photo: Michael Patrick O'Leary

2021 TOP 30 & 20 PICKS

TOP 30 CLASSICAL / OPERA • TOP 30 JAZZ • TOP 20 AMBIENT / NEW AGE • THANK YOU • RIP

photo: Sasha Greenlaigh

TOP 30 CLASSICAL / OPERA

01. Skylark Vocal Ensemble: It's a Long Way (HMR) / A Christmas Carol (HMR)

If giving the top spot to not one but two Skylark releases seems like twisting the rules ever so slightly, rest assured both warrant recognition, especially when they're Skylark projects in the fullest sense but also dramatically different. For It's a Long Way, in essence the Boston-based ensemble's response to the pandemic, twenty pieces were recorded over a four-month period, some by its twenty-four vocalists at home or in a studio and the rest in two sessions with a vaccinated group of singers. Works by Pärt, Barber, Tallis, and Schubert appear, and the inclusion of “Wayfaring Stranger,” “Nature Boy,” and a setting of Goodnight Moon by Eric Whitacre enhances the recording's accessibility. The breadth is great, but unifying the album are its elegiac tone and the authenticity of its performances. A “story score” based on the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol (review forthcoming) picks up where last year's Once Upon a Time left off, with professional storyteller Sarah Walker again narrating, and Skylark delivering a powerful score by Benedict Sheehan that incorporates themes from traditional carols and folksongs. Dickens' tale is obviously familiar, yet it feels reborn in this engrossing Skylark treatment, and one comes away from the experience deeply moved.

02. Jean Sibelius: Luonnotar / Tapiola / Vårsång / Rakastava / Pelléas and Mélisande Suite (Chandos)

A staggering number of classical releases is issued each year, which can make it challenging to identify certain ones as standouts. One clear candidate, however, is this superb collection of Sibelius material by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Edward Gardner, and Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen. The well-known Tapiola and a number of less familiar pieces are exquisitely performed, making for a thoroughly rewarding set sure to satisfy Sibelius aficionados. Davidsen elevates the 1913 tone poem Luonnotar, its text taken from the Finnish national epic poem Kalevela, and later distinguishes a part in the Pelléas and Mélisande suite. Joining the symphonic poem Tapiola, premiered by the New York Symphony in 1926, are Rakastava (1893; reworked 1912-13), for string orchestra, triangle, and timpani, and the brief tone poem Vårsång (1894; revised 1895 and 1902). These performances are collectively so compelling and well-executed, they make one want to immediately hear the recordings Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic issued before it, a Schoenberg set with Sara Jakubiak and a treatment of Britten's Peter Grimes featuring Stuart Skelton.

03. Debussy & Schoenberg: Pelléas & Mélisande (Pentatone)

Pairing Debussy's and Schoenberg's musical responses to Maurice Maeterlinck's 1892 play Pelléas et Mélisande is but one of many appealing things about this double-CD set. What recommends it even more, however, is the suite conductor Jonathan Nott created of Debussy's 1902 opera in 2020, here presented in its world premiere recording. Whereas others have concentrated on the work's interludes, Nott brilliantly distills the essence of the opera into a forty-seven-minute tone poem. Adding to the release's appeal, having the treatments side-by-side allows for a fascinating comparison study, especially when their duration is comparable and when both are performed by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR). Whereas Debussy's atmospheric and sensual treatment evokes a realm that's mystical and dreamlike, Schoenberg's is marked by intense foreboding and great dramatic contrasts. Recorded in Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland in 2019 (Schoenberg) and 2020 (Debussy), the album sounds terrific in the clarity with which its orchestral detail is presented. It's the performances above all else, however, that make this inspired pairing such an essential acquisition.

