Orchestras in Nevada and New York are among those with recent recordings news. The second volume of the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts with Leonard Bernstein—a nine-DVD set—has been released by Kultur International Films, the New York Philharmonic, and the Leonard Bernstein Office. In advance of the state of Nevada’s 150th birthday in October 2014, the Reno Philharmonic has commissioned and made orchestral and choral arrangements of the Nevada State Song, “Home Means Nevada.” The arrangements are being offered via free download at the orchestra’s website, including versions for elementary-school through high-school musicians and singers, as well as a professional extended version for full orchestra and chorus. The Reno Philharmonic is encouraging educators and students to upload performances at the orchestra’s YouTube page.
In other recordings news, the Benedictines of Mary—an order of nuns based in Missouri and led by Mother Cecilia, a former French Horn player in Ohio’s Columbus Symphony Orchestra—has released its second recording, Lent at Ephesus, on the Decca label. The recording features chants and hymns themed to the Lenten season. Violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins has released a new video album, “Imagination,” made with cinematographer and director William D. Caballero, featuring Hall-Tompkins’s jazz arrangement of “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the Violin Sonata in E major, Op. 27, No. 6 by Eugène Ysaye, which can be viewed here and here. The album is available commercially at iTunes and Amazon, and plans are underway for a signed “collector’s edition” DVD as well. And from Sony Music China is the new China: The Ring Without Words—a recording of Lorin Maazel’s adaptation of Wagner’s Ring cycle—offered as a digital download and as a two-CD set. The recording was made at a live April 2013 performance by China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra, led at the NCPA by Maazel.
Posted February 26, 2014
