The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), under Artistic Director and Conductor Gil Rose, is pleased to announce the Arsis Audio release of the world premiere recording of the complete Canti Trilogy by renowned composer Bernard Rands. This is the eighth commercial recording BMOP has released in the last two years. The ensemble is one of the few professional orchestras in the country dedicated exclusively to performing and recording music of the 20th and 21st centuries.
BMOP's previous releases have been received with much critical acclaim. Lucas Foss's Griffelkin (Chandos, 10067), released in May 2003, was hailed as a "Top Ten Critic's Pick of 2003" by The Boston Herald and as an "Editor's Pick for 2003" by The Boston Phoenix and The Boston Globe. BMOP's recording of Arthur Berger's The Complete Orchestral Works (New World, 80605-2), was chosen by The New York Times as one of the "Best Classical CDs of 2003" by critic Anthony Tommasini.
BMOP's live performance of Canti Trilogy in 2000 also received critical acclaim in The New York Times. "Performing Bernard Rands's three astronomical Canti of the late 1980s and early '90s...Mr. Rose and his team filled the music with rich, decisive ensemble colors and magnificent solos," wrote Paul Griffiths. "In scores whose dominant expressive position is one of rapture, these musicians were rapturous."
The recording of Canti Trilogy, which includes three song cycles, features three celebrated soloists: Lucy Shelton, soprano; Douglas Ahlstedt, tenor; and Thomas Paul, bass. Canti Trilogy was composed between 1980 and 1993, and reflects Rands's wide literary interests. The three song cycles contain 42 texts in five languages—English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
Of his piece, Bernard Rands has written: "The human voice, possibly the most subtle, complex, flexible, fragile, and persuasive carrier of musical ideas and meanings, has always been an inspiration for and influence upon my entire musical thinking. In the Canti Trilogy, literary texts (poetic virtuosity) interact with vocal and instrumental capacities (musical virtuosity) to create not a setting of words to music but a labyrinth of relationships and connections—sometimes simple, even elementary and clear; sometimes complex and mysterious."
Canti Trilogy was recorded on March 20-22, 2000 at Sonic Temple in Roslindale, MA. It was edited and mastered by Joel Gordon and Matthew Packwood and produced by Robert Schuneman and Gil Rose. Funding was provided by the Aaron Copland Fund for Music and the Pro Musica Viva Foundation. The CD will be available in early November online and by phone at (617) 363-0396. Pre-orders are now being accepted.
BMOP will also perform Canti Trilogy, in celebration of the CD release and Bernard Rands's 70th birthday, at 8 pm on Friday, October 29 in the Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall at Longy School of Music, 1 Follen St.; Cambridge, MA. Join Bernard Rands at 7 pm for pre-performance Program Notes in the hall (free for all ticket holders). The featured soloists will be Janna Baty, soprano; William Hite, tenor; and Daniel Cole, bass. Tickets are $10 for students, $25 general admission with a 10% discount for seniors. For more information, directions, parking information, or to purchase tickets, call (617) 363-0396. Tickets are also available online. Pickman Hall is handicapped accessible.
BMOP travels to the west coast to perform Canti Trilogy by invitation at the Festival of New American Music (FENAM) at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), at 8 pm on Friday, November 5, 2004 in Capistrano Hall. FENAM is one of the longest running festivals of new music in the country and this year celebrates Bernard Rands by showcasing his Canti Trilogy. Admission is free. Call 916.278.5155 for ticket reservations and information or visit www.csus.edu.