One of the most telling indications of a composer's worth in our glutted musical marketplace is the response of one's fellow music-makers: those who create it as well as those who perform it. And in this regard, Alla Borzova, a Russian-trained composer-pianist from Belarus, is fortunate to claim the global microcosm of New York as her adopted backyard. When a composer of exalted stature praises one's music, the informed public tends to take notice. And well they should, when a modern master like John Corigliano speaks of Borzova's extraordinary voice and her ……..

There’s a strongly bipartite element to the programming here. Popper’s easy-going, lyrical Romantic charm is pitted against Piatigorsky’s wizardly virtuosity in his Variations on a Paganini Theme. Both were executants of high renown and Popper was the better known as an executant-composer. But Piatogorsky’s transcriptions, arrangements and original works – as here - are well deserving of perpetuation, as this disc amply demonstrates.
Popper’s Suite Op.69 is an extensive four movement affair, not far short of half an hour in length. Its opening ……….

Jonathan Woolf @ musicweb-international.com

Most French operas from the middle of the 19-th century included ballets, as a lightweight intermezzo amidst the highly dramatic action of the opera. Jules Massenet was especially successful in the genre, and his ballet suites from his operas have surpassed the operas themselves in popularity. This CD contains the delightful and colourful suites from Le Cid,Thais and Cendrillon, evoking the atmosphere of the respective stories and fairytales of the operas.

Violinist Christian Howes is a technically proficient, forward-thinking musician with a bent toward progressive jazz, bluegrass, and classical music. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Howes began playing classical violin at age five and by his teens was competing in various national classical competitions as well as pursuing a burgeoning interest in jazz improvisation. At age 19, however, Howes was convicted on a drug charge and sentenced to four years in a medium security prison.