April Releases!

As Tolstoy wrote, “Spring is the time of plans and projects.”  This month, Cedille is happy to live up to Tolstoy’s sentiment with two April releases:

Hand Eye

On their latest release, Hand Eye, new-music sextet Eighth Blackbird joins forces with Sleeping Giant, six young American composers “rapidly gaining notice for theirdaring innovations, stylistic range and acute attention to instrumental nuance” (WQXR Radio). The result is an album of world-premiere recordings of works written for Eighth Blackbird and inspired by stunning pieces of contemporary art. In Timo Andres’ Checkered Shade, the aural perspective zooms out as musical fragments coalesce into an expressive chorale. Andrew Norman’s Mine, Mime, Meme places the cellist in a sonic space where the other instrumentalists mimic his playing. Robert Honstein’s three-movement Conduit takes its cue from an interactive digital sculpture pulsing with colors and the world of touch-screen electronic devices. Christopher Cerrone’s South Catalina reflects both an audio-responsive interactive light sculpture and the composer’s discomfort with Southern California’s perpetual sunshine. Ted Hearn’s By-By Huey is a soul-infused jam session. Jacob Cooper’s Cast assembles an array of distinctive musical gestures around a vibraphone line. 

Hand Eye is now available from iTunes/Apple music here.

Sephardic Journey

The Cavatina Duo’s Sephardic Journey emerged from startling discoveries in their family history. When Spanish flutist Eugenia Moliner and Bosnian guitarist Denis Azabagic learned they each had distant roots in the Sephardic Jewish world of Old Spain, the husband-and-wife duo of “consummate virtuosos” (American Record Guide) decided to explore their mutual heritage through music. Joseph V. Williams II’s Isabel pays tribute to a tragicvictim of the Spanish Inquisition. Alan Thomas’s Trío Sefardí for flute, cello, and guitar draws on melodies from the Sephardic diaspora. Carlos Rafael Rivera’s Plegaria y Canto (al Bodre de La Mar) for alto flute, violin, and guitar depicts an intimate scene of despair and hope on the Spanish coast. Clarice Assad’s Sephardic Suite evokes contrasting aspects of romance and family life. David Leisner describes his Love Dreams of the Exile as “stream-of-consciousness meditations on Sephardic folk music.” Stellar guest artists include Cedille label-mates violinist Desirée Ruhstrat and cellist David Cunliffe from the Lincoln Trio and the Avalon String Quartet.

We hope you enjoy these wonderful albums! If you would like to get future releases at a discounted price and weeks ahead of their street date, check out Cedille’s album subscription. For more information about future releases, click here.