04. Hilary Hahn: Paris (Deutsche Grammophon)

Hilary Hahn's 2021 album offers travel-starved listeners the vicarious pleasure of a Paris sojourn, with the violinist partnering with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and its Music Director Mikko Franck. One of the more commendable aspects of the release is its set-list: in place of predictable Paris-associated choices, Hahn and company present Poème by Parisian-born composer Ernest Chausson, Einojuhani Rautavaara's Deux Sérénades, and Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.1, which received its first performance in the French capital in 1923. All three are treated to magnificent readings, but it's the inclusion of Deux Sérénades that makes Paris even more special, given that Rautavaara's final score was written for and premiered by Hahn with Franck and the OPRF in February 2019. Paris is, among many things, a sterling document of the powerful rapport the three-time Grammy Award-winning violinist has established with Franck and the OPRF; it also flatters Hahn's curatorial ability in featuring selections that reflect her artistic curiosity.

05. Septura: Music for Brass Septet, Vol. 7: Gershwin & Copland (Naxos)

Septura's 2021 volume is so terrific it immediately makes one want to hear all the others in the series. If the performances on the earlier chapters are as magnificent as the London-based group's treatments of Gershwin and Copland on its latest, all seven volumes are assuredly worth tracking down. Whereas earlier ones featured Russian, English, and French composers, this latest collection of brass chamber music focuses on two of America's greatest twentieth-century figures. The primary works on the release are Gershwin's An American in Paris (1928) and Copland's Appalachian Spring Suite (1944), with 3 Preludes (1926) by the former and the latter's Quiet City (1939) rounding out the programme. The septet elevates all four pieces with authoritative performances marked by precision and balance, and the vibrant tone colours and artful execution of the ensemble bring these scores to vivid, spectacular life.

06. Maya Beiser: Maya Beiser x Philip Glass (Islandia Music Records)

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the idea of cellist Maya Beiser devoting an entire recording to Philip Glass material is that it didn't already happen years ago. Not only has this boundary-crosser been a champion of new music for decades, Beiser has a direct connection to Glass: in 2005, she performed with his ensemble during a worldwide tour of his Qatsi Trilogy. Issued on her Islandia Music Records label, her fourteenth solo album mesmerizes with stirring interpretations of Mad Rush, Music in Similar Motion, material from the Naqoyqatsi score, and treatments of two piano etudes, the set-list ostensibly presenting a compelling microcosm of Glass's output. A major reason for his staying power has to do with melody and specifically his gift for writing themes of immense emotional potency. Anyone still questioning his legitimacy as a composer need only turn to the three opening pieces on the album to have that issue laid to rest, and the riveting conclusion to Mad Rush alone justifies the acquisition.

07. Robert Paterson: The Four Seasons (American Modern Recordings)

No better night at the concert hall might be imagined than hearing Vivaldi's The Four Seasons paired with Robert Paterson's same-titled opus, though such an event would be hardly less satisfying if the latter were presented alone. This world premiere recording collects four song cycles written over two decades into a ravishing, eighty-four-minute whole. Paterson's structural plan satisfies on logical grounds: each song cycle was written for a different voice type, with each part representing a different season. The cycles are split between male and female singers, with soprano Marnie Breckenridge and mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert handling summer and autumn, respectively, and bass-baritone David Neal and tenor Alok Kumar winter and spring. The music for The Four Seasons is distinguished by lyricism and a vivid sense of colour. Each cycle's mood is generally attuned to its season, such that a fresh, pastoral character informs spring whereas an at times solemn quality infuses winter.

08. Isabel Bayrakdarian: Armenian Songs for Children (AVIE Records)

Armenian Songs for Children presents twenty-nine pieces rendered exquisitely by Lebanese-born, Canadian-Armenian-American soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian. As the songs were sung by her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother and now to her own children, her deep connection to the material is borne out by the performances on the seventy-three-minute release. Testifying to the personal resonance of the songs, Bayrakdarian is the granddaughter of survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide who listened to her mother sing these prayers, lullabies, and songs from, in her words, “a homeland that no longer existed, and from a place that seemed far, far away.” Hearing her sing this material is special when it calls upon her to illuminate songs of sorrow, joy, and longing with poignant expression. There's a wonderful smoothness, even creaminess to her voice that makes them come vividly to life, and her command of pitch and control is unerring.

