João Carlos Martins
The Complete Keybord Works of Johann Sebastian Bach
The Complete Keybord Works of Johann Sebastian Bach
This monumental edition, comprising of 15 volumes / 19 CDs, features the celebrated Brazilian pianist João Carlos Martins who has been called "the most exciting player of Bach on the modern piano since Glenn Gould“ by the Boston Globe.
João Carlos Martins / Bach
Vol. 1
The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1
Vol. 1
The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1
Jack Walrath
"In Montana"
The Jack Walrath Quintet
"In Montana"
The Jack Walrath Quintet
Walrath, former trumpet player with jazz giant Charles Mingus, is teaming up here with Chuck Florence and other remarkably talented musicians from Montana.
"Walrath half-valves, squirts, and sprays his way to the stars. His statement here alone qualifies him as a world-class player..." – Paul de Baros, down beat
"Walrath half-valves, squirts, and sprays his way to the stars. His statement here alone qualifies him as a world-class player..." – Paul de Baros, down beat
João Carlos Martins / Bach
Vol. 6
Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook
Little Preludes
Italian Concerto
Vol. 6
Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook
Little Preludes
Italian Concerto
Ivan Spassov
"Canti dei Morti"
"Canti dei Morti"
A new recording of poetic and spiritual works for soprano, female choir and orchestra by Bulgaria's leading composer. Spassov's work is characterized by a deep philosophical, meditative and even brooding strain that is very much connected to his Slavic sensibility and linked with the revival of the Orthodox traditions in Bulgaria and the world-wide reemergence of non-western and folk musics of many kinds.
"A beautifully written and performed program" – American Record Guide
"A beautifully written and performed program" – American Record Guide
João Carlos Martins / Bach
Vol. 7
Concertos for Piano and Orchestra 1,5,3
Vol. 7
Concertos for Piano and Orchestra 1,5,3
João Carlos Martins w. Arthur
Moreira-Lima
Bach/Chopin - The Preludes (2-CD set)
Moreira-Lima
Bach/Chopin - The Preludes (2-CD set)
The two most famous sets of preludes woven together in ‘live’ performances by
Arthur Moreira-Lima, 2nd prize winner of the Warsaw Chopin competition, and
João Carlos Martins, ‘enfant terrible’ among the great Bach interpreters;
refreshingly new juxtapositions of very familiar material.
“It’s a novel, exciting idea, and succeeds in breaking down mental categories of ‘Baroque’ and ‘Romantic’…Martins attacks the Bach with
an almost Lisztian aggressiveness, and it works wonderfully. Moreira-Lima plays the Chopin with a physicality to match…It’s a fast ride on two
giant music machines guaranteed to change the way you hear Bach and
Chopin.”
– On The Air Magazine
Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons
for two pianos
The transcription by Almeida Prado Joâo Carlos Martins and Fernando Corvisier, pianos
The Four Seasons
for two pianos
The transcription by Almeida Prado Joâo Carlos Martins and Fernando Corvisier, pianos
A stunning performance by Joâo Carlos Martins, the great Brazilian Bach interpreter, and fellow Brazilian Fernando Corvisier in a spectacular 2-piano transcription of the most popular classical music composition ever written.
“The most macho interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons you are ever likely to hear…it will surely shine a bright light on an old favorite.”
– On The Air Magazine
“The most macho interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons you are ever likely to hear…it will surely shine a bright light on an old favorite.”
– On The Air Magazine
Thracian Rhapsody
"The New Bulgarian Wedding Musicians" Vol. 1
feat. Ivo Papazov and others
"The New Bulgarian Wedding Musicians" Vol. 1
feat. Ivo Papazov and others
The new Bulgarian wedding music, a modern descendant of traditional Balkan folk, gypsy music and klezmer, has taken Eastern Europe by storm in recent years. These young musicians, riding on fiery, driving rhythms of extraordinary richness and complexity, have developed a stunning virtuosity and ensemble excitement that is irresistible. This music, at once ancient and furiously contemporary, must be heard to be believed; it will take your breath away.
"Ivo's album of wedding music played first thing in the morning, provides thorough and long lasting attitude adjustment for the busy executive." – Frank Zappa
"Ivo's album of wedding music played first thing in the morning, provides thorough and long lasting attitude adjustment for the busy executive." – Frank Zappa
Heiner Stadler
"Jazz Alchemy"
"Jazz Alchemy"
"Alchemy" is a transformation more than two decades in the process, comprising wide-ranging variations on two compositions which Heiner Stadler wrote in the 60's and 70, and recorded at sessions in 1974, '75, and '88. Classical pianist Joshua Pierce, the duo of Marilyn Crispell (piano) and Reggie Workman (bass), and the trio of trumpeter Charles McGhee (who at times plays two horns at once!), bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Brian Brake take Stadler's song structures beyond genre distinction by sublime acts of musical sorcery.
