American Canvas is a tour de force of flute, cello, and piano trio repertoire featuring the premiere recordings of four powerful works by some of today’s most celebrated American composers. Pulitzer Prize winners Jennifer Higdon and Shulamit Ran, Andrea Clearfield, and Zhou Tian embrace a variety of sources from visual art, literature, and nature, telling musical stories in a pyrotechnic display of color and brushwork, an eerie nocturne on a lake, a vivid intoxication by the moon, a thrill ride in medieval Spain. The acclaimed Dolce Suono Trio conveys the diverse sonic landscapes, nuanced timbres, and emotional experiences with inimitable virtuosity and passion.
The eponymous title derives from Higdon’s American Canvas, a dazzlingly virtuosic show inspired by the art of Georgia O’Keeffe, Andrew Wyeth, and Jackson Pollock. Andrea Clearfield’s Spirit Island depicts the beauty and terrifying power of the natural world inspired by her journey to the Canadian Rockies. Zhou Tian’s Viaje is the composer’s evocation of the Spanish medieval hero El Cid, in which he marries his Chinese-American heritage with his love of Spanish culture. Shulamit Ran’sMoon Songs, a reflection on and companion piece to Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire, is a large-scale dramatic work tailored to Lucy Shelton’s unique vocal gifts, with a range of text and music styles from folk to Biblical to contemporary.
Dolce Suono Trio, “one of the most dynamic groups in the US “ (The Huffington Post), includes flutist Mimi Stillman (soloist and chamber musician, Yamaha Performing Artist, founding Artistic Director of Dolce Suono Ensemble), cellist Nathan Vickery (New York Philharmonic), and pianist Charles Abramovic (collaborative pianist, Professor at Temple University). Soprano Lucy Shelton and cellists Gabriel Cabezas and Alexis Pia Gerlach complete the album. The trio has enthralled audiences with its programs spanning Haydn trios to its own commissions at prestigious venues including the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Smithsonian American Art Museum, New York’s Symphony Space, Brooklyn’s Roulette, Southern Exposure New Music Series (SC), Princeton, Bard, Bryn Mawr, and Cornell Universities.
1) American Canvas: No. 1, O'Keeffe
2) American Canvas: No. 2, Pollock
3) American Canvas: No. 3, Wyeth
4) Spirit Island: I. Variations on a Dream
5) Spirit Island: II. Rowing
6) Viaje
7) Moon Songs, Act I. Creation
8) Moon Songs, Act II. Li Bai and the Vacant Moon
9) Moon Songs: Entr'acte I
10) Moon Songs, Act III. Star-Crossed
11) Moon Songs: Entr'acte II. Prayer to Pierrot
12) Moon Songs, Act IV. Medley
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