George Walker’s music, in my opinion, isn’t performed as often as its quality merits. Apparently, Steven Beck thought so, too. He’s not only the performer on this release, he’s also the producer. And he fills both roles quite nicely. The album includes all five of Walker’s piano sonatas, spanning a half-century. The first sonata from […]

New Jazz & Blues News – 5/24/2022 New Jazz: Joey Alexander – Origin (Mack Avenue): “Born in Bali, Indonesia, Joey Alexander has been performing professionally since 2013 when he was invited by Wynton Marsalis to perform at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala. Alexander subsequently moved to New York City and released his debut album, My Favorite Things, in 2015 […]

Coming up this Saturday morning, May 28, from 8 til noon, Atlantic Weekly returns to the Charlottesville City Market for another season of live broadcasts!  Besides the usual great music and conversation with some of the local vendors, there might even be a few live performances. While you can of course just listen on WTJU as usual, come on out and […]

        Before serving as the Prime Minister of Poland, Ignacy Jan Paderewski was an internationally acclaimed composer and pianist. He drew on lyrical and traditional works to influence his compositions, writing and performing for almost seven decades.  Paderewski was born in southeast Poland in 1860, and raised by distant relatives of his […]

For several years, the Classics a Day team has made Soviet composers the theme for May. This, of course, was inspired by May Day. For many, though, the terms “Soviet” and “Russian” have become conflated. Many composers active in the Soviet Era were actually from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Latvia — and Ukraine. This year the […]

This release features two works commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein was a piano student of Josef Labor.  Wittgenstein lost his right arm in the First World War. After the war, he continued his career by building a body of work for the piano left hand. His former teacher received his first commissions. Labor was a […]