Christian Carey reviews the newest CD from Miranda Cuckson and Blair McMillen:

Violinist Miranda Cuckson and pianist Blair McMillen have already proven themselves an estimable duo for works by American Modernists such as Shapey and Martino. Their latest outing features Elliott Carter’s Duo for Violin and Piano (1973)… a rendition that juxtaposes rigor and grace, violence and gentleness… Clocking in at over thirty minutes, [the Sessions Sonata for solo violin] is a bear of a piece, demanding both virtuosity and considerable thoughtfulness from the violinist to bring it off: Cuckson has both in spades. … [Eckardt’s Styrömkarl] is vividly characterful and a real workout for the performers; one they assay handily.

Elliott Carter: Duo for violin and piano (1973) [21:56]
Roger Sessions: Sonata for solo violin (1953)
1. Tempo moderato, con ampiezza, e liberamente [10:53]
2. Molto vivo [6:57]
3. Adagio e dolcemente [10:22]
4. Alla Marcia vivace[4:53]
Jason Eckardt: Strömkarl [12:51]

Miranda Cuckson, violin
Blair McMillen, piano

Produced by Gene Gaudette
Engineered and edited by Ryan Streber, Oktaven Audio

CD Edition: Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5989
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“David Amram is arguably the most American of American composers. His music has drawn from a diversity of sources and styles: the American ‘classical’ style, theater and film music, the ‘great American songbook’, folk, jazz, blues, native American melodies and instruments, beat poetry, and many other influences. His music reflects America’s virtues of innovation, independence, and multiculturalism. And it’s a blast to listen to!”

– Gene Gaudette, Urlicht AudioVisual

David Amram — composer, conductor, multi-instrumental virtuoso, and author — is one of the most versatile, acclaimed, and truly unpredictable musicians America has produced. His surprising litany of achievements include the world’s record for number of performances of the Brahms Horn Trio (during his military service in the 1950s), musical collaborations with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg, numerous film scores including his acclaimed music for “The Manchurian Candidate”, pioneering work in promoting native American and world music, advocacy for music education and youth music programs, and a tour of Cuba in 1977 with Stan Getz and Earl “Fatha” Hines (the first visit by American musicians since the trade embargo of 1962). In 2012, the New York Chamber Music Festival presented an evening of Amram’s chamber music performed by acclaimed flutist Carol Wincenc, violin virtuoso Elmira Darvarova, New York Philharmonic hornist Howard Wall, the Face the Music Ensemble, the New York Piano Quartet, and the David Amram Quartet.

Program:

Sonata for Violin and Piano
Elmira Darvarova, violin • Tomoko Kanamaru, piano

Theme and Variations on “Red River Valley” for flute and strings
Carol Wincenc, flute • Face the Music Ensemble

Giants of the Night: A Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (version for flute and piano) – Andante
Carol Wincenc, flute • Hsin-Chiao Liao, piano

Portraits for piano quartet
New York Piano Quartet with guest cellist Wendy Sutter

Blues and Variations for Monk for French horn
Howard Wall, horn

Five Readings from Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” for narrator(s) and jazz quartet
Ekayani Chamberlin, Adira Amram, Douglas Yeager, narrators • The David Amram Quartet

All works published by C.F. Peters Corporation

Recorded live September 7th, 2012 at Symphony Space, New York City

Engineered by Gene Gaudette and Howard Wall • Produced by Gene Gaudette

Total Playing Time 79:57

UAV-CD-5987

CD retail release date: July 22, 2014

Available NOW exclusively from Urlicht AudioVisual

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High praise from the newspaper of record:

The violinist Miranda Cuckson and the pianist Blair McMillen, who are individually brilliant and adventurous artists, bring out the best in each other in their frequent collaborations, including their latest recording of contemporary works. Their incisive, animated playing cuts through the density and complexity of Carter’s Duo for Violin and Piano to reveal the music’s wit and fancifulness. Jason Eckardt wrote his glistening, jittery and playfully frenetic “Strömkarl” last year as a companion piece for this recording. Ms. Cuckson is outstanding in Sessions’s magisterial, technically challenging Sonata for Solo Violin (1953).  — Anthony Tommasini

Elliott Carter: Duo for violin and piano (1973) [21:56]
Roger Sessions: Sonata for solo violin (1953)
1. Tempo moderato, con ampiezza, e liberamente [10:53]
2. Molto vivo [6:57]
3. Adagio e dolcemente [10:22]
4. Alla Marcia vivace[4:53]
Jason Eckardt: Strömkarl [12:51]

