Momenta Quartet Insider Interview - Momenta Festival VIII

On September 30-October 5 the Momenta Quartet presents the eighth edition of their annual Momenta Festival. Over four nights, each member curates a diverse chamber music program blending the old and new. In this insider interview, we spoke with each member of the quartet about highlights of the upcoming festival and what gets them excited about each of their programs.

“Looking Back” Curated by Michael Haas
September 30, 2023

Michael, your program is a collection of works that was inspired by the past. How does each piece achieve this?

The idea for this program came about last season when Momenta joined forces with composer Han Lash for a residency at the Eastman School of Music’s Institute for Music Leadership.

When we performed Han Lash’s Suite Remembered and Imagined last year, I was struck by how Lash uses their own 21st-century musical language to modernize a Baroque dance suite. I immediately saw a connection with a piece already in Momenta’s repertoire, More Venerable Canons by Matthew Greenbaum. In that piece, I have always seen parallels between its structure and that of suites by J. S. Bach.

Living composers are not the only ones who look back in time for inspiration! Haydn’s string quartet Op.  20 No. 5, while groundbreaking, concludes with a grand fugue, a style of writing that was no longer fashionable in Haydn’s lifetime.

The program concludes with Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet, a composition which resulted from a burst of inspiration after he studied scores of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

“Earth and Ether” Curated by Emilie-Anne Gendron
October 1, 2023

Emilie, your program features the world premiere of a piece by Elizabeth Brown. Did you commission the work? How did this come about, and what would you like audiences to know about it in advance of the October 1 concert?

The formidably gifted and versatile composer-performer Elizabeth Brown is a longtime friend of Momenta, not to mention a Momenta Festival alumna as both a composer and performer. She is a professional flutist as well as a master of the shakuhachi, theremin, and dan bau; she teaches shakuhachi at Columbia University and Bard College, where she also teaches theremin.

I am excited to be giving the world premiere of her new solo violin work, "Firmament", on October 1. The piece came about a year ago when Elizabeth offered to write me a piece, as she had been mulling over several ideas by that point. Of course I was delighted and honored to be the recipient, and I knew just the right festival for the premiere.

Brown's musical inspiration often comes from literary sources, and this piece draws on two dystopian modern novels: The Wall (1963), by Austrian author Marlen Haushofer, in which a woman awakens while journeying in the wilderness to find herself separated from the rest of the world by an invisible wall; and Good Morning, Midnight (2016) by American writer Lily Brooks-Dalton, tracing in parallel the paths of an Arctic researcher and an astronaut, for both of whom external communication has been cut off. Brown envisions the violin’s voice as the protagonist navigating these new, suspended realities--aware of both its solitude as well as the firmament eternally surrounding our world.

Not only is the piece beautifully written for the violin, but it shows the composer's mastery of every nuance of texture, mood, and atmosphere. I’d like to add that the composer and critic Kyle Gann described Elizabeth's music as “elegant, quiet, thoughtful, well-crafted...and as bizarre as hell." I can think of no better fit for a Momenta program!

Tell us about the other works on your program.

I titled my program "Earth and Ether", and the other pieces also explore, in their own ways, the joy and pain of the human experience while also contemplating what lies around us and beyond. In addition to Brown’s premiere, I'll be giving the New York premiere of a fiery solo violin work, "Another Prayer" (2012), by the British composer Julian Anderson, inspired by the colors and timbres of Eastern European folk music. The remainder of the program features the entire Momenta Quartet. Jeffrey Mumford's newest quartet, the vividly imagined ...amid still and floating depths (2019) was composed for a consortium of quartets including Momenta; and the Mexican composer Julián Carrillo's String Quartet No. 2 "à Debussy" (1926). It’s an epic journey!

“Momenta à la Mode” Curated by Stephanie Griffin
October 4 2023

Why did you decide to base an entire program on the concept of scales? How does the music of Julián Carrillo fit into that theme?

The impetus behind my Momenta Festival concert was to build a program around Robert Morris’ monumental Carnatic String Quartet (2020), which is based on all 72 melakarta scales in the Carnatic musical tradition of Southern India. Momenta premiered it last year, and this will be its first performance in New York City. I decided to present it in the context of other works in which scales are not simply building blocks, but are truly thematic. 

Interestingly, Morris warns against any attempt of the performers to make the piece sound "Indian," although he acknowledges that some sections definitely have a more "Eastern" sound and feel. The greatness of his music comes from the level of imagination he applies to making original and unexpected music within these modes and his ability to spin them into a cohesive whole. 

No program centered around scales would be complete without the music of Julián Carrillo (1875 - 1965), the Mexican composer, conductor, violinist, music theorist, and microtonal music pioneer. His music figures prominently in Momenta's repertoire as we recently embarked on the project to record all 13 of his string quartets for Naxos!

I presented an all-Carrillo program on last year's Momenta Festival, about which I wrote, “Carrillo’s most distinguishing characteristic is his absolute obsession with scales. They are not just sets of pitches from which to build melodies; they are the melodies themselves!” This is especially true of his String Quartet No. 12, in which he builds an entire four-movement piece from a single six-note scale, which is literally the main melody of this monothematic work. It is a testament to Carrillo's great skill and imagination that he can evoke such a rich variety of colors and emotions through such simple means.

This past summer, the Momenta Quartet was in residence at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute alongside my friends Arun Ramamurthy and Trina Basu, two Carnatic and avant-jazz violinists. They were working on a new piece based on raga Hemavathi, which is the 58th melakarta scale and forms the basis of a section of Robert Morris' string quartet. I hadn’t originally planned to present Morris' quartet in a specifically Indian context, it’s a special treat to join Arun and Trina in the world premiere of a new trio version of their piece on my Momenta Festival program!

"Szene am Bach" Curated by Alex Shiozaki
October 5, 2023

Alex, your program centers around nature. How does Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 18, No. 6 fit into the evening?

I had to give credit to Beethoven for providing me with the title to my evening: Szene am Bach, or “Scene by the Brook”. This phrase comes from the Sixth Symphony, where it is the title to the second movement. I already had two pieces in mind that painted the scene: Ileana Perez Velazquez's River of Life, and Somei Satoh's A White Heron. Also enjoying the “Bach” “bruch” play on words, I chose a violin solo that quotes a Bach partita: Eugène Ysaÿe's Sonata No. 2. 

Thus Beethoven’s Op. 18 No. 6 Quartet was last to the party, added on to the program to pay homage to the composer who graced us with this title. That said, it fits the bill. The exuberant first movement captures a scene full of life, and the many grace notes could be interpreted as the chirping of all sorts of birds. The tranquil second movement is closest in character to the symphonic Pastoral slow movement whose title we borrowed. The third movement is a scherzo with a real-world pulse, giving the illusion of steadiness while constantly skipping a beat from excitement--or panic! And the finale of the quartet--as well as of the evening and the entire Momenta Festival itself--begins with the famed “La Malinconia” (melancholy): a slow introduction that teases you with both sweetly consonant horn fifths and unexpected twists and turns of harmony. This brook moves both fast and slow, populated with small rapids and tranquil pools, with nature flitting and diving over and through its Classical waters. 

Yvonne Lam Insider Interview

Grammy Award-winner and former Eighth Blackbird violinist Yvonne Lam’s debut solo album features works for solo violin with electronics by six remarkable women. Released July 28, 2023 on Blue Griffin Recording, Watch Over Us has been praised for its “dazzling virtuosity and kaleidoscopic colors.” In our latest Insider Interview, we spoke with Lam about the recently released album and more.

You are best known for your work in the ensemble 8th Blackbird. How does that chamber ensemble experience compare with performing solo with electronic tape? How did it prepare you for this project?

It’s like apples and oranges. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears invested into the music and business of running Eighth Blackbird. Working with five other musicians so closely for eight years was like being in a very intense family. Indeed, we saw more of each than we did our own families, and we got to know each other so well on many levels. We could adjust on the fly and almost knew what others were going to do musically before they did.

Performing solo with electronic tape is a little bit like trying to play with someone who can’t hear you. There’s zero “give” with fixed media, so you have to learn to adjust to it, to know where you have space and where you don’t. I was introduced to playing with tape during my time with Eighth Blackbird. That prepared me by helping me realize how much I didn’t know about the tech! Performing solo with tape live is always stressful because things can go wrong with the tech, but that’s not an issue when recording.

You specifically chose music by women for this collection. Were there other works by women that you had to leave out, for stylistic considerations, practical reasons, or time constraints?

I didn’t intentionally set out to choose only women composers. If you had asked me ten years ago to picture a composer who writes electronic music, it wouldn’t have been a woman. But in the process of discovering works, I kept running across fabulous composers who happened to be women. And then I had enough for an album.  

Were there one or more compositions by men that you considered including?

Oh, sure. There are so many great pieces out there! Maybe for the next album…

Tell us about your collaborations outside of classical music. For instance, your work with the jazz bassist and composer Matt Ulery, and with the exper­imental performance group Every House Has A Door.

Matt Ulery is a unique musician and a joy to collaborate with. I am not a jazz musician, not in the slightest, and working with Matt gave me such insight to just how different his skill set is. I keep telling myself that one day I will actually take lessons, but I do know that jazz is learned by doing, so I’ll have to commit myself to some serious doing.

