This week we explore a major new album devoted to Žibuoklė Martinaitytė's choral music, perfect for listeners who don't ordinarily like choirs! We'll see how her brand of Ligeti, Saariaho and Scandinavian-inflected "acoustic hedonism" fares without any instruments or texts to work with. Also on the docket are a pair of wartime piano pieces by Ukraine's foremost composer Valentin Silvestrov in their premiere recording by Alexei Lubimov (whose 2022 recital in Moscow was famously shut down by police). We also get a jump on the Boulez centennial with help from Ludovic Morlot and Seattle Symphony, sample the debut portrait album by South African composer Andile Khumalo, examine a new traversal of Cage’s complete Variations by the Australian ensemble Decibel, and survey some Schumann- and Paganini-inspired miniatures from Mark Carlson and Tom Coult. New improv by Travis Reuter, Tyshawn Sorey, Lori Goldston, Eunhye Jeong, Bill Horist, Ivo Perelman and Fay Victor rounds out the playlist.
