This
recording spans 50 years of Schuller’s
compositional work from 1946 (when he was known only as a
horn player) to the present as a Pulitzer prize-winning
composer/conductor. Seven Studies on Themes of Paul
Klee, Schuller’s most popular
work and one of the few post-war compositions to become
standard orchestral repertory, is here recorded for the
first time in nearly forty years and for the first time
conducted by the composer himself.
An Arc Ascending, inspired by photographs of
environmental artist Alice Weston, sonically reflects upon
the different seasonal aspects brought about by the path
of the sun in its seemingly ascending arc. Three
seasons are represented (summer, winter and spring) with
as many ascending musical ‘arcs,’
using a palette of register, orchestral color and rhythmic
intensity, culminating in a climactic clash of brightly
iridescent harmonies.
PERFORMERS
Radio
Philharmonic of Hannover; Gunther Schuller, conductor
This
recording spans 50 years of Schuller’s
compositional work from 1946 (when he was known only as a
horn player) to the present as a Pulitzer prize-winning
composer/conductor. Seven Studies on Themes of Paul
Klee, Schuller’s most popular
work and one of the few post-war compositions to become
standard orchestral repertory, is here recorded for the
first time in nearly forty years and for the first time
conducted by the composer himself.