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1001 John Harbison: Ulysses
Complete Ballet

Ulysses was composed in 1983 as a full-length ballet consisting of two acts: Ulysses' Raft and Ulysses' Bow. Though Ulysses had several partial performances, the first complete performance did not take place until 2003 when BMOP premiered the newly revised work. Ulysses is scored for full symphony orchestra. "BMOP/sound's  naugural release is the first complete version of John Harbison's 1984 ballet, Ulysses, which the composer revised in 2003. BMOP's lively performance does this ravishing work justice; factor in excellent sound, attractive packaging, and fine essays by the composer and Richard Dyer, and the result is self-recommending. (Four Stars)" - Time Out New York

1002 Michael Gandolfi: Y2K Compliant
Points of Departure | Themes From a Midsummer Night

BMOP's CD proves that Gandolfi is a master of innumerable musical approaches, ranging from the lush Points of Departure to the theatrical suite Themes from a Midsummer Night, and finally to the evocative Y2K Compliant. Gandolfi composed Y2K Compliant admidst talk of the impending doom that was to coincide with the year 2000, supposedly due to the inability of computerized devices to cope with the millennium date change. At the same time, he was inspired by John Harbison's textbook The Most often Used Chords. The resulting work manages to merge Harbison's musings about basic musical functions with this momentous event.

1003 Lee Hyla: Lives of the Saints
At Suma Beach
Mary Nessinger, mezzo-soprano

Lee Hyla's epic Lives of the Saints is a set of psychological character studies filled with fierce musical and spiritual imagination, inspired by a diverse group of 13th- and 14th-century writings by or about saints. Through his masterful composition of colors, textures, and rhythmic impulses, Hyla evokes a landscape of torment, delirium, and ecstasy. The lyrical At Suma Beach (based on a Noh play) provides a satisfying contrast to Lives's turbulence. Both pieces feature the magnificent Mary Nessinger, whose theatrical impulses, coupled with the keen sensibility of Gil Rose and his ensemble, illuminate the expressive possibilities of Hyla's music.

1004 Gunther Schuller: Journey into Jazz
Concertino | Variants
Gunther Schuller, narrator

This BMOP/sound release is the first compilation album of Gunther Schuller's works for the legendary Modern Jazz Quartet. Creator of the "Third Stream", Schuller is a master of weaving the structural complexities found in contemporary classical music with the improvisational elements of jazz. Reminiscent of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Journey Into Jazz, is the story of Eddy Jackson, a boy who learns to play jazz. Schuller himself narrates the work, which was written by famed jazz critic and author Nat Hentoff. In contrast, Variants and Concertino offer an exploration of the wholly original sound of jazz quartet and orchestra.

1005 Charles Fussell: Wilde
High Bridge Prelude
Sanford Sylvan, baritone

Charles Fussel's High Bridge, Portrait of Hart Crane and Wilde are the result of considering the lives of Hart Crane and Oscar Wilde as possible operatic subjects. Filled with complex and dramatic emotional references, both works are musical exposés of the instability and disquiet that plagued these two celebrated literary figures. High Bridge portrays Crane's erratic behavior in an orchestral prelude whereas Wilde is a more extended operatic reflection on the writer's tragic life. This recording illustrates well Fussell's musical language, which is rich in extended tonalities and lyrical textures, and is beautifully rendered by BMOP and Sanford Sylvan (baritone).

Our American Cousin is a monumental work of American contemporary opera, which draws upon the tragic events of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. A collaborative invention of composer Eric Sawyer and librettist John Shoptaw, the opera juxtaposes past with present, comedy with tragedy, musical period references with operatic genre pieces, all within a language of lyrical extended tonality. Featuring Janna Baty, Alan Schneider and Aaron Engebreth in the principal roles, Our American Cousin beautifully conveys the theme of forgiving and forgetting and Lincoln's plea for reconciliation: "With malice toward non, with charity for all...let us strive...to bind up the nation's wounds."

