American Composers Orchestra Releases Sixth Digital Album, SONiC Double Live
By: BWW News Desk Jul. 29, 2016
American Composers Orchestra (ACO) announces the release of its sixth digital album, SONiC Double Live, streaming now, free of charge, on SoundCloud and InstantEncore.
SONiC Double Live is a collection of orchestral premieres from ACO's groundbreaking festival of 21st century music written by composers 40 and under, SONiC - Sounds of a New Century. SONiC launched in October 2011, with concerts throughout New York City, presenting a startling array of what young composers are writing, a decade and more into this new millennium. In all, over 100 composers from six continents came together for SONiC. This album features ten of them, with eight world premieres, all recorded live in two concerts by ACO led by Music Director George Manahan.
The first album, 21st Firsts, features five works from an all-world premiere performance by ACO at Carnegie Hall, which opened SONiC. Christopher Stark's ...and start west evokes American landscapes from the dazzling New York City skyline to the majestic Rocky Mountains. The piece is an ACO commission, the result of Stark's participation in ACO's annual Underwood New Music Readings for emerging composers. Portuguese-born composer Andreia Pinto-Correia's Elegia a Al-Mu'tamid pays homage to one of the Iberian peninsula's greatest poets. Pinto-Correia made her way to SONiC through her participation in the New Music Readings in Memphis, TN, part of ACO's EarShot national network devoted to identifying talented new orchestral composers. Fascinated by the possibilities afforded by the interaction of sound processing with acoustic music, Alex Temple delves into the haunting intensity of the romantic popular song in her surreal and electronically stylized Liebeslied, featuring the versatile soprano Mellissa Hughes. Wang Lu, a composer and pianist originally from Xi'an, China, now residing in New York, is the recipient of the ACO/Jerome Foundation commission. Her Flowing Water Study II draws inspiration from an ancient Chinese folk tale, complementing her contemporary orchestral techniques with traditional Qin musical notation. Rounding out 21st Firsts, Kenji Bunch is the featured soloist in his own new viola concerto,The Devil's Box, which explores the rich history of the fiddle - incorporating everything from a Stephen Foster hymn to Cajun bowing styles, as well as a healthy dose of blues, rock, gospel, and funk.
The second album in the collection is American Pie, from SONiC's closing concert at the Winter Garden in lower Manhattan, presented as part of WNYC's New Sounds Live series, with five more full symphonic works, including three world premieres. Paul Yeon Lee is another alumnus of ACO's Underwood New Music Readings, represented on the album by the premiere of his haunting Echoes of a Dream. Ruby Fulton, alumna of ACO's 2008 Underwood New Music Readings, brings her keen sense of observation and alt-kitsch outlook to Road Ranger Cowboy, based on a passing glimpse of the title character at a highway rest stop. Next up is Ryan Gallagher, whoseGrindhouse celebrates Hollywood's gritty B-Movie tradition, exaggerating the orchestra's gestures with visceral energy. Ryan is another EarShot alumnus, having come through New Music Readings with the Nashville Symphony. Suzanne Farrin takes a decidedly more contemplative approach in Infinite Here, a piece that provides enough time and open musical "space" to allow colorful clusters and textures to envelop the listener. The album's finale is the world premiere of St. Carolyn by the Sea by composer/guitarist Bryce Dessner. Well known for his work with rock groups such as Clogs and The National, here Dessner is joined by his guitarist twin brother Aaron Dessner in a piece inspired by Jack Kerouac's surreal hallucinations.
Like the SONiC festival itself, this double album does not attempt to define this moment in music but rather represents a snapshot of the vitality and diversity of the Sounds of a New Century. By making available never-before-recorded orchestral music, ACO goes beyond the concert hall, reaching new listeners and gaining greater exposure and visibility for the composers it showcases on its recordings. ACO's previous digital albums include Playing It UNsafe (March 2011), Emerging Composers Series: Vol. 1 (February 2012), Orchestra Underground: X10D (June 2012), and Orchestra Underground: Tech & Techno (July 2014). ACO has also released Orchestra Underground: A-V (December 2013), a groundbreaking album of multimedia works available for free streaming at www.vimeo.com/channels/orchestraunderground.
