Cervetti / Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra - Cervetti: Triptych Revelation - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Sergio Cervetti, born in Uruguay, immigrated to the United States in 1962 to study contemporary composition, and his work contains a certain cosmopolitan quality reflective of his past and present. Although essentially a minimalist since 1970, he has branched out to embrace and incorporate diverse elements from a variety of aesthetics. Ever-present is the nexus of nature and science, of the mundane and the miraculous. Et in Arcadia ego is, most of all, the invocation of a childhood memory. Inspired by an adventurous journey to the island reserve Martín García off the coast of Uruguay, which Cervetti undertook as a young boy of only 7, it illustrates the traveler's awe at reaching a paradisiacal shore. The composer found himself struck with the same sensation years later on the other side of the world, in France, while viewing Nicolas Poussin's Baroque painting of the same name at the Louvre. Both the painting and the musical work present the paradox of not only death within paradise, but death's vital role in the renewal of life. This meditation on mortality is almost religious in nature and thus sets the stage for Consolamentum, an homage to the Cathar and Albigensian martyrs who suffered persecution by the Catholic Church in 12th-century Southern France. The title alludes to the unique, somewhat mystified sacrament of the former, which was considered an immersion in the Holy Spirit and supposed to bring about absolution from all sin. Plexus, on the other hand, takes the listener back to the realm of science. The minimalist, aleatoric composition mimics a branching network of nerves, being, in it's own right, an intricate microcosm of structure and sound. Cervetti truly shines in this finale, with the impressively complex, fractal structures eventually thinning out to a mere whisper. Album Tracks 1. Et in Arcadia Ego (2017) 2. Consolamentum (2016) 3. Plexus

Michael G. Cunningham and Navona Records present PROSCENIUM MOMENTS, a highly challenging collection of Cunningham's orchestral compositions. Nestled in style between early Prokofiev and late Shostakovich, this particular selection of recordings provides a bird's eye view of Cunningham's catalogue. Born in Warren MI in 1937, Cunningham holds music degrees from no less than three universities and has made a name for himself not only as a professor of composition (a position he held for more than three decades), but also as a published author of music theory books. It therefore doesn't come as a surprise that his compositions, too, are crafted with structure and diligence. The album's name, PROSCENIUM MOMENTS, is aptly chosen, considering that Cunningham's works are meant to be performed before an audience, ideally in a spectacular setting. The pieces themselves are distinctively constructed There are themes of musical conflict, such as in Counter Currents or Time Frame, but also of reconciliation, such as in the warmer Impromptus; Symphony No. 7 would be factually incomplete without a simultaneous recitation of four selected E. E. Cummings poems; A Bach Pre-Symphony harbors educational intentions closer to the revelations of a musicologist than that of a composer; and the orchestration of Fauré's piano work Nocturne No. 6 adds punch and power which Cunningham felt was lacking in the original. There is a wealth of thought in the pieces of PROSCENIUM MOMENTS, and it all comes together as one because despite the large temporal distance between the individual works (the opening track having been written in 1966), there is a great homogeneity in the language Cunningham employs. It is teasingly edgy and spontaneous, and his wouldn't be out of place among the most memorable pieces of the mid-to-late 20th Century. Album Tracks 1. Counter Currents, Op. 16B (String Versi

Thrills is the first album from Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, originally released in 1998 upon his departure from Squirrel Nut Zippers. The new project saw him deftly blending an assortment of genres, most notably traditional folk music and swing, mapping a clear path to the sound he is widely associated with today. This pressing from Org Music marks the first time the record has been released on vinyl, coinciding with it's 25th anniversary. It comes as a double LP, housed in a gatefold jacket with an insert, and features an etching on the fourth side. Album Tracks 1. Minor Stab 2. Ides of Swing 3. Glass Figurine 4. Pathetique 5. Depression-Pasillo 6. 50 Pieces 7. A Woman's Life and Love 8. Swedish Wedding March 9. Eugene 10. Gris-Gris 11. Cock O' the Walk 12. Nuthinduan Waltz 13. Some of These Days 14. (Silence) 15. Chinatown My Chinatown