Working with artists who aren’t musicians is illuminating. I love seeing performance through their eyes, which is often more holistic than the way musicians think. We don’t scrutinize our extra-musical movement, for example, or think about the intention our facial expression or eye focus projects. We also don’t place much importance on what happens in-between pieces, either, even though that’s still an integral part of the experience we shape for our audiences.

This fascinates me: When you first started playing violin as a young child, you thought it was a guitar. Why? And why was your interest in guitar so keen? Did you ever get to learn to play that instrument?

I wish I remembered what I was thinking at that age! My mother used to schlep me to my older sister’s piano lessons at a music store. While we waited for her, I would stare at the display cases, and my guess is I saw the violin but didn’t know the word “violin”. Or maybe I genuinely thought it was a guitar, since I had likely seen one on TV. No one near me played either instrument. In any case, I bugged her for a year (or so she says) before she finally gave in and found a teacher for me.

My husband, who is also a violinist, taught himself electric guitar before he started violin. So we have a couple of guitars in the house. I never learned to play, but not for lack of trying. I can play a few chords, but anything beyond that and my brain ties itself into knots.

At Baruch PAC: "The City Without Jews" silent film with live accompaniment

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October 3, 2023 at 7:30 pm

Baruch Performing Arts Center presents

The City Without Jews

1924 German-Jewish silent film newly restored

Featuring original music performed live by klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals and silent film pianist Donald Sosin

On October 3, 2023 at 7:30 pm Baruch Performing Arts Center presents the screening of a rare, rediscovered European film that imagined the impact of antisemitism a decade before its events became all too real. The silent film is accompanied by live music, composed and performed by the world-renowned klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals (founding member of the Klezmatics) and celebrated silent film pianist Donald Sosin.

Based on the controversial and best-selling novel by Hugo Bettauer, H.K. Breslauer’s 1924 film adaptation of The City Without Jews (Die Stadt ohne Juden) is darkly comedic in tone, and stylistically influenced by German Expressionism. The film contains ominous and eerily realistic sequences, such as the shots of freight trains transporting Jews out of the city.

“In the 1920s, when The City Without Jews was released, it was a satire of something unimaginable,” said Howard Sherman, managing director of the Baruch Performing Arts Center. “Now, the film stands as a reminder of how, without vigilance, social imagination can become harrowing reality. We’re very pleased to welcome Alicia and Donald to perform their evocative and emotional score with this film, connecting the past with the present.”

This screening of The City Without Jews is presented with live original music by Alicia Svigals, violinist and Donald Sosin, pianist at 7:30 PM on October 3, 2023 at Baruch PAC. This program is made possible thanks the support of The Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts. Tickets are $22.50 general admission ($12.50 for students with Baruch ID), and are available at bpac.baruch.cuny.edu.

Baruch Performing Arts Center is at 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues, on the south side of the street) in the heart of Manhattan. Praised for its superb acoustics, the Rosalyn and Irwin Engelman Recital Hall has been called "a perfect hall for chamber music" by Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times. 

CALENDAR LISTING

October 3, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Baruch Performing Arts Center presents:

The City Without Jews (1924)

With original music performed live by klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals and silent film pianist Donald Sosin

Composers & performers: Donald Sosin, piano; Alicia Svigals, violin
Director: H. K. Breslauer
Screenplay: H.K. Breslauer and Ida Jenbach, from the novel by Hugo Bettauer

Baruch Performing Arts Center (55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues) in Manhattan

Tickets are $22.50 for general admission ($12.50 for students with Baruch ID) and are available here

Artist Bios

Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin have been bringing audiences to their feet throughout the US and Europe with their unique and stirring violin and piano scores for Jewish-themed silent films.

Violinist/composer Alicia Svigals is the world's leading klezmer fiddler and a founder of the Grammy award-winning Klezmatics. She has performed with and written for violinist Itzhak Perlman, and has worked with the the Kronos Quartet, playwrights Tony Kushner and Eve Ensler, poet Allen Ginsburg, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Debbie Friedman and Chava Albershteyn. In May 2023, Svigals was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the Jewish Theological Seminary for “extraordinary contributions to the arts and Jewish life.” Svigals was awarded a Foundation for Jewish Culture commission for her original score to the 1918 film The Yellow Ticket, and is a MacDowell fellow. Her CD Fidl (1996) reawakened klezmer fiddle tradition. Her newest CD is Beregovski Suite: Klezmer Reimagined, with jazz pianist Uli Geissendoerfer—an original take on long-lost Jewish music from Ukraine.

Pianist/composer Donald Sosin received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Denver Silent Film Festival, and the Best Original Film Score award by the 2022 Mystic Film Festival. He has performed his scores for silent films, often with his wife, singer/percussionist Joanna Seaton, at Lincoln Center, MoMA, BAM, the National Gallery, and at dozens of film festivals and colleges around the world. He records for Criterion, Kino, Milestone, Flicker Alley and European labels, and has had commissions from MoMA, Deutsche Kinemathek, the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Coming Up at Baruch PAC

Here are a few unmissable events coming up at Baruch Performing Arts Center this fall. Announcements about additional performances coming soon.

• October 3, 2023: The City Without Jews

• October 11-22: Reflex

• October 25: Empire Wild
  

Sept. 22: Cassatt SQ in Boston and more

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Cassatt String Quartet performs world premiere in Boston on Sept. 22

Concert at Northeastern University includes Daniel S. Godfrey’s Toward Light with guitarist Eliot Fisk and the world premiere of Passion's Continuum by Anthony Paul De Ritis

"an extraordinary quartet" – New York Times

On September 22 at 7:30 pm the Cassatt String Quartet performs in recital at Northeastern University in Boston. The concert features Toward Light with guitarist Eliot Fisk by Daniel S. Godfrey and the world premiere of Passion's Continuum by Anthony Paul De Ritis. The performance is at Fenway Hall (77 Saint Stephen Street in Boston). Admission is free and tickets are not required.

The following week, the CSQ and Eliot Fisk head to Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA to record Godfrey’s Quintet, produced by multi-GRAMMY award-winning producer Judith Sherman.

This is one of several appearances of the Cassatt String Quartet in New England this year. On November 16, the quartet is joined by trombonist Haim Avistur for a program of music by Joan Tower, Victoria Bond, Adolphus Hailstork, and Beethoven in West Hartford, CT, and on December 10 they appear in Ridgefield, CT performing music by Beethoven, Victoria Bond, and Fanny Mendelssohn. Details are below.

Hailed for its “mighty rapport and relentless commitment,” the New York City-based Cassatt String Quartet has performed throughout the world for nearly four decades, with appearances at Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall; Tanglewood Music Center; the Kennedy Center; Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Centro National de las Artes; Maeda Hall; and Beijing’s Central Conservatory. The Quartet’s prolific discography – featured three times in Alex Ross’s “10 Best Classical Recordings” column in The New Yorker – includes over forty recordings, for the Koch, Naxos, New World, Point, CRI, Tzadik, and Albany labels.

The Cassatt Quartet’s 2023-2024 season includes performances and recordings of works by Tania León, Adolphus Hailstork, Chen Yi, Joan Tower, Zhou Long, and Daniel S. Godfrey; their annual residencies at the Seal Bay Festival in Maine and Cassatt in the Basin! in West Texas; hometown concerts in the New York area, including at Symphony Space and Bargemusic; and appearances at Treetops Chamber Music Society, Maverick Concerts, and Music Mountain.

The CSQ is named for the American Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt.

Cassatt String Quartet: Upcoming Concerts in New England

September 22 at 7:30 pm: Northeastern University with guitarist Eliot Fisk

Fenway Center at Northeastern University (77 St Stephen St, Boston, MA)

Program:
Zhou Long: Song of the Ch’in
Anthony Paul De Ritis: Passion's Continuum for String Quartet World Premiere
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Cadenza from the concerto for Guitar and Orchestra
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Prelude # 5 In D major
Daniel Strong Godfrey: Toward Light

November 16 at 7 pm: West Hartford, CT

Mandell JCC (335 Bloomfield Ave, West Hartford, CT)

Program:
Joan Tower : Elegy for Trombone Quintet 
Victoria Bond: Blue & Green Music
Adolphus Hailstork: Monuments for Trombone and String Quartet 
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 18, no. 1

with trombonist Haim Avitsur

November 17: Masterclass at Hartt School of Music

Hartt School of Music (200 Bloomfield Avenue West Hartford, CT)

Following their November 16 performance in West Hartford, the Cassatt String Quartet gives a masterclass to students of the Hartt School of Music. The event if free and open to the public.

December 10 at 4:45 pm: Music at the Mansion (Ridgefield, CT)

Lounsbury House (316 Main St, Ridgefield, CT)
Program:
Beethoven: String Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Bond: Blue and Green Music
Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E-flat major

Concert preceded by a wine and cheese reception at 4 pm

Funding for programs that include contemporary music are made possible in part by: The Aaron Copland Music Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund, and Amphion Foundation

Defiant Requiem performance in Bismarck, ND

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"We were hungry, we were tired, we were sick. But we had something to live for." *

October 20 & 21 in Bismarck, ND
at Belle Mehus Auditorium,
presented by Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra

Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín

Complete live performance of Verdi's Requiem (arranged for chamber ensemble), interspersed with historic film, testimony from survivors and narration tells the moving story of courageous performances by prisoners in a WWII concentration camp

* Quote at top by Edgar Krasa, Terezin survivor and chorus member

Praised by The New York Times as "Poignant...a monument to the courage of one man to foster hope among prisoners with little other solace," Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín will be performed in Bismarck, ND at the Belle Mehus Auditorium (201 N 6th St, Bismarck, ND) on Friday, October 20 & Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 7:30 pm. Complete details below.

