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Music by . Elodie Lauten, Jerry Hunt, and Kyle Gann
Producer . Lois Svard (with Kyle Gann on Desert Sonata)
Engineer . Rusty Richards
Editing and mastering . Tom MacCluskey
Recorded . Weis Center for the Performing Arts, Lewisburg, PA, Oct 11-13, 1996 and Jan 12-13, 1997.
Piano . Steinway No. 134676
Label . Lovely Music, Ltd., 1997 (LCD 3052) |
Reviews
"Svard plays with enormous sureness and poetry ... she has excellent taste, great intellectual and artistic curiosity, and rock-solid technique." – Robert Carl, Fanfare
"Excellent performances ... an important release for fans of the piano." – Stephen D. Hicken, American Record Guide |
Elodie Lauten's Variations on the Orange Cycle (1991,1995) is a richly-textured combination of transcribed improvisation and intentional notation that, according to Svard, is about the suspension of time, "involving the listener so completely that one is not aware of the passing of time but only of rich, ever-changing tapestries of sound, exploding textures, and a hypnotic, fundamental G."
Jerry Hunt's Trapani (stream) <<a>> (1990,1991) shows a contemplative side of a composer best-known for his hyperactive solo performances that featured theatrics and live electronic music. There is no manic energy here, but an exploration of different facets of sound through a progression of tremolo chords played with a variety of voicings, dynamics and pedalings. Trapani's slowly-changing harmonies are serene in their simplicity, yet mesmerizing in their unfolding.
Kyle Gann's Desert Sonata (1995) is based on his unique rhythmic language developed from the multi-tempo structures of Conlon Nancarrow and the dances of the Hopi, Zuni and other Pueblo Indians. On one level, this work concerns the intellectual and technical challenges of conquering isorhythmic complexities. But on another level, it also evokes the barren spaciousness of the American Southwest and the mystical world of Hopi ceremonial music. Gann's juxtaposition of widely divergent musical ideas creates an atmosphere that is both compelling and mysteriously enchanting. |