09. English Symphony Orchestra & Kenneth Woods: Fiddles, Forests and Fowl Fables (Nimbus Alliance)

Listeners with a love for orchestral storytelling works like Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat should find Fiddles, Forests and Fowl Fables as much to their liking. This thoroughly appealing eighty-two-minute collection features not one but five stories performed by the English Symphony Orchestra under Kenneth Woods' direction and narrated with panache. The works created by composers Kile Smith, David Yang, Jay Reise, Thomas Kraines, and Woods are brought to vivid life by Gemma Whelan (The Bremen Town Musicians), Hugh Bonneville (The Ugly Duckling), Davood Ghadami (The Warrior Violinist), and Henry Goodman (Lubin, from Chelm and Hansel and Gretel). Their theatrical deliveries do much to bring these enduring tales to life, and neither should one overlook the fine renderings of the composers' scores by the ESO.

10. The Crossing: The Tower and the Garden (Navona Records)

Even without having heard all twenty-three of the albums issued to date by The Crossing, I'd be willing to wager The Tower and the Garden is one of the finest by the celebrated choir. All three of the works by Estonian Toivo Tulev (b. 1958) and American composers Joel Puckett and Gregory Spears, both born in 1977, are superb, but it's the latter's title creation that makes The Tower and the Garden such a standout. Brilliantly augmenting the choir during this thirty-five-minute opus are violinists Brandon Garbot and Adelya Nartadjieva, violist Jordan Bak, and cellist Arlen Hlusko, and the combination of strings and voices throughout the four parts makes for an exultant presentation and a ravishing listening experience.

11. George Gershwin: Porgy and Bess (Highlights) (Pentatone)

Was George Gershwin the twentieth-century's greatest melodist? Certainly a strong case could be made for it when the ‘highlights' version of Porgy and Bess (1935) presents one illustrious classic after another. “Summertime,” “My Man's Gone Now,” “I Got Plenty o' Nuttin',” “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” “It Ain't Necessarily So,” “I Loves You, Porgy”—in this live Verizon Hall recording by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conductor Marin Alsop, the Morgan State University Choir, and a cast of singers, they're all here, naturally, plus many more to again remind us of Gershwin's staggering gift. Starring in this latest iteration of his self-styled “Folk Opera” are soprano Angel Blue (Bess, Clara, Serena), tenor Chauncey Packer (Sportin' Life), baritone Lester Lynch (Porgy), bass-baritone Kevin Short (Crown, Jake), soprano Alexandria Crichlow (Maria), and tenor Darrin Scott (Mingo). Even in the absence of operatic mise-en-scène, the listener is still instantly transported to the Charleston, South Carolina neighbourhood of Catfish Row once the music starts and the singers bring these familiar characters to life.

12. The Intercontinental Ensemble: In Motu (TRPTK)

Founded in 2012 in Amsterdam, The Intercontinental Ensemble derives its name from the fact that its members—artistic director and violinist Ernst Spyckerelle, violist Iteke Wijbenga, cellist Simon Velthuis, clarinetist Alfonso Manzanera Rojo, bassoonist Daniel Garrido Iglesias, double bassist Jorge Hernandez, French hornist Simao Fonseca, oboist Ivan Cheng, and flutist Eliska Horehledova—come from different parts of the world, specifically Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Luxemburg, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands. As the group's sophomore recording for TRPTK shows, however, the name is as applicable to the selections the chamber ensemble performs. Whereas its 2018 debut set Traveling Light features Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms, In Motu offers engaging treatments of Bohuslav Martinu, Nino Rota, and Felix Mendelssohn. All of the performances are distinguished by an exemplary level of musicianship, and the nonet size enables the excellence of the individual players to come through emphatically.