The "extraordinarily beautiful and moving" concert/drama commemorates the courageous Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp during World War II who performed Verdi's Requiem 16 times, as an act of defiance and resistance to their Nazi captors. Defiant Requiem is a complete live performance of Verdi's Requiem interspersed with historic film, testimony from survivors and narration that tells this tale of audacious bravery. This is the first time Defiant Requiem is being performed in North Dakota.

Note: The performances on October 20 and 21 are of a specially-created chamber arrangement.

Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín was created by Murry Sidlin who will lead the performance in a special chamber arrangement. It features soprano Korliss Uecker, mezzo-soprano Tammy Hensrud, tenor Emerson Eads, and bass Jason Thoms; the Bismarck-Mandan Civic Chorus led by Tom Porter; pianist Arlene Shrut, violinist Maureen Murchie, and cellist Abbie Eads; and actors Dan Bielinski and Beverley Everett.

Ticketing information and more for Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín is available in the calendar listing below.

The Defiant Requiem Foundation also produced an Emmy-nominated documentary film narrated by Bebe Neuwirth that has been praised as a "gripping documentary" (Examiner.com), with "a very powerful message" (CNN). On October 17, the Bismark-Mandan Symphony Orchestra presents a screening of the film at the Belle Mehus Auditorium (201 N 6th St Bismarck, ND), followed by a Q & A. Admission is free thanks to sponsorship from Humanities North Dakota.

CALENDAR LISTING
Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín

October 20 & 21 at 7:30 pm

Belle Mehus Auditorium
201 N 6th St, Bismarck, ND 58501

Tickets are $29-$44 ($18 students; $24-$34 seniors) and available at this link:
bismarckmandansymphony.org/events/DefiantRequiemVerdiatTerezin

Murry Sidlin, creator & conductor

Korliss Uecker, soprano
Tammy Hensrud, mezzo-soprano
Emerson Eads, tenor
Jason Thoms, bass

Arlene Shrut, piano
Maureen Murchie, violin
Abbie Eads, cello

Dan Bielinski & Beverley Everett, narrators
Bismarck-Mandan Civic Chorus
Dr. Tom Porter, choir director

Presented by the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra

Defiant Requiem Foundation: Fall 2023 Performances and Events

Live-streamed ~ conversation with the author

October 1, 2023: Washington, DC | Rescue and Resistance: The Remarkable Village of Le Chambon

Join author Maggie Paxson as she speaks with Holocaust survivor Peter Feigl, who was rescued from the Nazis as a young boy in France. From 1940 to 1944, the citizens of the small French village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon provided refuge for an estimated 5,000 people. Maggie Paxson, author of The Plateau delves into the fascinating question of why and how the villagers of Le Chambon resisted the Nazis.

Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C. In person and livestreamed. REGISTER

First performance in North Dakota

October 20-21, 2023: Bismarck, ND | Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín (chamber version)

The "extraordinarily beautiful and moving" concert/drama commemorates the courageous Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp during World War II who performed Verdi's Requiem 16 times, as an act of defiance and resistance to their Nazi captors. Defiant Requiem is a complete live performance of Verdi's Requiem interspersed with historic film, testimony from survivors and narration that tells this tale of audacious bravery.

Belle Mehus Auditorium, Bismarck, ND. TICKETS

Live-streamed ~ world premiere

October 25, 2023: New York City | they burn, the fires of the night: lamentations from the ashes

Ghosts of the past weave their way into our present and future in Menachem Z. Rosensaft's book Poems Born in Bergen-Belsen. Composer Gerald Cohen has brought Rosensaft's words to the concert stage in his settings of these poems. Mezzo soprano Leah Wool and baritone David Kravitz are featured performers in the world premiere of Cohen's song cycle, they burn, the fires of the night: lamentations from the ashes. 

The program also includes selections from Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time and music by composers who were imprisoned at the concentration camp at Terezín during WWII.

Hebrew Union College, Manhattan. Admission is free; reservations are required. In person and live-streamed. REGISTER

Sept 30-Oct 5: Momenta Festival VIII

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Momenta Quartet presents:

Momenta Festival VIII
September 30 - October 5

Concerts curated by each member of Momenta Quartet

Momenta Quartet presents its annual Momenta Festival September 30 and October 1 at Broadway Presbyterian Church (601 West 114th St) and October 4 and 5 at Americas Society (680 Park Ave). Admission to all concerts is free.

The eighth edition of the festival features four diverse chamber music programs each curated by a member of the quartet. With programs that blend the old and new, the "intriguing programming" (The New York Times) and "striking originality" (I Care If You Listen) of the Momenta Festival have been acclaimed by critics and fans alike.

Highlights include a diverse range of composers from Haydn to Han Lash, a world premiere, New York premieres and a performance with guest artist, pianist Amy Yang. Details are below.

"We founded this festival in 2015 as an artistic outlet for each of our individual musical interests," says Momenta violist Stephanie Griffin. "I continue to be surprised to discover new pieces and composers that my Momenta colleagues introduce me to through this festival."

Admission to all concerts is free. Programs are subject to change.

Momenta Quartet's 2023 Momenta Festival

Saturday, September 30, 7 pm & Sunday, October 1, 7 pm
Broadway Presbyterian Church
601 West 114th Street, Manhattan
Admission Free; no reservations needed
Donations to Music for Food benefit Broadway Community

Wednesday, October 4, 7 pm & Thursday, October 5, 7 pm
Americas Society
680 Park Ave, Manhattan
Admission Free, reservations required  

SEPTEMBER 30 / Broadway Presbyterian Church: Looking Back — curated by Michael Haas, cello

Works spanning three centuries in which each composer was inspired by musical traditions of the past
Guest artist: Amy Yang, piano

Program:
Han Lash: Suite Remembered and Imagined
Matthew Greenbaum: More Venerable Canons
Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in F minor, Op. 20 No. 5
Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44

OCTOBER 1 / Broadway Presbyterian Church: Earth and Ether — curated by Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin

Music that articulates the joy and pain of the human experience while also contemplating what lies beyond

Program:
Elizabeth Brown: Firmament for solo violin ^
Jeffrey Mumford: …amid still and floating depths for string quartet
Julian Anderson: Another Prayer for solo violin*
Julián Carrillo: String Quartet No. 2

^world premiere, written for Emilie-Anne Gendron
*NY premiere

OCTOBER 4 / Americas Society: Momenta à la Mode — curated by Stephanie Griffin, viola

Celebrating composers for whom modes are a veritable obsession, moving beyond building blocks to be the actual subject matter of their compositions.

Program:
Pietro Cerone: Enigma de la escala (transcribed by Sebastian Zubieta)
Julián Carrillo: String Quartet no. 12
Julián Carrillo: Capricho Para Viola
Robert Morris: Carnatic String Quartet

OCTOBER 5 / Americas Society: Szene am Bach — curated by Alex Shiozaki, violin

A nature-themed program, ”Scene by the Brook”

Program:
Eugène Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 2
Ileana Perez Velázquez: River of Life
Somei Satoh: A White Heron
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 18 No. 6

Momenta Quartet
Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin
Alex Shiozaki, violin
Stephanie Griffin, viola
Michael Haas, cello

Momenta: the plural of momentum – four individuals in motion towards a common goal. This is the idea behind the Momenta Quartet, whose eclectic vision encompasses contemporary music of all aesthetic backgrounds alongside great music from the recent and distant past. The New York City-based quartet has premiered over 150 works, collaborated with over 200 living composers and was praised by The New York Times for its “diligence, curiosity and excellence.” In the words of The New Yorker’s Alex Ross, “few American players assume Haydn’s idiom with such ease.”

Momenta has appeared at such prestigious venues as the Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery, Rubin Museum, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Washington University in St. Louis, Ostrava Days in the Czech Republic, and at the internationally renowned Cervantino Festival in Mexico. Momenta has recorded for Centaur Records, Furious Artisans, PARMA, New World Records, and Albany Records; and has been broadcast on WQXR, Q2 Music, Austria's Oe1, and Vermont Public Radio.

The Momenta Quartet’s 2023-2024 season is made possible through the generous support of the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Amphion Foundation, the Alice M. Ditson Fund, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The 2023 Momenta Festival is supported by The Adele and John Gray Endowment Fund and through the generosity of many individual donors.

New from pianist Bruce Levingston

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Bruce Levingston’s new album “Without Words” highlights lyrical color in Felix Mendelssohn’s works for solo piano

Also: A world premiere by Price Walden inspired by Mendelssohn, commissioned by Levingston

Release date September 22, 2023 on Sono Luminus

"exquisite...heart-wrenching vulnerability and tenderness…extraordinarily nuanced" — The New York Times

“Felix Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words are meant to enchant rather than dazzle,” writes pianist Bruce Levingston in the liner notes of his new recording, “Without Words”. “Like entries in a personal diary, they reveal the composer’s innermost reflections.” Levingston's recording of 14 of Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words, paired with a new set that he commissioned from Price Walden, is released on Sono Luminus on September 22, 2023. “Without Words” is Levingston’s tenth studio recording. 

