These albums make great gifts
If you are holiday shopping for a music lover, have we got some ideas for you
What does every music lover want for the holidays? New music, of course. These 2017 releases — all with Bay Area connections — will inspire gratitude from everyone on your list. They’re gorgeous to look at, wonderful to hear — and easy to wrap.
“THE JOHN ADAMS EDITION” >>
Berliner Philharmoniker (Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings, $79; $49 via digital download) — John Adams, the leading American composer of his generation, is the subject of this impressive box set released last month by the Berlin Philharmonic. It’s a many-faceted portrait of Adams, whose most recent opera, “Girls of the Golden West,” is currently onstage in its world premeire production at San Francisco Opera through Sunday. Included are live recordings of seven major Adams works, performed by the Berlin orchestra under five conductors during the 2016-17 season, during which Adams served as the orchestra’s first composer-in-residence in almost 20 years. The handsomely packaged set includes four audio CDs and two Blu-ray discs featuring full HD concert video. It’s a set that spans earlier Adams compositions, such as “Harmonielehre,” conducted by Adams, “Lollapalooza” and “Short Ride in a Fast Machine,” both conducted by Alan Gilbert, to more recent works, including “City Noir,” conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and “Scheherazade.2,” conducted by Adams. Vocal works include Adams’ “The Wound Dresser,” conducted by Kirill Petrenko and featuring baritone Georg Nigl, and “The Gospel According to the Other Mary,” conducted by Simon Rattle with a cast headed by mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor. The hardcover edition includes a video documentary, bonus interviews, essays and more.
“SCHUMANN SYMPHONIES, NOS. 1-4,” >>
San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director (SFS Media, $29.99 in the Davies Hall Symphony Store) — Anyone who heard these performances of Robert Schumann’s complete symphonies in Davies Symphony Hall will tell you that Michael Tilson Thomas and his orchestra achieved something rare. In this double-disc set, recorded live during the 2015-16 season and released last month, the conductor delved into these scores with a remarkable sense of the composer’s expressive range. Tilson Thomas calls Schumann’s music “a preserve for endangered emotions,” and the results are tender and vivacious, shapely and affecting. And if you haven’t already, check out the Symphony’s 2016 disc, “Debussy: Images, Jeux and La plus que lente.” Last week, it received a well-deserved Grammy nomination for best orchestral performance.
“DARK QUEEN MANTRA” >>
Terry Riley, Del Sol String Quartet with Gyan Riley (Sono Luminous, $15.99) — The San Francisco-based Del Sol String Quartet celebrated its 25th anniversary this season, and this captivating disc offers persuasive evidence of the group’s contributions to chamber music. The vibrant title work, by legendary Bay Area composer Terry Riley, was written for the Del Sol players and features Riley’s son, guitarist Gyan Riley. Also included are Riley’s “The Wheel & Mythic Birds Waltz” and Stefano Scodanibbio’s “Mas Lugares (su Madrigali di Monteverdi).”
“MUSIC TO SAVE OUR ENDANGERED LANDS II” >>
Lowell Trio (JMLT, $25 at www. jmlt.org, $20 at the concerts listed below) — The Bay Area’s own Lowell Trio — longtime San Francisco Opera Orchestra members oboist Janet Popesco Archibald and cellist Emil Miland, along with pianist Margaret Fondbertasse — have released their second CD of concert works in support of the John Muir Land Trust, an organization devoted to preserving East Bay open spaces. They’re phenomenal musicians, and the selections here, which range from Bach and Brahms to Rodrigo, Rota and Richard Wagner, are superb. If you’ve never heard the trio live, pick up a copy at one of their holiday concerts this month: 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Pacifica Performances, and 4 p.m. Dec. 17 at Armando’s in Martinez.
“LADILIKAN” >>
Kronos Quartet (World Circuit, $13.99) — Fearlessly wide-ranging, the Bay Area’s own Kronos Quartet has known no boundaries when it comes to new music. In its latest release, the quartet teams up with Malian supergroup Trio Da Kali. The results, as always with the Kronos, are thrilling.
San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus ($15, www. sfgmc.org) — In anticipation of its 40th anniversary next year, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus is celebrating with this new CD, recorded in pristine sound at Skywalker Sound in Marin County. Copies are available at “Elfstravaganza,” the group’s festive holiday concert, Friday and Saturday at the Nourse Theater in San Francisco.