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 |  |  | | | | Track Listings | | | 1. Roger Davidson English Suite for String Orchestra Mvmt. I - Introduction | 4:11 | | 2. English Suite Mvmt. II - Jig | 1:57 | | 3. English Suite Mvmt. III - Country Dance I | 2:36 | | 4. English Suite Mvmt. IV - Processional | 1:44 | | 5. English Suite Mvmt. V - Country Dance II | 1:33 | | 6. Paul Richards Snake in the Garden | 13:11 | | 7. Burt Fenner Neat Proportions | 11:19 | | 8. Russ Lombardi Glissening | 6:15 | | 9. David Gillingham Interplay | 10:12 | | 10. Edward P. Mascari Meet the Orchestra | 19:41 | | -Disc 2- | | | 1. Paul Richards Trip Hammer | 8:36 | | 2. Kevin Walczyk Capriccio | 11:51 | | 3. Carter Pann Rags to Richard Mvmt. I - Terrifying Yet Marvelous | 6:37 | | 4. Rags to Richard Mvmt. II - Fresh, Innocent | 5:01 | | 5. Meira Warshauer YES! For Clarinet & Orchestra | 7:40 | | 6. Joel Mandelbaum The Village Aria I - Family Love | 3:29 | | 7. The Village Aria II - The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising | 3:50 | | 8. The Village Aria III - Freedom in a World of Murder | 2:13 | | 9. The Village Aria IV - The Cities Will Be Ovens | 5:36 | | 10. Elaine Erickson Dancer in a Garden Mvmt. I | 5:33 | | 11. Dancer in a Garden Mvmt. II | 3:01 | | 12. Dancer in a Garden Mvmt. III | 4:07 | | Total time: | 2:20:56 |
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| | | | | | Perspectives (2CD) - Various Artists | | | Our Price: $14.95  | | | | Item Number: MMC2162 | | Audio Format: CD | | | | Description | | The eclectic PERSPECTIVES double disc set, spanning over two hours of music, is sure to enchant listeners and place them in the purview of some of today's most evocative modern American composers- featuring 11 in all on this brand new release from MMC.
"English Suite" by Roger Davidson finds the accomplished MMC composer/ pianist paying respect to his lifelong kinship with English country dance music through 5 sweeping movements written for String Orchestra.
Paul Richards is featured here with two mesmerizing pieces; "Snake in the Garden (For Clarinet & Orchestra)" and "Trip Hammer".
The solo clarinet on “Snake in the Garden” intrudes with dissonant material upon an idyllic opening by the orchestra, then later tempting the ensemble to slither into isolated tranquil moments offset by mounting thunderous blasts.
In Trip Hammer, a simple musical figure triggers several contrasting ideas, from the serene to the brutal. These ideas are jumbled and juxtaposed throughout the work, sometimes smoothly, sometimes violently, united by a single tempo as well as their common source.
A former professor of music at Pennsylvania State University School of Music where he taught composition, theory, and electronic music for 24 years, composer Burt Fenner works his teaching rhetoric into “Neat Proportions”. This work for large orchestra (triple winds) is drawn from the proportions 2:3, 3:4, 4:5, and 5:6. These proportions are present in all parameters of the music; e.g. tempo, rhythm, melody, harmony, and form.
Composer Russ Lombardi’s work shown here in "Glissening" ranges in its wildly varying parameters from frenetic bursts to passages of calm serenity. This piece, recorded in 1995 with the Moyzes String Quartet, is as satisfying as it is unsettling. Lombardi, a Professor of Music at University of Maine at Augusta, also has two flute compositions scheduled for an upcoming release with MMC.
David Gillingham’s “Interplay for Piano Four Hands and Orchestra” was written with the intent of increasing the repertoire for the unique combination of piano four hands and orchestra. Gillingham achieved his high concept here with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra by creating a literal “interplay” between the pianist and orchestra.
Ed Mascari’s “Meet the Orchestra” is a composition designed to introduce children, and the child in all of us, to the instruments of the orchestra.
The first section introduces the four families of instruments: percussion, strings, brass and woodwinds. The finale presents the work’s only literal statement of the theme. Melancholy French horns and oboes lead into the solo trumpet setting the familiar march tempo. Brass and percussion create a solid foundation, which is the underpinning for colorful cascading string and woodwind lines. The thematic triplet figure brings the piece to a powerful conclusion.
Kevin Walczyk’s “Capriccio” obtains its title from the divergent manner in which the work’s character, including density, rhythm, registration, timbre, and dramatic affect/effect, is fundamentally processed over time.
An unintended programmatic work, “Capriccio”- written in 1994- commemorates the 50th anniversary of D-Day.
One of the most versatile talents among composers of his generation, Carter Pann has already had his music performed around the world by ensembles and soloists including the London, City of Birmingham, Seattle, Budapest, Irish National, New York and Chicago Youth Symphonies; the Radio Symphonies of Berlin, Stockholm, and Finland; the National Repertory Orchestra; and Richard Stoltzman, who is heard here on the marvelous “Rags to Richard.”
The first movement, "Terrifying yet Marvelous,” is a slow concert rag which follows a very common form inherent in many of the rags from around the turn of the century. The second, a William Bolcom-inspired movement entitled "Fresh, Innocent,” is a playful two-step cast as a traditional Joplin jaunt, however certain foreign (contemporary) gestures and harmonies start to seep into the music.
"YES! For Clarinet and Orchestra", featuring renowned clarinet soloist Richard Stoltzman alongside the Warsaw Philharmonic, was inspired by the vibrancy and energy of a Rolling Stones concert that composer Meira Warshauer, a Harvard graduate, attended in 1995. The percussion battery includes trap set, and the piece is infused with rhythms found in jazz and rock styles.
Warshauer’s works have been performed and recorded to critical acclaim throughout the United States and in Israel, Europe, South America, and Asia.
New York ‘s Joel Mandelbaum presents “The Village”, an opera based on the boyhood experiences of the librettist’s husband in a small village in Normandy. Its 13 scenes, spread out over 4 arias, alternate poignant moments from the public and private lives of its citizens between autumn 1942, when orders were issued to round up the Jews in Paris, and August 1944, when Normandy was liberated. These arias, sung by the boy's mother from Paris, are interpsersed among the scenes.
Mandelbaum is Professor of Music Emeritus at Queens College of the City University of New York.
“Dancer in a Garden” By Elaine Erickson, for dramatic soprano and string orchestra, features the use of extreme registers in the soprano and string segments of this work to give the piece an ethereal quality enhanced by the words of the poems, which Erickson wrote for the work along with the music. "Dancer in a Garden" was written in memory of Anthony Marlow, a dear friend of the composer who lived in St. Leonards-on-Sea, England. |
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