13. Lori Laitman: Are Women People? The Songs of Lori Laitman (Acis)
14. Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Pentatone)
15. Robert Kyr: In Praise of Music (Bridge)
16. Karen Gomyo: A Piazzolla Trilogy (BIS)
17. Lucas Meachem: Shall We Gather (Rubicon Classics)
18. Nat Bartsch: Hope (ABC Music)
19. Scott Ordway: Nineteen Movements for Unaccompanied Cello (Acis)
20. Andrea Botticelli: Stimme aus der Ferne - A Voice From the Distance (Céleste Music)
21. Pekka Kuusisto: First Light: Muhly & Glass (Pentatone)
22. Reed Tetzloff: Schumann (Master Performers)
23. Raffi Besalyan: The Sound of Black & White (Sono Luminus)
24. Channa Malkin: This is Not a Lullaby (TRPTK)
25. Dan Dean: Fanfare For The Common Man (Origin Classical)
26. Garrett Keast and the Berlin Academy of American Music: Transatlantic (Onyx Classics)
27. PSO: Brahms: Symphony No. 4 / MacMillan: Larghetto for Orchestra (Reference Recordings)
28. The Del Sol Quartet: A Dust In Time (Bright Shiny Things)
29. Canadian Brass: Canadiana (Linus Entertainment)
30. Una Sveinbjarnardóttir & Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir: Last Song (Sono Luminus)

photo: Agnete Schlichtkrull

TOP 30 JAZZ

01. Miho Hazama: Imaginary Visions (Edition Records)

Carrying on the enduring Ellington tradition, Miho Hazama composes material for the band she's leading, whether it be her acclaimed jazz chamber orchestra m_unit or The Danish Radio Big Band (DRBB). A Japanese artist based in New York, she inhabits the role of chief conductor for the latter so comfortably, it feels as if she was born to it. All of the material performed by the DRBB on Imaginary Visions, her first album with the outfit, was composed by Hazama, and it proves a terrific showcase for the nineteen-member ensemble. As she was preceded in the chief conductor position by Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer, Jim McNeely, and Palle Mikkelborg, there was a little bit of trepidation on her part about stepping into the role. But the musicians welcomed her warmly and, as their enthusiastic performances of the compositions reveals, both sides clearly benefit from the arrangement. While she brings her classical training as a composer to everything she does, Imaginary Visions is full-bodied big band jazz that flatters Hazama as bandleader, composer, and arranger and the DRBB as a dynamic ensemble.

02. Adi Meyerson: I Want To Sing My Heart Out In Praise of Life (Adi Meyerson)

After making an auspicious debut with her 2018 release Where We Stand, Adi Meyerson takes a significant leap forward on her follow-up. Original, ambitious, imaginative, adventurous—I Want To Sing My Heart Out in Praise of Life is all that and more. Rather than play it safe with a mix of originals and covers, the NYC-based jazz bassist has crafted a mature personal statement that's both conceptually bold and musically engrossing. Configured as a six-part suite, each track differs from the next, with some incorporating spoken word or vocals and others purely instrumental, yet each also feels connected to the others because of the shared theme. Musically, there are moments where the material recalls the vibrant soundworlds of Miles's In A Silent Way and Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi, but there's nothing retrograde about the project. In creating such an original and imaginative set, she demonstrates boldness of vision and shows herself to be an artist of authenticity and integrity.

03. Kazemde George: I Insist (Greenleaf Music)

As a title, I Insist recalls Max Roach's 1960 protest album We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, but Kazemde George's debut as a leader is neither as militant nor as politically charged as the drummer's. It is, however, an extremely poised and assertive statement by the Brooklyn-based tenor saxophonist, not to mention an exceptionally well-crafted collection of contemporary jazz compositions and performances. No matter the style tackled, the performances are delivered with assurance by him, Sami Stevens (vocals), Isaac Wilson (Wurlitzer, piano), Tyrone Allen II (bass), and Adam Arruda (drums). All are fully locked into the leader's vision, and the music swings confidently, whether it be ballad or burner. Among the many appealing things about I Insist is the fact that while it's grounded in acoustic jazz tradition (the presence of Wurlitzer aside), it feels wholly contemporary.

04. Jalen Baker: This is Me, This is Us (Outside In Music)

Hailing from Houston, Jalen Baker impresses as a vibraphonist, composer, and bandleader of preternatural poise on his debut collection. What he has accomplished on This Is Me, This Is Us is more in line with what one expects from an artist well into a career rather than on a first album. A graduate of Columbia College Chicago and Florida State University, the Washington, DC-born vibraphonist has left his mark as an instrumental presence in and around Chicago, Georgia, Northern Florida, and, of course, Houston and now takes the next logical step with the recording. Aided by the production acumen of drummer Ulysses Owens Jr., Baker's joined by trumpeter Giveton Gelin, pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Gabriel Godoy, and drummer Gavin Moolchan on the date, with extra sweetening provided by violinists Jessica McJunkins and Orlando Wells, violist Andrew Griffin, and cellist Susan Mandel. Flexing his muscles as a composer, the recording features nine Baker originals, with a short rendering of a Stevie Wonder classic for a coda.