"...moments that could excite even the most staunch traditional jazzman."
– Billboard's Top Album Pick
"Musicianship, instrumentation, and the interweaving of European and jazz are the tools of Stadler's creativity. This reissue is proof that as a composer and visionary Stadler had few equals and that his music, made for deep listening and not a mere casual encounter, is compelling."
– Jazzmatazz
"...moments that could excite even the most staunch traditional jazzman."
– Billboard's Top Album Pick
"Musicianship, instrumentation, and the interweaving of European and jazz are the tools of Stadler's creativity. This reissue is proof that as a composer and visionary Stadler had few equals and that his music, made for deep listening and not a mere casual encounter, is compelling."
– Jazzmatazz
João Carlos Martins / Bach
Vol. 9
The English Suites
Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue
Vol. 9
The English Suites
Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue
Hanns Eisler / Berthold Brecht
"There´s Nothing Quite Like Money"
"There´s Nothing Quite Like Money"
Sylvia Anders, soprano
D. Justus Noll, piano
Classic German cabaret music from the 20's, 30's & 40's.
"Sylvia Anders is a consistently compelling, protean, sensuously and satirically powerful interpreter of both the words and the sinuous musical lines. She is a German actress but, singing in English, is doubly idiomatic. Because the songs are so skillfully theatrical, they transcend their grim topical origins - especially when sung, as here, with such voracious mockery. A remarkable album."
- Nat Hentoff, The Progressive
D. Justus Noll, piano
Classic German cabaret music from the 20's, 30's & 40's.
"Sylvia Anders is a consistently compelling, protean, sensuously and satirically powerful interpreter of both the words and the sinuous musical lines. She is a German actress but, singing in English, is doubly idiomatic. Because the songs are so skillfully theatrical, they transcend their grim topical origins - especially when sung, as here, with such voracious mockery. A remarkable album."
- Nat Hentoff, The Progressive
João Carlos Martins
Bach for Christmas
Bach for Christmas
This almost amounts to a sampler of Martins’s Bach, and his Bach is exceedingly beautiful. There are transcriptions by Busoni, Kempff, Siloti and Hess, including new recordings of Hess’s ‘Jesu, Joy’ and Busoni’s ‘Wachet Auf’. Glorious piano sound.
- American Record Guide
- American Record Guide
Thracian Rhapsody
"The New Bulgarian Wedding Musicians" Vol. 2
"The New Bulgarian Wedding Musicians" Vol. 2
Thracian Rhapsody Vol. 2 is a poetic interpretation through improvisation of traditional Bulgarian wedding music that fuses elements from Macedonian, Greek, Turkish, Romanian, Arabic and even Indian sources and is also influenced by contemporary classical, pop and jazz musics.
Featuring: The Wedding Orchestra All-Stars:
Yildiz Ibrahimova, voice; Ivo Papasov, clarinet; Ensemble Bisery: Mladen Malakov, clarinet and leader; Ensemble Shumen: Rossen Tchirpanov, violin and leader; The Christo Yotsov Trio.
Featuring: The Wedding Orchestra All-Stars:
Yildiz Ibrahimova, voice; Ivo Papasov, clarinet; Ensemble Bisery: Mladen Malakov, clarinet and leader; Ensemble Shumen: Rossen Tchirpanov, violin and leader; The Christo Yotsov Trio.
Derek Bronston
"Ebb"
The Derek Bronston Group
"Ebb"
The Derek Bronston Group
Derek Bronston: guitar; Lisa Parrot: saxes; Gary Wang: bass; Gerald Cleaver: drums
Through his work with a wide range of artists like Jerry Gonzalez, Tom Harrell, D.D. Jackson and Cecil Taylor, Derek Bronston has established himself as a highly distinctive and accomplished guitarist. But as his new release on Labor proves, Bronston is an equally unique and talented composer and leader. The nine Bronston originals that comprise this extraordinary album contain a delicate lyricism and elegance, along with a sense of passion that brings the best out of his three extremely sympathetic collaborators.
"Bronston's ideas brim with the simmering mist of early morning wisdom taken from that previous night of searching for new sounds."
– Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide
Through his work with a wide range of artists like Jerry Gonzalez, Tom Harrell, D.D. Jackson and Cecil Taylor, Derek Bronston has established himself as a highly distinctive and accomplished guitarist. But as his new release on Labor proves, Bronston is an equally unique and talented composer and leader. The nine Bronston originals that comprise this extraordinary album contain a delicate lyricism and elegance, along with a sense of passion that brings the best out of his three extremely sympathetic collaborators.
