A recital of upbeat American music.

Schubert Bi-centennial

Shelly Manne, Larry Bunker, Victor Feldman, Colin Bailey and Wally Snow, well-known jazz musicians, are the remarkable percussionists on this recording.

This is the 1983 debut album of Joan Rowland and Karl Ulrich Schnabel as Duo Schnabel. Schubert's Grand Duo is a towering masterpiece for one piano, four hands. The work has the proportions and the quality of a major symphony. It is surely no less important than any of Schubert's symphonies, and the Duo Schnabel performs the piece in this recording with an orchestral approach, without sacrificing the pianistic sonorities. The Variations in B flat are light-hearted, charming, and brilliantly conceived for the piano.

Claudine Carlson brings her rich and colorful voice to this varied collection of French songs. The Ravel song cycle about animals is unique in the literature, evocative and humorous. The lighter material contains beloved Parisian cabaret songs, in addition to music by Poulenc and others.

Mozart Sonata in F Major (K. 497); Schubert Divertissement (Sonata in E minor) on original French themes (D. 823); Schubert Eight Variations on a theme from Herold's opera, "Marie" (D. 908)

A stunning collection of Spanish and Latin American songs spanning five centuries. Includes the haunting "Porque es, dama, tanto quereros?" by Diego Pisador, and other works by 16th-century composers, "Estrellita" and "Seis poemas arcaicos" by Manuel Ponce, and two elegant Columbian folksongs arranged by Miguel Sandoval. The recording also contains three rare gems: the Spanish cantata: "No se emendera jamas" by Handel, seven Catalonian folksongs arranged by Roberto Gerhard, and Salvador Moreno's "Cuatro Canciones Aztecas," sung in the Aztec language.

One piano, four hands. Music of an intensely pastoral and nationalistic flavor, these are among the most romantic and folk inspired pieces ever composed. The feeling of an enchanted atmosphere is present at all times in this music. The Duo Schnabel generates just the right feeling of dance throughout.

A very pleasing and substantial collection of music for violin and guitar, including Astor Piazzola's Histoire du Tango, a stunning example of the Argentinian "New Tango". Haslop and Sanders are a beautifully integrated duo who perform together all the time, with the finest ensemble and blend.

Having been booked in over one hundred cities for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 seasons, Douglas Webster and Lincoln Mayorga are proving that the song recital is alive and well in America.

The Snow Queen is an eclectic, yet cohesive blend of sounds and styles, mixing acoustic instruments and voices with electronically generated textures and soundscapes, written by new-music composer, John LaSala. The music was originally commissioned to accompany the Off-Off Broadway modern dance-theater piece of the same name.

Doug DeVita from Off-Off Broadway Review comments, "LaSala's vibrant, eclectic score is always sensitive to the icy hot moods of the story, not afraid to sacrifice melody for dramatic thrust. It is also ravishing; a witty and lush marriage of romance and minimalism."

Keyboard artist Ralph Grierson takes on and masters the most formidable challenges of the avant garde music of the 1970's. Each composition was written for and in collaboration with the performer. Grierson displays his talent within a wide spectrum of acoustic and electronic sound, utilizing prepared piano, Rhodes electric piano, piano modified by an electronic ghost score, and synthesizers.