“Music that breathes, sways, and lingers”

“For her second album, Rami Levin offers an anthology of instrumental works and songs composed across two decades as an affectionate tribute to the colleagues for whom they were composed, and who respond with performances of touching simplicity. Much of the music is outgoing, tinged with the lyrical accents of her beloved Brazil; much of it is infused with a quiet, searching intimacy.”

“In the title-track, Silk Apples, flautist Eugenia Moliner casts a shimmering spell in Levin's homage to the Brazilian chôro, her lines dancing lazily with a youthful innocence over guitarist Denis Azabagic's gently pulsing chords. The result is effortlessly beguiling.”

“The writing is fluent, affectionate and full of the textures and harmonies woodwind players love…As if Poulenc and Mozart were part of her musical DNA.”

“Levin weaves fleeting moments of beauty laced with longing and vulnerability, which
[soprano] Amy Broadbent delivers with aching intensity."

—Laurence Vittes, Gramophone

“Violist Anthony Devroye and cellist Cheng-Hou Lee shine
in Levin’s three-movement piano trio with pianist Kuang-Hao Huang.”

—Oliver Camacho, WFMT Chicago

“Each chamber setting on this splendid follow-up to 2024's Wings shows fastidious attention to detail and imaginative handling of compositional form.”

“Every composer needs musical collaborators capable of presenting the material with integrity, and Levin's struck gold in that regard.”

”The refinement of Levin's writing is clearly shown in the slow and graceful dialogue enacted between the instruments…beguiling melodies, and arresting counterpoint.”

”Levin was struck by the contrast between the scorching heat of Brazil and the bitter cold of Chicago. Whereas a shadowy quality understandably permeates “Noturno,” with the woodwinds particularly effective at painting the stillness of the night scene, the rousing “Diurno” lifts the spirits with youthful radiance and bright harmonic gestures.”

”Accompanied by Huang, Broadbent brings her customary poise and unerring intonation to stirring treatments of poems by Sara Teasdale, Djuna Barnes, and Ella Wheeler Wilcox…Broadbent's voice leaps with precision between upper and lower registers and Levin tailors the tone of her oft-ecstatic music to the texts.“

Ron Schepper, textura.org