"Bronston's ideas brim with the simmering mist of early morning wisdom taken from that previous night of searching for new sounds."
– Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide
Aleksandër Peçi
"Albanian Lament" / New Music from Albania I
"Albanian Lament" / New Music from Albania I
The first release of contemporary music from Albania, introducing the works of Aleksandër Peçi, the country's most prominent composer. Recorded by Labor Records in Tirana, the capital, and featuring Albanian musicians exclusively, this release marks the first ever recording of new music in Albania by a foreign company. A landmark document in the history of this small Balkan nation and the music world at large.
"Albanian Lament" is the first of two albums focussing on Peçi's wide ranging repertory of
chamber music coupled with the composer's hauntingly beautiful music for film.
"Albanian Lament" is the first of two albums focussing on Peçi's wide ranging repertory of
chamber music coupled with the composer's hauntingly beautiful music for film.
Music of Tribute
Vol. 1 Villa-Lobos
José Eduardo Martins: piano
works by Villa-Lobos, Ficarelli, Mendes, and others
Vol. 1 Villa-Lobos
José Eduardo Martins: piano
works by Villa-Lobos, Ficarelli, Mendes, and others
Tribute to Villa-Lobos, performed by the Brazilian pianist José Eduardo Martins, is the first recording in the series and features works by the great Brazilian master and by a group of composers from Brazil, Portugal, Austria, Spain and Cuba via the United States. Like Villa-Lobos himself, these works cover a diverse range of styles, popular and experimental, that evoke the spirit of their distinguished predecessor and allow the older works to be heard in a new way.
Music of Tribute
Vol. 2 Debussy
Pavlina Dokovska: piano
works by Debussy, Dukas, de Falla, and others
Vol. 2 Debussy
Pavlina Dokovska: piano
works by Debussy, Dukas, de Falla, and others
When Debussy died in 1918, the French magazine La revue musicale commissioned ten leading composers of the day - including Bartók, Stravinsky, Satie, Ravel and Manuel de Falla - to compose tributes to the pioneering French composer. The outstanding Bulgarian-American pianist Pavlina Dukovska, the Brazilian guitarist Carlos Barbosa-Lima and others have recorded - for the first time! - the complete set alternating tribute pieces with Debussy's own piano music, mostly taken from his two books of Préludes but also including such gems as L'isle joyeuse and La plus que lente.
Joâo Carlos Martins: piano
"For the Left Hand"
works by Ravel, Scriabin, Saint-Saens, Godowsky/Chopin, Bach/Brahms
"For the Left Hand"
works by Ravel, Scriabin, Saint-Saens, Godowsky/Chopin, Bach/Brahms
Although partially deprived of the use of his right hand, the great Brazilian pianist João Carlos Martins continued his career in 2001 with the first of a projected series of recordings of music for the piano, left hand. The featured composition is a masterpiece of Maurice Ravel, his Concerto for the Piano, Left Hand, performed with The Bulgarian National Symphony under the direction of Boris Spassov. Not long before, Martins had concluded his highly acclaimed 15-volume, 19-CD collection of the complete keyboard clavier works of J.S. Bach so it was logical that the new CD also includes a major composition of Bach, the famous D minor Chaconne, originally written for solo violin and arranged for left-hand solo by Johannes Brahms.
Heiner Stadler / Retrospection
Re-mastered from original sources by Malcolm Addey
Compositions recorded during a period of just over ten years from the early sixties to the mid-seventies. Stadler, a composer, record producer and impresario, moves across the borders of jazz, blues world and classical music with ease and skill. In Retrospection he emphasizes classical and modern techniques set inside large scale structures within which improvisation plays an integral role.
"...clicks as an absolute must for anyone who likes Dee Dee Bridgewater at all."
–Eugene Chadbourne, Cadence
Lazar Nikolov
"Three Sonatas"
Angela Tosheva: piano
"Three Sonatas"
Angela Tosheva: piano
Lazar Nikolov, who died in 2005, was the doyen of Bulgarian musical modernism. Along with a small group of his contemporaries, Nikolov pioneered the use of avant-garde techniques in Bulgaria, giving them a distinctive Eastern European personality. His strong musical personality and the evolution of his innovative ideas are most forcefully expressed in his seven large-scale piano sonatas, three of which are performed by the gifted young Bulgarian virtuosa, Angela Tosheva. They range in date from the Fifties to the Nineties, from the most oppressive period of the old regime to the freedom and recognition of recent years.
Grete Sultan
"The Legacy" Vol. 1
(2-CD set)
"The Legacy" Vol. 1
(2-CD set)
A historic collection of performances recorded between 1959-1990 featuring the influential pianist Grete Sultan who, up until recently, only labored in relative obscurity. In Sultan's art, the barriers between classical and modern music simply do not exist anymore. The same magic that she brings to Bach and Debussy, she also brings to Schoenberg and Cage, making music that was once 'difficult' and experimental into poetry that is at once timeless and personal.
