ArtistInfo

The Kreutzer Quartet, Evan Mack
Sursum

Album US 2016 on Navona Records label
Classical (Contemporary, Modern)

With his new album SURSUM, composer Michael Slayton presents six compelling compositions, each performed by a different ensemble or solo performer. Despite the album’s varied & esteemed assemblage of performers, there lies a common thread throughout in both the form of Slayton’s distinguished composing style – dreamy but focused, and equal parts smooth and dissonant – as well as the imagery that the music conjures. Slayton, a talented chamber music composer and Associate Professor of Composition and Theory at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, has amassed a wide spectrum of players for his most recent endeavor. Yarn/Wire, an imaginative quartet made up of two pianos and two percussionists, performs the opening track of Fantasy and Fugue for Two Pianos & Percussion: Hommage Á Bartok. The operatic Le Soir Tombe is performed by soprano Amy Jarman with Melissa Rose and Jerome Reed on piano four-hand and is the album’s only vocal performance. The title track Sursum, commissioned by the Kreutzer Quartet, rises ever upward, twisting and whirling toward a consciousness of “the things that make a difference.” Evan Mack’s solo piano on Sonate ‘Droyßig’ is the album’s centerpiece - a 22-minute sprawling & angular work that evokes a somewhat heart-wrenching mood before taking flight. Sechs Miniaturen Für Das Meer (Six Miniatures for the Sea) is a fanciful rhythmic journey punctuated by Joshua & Jennifer McGuire on guitar and piano, respectively, its six parts representing scenes from a day in the life of sitting and watching the sea. The album concludes with the stirring staccato climax of Dreamers’ Meadows, performed by The Atlantic Ensemble. The diverse performers and instrumentation only add to the character of Slayton’s distinct writing approach. Each piece is particularly rich with vivid imagery – another key element that defines the album. Slayton makes a point of highlighting this, as the album’s liner notes are sprinkled with tidbits about particular places each piece was composed – for example, Sonate ‘Droyßig’ bears the name of the small village in which the composition was born, while Dreamers’ Meadows invokes the spirit of a series of bucolic hiking trails in the mountains of West Virginia. Each listener is sure to create his or her own individual array of imagery when immersing one’s self into the quixotic world of Michael Slayton’s SURSUM. Currently Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition and Chair of the Composition/Theory Department at the Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University in Nashville TN, Michael K. Slayton has composed works in a cross-section of musical genres, with specific emphasis on chamber music “Sursum” the Latin prefix for “upward,” is an expression which manifests itself in the title track, as a feeling of longing for or pursuance of something higher than oneself Yarn/Wire is admired for the energy and precision they bring to performances of today's most adventurous music. Founded in 2005, the ensemble currently consists of Laura Barger and Ning Yu, piano; Ian Antonio and Russell Greenburg, percussion The Kreutzer Quartet are the dedicatees of hundreds of new works for string quartet, having recorded critically acclaimed cycles of works by Reicha, Gerhard, Finnissy, Tippett, Matthews and Gloria Coates The Atlantic Ensemble, dedicated to commissioning and performing new works by American composers and teaching the next generation of young musicians, is currently a fixture on the St.-Merri concert series in Paris, France. FANTASY AND FUGUE FOR TWO PIANOS AND PERCUSSION: HOMMAGE Á BARTÓK Recorded October 6, 2010 at Turner Hall, Blair School of Music in Nashville TN Recorded and Mixed by Kevin Edlin LE SOIR TOMBE Recorded April 26, 2009 at Turner Hall, Blair School of Music in Nashville TN Recorded and Mixed by Kevin Edlin SURSUM Recorded May 23, 2016 at St. John the Baptist in Aldbury, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Session Engineer Jonathan Haskell (Astounding Sounds) Producer/Sound Editing Engineer Peter Sheppard Skærved SONATE ‘DROYSSIG’ Recorded May 24, 2010 at Turner Hall, Blair School of Music in Nashville TN Recorded and Mixed by Kevin Edlin SECHS MINIATUREN FÜR DAS MEER [SIX MINIATURES FOR THE SEA] Recorded May 24, 2010 at Turner Hall, Blair School of Music in Nashville TN Recorded and Mixed by Kevin Edlin DREAMERS’ MEADOWS Recorded May 10, 2016 at Turner Hall, Blair School of Music in Nashville TN Recorded and Mixed by Kevin Edlin Executive Producer Bob Lord Executive A&R Sam Renshaw A&R Brandon MacNeil Audio Director Jeff LeRoy Mastering Shaun Michaud, Lucas Paquette Production Engineer Lucas Paquette Art & Production Director Brett Picknell Graphic Design Emily Roulo, Ryan Harrison Marketing Mike Mahn

Musicians

	The Kreutzer Quartet , *1988 GB album by
	Evan Mack g, album by
	Yarn/Wire , performer on track
	Amy Jarman , Melissa Rose , Jerome Reed , performer on track
	The Kreutzer Quartet , Peter Sheppard , Mihailo Trandafilovski , Clifton Harrison , Neil Heyde , performer on track
	Joshua McGuire , Jennifer McGuire , performer on track
	The Atlantic Ensemble , performer on track

Composers

ArtistInfo App

Acknowledgements

ArtistInfo for Mac, iPad, and iPhone