meanwhile

On this recording, Eighth Blackbird wanders through an unfamiliar house. With each track a new door is opened, releasing unexpected sounds and dramas. Some are sweet, touching. Others have hilarious quirks. A few possess a disturbing strangeness.

The remarkable new-music ensemble Eighth Blackbird has won Grammy Awards for its last two albums on Cedille Records. Now, the “polished, personable, routinely dazzling sextet” (New York Times) returns with meanwhile, an album highlighting the kaleidoscopic diversity of contemporary classical music.  meanwhile includes world-premiere recordings of three exciting and accessible works written for the adventurous young sextet: Stephen Hartke’s sparkling, fanciful Meanwhile: Incidental Music to Imaginary Puppet Plays (2007) looks to classical Asian puppet theater for inspiration, with gamelan-style Flexatones and piano altered to sound like a Vietnamese hammered dulcimer; Missy Mazzoli’s Still Life with Avalanche (2008) paints an idyllic landscape disturbed by unexpected news; and Two movements from Roshanne Etezady’s Damaged Goods (2001) grapple with the psychic bruises of everyday modern life.

Performers

Tim Munro, flutes
Michael J. Maccaferri, clarinets
Yvonne Lam, violin & viola
Nick Photinos, cello
Matthew Duvall, percussion
Lisa Kaplan, piano

Album Details

Total Time: 67:35
Producer: Judith Sherman
Engineer: Bill Maylone
Editing Assistance: Jeanne Velonis
Recorded: Etezady, Mazzoli, Hartke, and Ades recorded August 29-September 1, 2010, and Glass and Hurel recorded January 19-20, 2011, in Gotlieb Hall of the Merit School of Music at the Joy Faith Knapp Music Center, Chicago, Illinois.
Front Cover: Design Sue Cottrill
Inside Booklet & Inlay Card: Nancy Bieschke

Publishers:
Glass: Music in Similar Motion © 1973 Dunvagen Music Publishers, Inc.
Hurel: …à mesure © 1997 Gerard Billaudot Editeur
Etezady: Damaged Goods © 2000 Lauren Keiser Music Publishing
Adès: Catch © 1991 Faber Music
Mazzoli: Still Life With Avalanche © 2008 Missy Mazzoli Music (ASCAP)
Hartke: meanwhile: Incidental music to imaginary puppet plays © 2007 Stephen Hartke

© 2012 Cedille Records/Cedille Chicago