"This German-born pianist, who not long ago celebrated her 93rd birthday, is altogether formidable. These discs, recorded live over 30 years, amply demonstrate her commanding technique, penetrating intellect, stylistic range and passionate commitment to the music."
– Edith Eisler, Tower Pulse ***** Five-Stars (top rating)
"This German-born pianist, who not long ago celebrated her 93rd birthday, is altogether formidable. These discs, recorded live over 30 years, amply demonstrate her commanding technique, penetrating intellect, stylistic range and passionate commitment to the music."
– Edith Eisler, Tower Pulse ***** Five-Stars (top rating)
Grete Sultan
"The Legacy" Vol. 2
(2-CD set)
"The Legacy" Vol. 2
(2-CD set)
Volume 2 of the Grete Sultan Legacy follows the remarkable success, in the U.S. and in Germany, of Volume 1.
Ms. Sultan, who came to this country in 1940 as a refugee from Nazi Germany and who died in 2005, was well-known for her association with the music of John Cage, Stefan Wolpe and other avant-gardists. But she was equally adapt as a profound interpreter of composers like Aaron Copland and Alan Hovhaness as well as the European classics, represented here by Beethoven's monumental Diabelli Variations and his late Bagatelles, Op. 126.
Among the other works on the record are the Copland Piano Sonata, three Episodes for Piano by Ben Weber, Stefan Wolpe's Form for Piano, Alan Hovhaness' Partita (subtitled Yenovk or The Troubadour), Tui St. George Tucker's Tantum Ergo and four of the Cage Etudes Australes, written for and dedicated to Ms. Sultan.
"No artist in the last three quarters of a century symbolizes the European-American connection–the correct word would be something like symbiosis–better than Grete Sultan."
– Eric Salzman
Ms. Sultan received the Bundesverdienstkreuz Erster Klasse in 2002, the highest civilian honor given by the German government. She died in 2005.
Ms. Sultan, who came to this country in 1940 as a refugee from Nazi Germany and who died in 2005, was well-known for her association with the music of John Cage, Stefan Wolpe and other avant-gardists. But she was equally adapt as a profound interpreter of composers like Aaron Copland and Alan Hovhaness as well as the European classics, represented here by Beethoven's monumental Diabelli Variations and his late Bagatelles, Op. 126.
Among the other works on the record are the Copland Piano Sonata, three Episodes for Piano by Ben Weber, Stefan Wolpe's Form for Piano, Alan Hovhaness' Partita (subtitled Yenovk or The Troubadour), Tui St. George Tucker's Tantum Ergo and four of the Cage Etudes Australes, written for and dedicated to Ms. Sultan.
"No artist in the last three quarters of a century symbolizes the European-American connection–the correct word would be something like symbiosis–better than Grete Sultan."
– Eric Salzman
Ms. Sultan received the Bundesverdienstkreuz Erster Klasse in 2002, the highest civilian honor given by the German government. She died in 2005.
Gheorghi Arnaoudov
The Empire of Light
The Empire of Light
Labor Records is proud to announce the reissue of the premiere recording of Gheorghi Arnaoudov, one of the most prodigious composers to emerge from Eastern Europe.
Featured on this recording are Arnaoudov’s complete works for piano played by pianist Angela Tosheva, a major new talent from Sofia, Bulgaria.
“There is a definite sense of ‘from-the-heart-to-the-heart’ about this music, the sense of something larger going on is present here as much as it is in Bruckner. Urgently recommended.”
– Fanfare Magazine
Featured on this recording are Arnaoudov’s complete works for piano played by pianist Angela Tosheva, a major new talent from Sofia, Bulgaria.
“There is a definite sense of ‘from-the-heart-to-the-heart’ about this music, the sense of something larger going on is present here as much as it is in Bruckner. Urgently recommended.”
– Fanfare Magazine
João Carlos Martins / Bach
Vol. 10
The English Suites 4&5
Toccata
Fantasia
Vol. 10
The English Suites 4&5
Toccata
Fantasia
Ivan Spassov
"Aishinka"
"Aishinka"
Two Bulgarian Female Choirs a cappella
The two featured Bulgarian choirs, the Women's Folk Choir and the classically trained Women's Chamber Choir, find the common ground between folkloric and western classical expression in mesmerizing performances of chamber choral works by Bulgaria's most revered composer.
"In all respects–performance, arrangements, recording–this music is the equal of the famous Mystère sessions on Nonesuch. And what otherworldly music it is: droning, piercing yet ethereal, with unusual meters and beautiful (but not conventionally pretty) harmony. For this listener, no other music this side of Bach and Mozart has such power to transport."
