PROGRAMA
Tera de Marez-Oyens Sentenced to Dream (1990) 9’30
Eduardo Luis Patriarca Mantra 3 (2007) 6’
Toru Takemitsu La Pause Ininterrompue (1962) 7’
1. Slowly, sadly and as if to converse with
2. Quietly and with a cruel reverberation
3. A song of love
Oliver Knussen Sonya’s Lullaby op. 16 (1979) 6’
Jane O’Leary breathing spaces (2010) 14’
I. Unbroken waves
II. Spiral ramps
III. Into the void
IV. Disappearing walls
V. From within
Eduardo Luis Patriarca Meditaçao (2007) 6’
Diogo Alvim Peça com Vista (2018) 7’
Lawrence Axelrod (un)settled (2022) 10’
How can composers express quiet and disquiet? How can these opposites find their way into the same composition in unexpected ways? How can composers use the concepts of silence, architecture and dislocation to inspire a composition?
This recital of contemporary works spanning three continents and five decades explores these questions, using vastly different musical languages and pianistic techniques. Two of the works are premieres.
About the pianist:
A recent review in Opera News states that Lawrence Axelrod is “a … composer whose fresh and distinctive music deserves to be more widely known.” He is at once composer, pianist and conductor. Mr Axelrod’s musical activities have taken him around the United States, Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Axelrod has had works done by the Spektral String Quartet, ~Nois, the London Sylvan Ensemble, Clocks in Motion, Quintet Attacca, The Chicago Composers Orchestra, Palomar, Ensemble Dal Niente, Pinotage, and The Lincoln Trio. Meditation (on a theme of Bernard Rands) was performed in a series of concerts by the Spektral Quartet in March and April 2022. Calm Waters was premiered by the Durward Ensemble in May 2022. Brown Line, a scherzo sort of… was premiered by the Chicago Composers Orchestra in January 2018. Fits and Starts was premiered by the renowned woodwind group Quintet Attacca in October 2016. Two of his Brandenburg Fantasias were premiered by the Chicago Composers Orchestra in November 2014. His music for The Scroll of Morlok was included in the Sound of Silent Film Festival presented by Access Contemporary Music in April 2018, following inclusion in an earlier similar project in 2012, which was performed both in Chicago and New York’s Symphony Space.
A new CD of quartets for varied instruments will be released by Parma in 2023. A CD of solo and small chamber works was released in the Fall of 2003. A CD featuring Mr. Axelrod’s Six Brandenburg Fantasias, compositions using the instrumentation from Bach’s famous works, was released in October 2013 on the Innova label, garnering significant attention, and was considered for Grammy nomination. The Heart Revived, a new recording, featuring works for soloists and chamber orchestra and solo piano, was released in August 2016, garnering an excellent review and critic’s choice in Opera News.
Mr. Axelrod has received grants from the Illinois Arts Council, Chorus America, Meet the Composer and Arts International for the performances of his works.
Mr. Axelrod is a founder and member of the Chicago Composers’ Consortium. and was a member of CUBE Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. He is the creator of Opera Adventures, educational cultural trips in the US and Europe His teaching experience also includes Music Theory at Columbia College