Steven Graff - Music from America's First & Second Cities - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Five different works of five different composers, each piece with it's own approach to form. The sound of the harp is used in different ways to construct the universe of these pieces. Together they make up a variation of postures. Different angles of vision on concepts of time, (life) energy, development standstill, longing, departure. Some of the pieces have intense, uninhibited energy, some look inward and are standing still, while others flow off in a kind of blissful, lyrical mood- carefree and harmonious. Sunniva Rodland is a classically trained Norwegian harpist. She is creative and innovative, with a broad repertoire. Rodland has to date premiered sixteen solo works, and she has had long-term collaborations with a number of composers, often as a co-creator in the composition process.

John Carbon's piano music draws on his lifelong love of the instrument and his rich, multifaceted compositional interests. Madeleines recalls youthful travels in France. Three Impromptus alludes to the traditional genre as explored by Schubert and Chopin. Astro Dogs is a delightful canine zodiac matching breeds with star signs for an enjoyable musical experience. Pianist Steven Graff has collaborated with the composer for many years, and he delivers definitive performances of these expressive pieces. Since his concerto debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has appeared nine times, the American pianist Steven Graff has been the recipient of numerous distinguished awards and glowing critical praise. Mr. Graff was born in Chicago where he began his musical training. A string of scholarships led to studies at The Juilliard School where he received Bachelor's and Master's Degrees as a Petschek scholarship awardee, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from The Graduate School of CUNY.

In 1670, Molière and Lully presented to the King Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, a sumptuous Comédie-Ballet performed by Molière's Troupe, with musicians conducted by Lully, ballets by Pierre Beauchamp, scenery by Carlo Vigarani and Turkish costumes by the Chevalier d'Arvieux. The work was inspired by the ambassador Soliman Musta Aga-Feraga, whom Louis XIV had just kept waiting for long weeks before receiving him, provoking his exasperation which amused the King and the courtiers' sneer, the whole of Paris mocking the outlandish mores of the envoys of the Great Turk. The idea came to Molière of a plot based on fake Turks, ridiculing a Bourgeois aspiring to nobility thus, a masterpiece was born, with the dazzling Cérémonie Turque, and at the end a sumptuous Ballet des Nations. The magnificent music of this pillar of French theatre is recorded here in it's entirety for the first time by Vincent Dumestre Glory be to Lully and to Molière!