– Tom McDermott, The Riverfront Times
The two featured Bulgarian choirs, the Women's Folk Choir and the classically trained Women's Chamber Choir, find the common ground between folkloric and western classical expression in mesmerizing performances of chamber choral works by Bulgaria's most revered composer.
"In all respects–performance, arrangements, recording–this music is the equal of the famous Mystère sessions on Nonesuch. And what otherworldly music it is: droning, piercing yet ethereal, with unusual meters and beautiful (but not conventionally pretty) harmony. For this listener, no other music this side of Bach and Mozart has such power to transport."
– Tom McDermott, The Riverfront Times
João Carlos Martins / Bach
Vol. 11
Concertos for Piano and Orchestra 2&4
Brandenburg Concerto
Vol. 11
Concertos for Piano and Orchestra 2&4
Brandenburg Concerto
Music of Tribute
Vol. 3 Fauré
Vladimir Valjarević: piano
works by Fauré, Ravel, Enesco, Koechlin, Schmitt, and others
Vol. 3 Fauré
Vladimir Valjarević: piano
works by Fauré, Ravel, Enesco, Koechlin, Schmitt, and others
"A new recording by the young Yugoslav virtuoso Vladimir Valjarević pays
homage to the great French composer, Gabriel Fauré. In 1922, seven of
Fauré’s pupils were commissioned to write music for an album in his honor.
Among those who contributed were Maurice Ravel, Georges Enesco, Charles
Koechlin and Florent Schmitt. These works of homage alternate with piano
music by Fauré himself including some of his most graceful and attractive
pieces which stand directly between the tradition of Couperin and Chopin
and the innovations of his students Ravel and Debussy."
homage to the great French composer, Gabriel Fauré. In 1922, seven of
Fauré’s pupils were commissioned to write music for an album in his honor.
Among those who contributed were Maurice Ravel, Georges Enesco, Charles
Koechlin and Florent Schmitt. These works of homage alternate with piano
music by Fauré himself including some of his most graceful and attractive
pieces which stand directly between the tradition of Couperin and Chopin
and the innovations of his students Ravel and Debussy."
João Carlos Martins / Bach
Vol. 13
Concertos for Piano and 2 Pianos and Orchestra
Vol. 13
Concertos for Piano and 2 Pianos and Orchestra
João Carlos Martins / Bach
Vol. 14
2 Toccatas
Overture
Aria Variata
Adagio
4 Duetti
Capriccio
Vol. 14
2 Toccatas
Overture
Aria Variata
Adagio
4 Duetti
Capriccio
João Carlos Martins
The Essential Bach
The Essential Bach
Highlights of the Brazilian pianist’s most inspired performances from his
monumental series of Bach recordings, a mammoth 15-volume/19-CD project, unanimously regarded as the most fiercely personal and emotional, albeit the most controversial, interpretations of Bach’s music ever recorded.
monumental series of Bach recordings, a mammoth 15-volume/19-CD project, unanimously regarded as the most fiercely personal and emotional, albeit the most controversial, interpretations of Bach’s music ever recorded.
“His interpretations in this collection have a crisp, good-natured impatience that
infuses Bach’s incomparable counterpoint with a gushing relentlessness.”
-- Rick Mortensen, Deseret News
Eduardo Fernández
Between Two Worlds
Between Two Worlds
In his latest Labor recording, the great Uruguayan guitarist Eduardo Fernández travels, with equal mastery, from the folk and classical worlds of South American music to the pop music of the Beatles and the "Fascinatin' Rhythm" of George Gershwin. Fernandez' 31 st recording includes duets with Carlos Barbosa-Lima as well as a dazzling array of guitar solos that blur the line between classical, folk and pop.
Dimiter Christoff
"The Piano Music" Vol. 1
Iskra Mantscheva: piano
"The Piano Music" Vol. 1
Iskra Mantscheva: piano
Christoff, one of the most important composers of piano music to emerge in recent years, has created a series of highly original and distinctive pieces for the medium with a series of two-movement piano sonatas and stand-alone solos in classical forms that have been decribed as a contemporary cross between Scarlatti, Bartok and Liszt with a little Prokoviev, Chopin and Tchaikovsky thrown in.
"Christoff's music conveys a compacted and sincere emotional heft."
– Peter Burwasser, Fanfare Magazine
"Christoff's music conveys a compacted and sincere emotional heft."
