From the New Focus Website

Guitarist/composer William Kentner Anderson releases a collection of works ... music is not like anything else, often engaging with simple musical materials-pop songs, folksongs and folk lyrics. He breaks barriers-asking his guitarists to sing backup vocals, incorporating Tibetan overtone singing in his setting of Djuna Barnes' "Paradise", integrating an uillean piper into the Cygnus Ensemble.

Works by Mario Davidovsky, Emil Awad, Jeffrey Nichols, Jose Saldaña, William Anderson, Robert Pollock

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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lKSby8N9G-qaPqwSGh7Uz8G_GbAbQvDK0

Matthew Greenbaum is the only composer in New York to be a mentee of both Stefan Wolpe and Mario Davidovsky. Wolpe was one of the many great minds who were forced to our shores by historical circumstances, and arriving here, found that there was interest in what they had to offer. Stravinsky, Hindemith, Krenek, Schoenberg, as well as Stefan Wolpe all tried to put down roots in the Western Hemisphere, with varied success. Or, perhaps it’s more fair to say that their influence is paying off very slowly over a long period of time.

The works on this disc are representative of Harold Meltzer's unique sensibility, profound imagination and inquisitive musical mind, quickened both by the things of the world and by a wide range of music, including the works of Franco Donatoni and the Stravinsky of Agon. Brion was praised by the 2009 Pulitzer prise jury as 'a graceful, sensual and contemplative experience', the 'inexorable emotional power' of Two Songs from Silas Marner impressed The New York Times, The Oxford Times described Sindbad as 'a startling and deeply
interesting modern work', while The Boston Globe declared that 'Exiles goes immediately onto this year's must-hear again list.'

Review

The American composer Harold Meltzer's "Brion," a runner-up for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in music, is a haunting, quirky and continually inventive chamber work for a small ensemble including guitar and mandolin. It receives an elegant, colorful performance on a splendid recording of four fascinating chamber and vocal works by Mr. Meltzer. -- New York Times, Vivien Schweitzer, November 23, 2010