Nominated for Classical Recording of the Year by the 2011 Western Canadian Music Awards!
Twelve composers share their inner reflections on outer space in Cosmophony, Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa’s debut solo piano CD inspired by the beauty and mystery of the cosmos. The album opens with Denis Gougeon’s fiercely virtuosic invocation of the sun, Piano-Soleil. From there, it travels through the solar system, with pieces written for the planets and asteroids by ten Canadian composers in a wide range of styles, from the sparkling minimalism of Jeffrey Ryan and Jordan Nobles, to the contemplative simplicity of Jennifer Butler and Marci Rabe, the neo-tonal postmodernism of Christopher Kovarik and Alexander Pechenyuk, and the more abstract contributions of Rodney Sharman and Stefan Udell. To close, George Crumb’s monumental Makrokosmos II: 12 fantasy pieces after the Zodiac carries us past our solar system and out into the stars.
“Brilliant… Unforgettable… A fascinating adventure about unimaginable largeness and gravity, unknowable states, an invitation to wonder.” – Lloyd Dykk, Vancouver Sun
Performer: Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, piano (iwaasa.com)
Producers: Mark Takeshi McGregor and Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa
Recording engineer: Nathan Hilton
Assistant engineer: Jonathan Hong
Digital editing: Nathan Hilton
Mastering and Mixing: Nathan Hilton
Piano Technician: Albert Picknell
Recorded at: Rolston Recital Hall, Banff Centre, Banff, AB. October 10-12, 2009
Translation: Caroline Gauthier
Cosmophony is available from:
TRACKS
1. Piano-Soleil – Denis Gougeon
2. Mercurio Dal Ciel In Terra – Rodney Sharman
3. Venus – Marci Rabe
4. Clouds from North – Alexander Pechenyuk
5. Phobos and Diemos, Circling – Jocelyn Morlock
6-10. Fragments – Jordan Nobles
11. Jupiter – Christopher Kovarik
12. Saturn: Study In White – Jeffrey Ryan
13. Uranus – Stefan Udell
14. Neptune – Jennifer Butler
15. Gliese 581C – Emily Doolittle
16-27. Makrokosmos, Vol. II – George Crumb
This recording was made possible with the assistance of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund), of Canada’s Private Radio Broadcasters, the Music Section of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the City of Vancouver’s Cultural Services Division.
TK423 © 2010 Redshift Music
Other CDs with Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa
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