– Peter Burwasser, Fanfare Magazine
Dimiter Christoff
"The Piano Music" Vol. 2
Nadejda Vlaeva: piano
"The Piano Music" Vol. 2
Nadejda Vlaeva: piano
"Vlaeva plays in a crisp, tense manner that suits the spikier, darker music of Christoff's latest output well." – Peter Burwasser, Fanfare Magazine
Aleksandër Peçi
"The Broken Song " / New Music from Albania II
"The Broken Song " / New Music from Albania II
The second volume of contemporary music from Albania featuring the works of Albania’s renowned composer Aleksandër Peçi. Included on this wide-ranging album is music from Peçi’s many film scores and a number of chamber music works that synthesize traditional Albanian music with techniques adapted from European contemporary music, all of it worked up in the composer’s intensely personal style, technique and panache.
“The result is a new voice in European music, truly fresh and emotional.”– Eric Salzman
Tyrone Washington
(formerly with Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Horace Silver)
“Do Right”
with Clarence Thomas, Renee McLean, Billy Nichols,
Hubert Eaves, James 'Fish' Benjamin, and Idris Muhammad
(formerly with Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Horace Silver)
“Do Right”
with Clarence Thomas, Renee McLean, Billy Nichols,
Hubert Eaves, James 'Fish' Benjamin, and Idris Muhammad
An exciting collection of numbers by a young man once deep in the self-mesmerization of the avant-garde, now breaking loose in an overpowering, many-mood-producing tour de force. It has all the gustiness, drive and hammering flesh-pull of a summer night in Harlem.
Gheorghi Arnaoudov / The Way of the Birds
Bulgarian composer Gheorghi Arnaoudov has forged a profound body of work deeply rooted in minimalism and, at the same time, creating an intensely imaginative, vibrating sound world that constantly defies convention. His vital use of a variety of literary sources, aesthetic ideas, and collaborations with other art forms distinguish his music in today’s European concert culture. Labor Records’ latest release The Way of the Birds presents four sound-poems growing out of collaborations with Bulgarian choreographer Mila Iskrenova. These works, from Bulgaria’s most cosmopolitan compositional voice at the height of his powers, musically capture the freedom of flight and engage in timeless conversations with poets, philosophers, and folk traditions across the ages.
Benedikta Bonitz
Il Flauto Dolce
Il Flauto Dolce
Baroque and contemporary music from Italy, France, England, Japan, Germany and New York performed by an outstanding virtuosa of the recorder noted for her powers of musical articulation and expression. Included in the program: A series of Italian works, mostly from the period just after 1600, and considered to be among the earliest published music specifically designed for instrumental performance. Also on the program are a set of variations on Greensleeves from seventeenth-century England and modern works by Walter Steffens, Somei Satoh and Heiner Stadler.
Heiner Stadler / Tribute to Bird and Monk
NEW | Street Date April 26 11
NEW | Street Date April 26 11
LABOR RECORDS REISSUES A PIONEERING CLASSIC
Heiner Stadler's Tribute to Bird and Monk, featuring a sextet of cornetist Thad Jones, tenor saxophonist George Adams, trombonist George Lewis, pianist Stanley Cowell, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Lenny White, takes six compositions by Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk as reimagined by Stadler with out-of-the-box improvisations by some of New York's greatest instrumentalists of the 1970s and remixes them to modern standards by the brilliant engineer Malcom Addey. The result is a critically acclaimed tribute that sounds as fresh and daring today as when it was originally released.
“Tribute is a brilliant mixture of arranged and free jazz, with the strength of the compositions providing a firm foundation.”
DOWN BEAT ***** Five-Stars (top rating)
“The result is a giant step bridging the avant-garde of the ‘forties, bebop, with the avant-garde of today.”
JAZZ MAGAZINE
Music of Tribute
Vol. 4 Scarlatti
Viktoria Lakissova: piano
works by Scarlatti, Alkan, de Manziarly, Francaix,
Godowsky, Hamelin, Kurtág, Lewenthal, Nikolovski and Steffens
Vol. 4 Scarlatti
Viktoria Lakissova: piano
works by Scarlatti, Alkan, de Manziarly, Francaix,
Godowsky, Hamelin, Kurtág, Lewenthal, Nikolovski and Steffens
The Russian/German piano virtuosa, Viktoria Lakissova, performs a Tribute to Domenico Scarlatti, playing Scarlatti Sonatas in alternation with works written in honor of the 18th-century Italian by composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including some of the major piano titans of the past century.
Music of Tribute
Vol. 5 – JS Bach
Music of Tribute turns to Bach: Music of Bach and Homages to Bach played by German pianist
Beatrice Berthold
Vol. 5 – JS Bach
Music of Tribute turns to Bach: Music of Bach and Homages to Bach played by German pianist
Beatrice Berthold
Beatrice Berthold performs a “Tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach” in the form of works by the master himself (including various preludes and fugues as well as the famous “Italian Concerto”) plus works by 20th century masters ranging from one of the great Bachianas Brasileiras by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos to works of tribute by Béla Bartók, Dmitri Shostakovich, Francis Poulenc, Terry Riley, Arthur Honegger, György Kurtág and others.