Miranda Cuckson, violin
Blair McMillen, piano

Produced by Gene Gaudette
Engineered and edited by Ryan Streber, Oktaven Audio

CD Edition: Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5989
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Available in Europe and Asia in May 2013

Miranda Cuckson and Chris Burns garner a five-star review for their recording of Luigi Nono’s La lontananza from the Internet’s number one audiophile review site:

Just before she plays, Cuckson enters from the back of the stage, then pauses at each of six (out of nine) music stands to play from 7-12 minutes, and then moves along to the next, soundlessly, on bare feet. How does one reproduce such shifting dynamics on a CD? Simple. Issue the work on a five-channel surround-sound Blu-ray disc as well. With impressive and extreme dynamic range, the Blu-ray has little trouble presenting the full pallet of tones from the various channels.

Luigi Nono: La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura (1988-89)
Miranda Cuckson, violin / Christopher Burns, electronics

Produced by Christopher Burns and Richard Warp
Recording engineer: Richard Warp
Recorded at A Bloody Good Record Inc, Long Island City NY
Mixing engineer (stereo CD): Richard Warp
Mixing engineers (DTS 5.1 surround mix): Paul Special and Richard Warp
Assistant mixing engineer (DTS 5.1 surround mix): Dillon Pajunas
DTS 5.1 surround mix produced at Sonic Arts Center, CCNY, NYC
Produced for New Spectrum Recordings, NYC
Executive producer: Glenn Cornett

Urlicht AudioVisual UAD-5992

CD plus Blu-Ray Audio for home theater systems — available at Amazon.com.
CD plus DTS-CD for home theater systems — available here.
Lossless FLAC download — available here.
MP3 download — available here.

Ultra-eclectic new music blog Burning Ambulance raves about the newest CD from Miranda Cuckson and Blair McMillen:

Carter Sessions Eckardt, the new disc of American music for violin and piano or solo violin by Miranda Cuckson (with pianist Blair McMillen) should go a long way towards providing a corrective to [the] misunderstanding [of what “American Expressionism”  is]. … The highly charged phrases and structure of [Elliott Carter’s Duo] are clearly characterized by Ms. Cuckson and Mr. McMillen in a performance of power and charm. … I’ve heard some other pieces by Jason Eckardt, and I think he’s a composer worth keeping an eye on. … The real revelation of this disc (the high level of playing is not a revelation, because I’ve heard Cuckson and McMillen before, and they are always this good) is Roger Sessions‘ magisterial Sonata for Solo Violin, composed in 1953. … Cuckson’s performance is direct, authoritative, and probing. In her extremely well-written and informative notes, she tells us that it was this piece, along with the Carter Duo, that set her on her artistic path. We can all be grateful that she is following the path with such grace and artistry.

Read the full review here.

Elliott Carter: Duo for violin and piano (1973) [21:56]
Roger Sessions: Sonata for solo violin (1953)
1. Tempo moderato, con ampiezza, e liberamente [10:53]
2. Molto vivo [6:57]
3. Adagio e dolcemente [10:22]
4. Alla Marcia vivace[4:53]
Jason Eckardt: Strömkarl [12:51]

Miranda Cuckson, violin
Blair McMillen, piano

Produced by Gene Gaudette
Engineered and edited by Ryan Streber, Oktaven Audio

CD Edition: Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5989
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Download mp3-MAX* album from Payloadz.com ($9.99)
* mp3-MAX uses mEyeFi Media’s cutting-edge variable bitrate .mp3 encoding, optimized for maximum fidelity and transparency

Available in Europe and Asia in May 2013

Urlicht’s newest release is a tour-de-force of modern American masterpieces for violin-piano duo and solo violin, including the  world premiere release  of Jason Eckardt‘s daunting “Strömkarl” for violin and piano – commissioned for this release – played by two of today’s most in-demand champions of new music, violinist Miranda Cuckson and pianist Blair McMillen.

Of “Strömkarl”, Miranda says:

Jason Eckardt is an artist whose music impresses with its combination of intellectual thoroughness, vigorous physicality and spontaneous volatility. His enthusiasm for complexities and his sincere assimilation of a variety of musical genres have given his music an individual and distinctly American cast. Collaborating with him and with Blair McMillen on his piece Strömkarl was a memorable experience, and I am delighted to add it to this strong chain, linking works of the past few decades to those of the present.

The recording includes Elliott Carter‘s Duo for violin and piano, and Roger Sessions‘ Sonata for violin solo.

