Director Greta Gerwig stunned composer Alexandre Desplat with her initial request about what she was looking for in music for her new version of "Little Women": "Mozart meets David Bowie." The two-time Oscar winner ("Grand Budapest Hotel," "The Shape of Water") laughs about it now. "When I saw the film I understood what she meant," he says. "There is something pop in the way she has directed the actors. The art direction has a modernity to it; also the hair, the costumes. It doesn't play perfectly period, classical or tedious or restrained references to the past. "The movie is not polite," he adds. "It's the extravagance of Bowie, the bigger-than-life attitude of Mozart." Desplat did turn to Mozart as a model for his orchestra, however: 40 strings, flute, clarinet and harp, plus not one but two pianos. Noting that there were four March girls – Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Meg (Emma Watson), Amy (Florence Pugh) and Beth (Eliza Scanlen) – "I thought, why not four hands on two pianos?" But individual themes for the four key players was too much, the composer decided. "The genius of the film is not only telling that story of the 19th century, bringing it into the 21st century, but also the way Greta created a puzzle. When you think about your childhood, it's not chronological. You remember moments; she rendered that so beautifully. "For me, that was the challenge: to link these moments into one. So by keeping the same instrumentation, it becomes a delicate mix of deep emotion, melancholy and joyful, with youthful energy, at the same time keeping us close to the characters." The key to the score, Desplat reveals, was the opening scene, as Jo runs to her editor's office in New York City: "How I should write for the strings, what kind of rhythms, the unpredictable change of chords. From that piece came everything." He recorded his 90-minute score in New York too. SEE THE FULL yahoo entertainment PAGE

The Novel Voices Refugee Aid Project, created and directed by the Carr-Petrova Duo, is a project designed to give voice and visibility, through music and film, to the lives and struggles of both local and international refugee communities, and to encourage audiences and artists alike to become connected and involved. Since August 2018, it has brought free, interactive classical music concerts and workshops to displaced populations while increasing awareness of and raising support for both U.S.-based and international refugee-aid programs.  in conjunction with the project and recording, Molly and Anna have made themselves available to speak with classical radio today, December 6, 2019.  Watch for our tweets throughout the day.

I don't know about you, but every year when I play my Bing Crosby Christmas recordings I can't help but feel that the background vocals, and particularly the orchestral accompaniment, always sound slightly anemic and unidimensional. But now with the magic of audio technology, Crosby's original vocals have been remastered and remixed against fresh new recordings of backup singers and the wonderful London Symphony Orchestra. As Kathryn Crosby herself notes in the booklet: "Hearing Bing's voice with these completely new, beautifully recorded, orchestral accompaniments makes it seem as though he's back after all these years. It's magic." Like using Photoshop software to brighten up an old faded photograph, this type of digital audio manipulation breathes new life into the music. Now I've never really been a proponent of tampering with audio. I've heard digital remasters of older analogue recordings that were actually detrimental and personally, I believe that analogue sounds more natural. One glaring example is a digital remastering of a famous analogue recording of the Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauss on one of the most iconic classical music labels in which the software doing the transfer completely removed the sound of the "wind machine" because it was considered noise. And obviously whoever did the quality assurance tests didn't know the work very well as it was commercially released with this major flaw. But in this case the end result is quite amazing. And of course, this may not be "classical" music but it certainly is a "classic" when it comes to Christmas recordings, to be enjoyed once again! Tracks include It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas Sleigh Ride Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! White Christmas (feat. Pentatonix) I'll Be Home For Christmas Jingle Bells (with The Andrew Sisters feat. The Puppini Sisters) Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Do You Hear What I hear The Christmas Song Little Drummer Boy (with David Bowie) Twelve Days of Christmas (feat. The Puppini Sisters) Winter Wonderland The Christmas Song (feat. The Tenors) White Christmas (Bing solo) SEE THE Classical Music Sentinel PAGE

Here are Ted Gioia's picks for the 100 best albums of 2019 (all styles, all genres) + another 100 'HONORABLE MENTION' albums of merit from 2019 worthy of your attention.    Happy listening!   Laurence Hobgood     Tesseterra       Popular Songs Reimagined for Jazz Trio and String Quartet   Antón García Abril (composer), Hilary Hahn (performer)            6 Partitas by Antón García Abril       Contemporary Music for Solo Violin   Stan Getz         Getz at the Gate          Previously Unreleased Live Jazz Recording from 1961   HONORABLE MENTION - Here are another 100 albums of merit from 2019 worthy of your attention András Schiff: Franz Schubert: Sonatas and Impromptus Classical Music   Angélique Kidjo: Celia     Afropop Versions of Celia Cruz Songs   Bryce Dessner (composer)/Katia and Marielle Labèque (performers): El Chan Extroverted Contemporary Classical Music   Philip Bailey (with jazz guest artists): Love Will Find a Way Soul/R&B

