Seeds

Track Listing: 01. Russell Nadel - Orchard Sunset 02. Michael Weinstein-Reiman - Roland 03. Claude Debussy - Nuits d'étoiles 04. Naftali Schindler - Chants, Pastorals, and Antiphons of the New Moon 05-06. Erik Satie - Gnossiennes Nos. 2 and 4 07-09. S. Beth May - Three Pieces for Horn and Harp Shelf Life Mask of the Red Death Runk Pock 10. Aaron N. Price - Amber Veil 11. Astor Piazzolla - Café 1930 from Histoire du Tango About the album: This album and the commissioning project that sparked it were funded by the generosity of 115 backers through Kickstarter and a Yale School of Music alumniVentures grant. We gratefully acknowledge the Atlantic Music Festival of Waterville, Maine, for inviting us to perform many of the new pieces on this album during an artists' residency in July 2012; Christ Presbyterian Church in New Haven, CT, for allowing us to use their facilities for recording; and the New Haven Lawn Club and Union Station for providing the perfect settings for our album art. On this album, Emily plays a Kortesmaki double horn by Karl Hill and Colleen plays a Camac Athena EX concert grand pedal harp. Program Notes by Track: 01. Orchard Sunset - Russell Nadel (notes by the composer) I was delighted when Emily and Colleen requested this composition from me, as I had worked with Emily before, and I was familiar with her superb musicianship. I had never before composed for the harp in a chamber music context, and learning about it's unique and sonic abilities was inspiring, especially from such an outstanding musician (and editor) as Colleen. In Orchard Sunset, I experimented to some degree with writing for the horn in a lower range than chamber music typically features, allowing the harp to dance above and below the horn in a steady flow of arpeggios. I enjoyed the challenge of composing - especially for the harp, but also for the horn - using musical language and idiomatic figurations that would be both familiar (i.e., playable) and distinctive. I particularly enjoyed writing many chances for each instrument to bring out the flowing, cantabile melodic style that they perform so very well. The word quot;Orchardquot; in the title comes equally from the fact that Emily grew up on a cherry farm in Michigan, and from the duo's unique name - quot;orchardquot; was an evocative word I chose because it has in common both apples and oranges. The quot;Sunsetquot; came from repeated listening to the composition; after assigning the music the setting of an orchard, so to speak, the image of the sun setting very slowly, over the course of the entire work, came easily to mind. Orchard Sunset was premiered by Apple Orange Pair at Christ Presbyterian Church, in New Haven, CT, on May 28, 2011. I am grateful to Apple Orange Pair for their support, encouragement, editing assistance, patience, practice and enthusiasm, and for their friendship. 02. Roland - Michael Weinstein-Reiman (notes by the composer) The Chanson de Roland (12th century) is an epic poem on which this piece is loosely based. In it, Charlemagne crusades against Muslim and Jewish forces in Spain. Roland, Charlemagne's nephew, volunteers his step-father, Ganelon, to lead the charge. Roland accompanies him, taking with him his Oliphant-horn, which he is to sound in order to call Charlemagne for reinforcement when necessary. Spanish forces massacre the Franks when Roland refuses to sound his horn. Only when the cavalry is practically annihilated does Roland call for back-up, and the force he uses to blow on his ho

Seeds