Levingston hears a myriad of colors within Mendelssohn’s work, and believes that the composer understood how to evoke emotion through color. “A superb watercolorist,” writes Levingston, “Mendelssohn displays his mastery of line and color throughout these exquisite tone poems.”

When Levingston was asked by a friend to create a new work relevant to our own era, he turned to fellow Mississippian, composer Price Walden, commissioning from him a new set of “Songs without Words” that reflects upon today’s uncertain times. Most of Walden’s seven titles are evocative of their sentiment: Love Song, Elegy, Protest, and Lullaby. Levingston wrote that “Walden’s cycle ventures beyond its source to imagine a new and inspired tonal canvas.” 

The order of the selections on this recording – a set of seven Songs without Words by Mendelssohn followed by Walden’s seven new works, and concluding with seven more of Mendelssohn's songs - creates a moving dialogue between these composers that eloquently bridges the two centuries between them.

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording. For more information about pianist Bruce Levingston, including his extensive discography, visit brucelevingston.com.

"a force for new music" — The New Yorker

Without Words
Bruce Levingston, piano

Sono Luminus (DSL-92269)
Release date: September 22, 2023

TRACKS

Felix Mendelssohn
[01] Song without Words Op. 102-No. 4 in G minor 2:14
[02] Song without Words Op. 67-No. 3 in B-flat major 3:26
[03] Song without Words Op. 38 No. 2 in C minor 2:29
[04] Song without Words Op. 38 No. 6 in A-flat Major Duetto 4:35
[05] Song without Words Op. 102-No. 3 in C major 1:40
[06] Song without Words Op. 53-No. 1 in A-flat major 3:56
[07] Song without Words Op. 30-No. 6 in F-sharp minor 4:29
Venetianisches Gondellied

Price Walden
[08] Song without Words No. 1 Prelude 3:37
[09] Song without Words No. 2 for the left hand 2:33
[10] Song without Words No. 3 Love Song - Duet 4:03
[11] Song without Words No. 4 Berceuse 3:08
[12] Song without Words No. 5 Elegy 4:47
[13] Song without Words No. 6 Protest 4:36
[14] Song without Words No. 7 Lullaby 3:21

Felix Mendelssohn
[15] Song without Words Op. 19-No. 2 in A minor 2:43
[16] Song without Words Op. 19-No. 1 in E major 4:11
[17] Song without Words Op. 19-No. 5 in F-sharp minor 3:46
[18] Song without Words Op. 19-No. 6 in G minor Venetianische Gondellied 2:41
[19] Song without Words Op. 62-No. 1 in G major 3:39
[20] Song without Words Op. 67-No. 5 in B minor 3:03
[21] Song without Words Op. 85-No. 4 in D major 3:25

Artist Biography

The American concert pianist Bruce Levingston is acclaimed for his “mastery of color and nuance” (The New York Times), and by The New Yorker as “a force for new music.” With over 18 million plays on Spotify and Apple Music, Levingston is one of today's most frequently streamed classical artists. His 2023 release “Without Words”, music by Felix Mendelssohn and Price Walden on Sono Luminus, is his tenth solo recording. 

Levingston has performed often in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. A longtime champion of living artists and composers, he has commissioned and premiered more than 75 works and collaborated with American Ballet Theatre, BAM, MoMA and the Whitney Museum to present new works. He is a native of the Mississippi Delta and lifelong advocate of human, civil and animal rights. He was awarded the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2006, and named to the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame. He is Artist in Residence and holder of the Fant Endowed Chair at the University of Mississippi. 

October 25: World premiere of “they burn, the fires of the night: lamentations from the ashes”

The Defiant Requiem Foundation presents the world premiere of they burn, the fires of the night: lamentations from the ashes by Gerald Cohen 

Song cycle is a setting of texts from Poems Born in Bergen-Belsen by Menachem Z. Rosensaft

Featured performers: Mezzo soprano Leah Wool and baritone David Kravitz

October 25, 7 pm at Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College in NYC and live-streamed worldwide

“[Gerald Cohen’s music] reveals a very personal modernism that...offers great emotional rewards.” - Gramophone

Ghosts of the past weave their way into our present and future in Menachem Z. Rosensaft's book Poems Born in Bergen-Belsen. Composer Gerald Cohen has brought Rosensaft's words to the concert stage in his settings of these poems. Mezzo soprano Leah Wool and baritone David Kravitz are featured performers in the world premiere of Cohen's song cycle, they burn, the fires of the night: lamentations from the ashes.

The composition, commissioned and presented by The Defiant Requiem Foundation, will be performed on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at 7 pm at The Dr. Bernard Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College (One West Fourth Street in Manhattan). In-person and live-streamed attendance is free, reservations (at www.defiantrequiem.org/Oct25 beginning in late August) are required.

The program also includes music by composers who were imprisoned at the concentration camp at Terezín during WWII, including Viktor Ullmann, James Simon and Robert Dauber; as well as selections from Olivier Messiaen’s seminal Quartet for the End of Time. Instrumentalists include clarinetist Jon Manasse and cellist Julian Schwarz. Program details are below.

A post-performance discussion with the poet and composer will be moderated by Murry Sidlin, President and Artistic Director of The Defiant Requiem Foundation. The audience is invited to a reception following the program.

Calendar listing

Wednesday, October 25, 2023, 7 pm

The Dr. Bernard Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College
One West Fourth Street in Manhattan

World premiere of they burn, the fires of the night: lamentations from the ashes by Gerald Cohen on poetry by Menachem Z. Rosensaft; and other chamber works

Post-performance discussion led by Murry Sidlin, President and Artistic Director of The Defiant Requiem Foundation

In-person and live-stream admission is free, reservations (at www.defiantrequiem.org/Oct25 beginning in late August) are required.

PROGRAM

Gerald Cohen: they burn, the fires of the night: lamentations from the ashes (world premiere)
Viktor Ullmann: Variations and Fugue on a Hebrew Folksong from Piano Sonata No. 7
James Simon: Arioso for Unaccompanied Cello
Robert Dauber: Serenade for Violin and Piano
Olivier Messiaen: The Abyss of the Bird & Praise to The Eternity of Jesus
from Quartet for the End of Time

PERFORMERS
Herbert Greenberg, Violin
Jon Manasse, Clarinet
Julian Schwarz, Cello
Marika Bournaki, Piano
Leah Wool, Mezzo Soprano
David Kravitz, Baritone

The performance is underwritten by the House of Julius Meinl

Sept 6 & 9: Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival

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Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival launches its 27th season in September

Sept. 6: violinist Miranda Cuckson, and Cleveland Orchestra musicians violist Eliesha Nelson and cellist Brian Thornton play works by Bond, Mumford, Mazzoli, Velasquez, Barzegar, and Arissian

Sept. 9 (co-presented by The Village Trip): Baritone Michael Kelly and pianist Bradley Moore perform works by Bond, Cage, Carter, Corigliano, Piazzolla and more

World and regional premieres featured on both programs

"a gift to New Yorkers thirsty for new sounds" – Time Out New York

Composer Victoria Bond founded Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival to celebrate, support and promote the work of living composers. The festival launches its 27th season with two concerts in September. 

On Wednesday, September 6, 2023 at 7:30 pm, Cleveland Orchestra musicians violist Eliesha Nelson and cellist Brian Thornton with violinist Miranda Cuckson perform music by Missy Mazzoli, Ileana Perez Velasquez, Nina Barzegar, Mina Arissian, Jeffrey Mumford, and Victoria Bond, including world and regional premieres. Program details are below. The performance is at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater (2537 Broadway, Manhattan). Tickets are $20 in advance, $30 at the door; ticket link will be live in mid-August. 

On Saturday, September 9 at 7 pm, Cutting Edge Concerts and The Village Trip Festival co-present a program of songs by Greenwich Village composers and poets with baritone Michael Kelly and pianist Bradley Moore. Featured are the world premieres of two song cycles by Victoria Bond and John Glover. Works by John Cage, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, John Musto and Astor Piazzolla are also on the program. The performance is at the Salgamundi Club (47 Fifth Ave, Manhattan). Tickets are $30, available here.

The 2023-24 season of Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival continues on March 12, 2024 with the Cassatt String Quartet and pianist Ursula Oppens at Symphony Space.

Calendar Listing

CUTTING EDGE CONCERTS NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Road Not Taken

Wednesday, September 6, 2023, 7:30 pm

Symphony Space (2537 Broadway, Manhattan)

Miranda Cuckson, violin; Eliesha Nelson, viola; Brian Thorton, cello

Tickets: $20 advance (ticket link available mid-August); $30 at the door

PROGRAM

Victoria Bond Jasmine Flower
Eliesha Nelson, viola

Missy Mazzoli Tooth and Nail
Eliesha Nelson, viola

Jeffrey Mumford . . . becoming clear
I. Molto sonoro ed espressivo
II. Lontano ha ne

Eliesha Nelson
(NY Premiere)

Mumford fleeting cycles of layered air
Miranda Cuckson, violin

Ileana Perez Velasquez The road not taken
Miranda Cuckson, violin
(NY Premiere)

Nina Barzegar Vulnerable
Brian Thornton, cello

Mina Arissian Cello Sonata
Brian Thornton, cello
(World Premiere)

---

CUTTING EDGE CONCERTS NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL,
co-presented by The Village Trip

Neighbors, Lovers, and Friends

Saturday, September 9, 2023, 7:30 pm

Salmagundi Club (47 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan)

Michael Kelly, baritone
Bradley Moore, piano

Tickets: $30 available here

Music by Victoria Bond, John Cage, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, John Glover, John Musto, & Astor Piazzolla

About Cutting Edge Concerts
Inspired by Pierre Boulez's series, "Perspective Encounters", the composer and conductor Victoria Bond founded Cutting Edge Concerts in 1998. With 26 years of concerts, Cutting Edge Concerts has presented over 300 new works by more than 200 composers. Each program highlights the music of living composers, all of whom attend the concert. Along with performances by world-class ensembles and soloists, each program features on-stage discussions between host Victoria Bond and the composers.

