Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Steven Ricks: Mythological Fragments by Various Artists on Apple Music

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 15h

Composer Steven Ricks intuitively understands the composer’s role in setting these two tales from Greek literature, letting the stories speak for themselves but capturing something of the reactions they provoke, as felt and extrapolated through his perspective

music.apple.com/album/184319...

Album · 2025 · 13 Songs

music.apple.com

Mythological Fragments, by Steven Ricks

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 15h

Out now — Steven Ricks: Mythological Fragments

Two large-scale electroacoustic works by composer Steven Ricks, including his extended work for soprano, piano, and electronics, Medusa in Fragments, and his chamber opera Baucis and Philemon

newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/mythol...

13 track album

Steven Ricks: Baucis and Philemon: Interlude 4: Change in the Air

1 1

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 2d

From composer Steven Ricks' new album Mythological Fragments, here's an interlude from his chamber opera Baucis and Philemon

newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/mythol...

Steven Ricks: Baucis and Philemon: Interlude 4: Change in the Air Madison Leonard, soprano; Shea Owens, baritone; Jillian Townsend, flute/piccolo; Anamae Anderson, harp; Marilyn Dodson, harp; Matt Col

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 2d

For your GRAMMY consideration, Exceptet's album Tree Lines is in these categories on the first round GRAMMY ballot:

Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
Best Contemporary Classical Composition — Katherine Balch: Tree Lines

newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/tree-l...

Tree Lines, by Exceptet

13 track album

forever forward in search of the beautiful, by Leilehua Lanzilotti

2

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 3d

For your GRAMMY consideration, composer & violist Leilehua Lanzilotti's album "forever forward in search of the beautiful" is in these categories on the first round GRAMMY ballot:

Best Classical Instrumental Solo — Gahlord Dewald, bass
Best Classical Compendium
Best Album Cover — Jasmine Parsia

14 track album

leilehua.bandcamp.com

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 4d

For your GRAMMY consideration, composer Aaron Helgeson's As I Write This is in these categories on the first round ballot:

Best Classical Compendium
Best Contemporary Classical Composition — Once a While in Time
Best Arrangement — Hardanger Transcriptions
Best Engineering, Classical — Murat Çolak

As I Write This: Songs & Solos of Aaron Helgeson, by Aaron Helgeson

9 track album

aaronhelgeson.bandcamp.com

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 4d

Ricks' use of electronics in his chamber works often provides an element of disorientation; glitchy, disjunct textures keep the music off balance as he explores his subject matter from multiple prismatic angles

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 4d

Coming out this Friday — Steven: Mythological Fragments

Composer Steven Ricks releases Mythological Fragments including his extended work for soprano, piano, and electronics, Medusa in Fragments, and his chamber opera Baucis and Philemon

newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/mythol...

1 1

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 7d

Lost Anthems is permeated throughout with a kind of alienated tenderness that suggests nostalgia experienced in a hollowed out version of our world

www.barnesandnoble.com/w/scott-woll...

Scott Wollschleger: Lost Anthems

Scott Wollschleger: Lost Anthems, by Leilehua Lanzilotti & David Kaplan

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 7d

Out now — Scott Wollschleger: Lost Anthems

A twenty-five minute work for viola and piano by composer Scott Wollschleger, performed by violist Leilehua Lanzilotti & pianist David Kaplan and commissioned by Lanzilotti as a part of The 20/19 Project

leilehua.bandcamp.com/album/scott-...

1 track album

leilehua.bandcamp.com

1 2

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 9d

From composer Scott Wollschleger's new album Lost Anthems coming out Friday, here's an excerpt from the title work performed by violist Leilehua Lanzilotti and pianist David Kaplan

leilehua.bandcamp.com/album/scott-...

Scott Wollschleger: Lost Anthems (excerpt)

Scott Wollschleger: Lost Anthems (excerpt) Leilehua Lanzilotti, viola; David Kaplan, piano From FCR446 Scott Wollschleger: Lost Anthems Coming out October 3rd, links to pre-order/buy below! Bandcamp

Scott Wollschleger: Lost Anthems

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 11d

By titling the works "anthems," Wollschleger invokes a music that is inherently communal and symbolic of something larger than itself; by presenting music that is often introspective, he subverts the bombastic underpinnings of many anthems

www.barnesandnoble.com/w/scott-woll...