Jean-Claude Kuner
The Broken Promise
(Blood Feud in Albania)
A Radio Documentary
The Broken Promise
(Blood Feud in Albania)
A Radio Documentary
The centuries-old custom of blood feuds - responsible for thousands of Albanian deaths in the past - has started blighting lives in the Balkan nation again in recent years. The Broken Promise (Blood Feud in Albania) is both a guided tour and a kind of audio or media poem that takes us through the horrific modern revival of the Kanun, the ancient tribal code dating back to the fifteenth century.
Circus Mort
… Circus Mort’s first EP (on Labor) attacks from a more brutal and intensely personal point of view. Propelled by explosively busy drumming, the band fuses Wire’s burning intensity with a light overlay of early Pink Floyd psychodelicisms. Nakedly painful and bristling with jagged edges, Circus Mort leaps into emotionally savaging their audience with total commitment – a true rarity.
– Lou Stathis, Heavy Metal
Certain General
Holiday of Love
Holiday of Love
The reissue of the first ever Certain General recording. Acclaimed in the American press. It was produced by college radio legend Peter Holsapple of the db’s and released in 1982 on Labor Records, one of the first cross-over or multi-cultural record companies that also hosted Circus Mort and Swans.
Featuring the original band line-up: Parker Dulany, vocals; Phil Gammage, guitar, backing vocals; Russell Berke, bass; Marcy Saddy, drums, backing vocals. Contains the original versions of Leader Out, Hello My God, Bb C2, Downtown and Holiday of Love.
Progressive Media’s New Music ReportLook out! Like R.E.M. Certain General layers various sounds to create something bigger than the sum of its parts – exciting, urgent rock’n roll. The music owes much to the psychedelic era of the 60s, but is contemporary nonetheless. An exciting debut.
– JACKPOT / Editors’ choices for best new releases
Duo Caramuru & Baldanza
"Bossa in the Shadows"
"Bossa in the Shadows"
How does a pair of contemporary Brazilian musicians manage to be traditionalists and innovators at the same time? How does the same pair manage to incorporate the strands of popular and classical Brazilian music and rhythm into a single unified style? The dynamic new Labor Records album, Bossa in the Shadows from Säo Paolo, Brazil, shows pianist and composer Fábio Caramuru and bassist/composer/arranger Pedro Baldanza working across a huge and vibrant musical spectrum that runs from Afro-Samba to updated Bossa Nova, to Duke Ellington, to Villa-Lobos to "dancing the Baiäo to the great Brazilian master Tom Jobim to their own original conceptions. The music has all the ingredients of great American jazz, traditional and advanced, but, at the same time, it is infused with ideas rooted somewhere else resulting in its originality and lack of cliches.
Walter Steffens / Guernica and Other Paintings
Labor Records latest release Guernica and Other Paintings:
Picasso, Munch, Bosch, Chagall explores German composer Walter Steffens’ labyrinthine worlds of sound and image and his extraordinary project that stretches and deepens a tradition that began with musical paraphrases of pictures. Steffens’ interest in “transposing” visual impressions into music arises from his life-long occupation as a composer for theatre, operas, and ballets. His compositions are not simply “paraphrases of pictures,” rather Steffens draws upon his extensive musical vocabulary and his uncommonly strong emotional response to art to produce a musical statement on this recording ranging from the orchestral grandeur inspired by Picasso’s “Guernica” to the large scale symphony for organ after Mark Chagall.
Picasso, Munch, Bosch, Chagall explores German composer Walter Steffens’ labyrinthine worlds of sound and image and his extraordinary project that stretches and deepens a tradition that began with musical paraphrases of pictures. Steffens’ interest in “transposing” visual impressions into music arises from his life-long occupation as a composer for theatre, operas, and ballets. His compositions are not simply “paraphrases of pictures,” rather Steffens draws upon his extensive musical vocabulary and his uncommonly strong emotional response to art to produce a musical statement on this recording ranging from the orchestral grandeur inspired by Picasso’s “Guernica” to the large scale symphony for organ after Mark Chagall.
Ieva Jokubaviciute / Music of Tribute Vol. 6 – Berg
Music of Tribute is a Labor Records historic series that pays homage to great composers by linking their works with music--often unknown, rediscovered or previously unrecorded--that pays tribute to them through dedication, homage, or thematic reference.