05. Amanda Tosoff: Earth Voices (Empress Music)

Some albums impress as special the moment they're heard, Amanda Tosoff's Earth Voices a case in point. Though the Toronto-based pianist's sixth album as a leader involved nine studio sessions, numerous vocal and string overdubs, post-recording shaping, and seventeen artists from multiple music scenes, it arrives so fully formed it gives the impression of having come together in one fantastic creative outburst. Tosoff elaborated on the vocal dimension of her Juno Award-nominated 2016 album Words, which featured Felicity Williams only, by including Emilie-Claire Barlow, Laila Biali, Michelle Willis, Lydia Persaud, Robin Dann, Alex Samaras, and, again, Williams. Lyrics come from poetry by Poe, Whitman, Marjorie Pickthall, and more, and compositions are split between Tosoff originals and covers of material by Joni Mitchell and Mike Ross, among others. The performances are exuberant, eloquent, and sympathetic to Tosoff's vision.

06. Firm Roots Duo: Firm Roots (Firm Roots Music)

At the risk of extrapolating too much, the duo performances by pianists Chris White and Lara Driscoll on Firm Roots suggest the married couple's Chicago home must be an exceptionally harmonious one. On this debut set, the two complement one another magnificently, each completing and extending the other's phrases while at the same allowing room for individual expression. A major part of the listening pleasure afforded by the release stems from luxuriating in the cozy exchange of ideas between them. After meeting as students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and forging individual careers, they've now chosen to play together as Firm Roots Duo, the name inspired by the Cedar Walton composition with which the album begins and which even served as the couple's recessional at their wedding ceremony. The set-list is strong, with White and Driscoll balancing four originals with well-chosen covers, and the sound produced by the two Bösendorfers is itself a treat for the ears.

07. PRISM Quartet: Heritage/Evolution Volume 2 (XAS Records)

Rare for a saxophone quartet, PRISM Quartet can pass as convincingly for a jazz ensemble as classical one, with the material performed typically determining which designation seems more suitable. While the second chapter in its Heritage/Evolution commissioning series straddles both classifications, there's little question the balance tips in jazz's direction when the volume features Ravi Coltrane, Joe Lovano, and Chris Potter alongside the quartet. In addition to performing with the group, each wrote a composition for the release, with the fourth penned by the group's co-founder and tenor saxophonist Matthew Levy. He and the other PRISM Quartet members, Timothy McAllister (soprano), Zachary Shemon (alto), and Taimur Sullivan (baritone), would probably be the first to admit they're not jazz improvisers to the degree that their guests are, which makes including players of such calibre a smart and strategic move.

08. Randal Despommier: Dio C'è (Outside In Music)

Like many a jazz album, Dio C'è was recorded quickly, in this case two days in late 2019 at Brooklyn's Big Orange Sheep Studios. The material featured on the project, however, is the product of intense discernment, deliberation, and craft on its creator's part. Joining the alto saxophonist and keyboardist Jason Yeager on the release are bassist Aaron Holthus and drummer Rodrigo Recabarren, plus guitarist Ben Monder, bassist Jimmy Haslip, flugelhornist Oskar Stenmark, and vocalists Aubrey Johnson, Allegra Levy, Tomas Cruz, and Patrick Lasie. Augmenting high-velocity jazz pieces and expressive ballads are a funky, R&B-inflected number, a heavy Stone Temple Pilots cover, and the coup de grace, a multi-part epic that blends jazz, classical choral singing, and gospel into a dynamic set-piece.