The most valuable classical recordings of the year span a vast range, from genre-stretching contemporary music to re-evaluations of standard repertory: Nicola Benedetti: Marsalis Violin Concerto (Decca). Three years ago, violin virtuoso Benedetti played the U.S. premiere of Wynton Marsalis' Violin Concerto in D with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park. This recording, featuring Benedetti with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Cristian Macelaru, reaffirms one's impression of the piece as a lustrous celebration of musical Americana. But the depth and rigor of Benedetti's performance here brings forth deeper aspects of the concerto than were apparent at Ravinia, suggesting Marsalis has given the violin repertoire a major work. Black Oak Ensemble: "Silenced Voices" (Cedille Records). Music by Jewish composers killed during the Holocaust receives new life in this brilliantly conceived album, the Black Oak Ensemble giving voice to scores by Dick Katenburg, Sandor Kuti, Hans Krasa, Gideon Klein and Paul Hermann. The music spans youthful optimism to mature insight and attests to what was lost. But in a measure of hope, the album also includes the world premiere recording of a trio by Geza Frid, who survived the Holocaust and lived to 1989. An indispensable recording. Igor Levit: "Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas" (Sony Classical). Does the world need another traversal of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas? Of course it does, for this monolith reshaped the definition of the sonata, expanded the instrument's possibilities and bears endless interpretation and contemplation. Pianist Levit brings considerable intellectual acuity and technical aplomb to this music, which arrives in time for next year's worldwide celebration of the composer's 250th birthday. Third Coast Percussion: "Perpetulum" (Orange Mountain Music). Surely anyone who attended last year's world premiere of Philip Glass' "Perpetulum," commissioned and performed by Third Coast Percussion, felt the joy and rhythmic exuberance of this music. It's now documented on a two-disc set that also includes David Skidmore's similarly propulsive and still more expansive "Aliens with Extraordinary Abilities" and other works. Mahan Esfahani: "Bach: The Toccatas" (Hyperion). Bach's Toccatas carry a measure of mystery, in that definitive scores for this music are impossible to come by, leaving performers ample latitude in ornamentation and other details. Harpsichordist Esfahani applies meticulous scholarship to this process yet has produced a vivid recording built on animated performances appropriate to the toccata form. Jennifer Koh: "Limitless" (Cedille Records). In a bold and stylistically diverse recording, violinist Koh plays a series of duos with the composers of eight works included on this two-CD set. Where else is one likely to encounter music of contemporary composer-pianist Missy Mazzoli, soprano Lisa Bielawa and MacArthur Fellows Vijay Iyer (piano) and Tyshawn Sorey (glockenspiel) in a single project? The sounds are every bit as eclectic as one might expect, a testament to Koh's adventurousness and the creativity of all involved. Rachel Barton Pine: Dvorak, Khachaturian Violin Concertos (Avie). Violinist Pine turns in vigorous readings of two landmarks of the concerto repertoire, accompanied by Teddy Abrams leading the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The Khachaturian, in particular, benefits from Pine's grit and drive as performer. Her artistry continues to deepen. Yo-Yo Ma: Salonen Cello Concerto (Sony Classical). Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonon's Cello Concerto unfolds on an epic scale, from the immensity of the orchestration to the vastness of its musical gestures. It all may seem a bit lush for some tastes, but the intense colors Salonen draws from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the ardor of cellist Ma's performance sweep the listener along in their wake. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} SEE ALL Chicago Tribune PICKS

Thomas Zehetmair was only 21 when he recorded Bach's solo violin sonatas and partitas for the first time, in 1982, for Teldec. Though he performed them using a modern violin and bow, Zehetmair was then a member of Concentus Musicus, Nikolaus Harnoncourt's pioneering period instrument orchestra, and learning how to play this music on the kind of instrument that Bach would have known. That was the starting point for this new set, on which he uses different instruments and baroque bows for the two sets of pieces – one made in the South Tyrol in the late 17th century for the partitas, and his own Eberle violin dating from 1750 for the three sonatas. With gut strings and playing without chin or shoulder rests, he is able to bring a huge range of tonal nuance and colour to these pieces, which is hauntingly caught by the resonant acoustic of the Tyrolean church in which the recordings were made three years ago. The two bows Zehetmair uses, he says, "could hardly be more different, in length, weight and sound formation", and he creates sharply contrasted sound worlds for the two sets of works – bright, assertive and sharply defined for the sonatas, each of which includes a fugue, and something more subtly varied for the dance-movement sequences of the partitas. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Guardian REVIEW

This is a helluva introduction to the wide ranging talents of violinist Margaret Batjer, currently the concert master of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.  OMG, why doesn't this woman have her own web page?  Well this BIS recording is a sort of, "here's what I can do across 300+ year of repertoire".  BIS is a Swedish based record label with a well earned reputation both for quality sound recording as well as intelligent choice of repertoire.  This recording succeeds on both counts. She plays with her familiar colleagues in the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under conductor Jeffrey Kahane in an arrestingly beautiful recording of music spanning nearly 300 years.  The combination of technical skills and interpretive skills (by orchestra and soloist) along with a wonderful sound recording make this a welcome debut for this soloist and leaves this writer wanting to hear more from her and this wonderful little orchestra. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL New Music Buff REVIEW