Michael Walker II - Deep River - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Marian Sawa (1937-2005) began serious studies at the age of 14 at the Salesian Organ School, Przemyšl, Poland. He toured actively as an organ performer and from 1966 taught organ at several prestigious schools. As a composer he wrote about 800 pieces in various genres, centred round his music for organ. His music builds on the Polish post-Romantic tradition, knitting fragments from folk tunes and hymns into his work, drawing strongly on Gregorian chant and traditional Polish material. Sawa's personal and individual voice makes his music very recognizable and though little known in the West to date, he can be considered perhaps the greatest Eastern European organ composer of the 20th century. The pieces on this album, composed between 1971 and 2005, demonstrate vividly the range, variety and often enormous power of his compositions. Carson Cooman (b.1982) is an American composer with a catalog of hundreds of works in many forms - ranging from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes. His music has been performed on all six inhabited continents. As an active concert organist, Cooman specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Over 300 new works have been composed for him by over 100 composers from around the world, and his organ performances can be heard on a number of recordings of which this is his fifth for Divine Art. This recording of the exquisite Fleiter organ (2014) at St. Ludgerus, Billerbeck, was made using the Hauptwerk remote digital access system.

Michael Fiday - Same Rivers Difference [COMPACT DISCS] date 01/27/2009

No click tracks, no headphones, and no film. Just the spontaneity of performance and the sound of musicians hearing, connecting, and responding. Michael Price's first work as a composer was for contemporary dance choreographers, after which he worked as Michael Kamen's assistant on the score for Event Horizon (1997). Price has since been a part of many film score projects. He describes his 2013 string quartet EP A Stillness (ERATP 047EP) as a cathartic and inspiring experience... I saw that here were people with clear sight and great ears creating a musical family, which seemed far removed from the compromises of the commercial mainstream. And yet bringing beautiful, intelligent, forward looking music to a similarly thoughtful audience. Price follows that with Entanglement, his debut full-length album and the fulfillment of his long-held desire to explore new musical territories. It features Price on piano, with cello, soprano voice, string orchestra, modular synthesizer, tape effects, and electronics. The cello and soprano vocal parts were written specifically and directly for cellist Peter Gregson and vocalist Ashley Knight, whose expressive voice features on tracks Maitri and The Uncertainly Principle. The lyrics for both songs are Japanese poetry sung in English, dealing with age, loss, and the inevitable fading of beauty. Other elements include street sounds from Budapest captured and processed on Price's mobile phone, as well as chamber music recorded direct to tape with vintage microphones in single takes. The Attachment was partly recorded onto a 1940s magnetic disc recorder. Price describes the album's conceptual foundation Entanglement is a very personal expression of my obsessions music, love, physics, and the inter-connectedness of things. There is structure and freedom, chaos and control, and the beauty of ancient instruments set against impassive mac