09. Kjetil Mulelid: Piano (Rune Grammofon)

Having enjoyed his playing with the Norwegian group Wako and his own trio for a number of years, my admiration for Kjetil Mulelid's playing has steadily grown. Hearing him perform solo, however, is like hearing him for the first time, and consequently Piano invites a renewed appreciation of his abilities. Throughout this exquisite recording, he demonstrates a remarkable command that makes one excited for what the future holds. He composed the bulk of the material during lockdown and then recorded the album over two days in June and September 2020 at Athletic Sound using the studio's 1919 Bösendorfer grand piano. While it might be tempting to consider Mulelid's solo piano release in light of ones by Brad Mehldau and Keith Jarrett (drawing a connecting line to the latter, Mulelid sometimes vocalizes as he plays), Piano stands up splendidly on its own terms.

10. María Grand: Reciprocity (Biophilia Records)

The profound experience of bringing new life into being permeates Reciprocity. The tenor saxophonist's follow-up to 2018's Magdalena was written and recorded in two days in early February 2020 when she was five-and-a-half months pregnant with her son, Ayní, and thus captures the close bonds she not only had to the life within but also to her bandmates, acoustic bassist Kanoa Mendenhall and drummer Savannah Harris. The saxophone trio format is intimate and exposing; further to that, added pressure is placed on the participants when the playing of each is so integral. There's nothing tentative, however, about the saxophonist's powerful, full-bodied attack, and much the same could be said of her trio mates. Elasticity informs the playing, with the bassist and drummer adapting instantly to the leader's sudden shifts in direction.

11. Simon Moullier Trio: Countdown (Fresh Sound New Talent)

Not a second's wasted on Countdown in ten concise covers by vibraphonist Simon Moullier, bassist Luca Alemanno, and drummer Jongkuk Kim. On a set free of dull moments and self-indulgence, the acoustic trio digs into each piece quickly, states its case lucidly, and then moves on. In the choice of material, Moullier pays homage to his forebears, with compositions by Mingus (“Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”), Evans (“Turn Out The Stars”), Monk (“Work,” “Ask Me Now”), and Coltrane (“Countdown”) appearing alongside standards by Porter (“I Concentrate On You”) and Kern (“The Song Is You”). The leader demonstrates exceptional command in his playing, and Alemanno and Kim acquit themselves solidly throughout; the two are never merely passive support to Moullier, but they don't overpower him either.

12. Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra: Twisting Ways (Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra)

One of the more noteworthy aspects of Twisting Ways is the exceptional dynamic range shown by the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra in the recording's performances. During the music's most intimate parts, the WJO plays with the sensitivity of a piano trio and achieves a most delicate balance between its sections; at the same time, the ensemble is capable of generating a huge, robust sound when the material requires it. In augmenting saxophones, trumpets, and trombones with piano, vibraphone, bass, and drums, the instrumental make-up itself isn't unusual by jazz orchestra standards; nevertheless, the luscious sound achieved does much to distinguish the WJO. Another key reason for the album's impact has to do with the material, and in that regard the three works by Torontonian David Braid (also the pianist on the recording) and Montreal-based Philippe Côté do much to bring out the best in the ensemble, especially when the singers performing with it are Sarah Slean and Karly Epp, the former on the four-part title work and the latter the two single-movement pieces.

13. Eivind Aarset 4tet: Phantasmagoria, or A Different Kind of Journey (Jazzlandrec)
14. Anna Webber: Idiom (Pi Recordings)
15. Jim Snidero: Strings (Savant)
16. Adam Moezinia: Folk Element Trio (Outside in Music)
17. Tomoko Omura: Branches Vol. 2 (Outside in Music)
18. CODE Quartet: Genealogy (Justin Time Records)
19. The Space Above: The Space Above (The Space Above)
20. Kinetic: Dances of Lake Volta (Kinetic)
21. Jihye Lee Orchestra: Daring Mind (Motéma Music)
22. Erin Propp & Larry Roy: We Want All The Same Things (Chronograph Records)
23. Lionel Loueke: Close Your Eyes (Sounderscore)
24. The Carn Davidson 9: The History of Us (Three Pines Records)
25. Sam Pilnick's Nonet Project: The Adler Suite (Next Level)
26. Matt Ulery: Delicate Charms Live at the Green Mill (Woolgathering Records)
27. Yelena Eckemoff: Adventures of the Wildflower (L&H Production)
28. 9 Horses: Omegah (Adhyâropa Records)
29. Greg Amirault: News Blues (Greg Amirault)
30. Yoko Miwa Trio: Songs of Joy (Ubuntu Music)