Elliott Carter: Duo for violin and piano (1973) [21:56]
Roger Sessions: Sonata for solo violin (1953)
1. Tempo moderato, con ampiezza, e liberamente [10:53]
2. Molto vivo [6:57]
3. Adagio e dolcemente [10:22]
4. Alla Marcia vivace[4:53]
Jason Eckardt: Strömkarl [12:51]

Miranda Cuckson, violin
Blair McMillen, piano

Produced by Gene Gaudette
Engineered and edited by Ryan Streber, Oktaven Audio

CD Edition: Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5989

CD release date: March 4, 2014
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Available in Europe and Asia in May 2013

Classic Recording Quarterly‘s Alan Sanders devotes nearly two pages to a detailed review of the recordings in “The Music of Gustav Mahler: Issued 78s” in the magazine’s Winter 2014 edition, and he likes what he hears!

 “[Ward] Marston has been at work [transferring Oskar Fried’s acoustic recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2] again, and he has produced a notably clearer and fuller sound than before. …

“I have compared the [Bruno Walter transfers with those on EMI/Warner’s recent Walter collection (6 79026-2)… the new Symphony No. 9 has a little more warmth and presence. …

“There is also a Das Lied potpourri and an arrangement of a Wunderhorn song played by the Dol Dauber Salonorchester. Both are strangely convincing. One disc that needs to be mentioned is of the “Urlicht” from the Second Symphony, coupled with one of the Rückert Lieder, sung by the contralto Sara Charles Cahier. She was a member of the Vienna Hofoper between 1907 and 1911, and performed under Mahler’s baton shortly before he lef his post as music director. She also sang in the first performance of Das Lied von der Erde. At the time of the 1930 recording she was 60, but she still sings affectingly. …

“A fascinating and most valuable set, and it is supported by a very informative 50-page English language essay.”

Now available in the US and most European and Asian territories.

• The most comprehensive collection ever assembled of Mahler’s music as issued on 78s between 1903 and 1940 — every such recording listed in Péter Fülöp’s Mahler Discography
• New transfers by Ward Marston and Mark Obert-Thorn
• Detailed notes on the music, the recording artists, and revelatory information about performances of Mahler’s music prior to World War II by Sybille Werner
• Full texts and translations
• Super-value price

No longer available, limited to an edition of 1000 copies
(more…)

In the January 2014 edition of Gramophone, Rob Cowan’s influential Replay column praises “The Music of Gustav Mahler: Issued 78s, 1903-1940” as one of the month’s best reissues:

“Epic Mahler Box-set[]… Excellent transfers and exhaustive notes complete a valuable issue.”

Now available in the US and most European and Asian territories.

• The most comprehensive collection ever assembled of Mahler’s music as issued on 78s between 1903 and 1940 — every such recording listed in Péter Fülöp’s Mahler Discography
• New transfers by Ward Marston and Mark Obert-Thorn
• Detailed notes on the music, the recording artists, and revelatory information about performances of Mahler’s music prior to World War II by Sybille Werner
• Full texts and translations
• Super-value price

No longer available, limited to an edition of 1000 copies

(more…)

“Many Mahler enthusiasts and specialists will doubtless possess a number of the recordings in this boxed set from earlier transfers on different labels, and so it may appear that the acquisition of this release will seem like unnecessary duplication. Nonetheless, I strongly urge them to investigate the contents as there may well be important first recordings of Mahler’s music which they do not have, and the quality of the transfers is in many ways easily the best in terms of releasing from those old 78rpm grooves more musical detail and the removal of a great deal of the inherent surface noise. In addition, the booklet accompanying this release is particularly informative, going way beyond the normal notes in imparting important information regarding the performance of Mahler’s music in the inter-war period particularly, information which is not readily available elsewhere. This collection of every known commercially issued Mahler recording from 1903-40 is one of the most important Mahler issues in recent decades and is very strongly recommended indeed.” — Robert Matthew-Walker, International Record Review, Dec. 2013

• The most comprehensive collection ever assembled of Mahler’s music as issued on 78s between 1903 and 1940 — every such recording listed in Péter Fülöp’s Mahler Discography
• New transfers by Ward Marston and Mark Obert-Thorn
• Detailed notes on the music, the recording artists, and revelatory information about performances of Mahler’s music prior to World War II by Sybille Werner
• Full texts and translations
• Super-value price

Produced by Gene Gaudette

Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5980 (8 CDs)

No longer available; limited to an edition of 1000 copies

(more…)