About Victoria Bond

A major force in 21st century music, composer Victoria Bond is known for her melodic gift and dramatic flair. Her works for orchestra, chamber ensemble and opera have been lauded by The New York Times as "powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding." Her compositions have been performed by the New York City Opera, Shanghai, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, members of the Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater and the Cassatt and Audubon Quartets.  Ms. Bond is also an acclaimed conductor, and is the principal guest conductor of Chamber Opera Chicago, and has held conducting positions with Pittsburgh Symphony, New York City Opera, Roanoke Symphony, and Bel Canto and Harrisburg Operas.

"CHORINHO" - violist Georgina Rossi and pianist Silvie Cheng

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New from violist Georgina Rossi and pianist Silvie Cheng: music by Brazilian composers

“CHORINHO” includes a work by Villa-Lobos, world premiere recordings by João de Souza Lima, Lindembergue Cardoso, and Ernani Aguiar; and a special arrangement of “Lua Branca”

Released August 11, 2023 on Navona Records

"[violist Georgina Rossi] shot through with eloquence..." — Fanfare Magazine

The new album by violist Georgina Rossi and pianist Silvie Cheng is saturated with Brazil’s rich musical heritage. CHORINHO (Navona NV6537, released August 11, 2023) presents a slew of alluring yet under-recognized works for viola, including world-premiere recordings of works by João de Souza Lima, Lindembergue Cardoso, and Ernani Aguiar. 

A solo piano interlude honors Heitor Villa-Lobos, the titan of Brazil’s 20th century musical scene. The concluding track, an arrangement of Chiquinha Gonzaga’s song Lua Branca by the two soloists themselves, hangs over the collection like a light. Vibrant, soulful, and expressive, CHORINHO offers a spectacular glimpse into a little-known area of Brazilian contemporary music.

Cheng and Rossi's previously collaborated on "MOBILI: Music for viola and piano from Chile" (New Focus, 2020). Critics praised the duo for their "excellent performances" (CineMusical), calling the album a "very accomplished listen" (Take Effect Reviews).

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical or digital copy of this recording.

“CHORINHO: Music for Viola and Piano from Brazil”

Georgina Rossi, viola
Silvie Cheng, piano 

Navona Records NV6537
Release date: August 11, 2023

Tracks
[01] João de Souza Lima: Chorinho for viola and piano 7:09 

Osvaldo Lacerda: Appassionato, Cantilena, e Toccata for viola and piano
[02] I. Appassionato 5:06
[03] II. Catilena 5:09
[04] III. Toccata 2:50 

Ernani Aguair: Meloritmias No. 5 for solo viola
[05] I. Ponteando 3:08
[06] II. Resposta ao bilhete do jorgralrrapeixe 4:07
[07] III. Convite ao amigo Cristiano Ribeiro 4:03

[08] Heitor Villa-Lobos: Valsa da dor for solo piano 5:39

[09] Lindembergue Cardoso: Pequeno Estudio, Op. 78 for solo piano 8:06 

Brenno Blauth: Sonata for viola and piano
[10] I. Dramático 7:20
[11] II. Evocativo 7:12
[12] III. Agitado 6:25

[13] Chiquinha Gonzaga (arr. Silvie Cheng, Georgina Rossi): Lua branca (from the operetta: O Forrobodó) 1:56

Artist Biographies

Chilean-American violist Georgina Isabel Rossi. enjoys a varied career as soloist and chamber musician in North and South America. Recent highlights include appearances with Orquesta Sinfónica Universidad La Serena (OSULS), Orquesta Sinfónica Uncuyo in Mendoza, and Orquestade Cámara de Chile. Her debut album, Mobili: Music for Viola and Piano from Chile (New Focus Recordings), was praised by WQXR as “expertly played” and named one of the “Favorite Albums of the Year” on Classical California KUSC. In 2023 she releases CHORINHO: Music for Viola and Piano from Brazil (Navona Records), both with the pianist Silvie Cheng.

Ms. Rossi is on the music faculty of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where she is a member of the resident string quartet and contemporary ensemble. She holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Roger Tapping, and a Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where she was a student of Karen Dreyfus and Daniel Avshalomov. Georgina Rossi plays a 2014 viola made by Leonardo Anderi in Buenos Aires and a bow by Carl Wilhelm Knopf. In addition to her musical talents, she is also a visual artist and focuses on draftsmanship. 

Lauded for her “extraordinarily varied palette” (WholeNote Magazine) and “purely magical” playing (New York Concert Review), Tokyo-born Chinese-Canadian pianist Silvie Cheng illuminates musical works with her exquisite touch at the keyboard. Since her Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2011, she has performed internationally as a recitalist, collaborative pianist, and soloist including at Steinway Hall and Merkin Hall in New York; Flagey Hall in Brussels; Poly Theatre in Shanghai; and Alpensia Concert Hall in South Korea, among many other acclaimed venues. She has appeared as soloist with Symphony Nova Scotia, New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles. Her awards include top prizes at the Thousand Islands and Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition, the Canadian Music Competition National Finals, the Ontario Music Federation Association Competition, and the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition.

Works for solo violin by Mazzoli, Clyne, Joachim

Grammy award-winner and former Eighth Blackbird violinist Yvonne Lam releases first solo album, “Watch Over Us” 

Works for violin and electronics includes music by Anna Clyne, Eve Beglarian, Kate Moore, Katherine Balch, Missy Mazzoli and the world premiere recording of a work by Nathalie Joachim

Released July 28, 2023 on Blue Griffin Records

The Grammy award-winner and former Eighth Blackbird violinist Yvonne Lam releases her first solo album on July 28, 2023 (Blue Griffin BGR 647). “Watch Over Us” includes compositions for solo violin and electronics by some of the most accomplished women alive today. Featured is the world premiere recording of “Watch Over Us” by Nathalie Joachim (written for Lam) and the transcription for violin of Missy Mazzoli's "Tooth and Nail". Also on the collection, music by Katherine Balch, Anna Clyne, Eve Beglarian, and Kate Moore. 

“Even though I am the only live performer in each piece, it never feels like a solo,” writes Lam in the liner notes. “I actually feel that I am in a way per­forming with the composer, who created the fixed media part exactly to their taste. Over time, performing with these tapes felt akin to playing with a longtime chamber music partner whose intentions you can divine with your gut and whose sounds combine with yours to become something larger than the sum of its parts.”

The recording’s title composition, “Watch Over Us” by Yvonne Lam’s Eighth Blackbird colleague Nathalie Joachim, was originally intended as a documentary film score. Though the film itself never materialized, Lam said her premiere performance of the work, along with “other works for solo violin and electronics by remarkable women” inspired this album.

“I’ve been a fan of Anna Clyne’s music for well over a decade,” writes Lam. “Rest These Hands" is technically acoustic but I included it because of the poignant poem written by her mother that is read over the solo violin.” Lam says she’s been eager to play Kate Moore’s "Syn­aesthesia Suite" since she first learned of its existence. “I love the kaleidoscope of colors created by the track, and the vast arc of the musical journey Kate takes us on.”

Yvonne Lam was violinist and Co-Artistic Director of Eighth Blackbird from 2011-2019, winning a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for the album Filament with the venerable ensemble. As a youngster, she began playing violin by mistake: she thought she was learning to play guitar. She ultimately went on to earn degrees in violin at Juilliard and Curtis. 

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

Watch Over Us

Yvonne Lam, violin

Blue Griffin Recording (BGR 647)
Release date: July 28, 2023

TRACKS

[01] Missy Mazzoli: Tooth and Nail (10:02)

[02] Katherine Balch: Apartment Sounds (03:08)

[03] Nathalie Joachim: Watch Over Us (08:01) (world premiere recording)

[04] Anna Clyne: Rest These Hands (09:11)

[05] Eve Beglarian: Well-Spent (04:52)

[06] Kate Moore: Synaesthesia Suite (17:43)

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Grammy Award-winning violinist Yvonne Lam has appeared as soloist with such renowned orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, the Auckland Philharmonia, and the American Youth Symphony. She was the violinist/violist and Co-Artistic Director of contemporary super-ensemble Eighth Blackbird for eight years, and commissioned and premiered major works by composers such as Steve Reich, David Lang, Nico Muhly, and Bryce Dessner. In addition to winning top prizes at international competitions including the Michael Hill World Violin Competition, the Liana Issakadze Violin Competition, and the Holland-America Music Society Competition, Ms. Lam served three seasons as Assistant Concertmaster of the Washington National Opera Orchestra. Ms. Lam is an Assistant Professor of Violin and Coordinator of Chamber Music at Michigan State University. She received her Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music and her Master of Music from the Juilliard School.  

