The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra has released Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement, in what is announced as the first commercial recording of the work featuring the composer’s own orchestration. The album features pianist Karen Walwyn performing with the orchestra, led by Artistic Director Geoffrey Robson; the recording was released in advance of Florence Price Day, April 9, marking 135 years since her birth in Little Rock, Arkansas. Deutsche Grammophon has released John Williams’s Violin Concerto No. 2, featuring the Boston Symphony Orchestra and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter; Williams conducts the recording, which also includes the composer’s film music. Also out from the Boston Symphony Orchestra this month is DG’s new Shostakovich recording of the composer’s Symphony Nos. 1, 14, and 15 and Chamber Symphony in C minor, led by Music Director Andris Nelsons. In November, the Cleveland Orchestra will release a recording of music by George Walker; Music Director Franz Welser-Möst leads the performances, which include Lilacs for voice and orchestra with soprano Latonia Moore; Antifonys for string orchestra; and Sinfonias No. 4 and No. 5 with narrator Tony Sias. Michigan’s Jackson Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Matthew Aubin have released the first recording in the orchestra’s new Equal Billing Project, which aims to record and support the music of composers not adequately recognized during their lifetimes. The new recording on the Claves label includes music written in the 1940s by French composer Fernande Decruck. The Knights ensemble and tenor Nicholas Phan are featured on a new Avie recording of Nico Muhly’s Stranger, Lorne Ys My Likinge, and Impossible Things. The Time For Three string trio—violinists Nicolas Kendall and Charles Yang, and bassist Ranaan Meyer—and the Philadelphia Orchestra appear on a new Deutsche Grammophon recording, Letters for the Future, featuring concertos by Kevin Puts (Contact) and Jennifer Higdon (Concerto 4-3). The California-based music collective Wild Up and Artistic Director Chris Rountree have released Julius Eastman Vol. 2: Joy Boy on New Amsterdam Records. The new album follows last year’s Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine and includes performances of previously unrecorded Eastman compositions including Joy Boy and Buddha.
Sony Classical has released A Gathering of Friends, an album featuring music by John Williams and performances by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the New York Philharmonic. The recording includes Williams’s newly revised version of his 1994 Cello Concerto; Williams’s 2018 concert work Highwood’s Ghost with Ma joined by the New York Philharmonic and Jessica Zhou, principal harpist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra; and new arrangements Williams created for Ma of film music from Schindler’s List, Lincoln, and Munich. Deutsche Grammophon has released A Concert for Peace, with violinist Daniel Hope and Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov. Recorded in Dresden and Berlin, the program features music by composers including Valentin Silvestrov, Myroslav Skoryk, and Jan Freidlin. Musicians provided their services free of charge, and proceeds will go to charities working to help the people of Ukraine. Violist Jordan Bak has released Impulse, his solo debut album, on the Bright Shiny Things label. The album features the world premiere recording of Tableau XII by Tyson Gholston Davis, and a diverse roster of composers including Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, Joan Tower, Rebecca Clarke, Quinn Mason, Jeffrey Mumford, and Tōru Takemitsu.
