Albany Records has been a leading voice in classical music recordings for over three decades, joining the PARMA family of labels in spring 2024. Spanning thousands of releases with a focus on both time-honored classics and innovative contemporary works, Albany’s extensive catalog offers classical music enthusiasts a thorough look at the past, present, and future of the genre. Our All Things Albany playlist makes a well-rounded introduction to this label’s legacy.
Dive deeper into Albany’s celebrated catalog at the newly-designed label site from PARMA Creative.
SYMPHONY NO. 1
Jerome Moross, Joann Faletta, London Symphony Orchestra
Jerome Moross (1913–1983) was in the vanguard of composers who realized that there was a music of America, and for America written by Americans. This recording, originally released by Koch, offers three major scores by this major American composer, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Joann Faletta.
SYMPHONY NO. 1
Moross grew up with and listened to jazz bands, played in theatre pits and found that his own composing style was totally, spontaneously conditioned by it.
MOVING PARTS
Radiohead, Lakeshore Rush
MOVING PARTS marks the debut recording by Lakeshore Rush, a chamber music ensemble based in Chicago. The composers represented include a vast array of styles within the contemporary chamber music genre, with works by Philip Glass and Bill Ryan as the ensemble’s creative reinterpretations of pieces that have entered the contemporary cannon, a Radiohead arrangement commissioned and performed exclusively by Lakeshore Rush, and more.
LAKESHORE RUSH: MOVING PARTS
MOVING PARTS is a diverse program showcasing beloved recordings from Lakeshore Rush’s concerts and studio recordings.
BRIDGES
Rosa Antonelli
Rosa Antonelli’s BRIDGES bridges invokes a series of personal and musical connections between five composers that lead from the 19th century piano virtuoso Chopin to 20th century tango master Piazzolla — links from mentor to student through five generations: Chopin; Mathias; Williams; Ginastera; Piazzolla. All five composers were immigrants, literally and/or musically, so underlying the repertoire on this disc is the free exchange of ideas that come from travel and immigration.
BRIDGES
Antonelli, a Steinway Artist since 1998, is one of today’s leading performers, who has toured extensively, with more than 1,000 concerts in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and North America to her credit.
CONCERTI
John Melby, Winston Choi, Joel Eric Suben, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Duo Diorama
John Melby’s musical development has followed a circuitous path that might not have been expected to lead to music for computer. He has written a series of concerti for live instruments and computer, with three of them represented on this recording with pianist, conductor Joel Eric Suben, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Duo Diorama.
CONCERTI
Trained as an orchestral musician, Melby spent many years in the trombone section listening. He trained at Princeton in composition after graduating from Curtis.
KOLOKOLA
Alexander Levine, James Morgan, BBC Singers
A great deal can be said about the religious, historical, and philosophical aspects of bell ringing, and in Russian culture it had always been a particularly powerful, almost archetypal image. This image of church bells prevails throughout Alexander Levine’s KOLOKOLA, which was originally conceived as a projection of various aspects of human existence with a wide range of historical, religious, and Russian folklore cross-references.
KOLOKOLA
Alexander Levine was born in Moscow and studied piano from the age of six at the Gnessin Music School, and later he took up the clarinet. Upon graduation he was offered a place at the Moscow Gnessin Music Academy.
HOW SWEET THE SOUND
Darryl Taylor, Brent McMunn
On HOW SWEET THE SOUND, countertenor Darryl Taylor and pianist Brent McMunn have assembled a superb selection of classics from the still growing corpus of spirituals, including a number of arrangements by key figures in the history of black musical composition. With this project, Taylor and McMunn contribute powerfully to the continuous translation of this sacred music.
HOW SWEET THE SOUND
Darryl Taylor has sung in concert halls across the United States and Europe. A native of Detroit, Taylor holds degrees from the University of Southern California and the University of Michigan. He is on the faculty at the University of California, Irvine.