Cassatt SQ performs Gerald Cohen on innova

Cassatt String Quartet is featured on new release of music by Gerald Cohen

Cohen’s Voyagers album includes world premiere recordings of 21st century works for string quartet, clarinet and trombone 

Released July 21, 2023 on innova Records

“[Gerald Cohen’s music] reveals a very personal modernism that...offers great emotional rewards.” Gramophone

For over a decade, the Cassatt String Quartet has collaborated with the composer Gerald Cohen. On July 21, 2023, innova Recordings releases “Voyagers” (innova 090); music by Gerald Cohen performed by the Cassatt String Quartet and guest artists. 

“Telling stories through music is central to all I do as a composer and performer – most explicitly in my operas and vocal works, but also in purely instrumental works such as those on this album,” said Gerald Cohen. “This album is the culmination of the voyage I have taken with the Cassatt String Quartet during the past decade. I will always be grateful for the collaboration with these wonderful colleagues.”

The title work is inspired by the Voyager spacecraft that carried the Golden Record, an audio time capsule intended to give extra-terrestrial beings an impression of human culture on Planet Earth. The performance also features Narek Arutyunian on clarinet and bass clarinet.

Playing for Our Lives is a contemporary memorial and tribute to the musical life of the Nazi concentration camp Terezín (Theresienstadt), near Prague. The work uses elements from from the Yiddish folk song Beryozkele, Hans Krasa’s opera Brundibar, and Verdi’s Requiem. Both Voyagers and Playing for Our Lives were written for the Cassatt String Quartet. The album concludes with Preludes and Debka, featuring trombonist Colin Williams. 

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

"an extraordinary quartet" – The New York Times

Gerald Cohen: Voyagers

Cassatt String Quartet
(Muneko Otani & Jennifer Leshnower, violins; Ah Ling Neu, viola; Elizabeth Anderson, cello)

Narek Arutyunian, clarinet & bass clarinet
Colin Williams, trombone

innova Recordings (innova 090)
Release date: July 21, 2023

TRACKS

Voyagers
[01] Cavatina (9:31)
[02] Bhairavi (6:57)
[03] Galliard (5:39)
[04] Beyond the Heliosphere (7:15)

Cassatt String Quartet
Narek Arutyunian, clarinet and bass clarinet

Playing for our lives
[05] Beryozkele (7:29)
[06] Brundibar (6:15)
[07] Dies Irae (8:40)

Cassatt String Quartet

[08] Preludes and Debka (13:01)

Cassatt String Quartet
Colin Williams, trombone

Biographies

Composer Gerald Cohen has been praised for his “linguistic fluidity and melodic gift,” (Gramophone Magazine); his music “is filled with vibrant melody, rhythmic clarity, drive and compositional mastery” (Gapplegate Review). His past discography includes Generations (New World Records, 2001) and Sea of Reeds (Navona, 2014). In addition to Voyagers (innova, 2023), a studio recording of the opera Steal a Pencil for Me is being released in 2024.

Cohen is a noted synagogue cantor and baritone; his experience as a singer informs his dramatic, lyrical compositions. His opera Steal a Pencil for Me received its world premiere production by Opera Colorado in January 2018, and his chamber and choral works have been performed in important venues in the United States and internationally. Recognition of Cohen's body of work includes commissioning grants from Meet the Composer, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and American Composers Forum.

Hailed for its “mighty rapport and relentless commitment,” the Cassatt String Quartet has performed to critical acclaim across the world since its founding in 1985, with appearances at Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Tanglewood Music Center, the Kennedy Center, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Centro National de las Artes, Maeda Hall, and Beijing’s Central Conservatory. The group’s discography includes over forty recordings, including three discs that were named “10 Best Classical Recordings” in The New Yorker. The CSQ, comprised of Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower, violins; Rosemary Nelis, viola; and Gwen Krosnick, cello, is named for the American Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt.

Violinists Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower, violist Ah Ling Neu and cellist Elizabeth Anderson are the members of the CSQ performing on the “Voyagers" album.

Released today: Chamber music by composer David Biedenbender

Composer David Biedenbender releases first portrait album of his music “All We Are Given We Cannot Hold”

Recording includes performances by soprano Linsday Kesselman, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Garth Newel Piano Quartet, and settings of poetry by Robert Fanning

Released July 14, 2023 on Blue Griffin Recording

"…modern, venturesome, and inexorable…The excitement, intensity, and freshness that characterizes Biedenbender’s music hung in the [air] long after the last note was played" — Examiner.com

Composer David Biedenbender draws inspiration from poetry by Robert Fanning, the beauty of the national parks and seemingly small, fleeting moments of life. “All We Are Given, We Cannot Hold” on Blue Griffin Recording (BGR 649, released July 14, 2023) includes performances by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Garth Newel Piano Quartet with clarinetist Mingzhe Wang, and the Haven Trio. Two of these works are settings of poetry by Robert Fanning.  

“I remember first reading Robert’s poetry in 2014; it was as if he was able to give voice to feelings and experiences in a way that made them feel like my own. His words reveal a world of profound beauty that transcends the page,” says Biedenbender.

Biedenbender collaborated with Fanning to write Shell and Wing for soprano Lindsay Kesselman and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. They initially intended the work to be about childhood, but the school shooting in Parkland, Florida shifted their focus to their complicated roles as parents, and they created a work about raising children in this violent world. The music draws from Schumann’s Träumerei (Dreaming/Reverie) and Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood). 

The title work, all we are given we cannot hold, written for the Haven Trio, captures seemingly ordinary moments of parenthood; the small, beautiful moments that disappear quickly. The texts are from collections of Fanning’s poetry. 

The two instrumental works on the album, Solstice (2018) and Red Vesper (2013), are performed by the Garth Newel Piano Quartet. Solstice was inspired by the composer’s visits to the Garth Newel Music Center in the Allegheny Mountains and quotes Ives’ The Unanswered Question and Appalachian fiddling. Biedenbender composed Red Vesper after the death of his sister-in-law. The title comes from the image of red rock formations in a National Park, evoking a vesper at dusk. Clarinetist Mingzhe Wang joins the quartet for the work.

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

"Clearly a composer to watch out for." — Fanfare Magazine

All We Are Given We Cannot Hold

Music by David Biedenbender

Poetry by Robert Fanning

Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Mingzhe Wang, clarinet
Haven Trio

Blue Griffin Recording (BGR 649)
Release date: July 14, 2023

TRACKS

Shell and Wing (2018) - text by Robert Fanning
[01] I. Shell 08:23
[02] II. Wing 07:39

Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble

[03] Red Vesper (2014) 07:07

Garth Newel Piano Quartet with Mingzhe Wang, clarinet

all we are given we cannot hold (2022) - text by Robert Fanning
[04] I. The Darkness, Literal and Figurative 03:37
[05] II. One and a Half Miles Away from Dying 04:40
[06] III. Watching My Daughter Through the One Way Mirror of a Preschool Observation Room 02:41
[07] IV. The Thorn Birds 04:14
[08] V. Model Nation 03:57
[09] VI. Body of Work 05:40
[10] VII. Cuttings 04:38

Haven Trio

Solstice (2018)
[11] I. Summer 05:18
[12] II. Autumn 09:16
[13] III. Winter 06:39
[14] IV. Spring 03:59

Garth Newel Piano Quartet

Total time: 77:54

Artist Biography

Composer David Biedenbender has written music for the concert stage as well as for dance and multimedia collaborations, and his work is often influenced by his diverse musical experiences in rock and jazz bands as a bassist, in wind, jazz, and New Orleans-style brass bands as a euphonium, trombone, and tuba player, and by study of Indian Carnatic Music. He has had the privilege of collaborating with and being commissioned by many renowned performers and ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, the Stenhammar String Quartet, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the U.S. Navy Band, Philharmonie Baden-Baden (Germany), VocalEssence, and the Eastman Wind Ensemble, among many others. He is currently Associate Professor of Composition in the College of Music at Michigan State University, and he holds degrees in composition from the University of Michigan and Central Michigan University.

CMC named Top Classical Music Blog

Classical Music Communications is delighted to be included in Feedspot’s “100 Best Classical Music Blogs” for the press releases we post. Great to see so many journalists and colleagues here, too, including Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review, I Care If You Listen, Night After Night, WholeNote, WWFM, Classical Source, EarRelevant, and more.

Read the full list here.

Insider Interview with Shea-Kim Duo ("All Roads")

The award-winning Shea-Kim Duo - violinist Brendan Shea and pianist Yerin Kim - have just released a new album on Blue Griffin Recordings. “All Roads” features music by Schnittke, Beach, Schumann, and Beethoven. We spoke to the duo about the new album, what they’ve been up to since we last spoke with them (fresh off the release of “The Sound and the Fury”), and more.

Last time we spoke, you had just released your debut album The Sound and the Fury in 2021. What has kept you busy in the years since, both professionally and as a family? 

Yerin Kim: We’ve been busy with our two kids and balancing our personal and professional lives. We recently joined the roster of Parker Artists, I started my tenure track position as Professor of Music at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. Brendan is concertmaster at the Boise Philharmonic and serves as Artist in Residence at the College of Idaho. It’s been very busy, but also very rewarding.

