this recording comes in the midst of a global pandemic will not be lost on anyone, and only intensifies the contemporary experience of this powerful work.

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Ah Young Hong, Ensemble Klang, Tito Muñoz, The BBC Symphony Orchestra – Michael Hersch: The Script of Storms (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

December 2, 2023 0 Comment

Composer Michael Hersch releases two works featuring his frequent collaborator soprano Ah Young Hong: cortex and ankle with Dutch based Ensemble Klang and the script of storms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Tito Muñoz. Hersch sets powerful texts by Christopher Middleton and Fawzi Karim respectively in these gripping works.

“Hersch’s music gets under the listener’s skin like no other … the voice is central, but a voice that sounds like an instrument and that miraculously merges with the instruments, a technique that is tailor-made for Hong … the intensity goes through marrow and bone.”