- Martinů: The Symphonies (Apple Music / Spotify) - Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů composed all six of his symphonies in the decade after emigrating from Paris to the United States in 1941 to avoid the German invasion of France. These rarely-heard works are captured beautifully in these recordings from Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberg Symphony, showcasing hallmarks of the composer's style: lush string writing, shifting multi-meter melodies, and joyful vitality.
- The Holy Liftoff (Apple Music / Spotify) - this music is minimalist pioneer Terry Riley's contribution to flutist Claire Chase's ambitious commissioning project Density 2036, performed here by Claire and JACK Quartet in this 60-minute iteration. Riley dedicates one movement of the work, "The Tragedy of What We Lost," to victims of the deadly 2022 Uvalde mass shooting, in a repetitive, solemn complement to the rest of the album.
- Sinner, Don't Let This Harvest Pass (Apple Music / Spotify) - the title work on this record draws on the famous African American spiritual, specifically great American singer Marian Anderson's rendition, co-composed here in a new setting by Michael Finnissy and Cassandra Miller. Schumann's Ghost Variations and other pieces by Finnissy and Miller round out the experience, creating a uniquely introspective musical dialogue.
- Evening Light: Raga Cycle I (Apple Music / Spotify) - composer/pianist Michael Harrison and vocalist Ina Filip join forces for this album of original music built on the Indian classical ragas Yaman and Bhupali, traditionally associated with expansiveness and quiet intensity. Indian and Western classical traditions combine here to create something altogether calming and lustrous.
- American Luminaries (Apple Music / Spotify) - the Luminae Trio's debut record surveys three piano trios from American composers Lowell Liebermann, Amy Beach, and Jennifer Higdon, played with special care.
- Lunaris (Apple Music / Spotify) - Canadian pianist Bruce Liu describes this new release as a "carefully curated sequence of works that explores light and darkness, reality and imagination, the intimate and the infinite." Liu recorded this album using different pianos rather than one grand piano throughout; listen for this in the album's final track, John Cage's Dream, where the same musical material is repeated three times but with different instruments.
- Rhythm Nation (Apple Music / Spotify) - NY-based PUBLIQuartet is built on four new works and two pieces from the Kronos Quartet's Fifty for the Future project, linked together by quick homages to Janet Jackson's iconic 1989 pop album. The entire listening experience is a welcome departure from standard string quartet repertoire, leaning instead towards a genre-bending cultural mosaic of sounds from bossa nova to hip-hop and jazz.