Brendan Shea: Our move to the Pacific Northwest from Indiana was a big change. It's where I'm originally from, so it is great to be back. 

How does All Roads differ from your previous duo album? What throughlines run between the two? 

Y: Our previous album, “The Sound and the Fury” focused on the spectrum of emotions and colors that we personally felt connected to. A wide range of human expression was at the heart of it. This new album, we focused on the wide range of colors and fashion that is connected to the heart of Viennese classical and romantic styles; iconic duo works by Robert Schumann and Beethoven, the humorous evocation of late baroque/early classical style by Schnittke, the high romanticism depicted by Amy Beach. 

B: All Roads was an opportunity for us to continue to explore unusual ways composers from different times and places are connected. We wanted to create a soundscape that showed how wildly different styles are connected. Vienna is an incredibly important city for classical music, and it was fun finding works we felt really connected the composers to this idea.

 What did you learn through your experiences recording your first album that you applied towards creating All Roads?

Y: I really have to thank our sound engineer and producer Sergei Kvitko. This is actually my third album with him as he was the engineer for my solo debut album “First and Last Words-Schumann and Schnittke”. I can’t say enough how grateful I am to have trusting ears behind the scenes, empathizing with every sound and emotions that we go through. Recording is a very personal experience and to have someone like Sergei listening with all of his senses giving honest feedback and support was so special. 

B: Yes, Sergei and his cats and dogs and his husband James all endured our bloopers, so special thanks to them! I think we’ve also always loved programming recitals, and programming for “The Sound and the Fury” and “All Roads” felt really natural to what we do every time we pick repertoire for our tours and concerts. The hardest part is not packing too much onto the concert!

What does the title, All Roads, refer to? What attracts you to the mystique and culture of Vienna?

Y: We love the idea of taking something that evokes an image or an idea, and framing it in a musical context. With our first album there is the quote from Macbeth and the Faulkner novel of the same name. With All Roads there is the connection to the saying coined by the 12th century theologian and poet Alain de Lille “All roads lead to Rome, '' which has seen frequent use since its inception. 

B: I travelled to Vienna for lessons in high school, and it was an incredibly important part of my development as a musician. Being there, making music, going to the same places that so many of my favorite composers had been to, it really felt like an almost religious experience. I wondered often afterward if the mystique of the city had that effect on others who had gone before me, and that was a big part of my own connection to the title.

The album’s most recently composed piece is Alfred Schnittke’s Suite in the Old Style. What is the old style he refers to?

Y: Schnittke is such an interesting composer, he created a style of music that seems to travel through different times and styles. He described his identity as:

tied to Russia, having spent all my life here. On the other hand, much of what I’ve written is somehow related to German music and to the logic that comes out of being German, although I did not particularly want this…Like my German forebears, I live in Russia, I can speak and write Russian far better than German... My Jewish half gives me no peace: I know none of the Jewish languages, but I look like a typical Jew.

I think that his ability to perceive all these different cultures had a profound effect on his writing. Vienna was where he took piano and theory lessons at a young age so it was only natural for us to include his piece in this album. As for the piece, “Suite in the Old Style” gives us the comfort of familiarity in the form and texture mixed with unexpected punches in pitches and dynamics.

B: A suite is a collection of movements, usually dances, written for various instruments to perform. The 6 Suites for solo cello by J.S. Bach comes to mind. The old style is referring to the styles he is using, which were frequently used during the baroque. The minuet, fugue, and pastoral are particularly evocative of popular forms from this time period. Like Stravinsky and Prokofiev, Schnittke inserts moments of humor and his own musical language. What’s wonderful about this piece is often we hear different moments where audience members hear Schnittke making a joke, or putting something in an unusual spot.  

What do you bring to your performance of Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 3 that is uniquely your own?

Y: We didn’t hold back! It is such a fun piece to play. It was a complete headache to learn it because it is not an easy piece, but once it is “in your system”, it is such a ride. I love the heartfelt second movement that allows you to soak into his sound world and the contrasting energetic outer movements that makes you feel like you’re the most fit person in the world (I am not). 

B: Beethoven is always so fun to work on in this setting. With any piece you come with your own ideas and feelings, but Beethoven is somehow always more intense to dig into. I felt like where we started was completely different by the end. This piece is notoriously difficult for piano, and considering none of these sonatas are ever easy for anyone that’s really saying something. The challenge resides in the juxtaposition between balancing the classical style and Beethoven's unrelenting style of writing. Early Beethoven also has an extremely wide range of emotions and colors, and deciding what to bring out is a wonderful intense process. This Sonata in particular feels like it’s super charged in all directions, technical complexity, emotional depth, everything.

Shea-Kim Duo's "All Roads" out June 16

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The Shea-Kim Duo's “All Roads” features composers connected to the musical Mecca of Vienna

Violinist Brendan Shea and pianist Yerin Kim's second album includes music by Beethoven, Schumann, Schnittke, and Beach

Released June 16, 2023 on Blue Griffin

“Shea and Kim work exquisitely as a team, overlapping their lines so seamlessly they become inseparable. ” — Strings Magazine

In “All Roads,” the duo explores the evolving musical styles and sounds that passed through the cultural Mecca of Vienna. “We wanted to present composers who were connected to Vienna in increasingly distant ways, like travelers along a long road,” they wrote in the liner notes. “One cannot help but imagine generations of people from all different backgrounds living along a road that spans the world, but inevitably leads back to Vienna.”

Ludwig Beethoven’s Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 3 pushes the boundaries of the forms common at the time. Robert Schumann’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No.1 in A minor takes us through layers of precious colors and implosive emotions; Alfred Schnittke’s Suite in the Old Style is an homage to the past with his inevitable sense of humor; and Amy Beach’s Romance is a re-imagination of a genre that was already two centuries old. 

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

"This duo is very reluctant to hold back…they frankly play the bejeezus out of it.” — American Record Guide

All Roads

Shea-Kim Duo

Brendan Shea, violin
Yerin Kim, piano

Blue Griffin Recording (BGR643)
Release date: June 16, 2023

TRACKS

Ludwig van Beethoven

Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 12
[01] I. Allegro con spirito  09:00
[02] II. Adagio con molta espressione  06:37
[03] III. Rondo: Allegro molto  04:30

Alfred Schnittke 
Suite in the Old Style for Violin and Piano
[04] I. Pastorale: Moderato  04:17
[05] II. Ballet: Allegro  02:17
[06] III. Minuet: Tempo di Minuetto  03:48
[07] IV. Fugue: Allegro  02:29
[08] V. Pantomime: Andantino  05:26

Robert Schumann 
Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105
[09] I. Mit leidenschaftlichem Ausdruck  08:13
[10] II. Allegretto  04:05
[11] III. Lebhaft  05:57

Amy Beach
Romance for Violin and Piano, Op. 23
[12] Andante espressivo  06:10

The award-winning SHEA-KIM DUO, formed in 2014 by violinist Brendan Shea and pianist Yerin Kim, has been praised for “[creating] a rich and intimate atmosphere, as they navigate the thrills and spills” by BBC Music Magazine, and for their “lively, ebullient, and spikily accentuated performance” by Calgary Herald. 

Shea and Kim are the founders and artistic directors of Washington’s Chamber Music in the Bend. The Duo regularly appears at music festivals, including the Anchorage, Annapolis, Harborfront, InterHarmony International, and Zephyr International Chamber Music festivals 

The Shea-Kim Duo has toured the world, performing in Belgium, Italy, South Korea, Canada and the United States, and their performances have been broadcast on Klara Continuo (Belgium), PBC (South Korea) and WUFT (USA). Their awards include a Gold Medal from the Manhattan International Music Competition, the Ackerman Chamber Music Award, finalist at the Salieri-Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition, and the Boulder International Chamber Music Competition. The duo is managed by Parker Artist Management. 

Canceled: Sono Fest! at Soapbox Gallery

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Due to positive COVID-19 tests in the production staff, the remaining dates of Sono Fest! at Soapbox Gallery have been canceled.

This includes tonight's concert (June 12) with the Momenta Quartet, the concerts June 13-18 and the "Coda" concert with tenor Mark Padmore on June 23.

Canceled: Soapbox Gallery presents Sono Fest! June 6-18 & 23, curated by Ethan Iverson

"among the best chamber music shows I'd heard all season" – Seth Colter Walls, New York Times

Sono Fest! in the news:

• Feature article in the New York Times.

• Soapbox Gallery owner Jimmy Greenfield speaks with The Best is Noise host Ben Gambuzza in an interview on Radio Free Brooklyn.

• Ethan Iverson speaks about Sono Fest! in an Insider Interview.

Program descriptions written by curator Ethan Iverson

All concerts are at Soapbox Gallery (636 Dean St., Brooklyn, NY)
Live-stream and in-person tickets available here

There are two hour-long concerts every night at 7:30 and 9 pm EDT, more like jazz practice than classical convention. We expect to turn the room over (there are only 60 seats) so most of those who are performing formally notated works will probably play the same program twice (a comparatively rare opportunity to enjoy such a liberating sequence).