photo: Spotted Peccary

TOP 20 AMBIENT / NEW AGE

01. Deborah Martin & Jill Haley: The Silence of Grace (Spotted Peccary Music)

Deborah Martin is not only one of Spotted Peccary Music's key solo artists, she's also a long sought-after collaborator. That the character of a collaborative release can shift dramatically depending on the artist with whom Martin partners is shown by the differences between the mystical meditations presented on Hemispherica Portalis, her 2020 set with Dean De Benedictis (under the Desensitized name), and the graceful, New Age-styled settings she's created with Jill Haley for The Silence of Grace. Martin brings decades of sound sculpting experience to the new collaboration, and as a result her symphonic-electronic textures blend seamlessly with Haley's oboe and English horn. In eight settings, sultry ambient atmospheres and woodwind sonorities combine to produce eloquent reveries that evoke the outdoors in all its natural glory.

02. VA: Focus Zone - Music for Studying (Mindful Music Records)

The title of this expansive collection from musician members of the Chicago-based Mindful Music Association could be taken in two ways. Does it mean its two hours-plus of material is designed to function as background for students doing homework or that the music is intended to encourage attention at a deeper level of mindfulness? Press text included with the release states that the pieces “were chosen to help with focus and concentration for the listener,” which seems to support the latter interpretation. No matter: the music presented on the release is splendid and further to that fulfils its other related goals, to optimize health, induce calm, and foster a sense of well-being. Many a participant will be familiar to New Age aficionados, with Tom Eaton, Lynn Tredeau, and Meg Bowles among those involved. One standout is Hans Christian's “Musical Prayer,” on which he uses live-looping to build his cello playing into a gorgeous prayer-like expression. As affecting is Lisa Swerdlow's “Listening From the Heart” for the yearning ache its lyrical piano melodies impart.

03. ÆRA: A Winter's Tale (Faith Strange)

After dazzling in 2020 with his multi-volume orchestramaxfieldparrish set Guitar Improvisations I-VI, Mike Fazio does so again, though this time under the ÆRA alias. Issued on cassette, A Winter's Tale sees him operating in ambient soundscaping mode with four immersive pieces totaling seventy-six minutes. The treatments Fazio applied make it difficult to determine whether the instruments used to generate the material were synthesizers or guitars, but the point's moot: what matters is the sound hovering in the air and floating, be it majestically or serenely, through it. Enhancing the material's entrancing character is the numerous times its chord sequences tease at resolution, the effect made all the more powerful when Fazio extends the length of the tones to maximize tension before resolution occurs.

04. Chronotope Project: Gnosis (Spotted Peccary Music)

Jeffrey Ericson Allen's gift for creating state-of-the-art ambient is well-accounted for on his ninth Chronotope Project release, his fifth under the name for Spotted Peccary Music. Different labels might be used to describe the Chronotope Project style, among them progressive ambient music, contemplative art music, and ambient-electronic. The one that might come closest, however, to what he's doing here is sound painter when Allen uses his electronic gear and cello to produce luscious, evocative soundscapes. A key part of his sound arsenal is the Haken Continuum Fingerboard synthesizer, whose delicate, wooden flute-like timbres are heard throughout the recording. As impressively realized as all its productions are, it's “The Still Small Voice: The Muse Speaks” that is the high point. Scored for cello, harp, strings, woodwinds, and synths, this tender, poetic, and superbly paced expression of longing—Allen himself calls it a “romantic largo” and “a paean to the heart”—has to be among the greatest of Allen's musical achievements.

05. Jeff Greinke: Other Weather (Spotted Peccary Music)

With Other Weather, a deft integration of classical, electronic, and ambient elements, Jeff Greinke smartly perpetuates the tone of 2018's Before Sunrise. His fourth release on Spotted Peccary Music and twentieth solo album overall features another collection of refined chamber-ambient settings. Having dedicated nearly four decades to music production, he's reached an inordinately high level of sophistication in his sculpting of sonic materials and sensitivity to timbre, mood, and texture. Throughout the set, atmosphere is critical to the music's impact as Greinke exploits the power of stillness and locates his tracks within generally quiet and peaceful zones.

