Twisted, madcap versions of tales from the likes of the Brothers Grimm feature drinking and drugs, copious use of the f-word, and even some sex, along with borrowings from popular culture.

The title piece is a set of variations on a theme from the Irish folk song "Shule Agra." The lyrics to a version known in English as "Johnny Has Gone for a Solider" are hopeful but uncertain. But that doesn't take away from this colorful album's predominantly upbeat feel.

Do the mysterious beings inhabiting the mists of Dark Mountain have an earthly origin? Are they demonic? Supernatural creatures? Aliens? And are they as hostile as they seem?

A glowing new concerto for soprano saxophone by Anna Clyne made in its New York premiere together with music by Brahms and Emilie Mayer.

Yugoslav-Israeli intellectual and Holocaust survivor Yehuda Elkana may be best known for his insistence that a people must leave the traumas of the past behind in order to thrive. With 'Que sais-je?' Amos Elkana, Yehuda's son, has created a profound portrait in music of his father.

18th-century music that kept the lute alive, and a world premiere recording of an early 18th-century Scottish opera

A battle of wits, means, and consciences, scripted in iambic pentameter, adds up to a zippy, funny, and ultimately dark comedy that requires close attention – and repays it handsomely.

Aucoin's vision asserts itself from the first touch of the first movement's mysterious music, with fluttering melodies from angsty high-pitched woodwinds and metallic percussion strokes.

Deep and dizzying, joyful and flecked with horror, this work of "absurdist clown physical theater" is a remarkable plumbing of history and childhood.

The concert was only a few minutes old and I was already scribbling in my notebook phrases like "as if pulling out the guts of the piano itself." And I meant that admiringly.