2 CDs by local artists are well-worth hearing

BORUP-ERNST DUO; "Judith Shatin: Tower of the Eight Winds" (Innova) ★★★★

SALT LAKE CHILDREN'S CHOIR, RALPH B. WOODWARD, DIRECTOR; "Sweet Is the Song" (Cherbourne) ★★★★

University of Utah faculty member and violinist Hasse Borup and his musical partner, pianist Mary Kathleen Ernst, have focused much of their collaborative talents on performing and recording 20th and 21st century music. Their latest CD is their most recent foray into new music.

It's a wonderful recording of five works for violin and piano by American composer Judith Shatin.

Shatin has written a large body of works, including quite a few for chamber ensembles. Her music is well written, cohesive and substantive. It can frequently be intense, but it's always interesting and quite expressive.

The five works on this album give a fabulous overview of Shatin's creativity. While all are scored for violin and piano, they are nevertheless wonderfully diverse and individual. Borup and Ernst give stunning performances that capture all the subtleties in each piece. Their interpretations are very perceptive and intuitive, and their playing is fluid and bring out the intricate interplay between the two instruments.

While the music might not be to everyone's taste, this album is well worth hearing. Shatin is an important voice among American composers today.

She also has an impish side to her. One of the pieces, "Fledermaus," is her wickedly delightful arrangement and reworking of some melodies from Johann Strauss' operetta "Die Fledermaus," in the stye of Sarasate and other 19th and early 20th century violinist/composers. Shatin's "Fledermaus" is witty and sophisticated and takes the original tunes to another level of appreciation.

Founded and directed by Ralph B. Woodward, the Salt Lake Children's Choir has been a staple of the local music scene for the last 30 years. During that time they've recorded several CDs. Their most recent two-disc album, which has just been released, is a collection of music that has become choir and audience favorites over the years.

It contains all of the ensemble's signature pieces, like Woodward's "A Day in Spring." It gives a wonderful sampling of the choir's expansive repertoire, with music from the renaissance, art songs by Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms, folk songs as well as many of Woodward's own pieces.