Recorded live during the Met's 2013 season, the double-disc Two Boys (Nonesuch) is queer classical composer Nico Muhly's collaboration with gay playwright Craig Lucas (Prelude to a Kiss, The Light in the Piazza ). It's a cautionary tale of murder and intrigue involving the Internet and the police. Set in 2001, Two Boys follows Luddite detective inspector Anne Strawson (mezzo-soprano Alice Coote) as she's thrust into the technological realm of the 21st century investigating the stabbing of one boy (Jake, portrayed by Christopher Bolduc and Andrew Pulver) by another, older boy (Brian, portrayed by Paul Appleby). This thoroughly modern opera, sung in English, will be accessible even to the most hesitant and inexperienced opera-listener.
Nico Muhly is also present on Music for Heart and Breath (Universal Music Classics/Deutsche Grammophon), composed by Richard Reed Parry of the Grammy Award-winning Canadian band Arcade Fire. Heart and breath play a vital role in these compositions, performed by Muhly, Parry and Kronos Quartet/yMusic. Described as a "series of compositions that use involuntarily moving organs of the human body [i.e., the lungs and the heart] as performance parameters," according to Parry, the concept is "less about performance in the traditional musical sense," and more about translating "the quiet internal rhythms of the body" into music.
Lesbian classical guitarist Sharon Isbin is feted with an eponymous five-disc box set on Warner Classics. Encompassing three of Isbin's Teldec and two Warner Classics recordings released between 1997-2004, the five albums do a solid job of spotlighting Isbin's outstanding fretwork and guitar skills. The albums Journey to the Amazon (joined by saxophonist Paul Winter), Dreams of a World (featuring folk-inspired guitar music by Theodorakis), Guitar Concertos (with music composed by Christopher Rouse and Tan Dun), Baroque Favorites for Guitar (with compositions by Bach and Vivaldi) and Concierto de Aranjuez (featuring the music of Rodrigo, Villa-Lobos and Ponce) are all splendid achievements, each complementing the rest.
Queer organist Cameron Carpenter's If You Could Read My Mind (Sony Classical) is his most daring album by far, and marks the debut recording of his International Touring Organ. While it's unlikely that Carpenter will achieve the kind of crossover success that he deserves (perhaps a dance remix would do the trick), it's not hard to admire his substantial talent. What's especially striking is the inclusion of both original compositions ("Music for an Imaginary Film") and his renditions of 20th-century pop tunes, including the Gordon Lightfoot-penned title tune, Burt Bacharach's "Alfie," Leonard Cohen's "Sisters of Mercy" and Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse's "Pure Imagination." The limited deluxe edition includes a DVD with the doc Birth of the International Touring Organ.
Beginning with 1990's acclaimed Cole Porter tribute Red Hot + Blue, which featured a stellar assortment of queer and queer-friendly artists including Sinead O'Connor, Jimmy Somerville, Erasure, k.d. lang, Annie Lennox, U2, Debbie Harry + Iggy Pop and the late Kirsty MacColl + the Pogues singing Porter tunes, the Red Hot Organization launched a series of AIDS fundraising albums that continue to be issued to this day. Covering a variety of genres (indie, country, dance, Latin, Brazilian, African, alternative and jazz) and calling on an incredible array of talent (Antony, Sharon Jones, David Byrne, Grizzly Bear, Meshell Ndegocello with Herbie Hancock, Bebel Gilberto, Angelique Kidjo, George Michael, Natalie Merchant, Smashing Pumpkins, Patti Smith, Bob Mould, Pavement, Dolly Parton, Wilco with Syd Straw, and Future Bible Heroes), the Red Hot compilations are all in the name of a worthy cause. Red Hot + Bach (Masterworks), one of 2014's Red Hot releases, is akin to Cameron Carpenter's work in that in features a variety of hip artists (Chris Thile, Mia Doi Todd, and Julianna Barwick) performing the music of J.S. Bach for an audience that might not necessarily have Bach in its iTunes playlist.