1007 Lukas Foss: The Prairie
Poem by Carl Sandburg

Lukas Foss's The Prairie is a secular oratorio based on Carl Sandburg's epic poem of the same name. Drawing upon Sandburg's journey through the landscape and lives of the Midwest in the 1900's, Foss has embarked on a journey of his own, creating an iconic work of American classical music that embodies the hardships and optimism that defined a generation of men and women braving industrialization in America. Offering eloquent performances by Elizabeth Weigle, Gigi Mitchell-Velasco, Frank Kelley, Aaron Engebreth, the Providence Singers, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, this recording beautifully captures the elegant and equally imaginative language of Lukas Foss.

1008 Derek Bermel: Voices
Dust Dances | Thracian Echoes | Elixir
Derek Bermel, clarinet

Voices is a compliation of three orchestra works and one solo piece by Derek Bermel. Seductively called his "spectral potion", Elixir reflects Bermel's influences as varied as John Lennon, Charles Ives, and the Isley Brothers. Thracian Echoes embraces the soulful harmonies of traditional Bulgarian melodies whereas Dust Dances is a translation of an African gyil music session into orchestra idioms. In Voices, Bermel himself performs the brilliantly written concerto for clarinet with impressive virtuosity. Thanks to the infectious charisma of Gil Rose and his musicians, this recording brings to life the eclecticism and verve the defines the music of Derek Bermel.

1009 David Rakowski: Winged Contraption
Persistent Memory | Piano Concerto
Marilyn Nonken, piano and toy piano

David Rakowski: Winged Contraption is a compilation of three profound compositions by one of this generation's most visible American composers. Winged Contrpation is Rakowski's playful and ebullient tribute to composer and friend Martin Boykan, and Persistent Memory provides a counterbalance with its reflective and melancholic tenor. The Piano Concerto, which draws upon the composer's own etudes, ushers forth teasing and surrealistic elements with the appearance of toy piano in each movement. This CD features the brilliant Marilyn Nonken, whose explosive performance, coupled with the dynamic energy of Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, reveal the creative wizadry of David Rakowski.

1010 John Harbison: Full Moon in March
Mirabai Songs | Exequien for Calvin Simmons

This release features John Harbison's Full Moon in March, an emblematic ritual-opera, the libretto of which is adapted from the poem, A Full Moon in March, by W.B. Yeats. Sinister and moody in its musical palette, Gil Rose skillfully leads BMOP with soloists Lorraine DiSimone (mezzo-soprano), James Maddalena (baritone), Anne Harley (soprano), and Frank Kelley (tenor), in a tour de force performance of a great 20th Century literary work. Other pieces featured on the disc include Mirabai Songs, with a gripping performance by Janna Baty (soprano), and the short orchestral work Exequien for Calvin Simmons.

1011 Louis Andriessen: La Passione
Passeggiata in tram in America e ritorno | Letter from Cathy | Bells for Haarlem

Louis Andriessen: La Passione features four works by one of today's most significant figures in the international new music scene. Passeggiata in tram in America e ritorno and La Passione integrate the poetry of Dino Campana - the former is based on the poem with the same name and the latter draws from La Passione and the Canti Orfici (Orphic Songs). Both works offer intimate and darkly bewitching performances by Cristina Zavalloni (mezzo-soprano) and Monica Germino (violin). Rounding off the CD is Bells for Haarlem and Letter from Cathy, both revealing Gil Rose's masterful direction of his BMOP musicians.

1012 John Cage: Sixteen Dances 
John Cage: Sixteen Dances highlights one of the most significant and influential American composers of the 20th Century. A long-time collaborator with dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham, John Cage wrote a number of works which reflected their radical ideas regarding the relationship between dance and music. Sixteen Dances is one such work, developed through the use of chance operations, a compositional process involving methods such as coin tossing and the I Ching or Book of Changes. This recording offers a brilliant performance by BMOP under Gil Rose's direction; it is yet another oustanding addition to the BMOP/sound catalog and to the recorded works of John Cage.