SONiC: Double LivePerformed by American Composers Orchestra | Conducted by George Manahan
Album One: 21st Firsts
1. ...and start wet by Christopher Stark (12:48)
2. Elegia a Al-Mu'tamid by Andreia Pinto-Correia (8:28)
3. Liebeslied by Alex Temple (9:32)
4. Flowing Water Study II by Wang Lu (8:19)
5. The Devil's Box by Kenji Bunch (21:57)
Album Two: American Pie
1. Echo of a Dream by Paul Yeon Lee (13:08)
2. Road Ranger Cowboy by Ruby Fulton (5:20)
3. Grindhouse by Ryan Gallagher (13:18)
4. Infinite Here by Suzanne Farrin (3:00)
5. St. Carolyn By The Sea by Bryce Dessner (14:52)
More Information:
Christopher Stark: www.christopher-stark.com
Andreia Pinto-Correia: www.andreiapintocorreia.com
Alex Temple: www.alextemplemusic.com
Wang Lu: http://wanglu.instantencore.com/web/home.aspx
Kenji Bunch: www.billholabmusic.com/composers/kenji-bunch
Paul Yeon Lee: www.paulyeonlee.com
Ruby Fulton: www.rubyfulton.com
Ryan Gallagher: www.composers21.com/compdocs/gallaghr.htm
Suzanne Farrin: www.suzannefarrin.com
Bryce Dessner: www.brycedessner.com
About ACO
Founded in 1977, American Composers Orchestra is the only orchestra in the world dedicated to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American composers. ACO makes the creation of new opportunities for American composers and new American orchestral music its central purpose. Through concerts at Carnegie Hall and other venues, recordings, internet and radio broadcasts, educational programs, New Music Readings, and commissions, ACO identifies today's brightest emerging composers, champions prominent established composers as well as those lesser-known, and increases regional, national, and international awareness of the infinite variety of American orchestral music, reflecting geographic, stylistic, and temporal diversity. ACO also serves as an incubator of ideas, research, and talent, as a catalyst for growth and change among orchestras, and as an advocate for American composers and their music. ACO programs seek to innovate and experiment, educate students and the public, and open the orchestra to diverse new influences and audiences.
To date, ACO has performed music by more than 800 American composers, including 350 world premieres and newly commissioned works. Among the orchestra's innovative programs have been SONiC: Sounds of a New Century, a nine-day citywide festival in New York of music by more than 100 composers age 40 and under; Sonidos de las Américas, six annual festivals devoted to Latin American composers and their music; Coming to America, a program immersing audiences in the ongoing evolution of American music through the work of immigrant composers; Orchestra Tech, a long-term initiative to integrate new digital technologies in the symphony orchestra; Improvise!, a festival devoted to the exploration of improvisation and the orchestra; coLABoratory: Playing It UNsafe, a new laboratory for the research and development of experimental new works for orchestra; and Orchestra Underground, ACO's entrepreneurial cutting-edge orchestral ensemble that embraces new technology, eclectic instruments, influences, and spatial orientation of the orchestra, new experiments in the concert format, and multimedia and multi-disciplinary collaborations.
Composer development has been at the core of ACO's mission since its founding. In addition to its annual Underwood New Music Readings and Commission, ACO also provides a range of additional educational and professional development activities, including composer residencies and fellowships. In 2008, ACO launched EarShot, a multi-institutional network that assists orchestras around the country in mounting new music readings. Recent and upcoming Earshot programs have included the Detroit, Berkeley, La Jolla, Nashville, Memphis, Columbus, Colorado, San Diego Symphonies, the New York Philharmonic, New York Youth Symphony, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. For more information visit www.EarShotnetwork.org. The Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute, launched in 2010, supports jazz artists who desire to write for the symphony.
Among the honors ACO has received are special awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and from BMI recognizing the orchestra's outstanding contribution to American music. ASCAP has awarded its annual prize for adventurous programming to ACO 36 times, singling out ACO as "the orchestra that has done the most for American music in the United States." ACO received the inaugural MetLife Award for Excellence in Community Engagement, and a proclamation from the New York City Council. ACO recordings are available on ARGO, CRI, ECM, Point, Phoenix USA, MusicMasters, Nonesuch, Tzadik, New World Records, InstantEncore.com, Amazon.com and iTunes. ACO's digital albums include Playing It UNsafe (March 2011), Emerging Composers Series: Vol. 1 (February 2012), Orchestra Underground: X10D (June 2012), Orchestra Underground: Tech & Techno (July 2014), and SONiC Double Live (July 2016). ACO has also released Orchestra Underground: A-V, a groundbreaking album of multimedia works available for free streaming at www.vimeo.com/channels/orchestraunderground. More information about American Composers Orchestra is available online at www.americancomposers.org.
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