A new recording by the young Lithuanian pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute pays homage to a veritable mountain of early 20th-century Modernism—Alban Berg. Weaving an intricate tapestry of scintillating performances of Berg’s piano sonata and Opus 2 songs and of works written in tribute to him by Giacinto Scelsi, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Ross Lee Finney, Jacob Gilboa, and Hans Erich Apostel, Volume 6 of the series explores the wide-ranging, global connections between Berg’s monumental musical world and the creative music that it has influenced.
Darynn Zimmer / Savage Nightingale
Soprano Darynn Zimmer and guitarist Eliot Fisk team up to create an album
of cross-over folk music
Spanish, French and Native American folk music collected by Federica Garcia Lorca, Jules Tiersot and Charles Wakefield Cadman all go to make up a rich and passionate album by Darynn Zimmer and her distinguished collaborators: guitarist Eliot Fisk, percussionist Rex Benincasa and pianist Jed Distler. Among the featured cuts are the flamenco songs “En El Café de Chinitas” and “Anda Jaleo” (“Let’s Make a Racket”) which became an anti-Franco anthem in the Spanish civil war as well as part of a couple of famous flamenco ballets; also included are a couple of racy medieval French lyrics and Cadman’s American Indian-inspired “From the Land of the Sky-blue Water”, one of the most popular songs in American history.
of cross-over folk music
Spanish, French and Native American folk music collected by Federica Garcia Lorca, Jules Tiersot and Charles Wakefield Cadman all go to make up a rich and passionate album by Darynn Zimmer and her distinguished collaborators: guitarist Eliot Fisk, percussionist Rex Benincasa and pianist Jed Distler. Among the featured cuts are the flamenco songs “En El Café de Chinitas” and “Anda Jaleo” (“Let’s Make a Racket”) which became an anti-Franco anthem in the Spanish civil war as well as part of a couple of famous flamenco ballets; also included are a couple of racy medieval French lyrics and Cadman’s American Indian-inspired “From the Land of the Sky-blue Water”, one of the most popular songs in American history.
Javor Bračić / Music of Tribute Vol 7 - Haydn
NEW | Street Date Oktober 25 11
In 1909, six great French composers—including Ravel, Debussy, Dukas, Vincent d’Indy and Reynaldo Hahn—created new works based on a musical spelling of Haydn’s name in celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the death of the great Viennese master; eighty-nine years later, the English composer George Benjamin added his own homage based on the same theme. All these tributes plus a Sonatina “Homage à Haydn” by the Croatian composer Davorin Kempf and a rollicking Capriccietto after a rough Viennese folk song (that had been previously treated by Haydn) by the German composer Wolfgang Hochstein have been wrapped around three sparkling piano sonatas by the master himself, including the late, great C major Sonata, all brilliantly recorded by the young Croatian pianist Javor Bračić.
This is the seventh in the Music of Tribute series from Labor; music by and in homage to Heitor Villa-Lobos, Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Domenico Scarlatti, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Alban Berg were the earlier releases in this much-lauded ongoing series.
Michael Sahl and Eric Salzman
Civilization & Its Discontents
Civilization & Its Discontents
NEW | Street Date January 31 12
Civilization & Its Discontents is a lively and biting satire in the form of a music-theater work with words and music created jointly by Michael Sahl and Eric Salzman. It was originally a prize-winning off-off-Broadway music theater piece, a music-theater recording for National Public Radio that had one of the largest air plays of any work of its kind, and a Prix Italia winner. Carlos Arachnid invites us to join him and his friends in Club Bide-a-wee whose motto is "If it feels good, do it!". Dancing alternates with 'freeze-frame' moments of high anxiety, angry words and sexual come-ons. Scene II is in Jill Goodheart's bedroom where a seduction scene is interrupted by a constant string of phone calls, the arrival of Jill's boyfriend and the deus ex machina appearance of Arachnid who brings us back to Club Bide-a-wee for a deconstructed dance orgy and an ironic morality.
“…a brilliant amalgam of jazz, pop, blues and classical forms, cleverly developed and timed to make the satiric points stand out in the most vivid musical and theatrical terms.”
–Peter G. Davis, New York Times
“…a work that builds up its own undulating momentum and sustains it so thoroughly that the audience boogies long after the music stops. A skillful, rhythmic integration of words, music and movement is responsible for the compelling power of this stunning show.”
Show Business.
“…jazz and pop elements in an understandable idiom, in addition to avantgarde traits originating in the NY experimental scene…swinging melodies that seem to stem from Gershwin, combined with strong, somewhat abrupt but exciting harmonies and surprising rhythmical accents that are reminiscent of Thelonious Monk…Kurt Weill for our time.”
–Doron Nagan, Algemeen Dagblad (The Netherlands).
“…a delightful, tuneful satire…not everything is funny (as) the underlying subject is something very real…This is a wonderful work.”
–Rita H. Mead, Newsletter of the Institute for Studies in American Music.
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