Bach,J.S. / Arundo Quartet - Goldberg Variations - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Composer Rand Steiger releases the first volume chronicling his collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Coalescence Cycle. Volume 1 highlights works Steiger wrote for soloists in ICE (Claire Chase, Josh Rubin, Rebekah Heller, Kivie Cahn-Lipman, and Jacob Greenberg) that feature real time electronics processing, virtuosic writing tailored to the dedicatees of the works, and an approach to harmony that explores the intersection of tempered and just intonation material. Rand Steiger's music has been commissioned and performed by many distinguished soloists and ensembles and has been presented in concert halls and at festivals internationally. Throughout his career, Steiger has been involved in computer music research, having held three residencies at Ircam, and enjoying a long fruitful collaboration with leading computer music researcher Miller Puckette. He was Composer in Residence at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology from 2010 to 2013.

David Juritz writes InchThe dilemma faced by any arranger of Bach is to stay true to the character of his music while knowing he would have been far bolder and more imaginative. For this version, I have attempted to remain within a sound-world that he would have found familiar. I did, however, have two factors on my side Bach's sublime and rigorous counterpoint and, in Craig Ogden, a virtuoso guitarist whose technical accomplishment is matched only by his Aussie ability to remain unruffled in the face of any challenge.Inch

Caprice, being a virtuoso form, mainly for a solo instrument, dates back to the 19th century. In these times, instrumentalists were frequently also composers - they would create pieces adapted to their abilities and the caprice was the most virtuosic genre among them. It is also the main topic of this album. The caprices by Alfredo Piatti, recognized by Yehudi Menuhin as the cello's New Testament, are fraught with difficulties, but there are plenty of beautiful and varied melodies and counterpoints using almost all possibilities of the cello. To Anna Wróbel, Piatti is more than virtuosity of the caprices, it is also captivating chamber music of varied atmosphere, interpreted and arranged (Andrzej Wróbel), in a family ensemble, for two and three cellos. Anna Wróbel is a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. She graduated in 2005 with honors from the Academy of Music Fr. Chopin in Warsaw in the class of professor Andrzej Wróbel. In 2012 she received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the same school.