Mischa Salkind-Pearl: Lines and Traces of Desire - Music for Cimbalom

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 11d

Coming out this Friday — Scott Wollschleger: Lost Anthems

Lost Anthems is a 25 minute work for viola and piano, commissioned by violist Leilehua Lanzilotti, which Wollschleger describes as "a melodic, song-like structure in search of itself"

leilehua.bandcamp.com/album/scott-...

1 1

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 14d

Lines and Traces of Desire features the music of Mischa Salkind-Pearl performed by Nicholas Tolle on cimbalom alongside several collaborators. Since each work centers the cimbalom, we hear a distinct side of Salkind-Pearl’s composition, very much shaped by this beguiling, melancholy instrument

Mischa Salkind-Pearl: Lines and Traces of Desire — Music for Cimbalom, by Nicholas Tolle

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 14d

Out now — Mischa Salkind-Pearl: Lines and Traces of Desire

A collection of solo, duo, and ensemble works for the cimbalom (a percussion instrument similar to a hammered dulcimer) by composer Mischa Salkind-Pearl, featuring cimbalom artist @nicktolle.bsky.social

10 track album

Mischa Salkind-Pearl: Palm's Soft Terrain: II. Basket Weave

1 1 2

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 16d

From composer Mischa Salkind-Pearl's new album of music for cimbalom coming out this Friday, here's a movement from Palm's Soft Terrain performed by cimbalom artist @nicktolle.bsky.social

newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/mischa...

Mischa Salkind-Pearl: Palm's Soft Terrain: II. Basket Weave Nicholas Tolle, cimbalom From FCR442 Mischa Salkind-Pearl: Lines and Traces of Desire Coming out September 26th, links to pre-order/buy bel

Mischa Salkind-Pearl: Lines and Traces of Desire - Music for Cimbalom

1 4

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 18d

These mystical, reflective pieces celebrate the cimbalom's resonant qualities, and honor the eminent composer György Kurtág, whose music provided Tolle the inspiration to dedicate himself to the instrument

www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mischa-sal...

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi: Quattro sonate per due violini

1 2

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 18d

Coming out this Friday — Mischa Salkind-Pearl: Lines and Traces of Desire

Composer Mischa Salkind-Pearl collaborates with cimbalom artist Nicholas Tolle on this collection of works for the beguiling stringed percussion instrument

newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/mischa...

1 1 2

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 20d

This recording of Vivaldi's four Sonatas for Two Violins celebrates his physical, virtuosic approach to the instrument. Duo Gelland fills their performances with daring, lithe ornamentation and expressive subtlety and variation not often heard in contemporary readings of these works

Antonio Vivaldi: Suonate a 2 violini, da camera, da suonarsi anche senza il basso, by Duo Gelland

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 20d

Out now — Duo Gelland: Quattro sonate per due violini

A recording of Antonio Vivaldi's four Sonatas for Two Violins by Duo Gelland

newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/antoni...

12 track album

Christopher Stark: Fire Ecologies by Unheard-of Ensemble on Apple Music

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 21d

Christopher Stark’s six part Fire Ecologies is a musical homage to the global environment as it faces a perilous future. Written for and performed by New York based Unheard-of//Ensemble, the piece received its premiere in a unique setting, performed on a dock in the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn

Album · 2025 · 6 Songs

music.apple.com

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 21d

Out now — Christopher Stark: Fire Ecologies

An album length work by composer Christopher Stark written as an ode to a natural world in crisis, performed by Unheard-of//Ensemble

newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/christ...

Christopher Stark: Fire Ecologies, by Unheard-of//Ensemble

6 track album

Christopher Stark: Fire Ecologies: Scene Four: Infernal dance

1 2

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 23d

From composer Christopher Stark's new album length work Fire Ecologies coming out this Friday, here's the fourth scene performed by Unheard-of//Ensemble

newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/christ...

Christopher Stark: Fire Ecologies: Scene Four: Infernal dance Unheard-of//Ensemble From FCR448 Christopher Stark: Fire Ecologies Coming out September 19th, links to pre-order/buy below! Bandcamp: ht

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi: Quattro sonate per due violini

New Focus Recordings @newfocuslabel.bsky.social · 24d

Duo Gelland fills their performances with daring, lithe ornamentation and expressive subtlety and variation not often heard in contemporary readings of these works

www.barnesandnoble.com/w/antonio-lu...