Gal's (1890-1987) Serenade in D, written in 1932, is a witty, sardonic and often beautiful score, which adopts the mannerisms of the Classical style while simultaneously sending them up with love and zest. ...Krasa's (1899-1944) Passacaglia and Fugue is a brilliant revelation, a savage takedown of artistic ideals in which order and luxuriance devolve into chaos. It's a compact, unforgettable masterpiece, and the Ensemble Epomeo - which includes [cellist Kenneth] Woods along with violinist Caroline Chin and violist David Yang - gives it a superb performance.

The three works on this enterprising release showcase a genuinely American composer, Anthony Paul De Ritis (b. 1968), ...whose music lies rooted in its determination to meld science with humanity. To do so, De Ritis draws on the resources of his acoustic-electronic laboratory and applies them with a healthy enthusiasm for engaging tunes and harmonies, lively beat and a love of Technicolor.

Hyla (b. 1952) is somewhat of an enigma in that he doesn't fall neatly into any category or school of the modern/new music movement and seems not to really need to do so. He lives in the eclectic American music landscape that encapulates everything from pure classical forms to punk rock and what sounds like--but isn't--free form jazz. He seems to thrive on contemporary music scene's terrain, its liveliness, its expansiveness, its inexhaustiveness. Think Eliott Carter meets Cocteau Twins meets Cecil Taylor and Steve Lacy. He uses it all and synthesizes a sound and a content that is unique and completely his own.

...Marshall’s (b. 1942) Evensongs represent a return to home ground. Based on two protestant hymns of his childhood, Now the Day Is Over and Abide with Me, the piece mixes taped elements—including a chorus of music boxes--with a live string quartet. Once part of a ubiquitous American soundtrack, the melodies in Marshall’s six variations shift in and out of focus like half-recalled memories. Both songs are Victorian era meditations on evening. Now the Day was written as a children’s hymn; Abide, whose author knew himself to be ill, is a frequent funeral piece. Between these two aspects—the rosy end of day and the gloomy end of life—Marshall’s music stakes out a tremulous middle ground. There, in the shimmering twilight, with echoes of his own child’s voice on the tape, innocence and experience blur.

"Baroque Conversations” showcases Greilsammer’s seductive, deeply intelligent playing of an astonishing range of music. Four groups of musical encounters bracket 20th- and 21st-century works with earlier music, bathing all in kaleidoscopic colors.

The fretwork of guitarist Andrew McKenna Lee (b. 1974) is nothing short of remarkable. Opening Gravity and Air with an homage to Bach—a sensuous rendition of “Prelude for Lute in D Minor, BWV 999”—Lee continues with five gorgeous “Refractions,” or responses, to the “Prelude.” Discover an altered sense of the passage of time with this remarkably introspective album.

Schlefer's (b. 1956) three-movement Shakuhachi Concerto is subtly scored for strings, harp and percussion, with a 'semi-solo' role played by the shakuhachi … this attractive, highly approachable work - mainly contemplative, sometimes almost static but with bursts of strong rhythmic energy - exhibits considerable craftsmanship and no little artistry. ...Hagen's (b. 1961) colourful, lively writing for orchestra [in his Koto Concerto] pushes things along, skillfully and tunefully blending Japanese and American styles.

In many respects Earl Howard's (b. 1951) music is an anomaly that resists categorization and the seductiveness of genre. He is an important force in improvised music and yet his work employs complex structures and rigorous transitions of sound and texture. His electro-acoustic music is realized with a K-2600 Kurzweil that for Howard is not merely a keyboard synthesizer but an open system, a computer with a most effective interface with modules and a key map that enable more freedom in the composer's creation of textures.

Known for her colourful orchestration, Saariaho’s impressive variety of sound is apparent in all of the works included here. The trios are composed for different combinations of instruments, each of them demonstrating their individual colours.

Channel Classics has taken a turn into new territory with this release of sacred choral works by contemporary Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström (b. 1942) – and it turns out to be one of the label’s most engaging, enlightening – and exciting – discs of the year. ...it challenges our traditional expectations of what a choral concert is about. Here we’re confronted with music that doesn’t fit any regular form, yet faithfully follows time-honored biblical texts, from the Psalms to the Mass to the Song of Songs. ... Sandstrom writes with an assured understanding of voices, ...and while his works are for the most part extremely challenging, both for listeners and performers, the musical language is fresh and vital and perfectly suited to the medium.

Though classically trained, Bruckmann (b. 1971) composes his intricate frameworks from the perspective of an improviser, allowing ample room in his knotty themes for radical interpretations of the written scores. Indicative of his diverse interests, Bruckmann juxtaposes rigorous neo-classical motifs and spontaneously improvised interludes with dense contrapuntal charts, blurring the boundaries between classical, jazz and rock. Despite rotating personnel and instrumentation on each number, Bruckmann's singular writing style imbues the session with a sense of stylistic cohesion.

Monuments Emerge chronicles the work of Asian-American composer Nicholas Vasallo (b. 1979). Fusing Western classical music, Asian classical music, and heavy metal, Vasallo's work plumbs the inner depths where these traditions unite, finding their roots in order to draw them out into vast sonic landscapes. Vasallo is pulling threads together, even as he seeks to push at the boundaries that have traditionally separated musical traditions.

New York-based composer Andrew Violette (b. 1953) has written some extremely unusual works... The cello and clarinet sonatas heard here are quite a bit more conventional, but they still fall into an experimental and somewhat mystical strain of music that appeared in different places and times in the 20th century but still seems linked together.

One of the most intellectually fascinating recordings from recent years, getting beyond the creativity of programming is the fact that Jeremy Denk is such a superlative musician. These works all ring with technical finesse while simultaneously creating moments of beauty. A most satisfying recording!

...there is an element of anarchy in the music of Normandeau (b. 1955)... It appears here in a piece like Jeu de langues, which uses breaths and whispers and sounds like a piece of erotic sound art — a genre that hardly exist (which Normandeau finds odd, since its regular to be found in literature, painting and cinema). It’s easily nicest piece on this CD.