- Peter Herresthal, Arctic Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Tim Weiss, and James Gaffigan: “Missy Mazzoli: Dark with Excessive Bright” (BIS)
- Tim Mead, Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen: Sacroprofano (Alpha Classics)
Among Leo Tolstoy’s many near-death experiences (he did, after all, serve in the army, receive multiple threats against his life, and live in a time before antibiotics) was one that took place when he was 25. In January 1854, the young count was lost overnight in a snowstorm with his servant while traveling by troika between cities. Two years later, he turned that experience into “The Snowstorm,” a story in which a nobleman and his servant get lost overnight in a snowstorm while traveling by troika between cities. We get an insight into the nobleman’s psyche during this long night; he imagines that he’s about to die, hallucinates in the throes of hypothermia, but ultimately, morning dawns, the snow clears, and both men have survived.