Commissioned by the Albany Symphony 
Completed April 28, 2021
Premiered June 11, 2021 by David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony's Dogs of Desire

Newness was on my mind in late February 2021 when David Alan Miller asked me to write a piece for the Albany Symphony’s ‘Dogs of Desire.’ I had recently graduated from school, spring was around the corner, and slowly but surely, the world seemed to be inching toward some semblance of normalcy. It had been a long, dark winter, and there was a hesitant hope in the air even around me where I lived: some of Baltimore’s more enthusiastic cherry blossoms had begun to prematurely flower. 

I did not want to write a simple ‘spring has sprung!’ piece, however - the harsh realities of the last year would have made such an approach disingenuous for myself. Instead, I was drawn toward the beauteous ambiguities of Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi’s work. His poetry was filled with natural imagery of the seasons that he shaped into dark yet lyrical ruminations on life, death, and rebirth. 
	
		Fall - ‘...The wind that burns to ash then restores.
			The air fills with embers
			And you go with them.’ 
						- excerpted from his poem, ‘草 (Grass)’

		Winter - ‘Bloom, unbloomed - snow soon thaws (by the dawn)
			midnight snow shrouds the night...’ 
						- excerpted from his poem, ‘花非花 (Flower, no flower)’

		Spring - ‘The gate illumined by
			The sun brings the sweet taste of spring.’
						- excerpted from his poem, ‘春眠 (Spring sleep)’ 

Relatively few of Bai’s poems seemed to concern the summer, and so The Gate Illumined is shaped around his preferred seasons. The music begins tentatively, opening with a brief flurry of motion that is quickly suspended. The gesture repeats, slowly unfolding into running scales and drifting harmonies as two singers trade phrases back and forth. The two are initially opposed - one sings of desolation, the other restoration. Gradually, the music begins to shed its equivocation as its pulse solidifies into running motion. A gathering sense of optimism swells through the ensemble as the singers find agreement. Ultimately, the piece ends the way it began, culminating in the opening gesture.

Large Ensemble

The Gate Illumined, for two sopranos and sinfonietta

Commissioned by Deus Ex Musica as a winner in their 2020 Composition Competition

Completed 03/01/2021
Recorded 12/22/2021 by Megumi Stohs Lewis

The Psalms have always held a great degree of significance to me, both as a Christian and as an artist. Much has been written about their beautiful composition and their timeless imagery, but beyond the Psalms’ considerable literary beauty and their theological profundity, I have always been drawn in by their honesty. For such early literature, these songs are remarkable for their frank depictions of their respective authors’ emotional states, whether ecstatic joy (as in Psalm 126), deep contrition (Psalm 51), assured hope (Psalm 23), or meditative ponderance (Psalm 39). The emotional nakedness of the Psalms always reminds me of God’s pursuit of our hearts: He would know us in our truest selves, rather than our constructed, ‘religious’ selves. It was with this posture that I began to write A Mere Breath, a reflection on Psalm 39. 

Psalm 39 feels uniquely ahead of its time, prefiguring the book of Ecclesiastes with its existential themes of ephemerality and uncertainty. Its surprising emotional complexity is perhaps what has made it so enduringly appealing, appearing in pieces from Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem to Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms. I found myself identifying with the Psalm thanks in no small part to the time in which I had begun writing my piece: as the world continued to square off against the Covid-19 pandemic, I was applying to more school and was not altogether sure where I would be the next year. I identified with the Psalm’s thinly veiled frustration and confusion that stemmed from recognizing the sheer smallness of humanity in the face of an eternal God. 

A Mere Breath casts the violinist as psalmist, contending with the depths and scale of the eternal. Wispy and capricious, the violin part gradually unfolds the piece’s main theme, a plaintive, Hildegard-like hymn of simple beauty. Pursuing it across a variety of figurations, the soloist eventually takes hold of the melody with relief, swells in thanksgiving, and ultimately vanishes into nothingness.

A Mere Breath, for violin and electronics

drive

Rosales
Against the Sky
PYR-033
_______

Limited cassette/digital
https://pyramidblood.bandcamp.com/album/against-the-sky

_______

A1 - Austere
A2 - Words Escape
A3 - Lately
B1 - Moss Rose
B2 - Against the Sky
B3 - Empty Dream


Weightless melodies gently diffuse and coalesce through the delicate veils of time, taking on enigmatic new forms.

Fleeting moments of reverie flicker across the mind’s eye, incorporeal and resplendent.

The pilgrimage begins and ends against the sky.

Against the Sky marks the third release from Brad Deschamps (anthéne) and Ian Hawgood's (Folk Reels) Rosales project, with previous releases on Archives and their own Home Normal and Polar Seas labels. Against the Sky features Brad and Ian's exquisite ambient guitar journeys, and is lushly mastered by Ian on reel-to-reel tape.

_______

Written and Recorded by Ian Hawgood and Brad Deschamps
Mastered by Ian Hawgood
Photography by Paul Duchnay


Released October 10, 2022

_______

https://anthene.bandcamp.com/
https://folkreels.bandcamp.com/
https://homenormal.bandcamp.com
https://polarseasrecordings.bandcamp.com/

Rosales - Against the Sky

Olympic Dream by @geraldine-kwik, is the lead track, from the forthcoming compilation to celebrate Piano Day, with The 88 Notes series releases.