Canceled: Sono Fest! June 6-18 & 23

June 6: Ethan Iverson/Miranda Cuckson, violin

• June 7: Ethan Iverson/Chris Potter, saxophone

• June 8: Miranda Cuckson, violin

• June 9: Taka Kigawa, piano

• June 10: Timo Andres, piano

• June 11: Sam Newsome, saxophone and Sylvie Courvoisier, piano

• June 12: Momenta Quartet

• June 13: Judith Berkson, singer/pianist/composer

• June 14: Marta Sanchez, piano

• June 15: Aaron Diehl, piano

• June 16: Scott Wollschleger, composer

• June 17: Han Chen, piano

• June 18: Composer Robert Cuckson (1st set)

• June 18: Ethan Iverson (2nd set)

• June 23: *Coda* concert with tenor Mark Padmore (details below)

More details here.

Insider Interview with guitarist Benjamin Verdery

On June 16, 2023 guitarist Ben Verdery releases a new album with the award-winning Ulysses String Quartet. “A Giant Beside You” (ReEntrant/New Focus Records) features works by Bryce Dessner, Bernstein, Javier Farías, and Verdery himself. Nearly all are world premiere recordings. We spoke with the guitarist & composer about the forthcoming release, working with Dessner, composing, the future of recorded music, and more.

Guitar and string quartet is not such a common combination of instruments. What is it like performing with, and composing for that combo?

My first experience playing with a string quartet was as a student playing Vivaldi’s Divine D Major Lute Concerto. From then on, I was hooked on the experience and the sound of a string quartet and guitar.

The patron saint of Guitar Quintets has to be the wonderful Luigi Boccherini who wrote 12 guitar quintets. Four of them are unfortunately lost. There isn’t a concert guitarist who has not played his brilliant D Major Quintet (or the Vivaldi for that matter) with the famous Fandango. We all bow to that piece and praise and thank him for writing it!

Paying attention to articulation is critical. The guitar’s attack is so immediate as opposed to the strings.  The Ulysses had great instincts on deciding on the proper bowings for any given passage. While composing I found myself wanting to both blend the guitar with the quartet but also feature the contrasts between the guitar and string quartet.

Tell us about your connection and relationship with the Ulysses Quartet. How did you get to know the group, and what about them prompted you to record this album with them?

It was a serendipitous event of our managers being friends. I initially met Tina, loved her energy and willingness to consider the repertoire I was proposing. Then the quartet and I met over dinner, and it was clear we were meant to be! I just love them and adore how they play. I am pretty much their father’s age, and they allow me to be the whacky old guitar player! If only we could release some of our banter during the recording! Hilarious!

One of the album’s highlights is Bryce Dessner’s Quintet for High Strings, which he wrote for you. What was the process like working with him on this composition, and in what other ways have you collaborated with Bryce over the years?

Bryce walked into my Yale studio 30+ years ago. It was clear that we would be dear friends for life. One of the perks of teaching is forming these kinds of enduring and profound relationships.

Through Bryce’s early professional years, we performed some of my music and Bach’s Trio Sonata in G Major. Later he wrote me a gorgeous solo piece serving as the Yale School of Music annual guitar audition piece entitled Portbou.

More recently, I was compelled to ask Bryce for a largescale work to be premiered at a concert I was scheduled to give at the 92Y in 2018. I remember it vividly. We were in a Le Pan Quotidien near Lincoln Center. He had just had a success with his CD Aheym with the Kronos quartet and felt that a string quintet and guitar as opposed to solo guitar would be the most exciting for him.

Out of all the pieces I have had written for me over the years this had to be the easiest in terms of the composer giving me artistic freedom. Bryce is a brilliant classical guitarist in his own right. It is something he downplays. On the electric guitar he has developed a recognizable sound that I hear people emulating left, right and center. So, his guitar writing was impeccable from the outset.

He chose a scordatura which makes the guitar sound quite unique. The last 4 strings of the guitar are up an octave. This is a tuning Bryce said he had used in a few songs of his band the National. It is called by many, Nashville tuning. The result is that the guitar cuts in a manner it would never do in standard tuning. At times it can sound a like a hybrid of a guitar- banjo…. A guitarjo!!!

Bryce’s own liner notes in the digital CD booklet are well worth reading. 

Electric guitar and acoustic guitar are basically the same instrument, on the one hand. On the other, they are completely different. As a composer, how do you determine which instrument to write for, and how does your approach to the composition differ?

Writing for the classical guitar and the electric guitar present different possibilities and obstacles. The electric is wonderful in the upper register as well as creating unusual sonic landscapes. With the electric one must be more discerning when writing accompaniment figures.

The classical guitar of course has a great intimate/lyrical quality which lures the listener in and for that matter the quartet players. It can play thicker chordal textures more clearly at a fast tempo. One hears this in Javier Farias’ piece particularly.

In About to Fall and A Giant Beside You, I was just more excited to write a piece for the Ulysses in which I was seriously playing the electric guitar. I delighted in the various colors the electric presented. Matt LeFevre, the engineer and I worked tirelessly seeking various sounds we wanted for different sections. In addition, I thought the sound world of the electric would be a fresh experience for the quartet.

Tell us about the title work, your composition A Giant Beside You.

I decided to re-orchestrate a work that I was commissioned to write for the wonderful Australian guitar quartet, Guitar Trek. The commission specifically stated that the work be inspired by a popular song. My choice was Stand, by Sly and the Family Stone, the groundbreaking band of the late 60’s and early 70’s.

The song’s harmonic progression (including the surprise shift in tonality), funky riff, hand clapping, and final melody all inspired me. These elements found their way into my piece, although perhaps not in an obvious manner.

For the first few minutes of the piece, it is almost like the guitar is just sitting in with the quartet. Then the quartet gives the guitar the green light to join in, full on. It is a joyful piece, full of surprises emanating from both the quartet and the guitar. I tried to channel a few of my guitar heroes, most notably, Jimi, Jeff and Duane!

The title of my work is taken from the lyrics of Stand with a slight alteration: there’s always a giant next to you -- and you might be a giant yourself! 

How did you decide of all pieces to arrange Leonard Bernstein’s much beloved Clarinet Sonata for classical guitar and string quartet?

While listening to Derek Bermel play the orchestrated version of Leonard Bernstein’s Clarinet Sonata with the American Composer’s Orchestra in Zankel Hall, I turned to my wife, Rie, and said “This might make a terrific guitar piece.” Thus began a challenging and gratifying artistic journey. I have always loved the creative endeavor of arranging music from a variety of genres for the classical guitar, and this piece was no exception.

It was evident from the outset that the clarinet part simply played on the guitar would not be musically satisfying. I would have to make other artistic choices, primarily because of the clarinet’s dynamic range and ability to sustain. The idea of arranging it for string quartet and guitar seemed optimal.

Different solutions became clear. In double forte passages, I often had one of the violinists play in unison with the guitar. When a passage had low sustained notes, I passed it to the cello or the viola. To my utter delight, several of the right and left-hand piano passages played beautifully on the classical guitar. This allowed different members of the quartet to be featured playing some of the beautiful melodic passages with guitar accompaniment.  

Javier Farias’s work is the only non-world premiere recording on this disc. Tell us about why you chose this work for this project. What were the challenges?

Javier is a composer I greatly admire who over the last few years has become a dear friend. In our first meeting with the quartet, I suggested Javier’s marvelous Andean Suite and they loved it from the get-go.

What may not be evident to the listener is that each movement features one or two guitar techniques from different countries in South America. Most of these techniques concern strumming and/or percussion. They are evident in Javier’s recording but are difficult to properly notate. The last movement contains passages that are very particular to Chilean folk guitar playing. It is a technique of strumming a chord and directly after muting the strings creating a subtle percussive attack.

I was lucky to take a couple of lessons with Javier on these techniques as well as some of the phrasing. These did not come naturally to this guitarist from Connecticut!!!  I needed some schooling and got it from the composer. Luckily, Javier has approved of the recording! Trust me, I celebrated when he gave me kudos!!!

After recording so many CDs throughout your career, what compels you to make another one?
What are your thoughts on where we are today in the world of recorded music?

I, like thousands of other artists, feel the artistic need to record music that moves me emotionally at certain periods of my life. It’s part of who I am as an artist. These pieces, although they came together slight haphazardly, they nonetheless form a coherent statement.

“Giant” is a reflection of my artistic being at this time in my life. I am compelled to want to share it with whomever may seek it out or hear by chance. If just one person is moved/inspired in any way by even just one piece, part of a piece or movement on this CD it makes it all worthwhile.

I am aware that very few listen to a recording from beginning to end. That said, I found “Giant” has an architecture I would never have imagined. The sequencing of the pieces works in a mysterious way. The sequence of works was decided upon after much listening as well as discussions with the engineer/producer Matt LeFevre and Dan Lippel, the label’s head. Dan is a truly great guitarist/ musician himself so his input concerning the sequencing was critical.

Artists will always record. The format will always change. Those of us who have been around a while laugh at the various formats that have come and gone and come back again like vinyl! I find it exciting and a bit dizzying depending on my mood!

Finally, joy and love have to be key in the process of creating whatever it is one is creating. This record was a joy to make on so many levels. I must thank our brilliant engineer Matt LeFevre, the insanely wonderful Ulysses Quartet and of course the composers. I never got to meet Lenny (as my father-in-law used to always refer to him) but I like to think that he would approve of both my arrangement and the CD in general.