06. Ashan: Sacred Spring (Inner Islands)

Though Sean Conrad has issued many an Ashan set, Sacred Spring, the thirteenth release under the name, shows the project is far from creatively spent. The third chapter in a so-called ‘Drifters Series,' the latest collection presents eight evocations crafted using a combination of different methodologies. Blossoming slowly, each meditation offers a serene space for reflection and encourages inner transport. Synthetic textures, dulcimer, flute, and other acoustic sounds blend into soul-soothing tapestries, any one of which could have been extended to an hour-long presentation.

07. Tim Linghaus: Memory Sketches II (Schole / 1631 recordings)

With his second album of piano music, Memory Sketches II, German composer Tim Linghaus continues to use personal experience as a creative wellspring, the result a poignant rumination on memory and the past. Intense emotional expression permeated 2019's We Were Young When You Left Home, which dealt with divorce from a child's perspective, and the same could be said of the new release when the material is infused with nostalgia and longing for the innocence of youth. The hushed melodies streaming through representative pieces such as “Sommersturm,” “Because You Were the Universe,” and “We Were Made for Waving Into an Indefinite Future” are so touching you might find a tear or two welling up as they play.

08. kj: saturnalia (Polar Seas)

Other kj releases have appeared on Lost Tribe Sound, Dronarivm, Own, and Gailur Records, but saturnalia is a particularly fine example of his artistry and a superb entry-point. Four tracks total forty minutes, with the opener “clouds” folding the album's style into a two-minute statement. Delicate swathes of gossamer tones drift placidly, enveloping the listener in a warm embrace and instating a peaceful atmosphere. Arriving fast on its heels is “silverine,” the longest of the four at nineteen minutes and naturally an even more immersing construction. Always visually attuned to the content of its releases, Polar Seas has made saturnalia available in a misty clear vinyl pressing that's wholly complementary to the music's ethereal character.

09. Ross Gentry: Prism of Dust (Polar Seas)
10. Peter Sterling: The Winding Way (Harp Magic Music)
11. Ryan Judd featuring Kristen Miller: Soaring Together (Ryan Judd)
12. akisai: Landscapes (Schole)
13. Rudy Adrian: As Dusk Becomes Night (Spotted Peccary Music)
14. Akira Kosemura: 88 Keys (Schole)
15. Keith Berry: Viable Systems 4 (VSM Theory)
16. Jacob David: Mursejler (Moderna Records)
17. GALÁN / VOGT: The Sweet Wait (Editions Furioso)
18. Flica: Acceptance (Flica)
19. Ryan Michael Richards: More Than Time (Higher Level Media)
20. Johan Agebjörn & Mikael Ögren: Artefact (Spotted Peccary Music)

THANK YOU

photo: Christian Steiner

Jalen Baker, Andrea Botticelli, Ernesto Cervini, Dan Dean, Randal Despommier, Katie English, Mike Fazio, Cynthia Fischer, Jim Fox, Karen Gomyo, Hilary Hahn, Miho Hazama, Christina Jensen, Akira Kosemura, Lori Laitman, Lydia Liebman, Daniel Lippel, Jan Mancuso, Deborah Martin, Lucas Meachem, Matt Merewitz, Paula Mynn, Patrick Niland, Katy Salomon, Maggie Stapleton, April Thibeault, Amanda Tosoff, and Gail Wein.

RIP

photo: Mike Carlson

Louis Andriessen, Chick Corea, Sarah Dash, Don Everly, Curtis Fuller, Bernard Haitink, Rick Laird, Christa Ludwig, Pat Martino, Paddy Moloney, Anthony Payne, Lee ‘Scratch' Perry, Frederic Rzewski, Robbie Shakespeare, Sonny Simmons, Stephen Sondheim, Bunny Wailer, Charlie Watts, Terence ‘Astro' Wilson, and many more.

December 2021