Available on CD & Digital : https://music.imusician.pro/a/2XFT3dTB/
The 88 Notes - Series 2 released on March 29, 2023

🎹

Premiered on Ad Adstra Electronic Radio on March 25 // 21:00 CET - 4PM EST  https://www.adastra-radio.com
Event https://ra.co/events/1677827

Full review thanks to Igloo Magazine https://igloomag.com/reviews/the-88-notes-series-2-ecu

ECU continue to support resident talents alongside international artists from numerous countries. Crossing genres, paths, and people not only brings people, communities and landscapes to life, but it also prompts personal and moral reflections, and musical expressions. Today artists are (no particular order): 

Infinite scale - Hold // https://infinitescale.bandcamp.com/music 
Florian Förster - ​​4 Uhr Tee  // https://florianfoerster.bandcamp.com/
Ruxpin - Rapla  // https://ruxpin.bandcamp.com/music 
Coppé - Sm:)e  // https://mangoandsweetrice.bandcamp.com
Mei - Entreluire La Fugitive  // https://closetomei.bandcamp.com
Sergio Mariani - Titan Moon Of Frozen  // https://sergiomariani.bandcamp.com/music
Mikromatique - Heimþrá // https://mikromatique.bandcamp.com
Lorenz Weber - the earth beats // https://lorenzweber.bandcamp.com
Géraldine Kwik - Olympic Dream  // https://geraldinekwik.bandcamp.com
Bistro Boy - Handan Undralands (for dad) // https://bistroboy.bandcamp.com 
X.U.L - Bluebird  // https://xulmusic.bandcamp.com
aAirial - Beneath the Mist  // https://aairial.bandcamp.com 
Anam Gu Anam - Three Colors Moon // https://anamguanam1.bandcamp.com
Oscar Carmona - Otoño  // https://oscarcarmona.bandcamp.com 
Sunken Foal - Hold Your Fire  // https://countersunk.bandcamp.com 
Marie Awadis - Music with motion I (ft. Evgeny Ganeev) https://youtu.be/z-h_BBDYwpo 

#pianoday2023 Piano Day Worldwide Celebration
https://www.pianoday.org

The 88 Notes - series 2

Stream and support

Géraldine Kwik - Olympic Dream - The 88 Notes (Series 2) [ECU010]

American Steppes

Original score for "Woven", a short film by Tristan Hutchinson, coming soon.

The Ground Beneath Our Feet

Long-term collaborators Fabian Rosenberg (aka Klangriket) and Sjors Mans return to piano and coffee records, six years after the release of their celebrated debut EP The Amsterdam Sessions, with an enthralling full-length record titled Origami Birds.At the heart of this album lies the poignant legend of the thousand origami birds, a narrative inspired by the resilience of Sadako Sasaki, a survivor of the Hiroshima tragedy. It unfolds as a poem penned by Fabian, eloquently translated into both English and Swedish, and narrated by three generations of women, weaving a world around the delicate folds, ascents, and descents of paper origami cranes.
Open the window. Let the cold air in.
Fold one and make another. An identical twin.
Make them in different colors and shapes. 
And when you’ve folded a thousand
look what a difference it makes.

They spread their wings they fly away.
They go places where you’ve never been.
Caught by the wind they swirl around and around.
And when you, and I fold a thousand. 
They form rainbow clouds. They will cover the sky.
Thousands of thousands become a million.
And then they fall. One by one slowly slowly to the ground. 
The creation of the music unfolded over three years and more than 500 video calls, a collaborative process devoid of face-to-face meetings. The soundscapes underwent a metamorphosis as they were printed and reworked, resulting in new sonic experiences. By the project's end, Fabian and Sjors found themselves unable to discern the original sources of the sounds, forging a unique and unprecedented sound palette. Multiple layers of samples, seemingly disparate elements, warped and twisted, blend seamlessly in this environment. The album boasts the contributions of acclaimed musicians such as Dan Berglund (known for his work with Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Ane Brun, Tonbruket) and a string quartet featuring some of Sweden's most frequently recorded musicians. 

The music in Origami Birds is a tapestry of emotions—heartfelt and perhaps even naive, with dark and ambient undertones, yet it displays a profound sense of hope. The album encapsulates a journey both musically and thematically, exploring the intricate interplay of light and shadow, despair and optimism.Origami Birds releases on the 1st of March 2024, featuring artwork by London-based illustrator Jordan Amy Lee.

Origami Birds

They Fall One By One To The Ground

Purchase

Klangriket and Sjors Mans - They Fall One By One To The Ground

for Piano Day 

                          dedicated to Alice

Until The Rivers Run Dry

"Huemul" is a deer from Argentina. This piece will be released next year by Desire Path Recordings (USA) in beautiful vinyl.

Huemul

I had this motif in my head that kept varying and transforming; I found it hard to end. The sentiment was one of love, acceptance and returning home, so I named it ‘Your Heart Carried Me Home’. This partly expresses the long journey I had through troubling times from repeated misdiagnoses of a brain tumor in my left inner ear canal which threatened my hearing. After a decade it was finally discovered last year. Pre-surgery the variations were minor but here it finally resolves with conviction.

Acoustic performance below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuqOJSiWykY

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0W9xrea1jckASyu2stLsFz?si=jXJCUjeBST29h8b1YZu7-w

10/13 Free download of 'Dream of the Wild Rose' solo piano version when you pre-save 'DOTWR' (piano and orch version) for 30 Oct release on Spotify or sign up for news: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/sharonchen/dream-of-the-wild-rose
Announcement: https://bit.ly/3lF8WZU
www.sharonelainechen.com

The Gate Illumined, for two sopranos and sinfonietta

Bobby Ge

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