1013 Elliott Schwartz: Chamber Concertos I-VI
BMOP/sound's release, Chamber Concertos I-VI, is a comprehensive recording featuring the six chamber concertos composed thus far by Elliott Schwartz. Spanning more than thirty years of his career, these works represent a sort of fusion of the solo concerto and the concerto grosso. Moreover, they reflect the composer's fascination with neo-Baroque models in which the virtuoso role is moderated to allow for complex textural possibilities. Each concerto offers stellar instrumental performances by BMOP musicians, including Anthony D'Amico (double bass), Gary Gorczyca (clarinet), Nina Ferrigno (piano), Eliot Gattegno (saxophone), Ronald Haroutunian (bassoon), and Charles Dimmick (violin).

1014 Ken Ueno: Talus
On a Sufficient Condition for the Existence of Most Specific Hypothesis | Kaze-no-Oka

Ken Ueno: Talus offers three concerti that collectively represent Ueno's long-term collaboration with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and its fearless conductor Gil Rose. Composed with specific soloists in mind, each work reveals unconventional techniques and intriguing artistry, bringing to light the unique performance capabilities of the featured instrumentalists. The first piece, Talus, begins with an electrifying opening (à la Wendy Richman, viola) and is followed by Ueno's own vocal performance in On A Sufficient Condition for the Existence of Most Specific Hypothesis. The recording concludes with Kaze-no-Oka, a tribute to Toru Takemitsu, with shakuhachi and biwa soloists.

1015 Dominick Argento: Jonah and the Whale
Dominick Argento: Jonah and the Whale is the second CD in the BMOP/sound catalog representing yet another successful collaboration between the Providence Singers and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Inspired by a 15th-century painting found on the ceiling of a church in Härkeberga, Sweden by painter Albertus Pictor, this large-scale oratorio draws upon a variety of sources including the 14th-century poem, "Patience, or Jonah and the Whale," the Vulgate Psalms, a Protestant hymnal, and the King James Bible. With outstanding performances by Daniel Norman (tenor) and Daniel Cole (bass), conductor Andrew Clark leads the chorus and orchestra with skilled direction.

1016 William Thomas McKinley: R.A.P.
Marimba Concerto | 13 Dances for Orchestra

William Thomas McKinley: R.A.P. offers three works by one of the most highly regarded and well-known composers of the 20th Century. The CD's title piece, R.A.P. ("rhythm and pulse") highlights the intersection between jazz and classical music and features the electrifying performance of clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, whose reputation as an innovative jazz artist equals his reputation for performing and recording classical repertoire. World-renowned marimba soloist Nancy Zeltsman evokes the innocence of youth in "Childhood Memories," Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra, and Gil Rose leads BMOP in a dynamic performance of 13 Dances for Orchestra with artistic and technical prowess.

1017 Lisa Bielawa: In medias res
Roam | Double Violin Concerto | unfinish'd, sent |
Synopses #1-15

Lisa Bielawa: In medias res represents a culmination of Bielawa's longtime relationship with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, both as composer in residence and as an important leader within Boston's new music community. This monumental two-disc set features one SACD offering her most significant works to date, including Roam, Double Violin Concerto (with violinists Carla Kihlstedt and Colin Jacobsen), unfinish'd, sent (Bielawa herself as soprano soloist), and In medias res, a concerto for orchestra. The second (regular audio) disc is comprised of short solo works, Synopses #1-15, featuring core members of BMOP.

BMOP/sound Collector's Set
This limited edition collector's set includes the first five inaugural releases autographed by the composers. 

Upcoming Releases

1019 Eric Moe: Kick & Ride
Eight Point Turn | Superhero

1020 Reza Vali: Toward that Endless Plain
Folk Song Set #8 | Folk Song Set #14

1021 Michael Gandolfi: From the Institutes of Groove  [SACD]
Fantasia for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra
Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra

1022 John Harbison: Winter's Tale  [SACD]

1023 George Antheil: Ballet Mecanique  [SACD]
Jazz Symphony (original version)

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BMOP/sound, the label of the acclaimed Boston Modern Orchestra Project, explores the evolution of the music formerly known as classical.  Its eclectic catalog offers both rediscovered classics of the 20th Century and the music of today's most influential and innovative composers. BMOP/sound gives adventurous listeners a singular opportunity to explore the music that is defining this generation and the next.

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Gil Rose, Executive Producer