2011 was a very fruitful year for recording projects by members of the Department of Music. Eric Moe, Nathan Davis, Bryan Wright, Donna Amato, and IonSound Project all released new CDs.

Boston Modern Orchestra Project released a CD of music by composition professor Eric Moe on the new BMOP Sound label. Kick and Ride takes its title from the Moe’s concerto for Drum Set and Orchestra with Robert Schulz as soloist. The CD also contains earlier Moe works Superhero and Eight Point Turn.

Tomorrow International released jazz studies professor Nathan Davis’ Parisian Hoedown, featuring 12 of his original compositions. Another of Davis’ earlier recordings, Rules of Freedom, was reissued on Universal Music Classics & Jazz France for a record series entitled "Jazz in Paris." The concept of this series is to re-release jazz albums recorded in Paris from the 1930s to the 1970s.

IonSound Project, the Department of Music Ensemble-in-Residence, released its first CD, one that focuses on the music of Jeremy Beck. The collection of Beck’s works was released in September on the Innova label and features a composition written specifically for IonSound pianist Rob Frankenberry titled In Flight Until Mysterious Night.

Musicology doctoral candidate Bryan Wright released a new CD on his Rivermont label. Featuring pianist Martin Spitznagel, A Handful of Keys contains traditional ragtime, new ragtime, and ragtime covers on game themes by Koji Kondo (such as Legend of Zelda), show tunes, and more. Wright recorded the CD in Pitt’s own Bellefield Hall Auditorium using the Department of Music’s prized Steinway D.

Piano instructor Donna Amato released a double CD on the Altarus label on which she tackles the massive Symphony brevis by the English composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji. The single work, which places tremendous technical demands on the performer, spans both discs. Amato gave the world premiere of Symphony brevis in 2003 at the Vredenburg Music Center in Utrecht.

Many of these releases are available on Amazon, iTunes, and from other vendors. Get a copy for yourself and enjoy the sounds coming from the Department of Music.