Lewis Spratlan, Jenny Kallick and John Downey: Architect - a chamber opera
NV5905 (2 discs)
NEW RELEASE
Playing time: c60'/63'46" - TT c120'
Tracks/Chapters: 15 + 15
Booklet pages: 20
© 2013 Navona Records LLC
Sent to a reviewer on 7 October 2013
Listen: Lewis Spratlan: Concrete (Architect) (CD track 7, 2:21-3:28)
Julia Fox, soprano Jeffrey Lentz, tenor Richard Lalli, baritone
Lauren Basney, violin Amelia Clingman, viola Jonathan Lewis, cello Yasuke Suzuki, bass Ellen Redman, flute Kirsten Lipkens, oboe Mary Joy Patchett, saxophone Jean Jeffries, horn John Andress, percussion Mark Lane Swanson, music director
Lewis Spratlan, John Downey and Jenny Kallick:
Architect, a chamber opera
CD and DVD
Prologue: Architect studio 1 Trickster's complaint (electroacoustic) 2 Departure (electroacoustic)
Scene 1: At the ruins 3 Duet. Ritual and Space (Guide, Architect) 4 Aria. Flame (Architect)
Scene 2: Architect's studio 5 Recitative and Aria. Waiting (Woman) 6 Waiting (electroacoustic)
Scene 3: Engineer's office 7 Recitative and Duet. Concrete (Architect, Engineer)
Scene 4: Architect's studio 8 Seeking (electroacoustic) 9 Aria. Seeking (Woman)
Scene 5: Healer's Laboratory 10 Sanctuary (electroacoustic) 11 Recitative and Aria. Sanctuary (Architect, Healer) 12 Aria. Dream (Woman) 13 Dream (electroacoustic)
Scene 6: At the water's edge 14 Recitative. Arrival (Architect, Healer) 15 Trio. Arrival (Architect, Healer, Woman)
DVD ROM
Full score Vocal score Instrumental parts Electroacoustic preludes and interludes Libretto Performance guide About the Project - essay with image and sound galleries About the Video - essay with image gallery Biographies Credits Takemitsu: Rocking Mirror Daybreak for violin duo (bonus track) About the Takemitsu recording - essay and image gallery
Composed by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lewis Spratlan (vocal and instrumental music) with librettist and electroacoustic composers Jenny Kallick and John Downey, Architect is an exploration of the relationship between the aural and visual - how they interact, intertwine, and define each other. Based on the life and work of renowned twentieth-century architect Louis I Kahn, the opera portrays the powerful emotions that inspire his creative journey as he seeks to discover the principles that will guide his life’s work, namely, the relationships between sound and space, connections between the past and present, and the incorporation of a material's innate characteristics into a larger whole. Deftly blending instrumental and vocal music with electroacoustic segments drawn from recordings created onsite at Kahn's buildings, Spratlan, Kallick, and Downey unfold a sprawling, powerful, and evocative landscape that brings his work to life and demonstrates the architect's assertion that 'to hear a sound is to see a space'. Recorded at Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, USA on 15 May 2008, this release includes a full audio album; an Enhanced DVD featuring a critically acclaimed film with original watercolors by Michiko Theurer; the complete performance materials and guidelines; and extensive background on the project history, including essays, biographies and source recordings.
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