Shopandemic! Menu Music

Shopandemic! Level Music

This recording was created as part of the 2021 June in Buffalo Festival, with each performer recording individually and remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ensemble Signal, Brad Lubman, conductor; Kelli Kathman, flute; Adrián Sandí, clarinet; Lisa Moore, Piano; Courtney Orlando, Violin; Lauren Radnofsky, Cello. Sound Engineering, editing, mixing and mastering by Paul Coleman.

Read the preliminary essay here:
https://bit.ly/3gFOwAo

Currents | Ensemble Signal

I've been sitting on this piece for almost a year now, this was one of the first pieces I've written in a while where almost everything was done in one sitting and actually came out pretty good? Shoutout to that random peach sample I found on the internet, Nintendo if you see this pls don't bust my balls and maybe hire me? Cool!

Let Them Eat Cake

Performed by the Mivos Quartet

Olivia De Prato - Violin
Maya Bennardo - Violin
Victor Lowrie Tafoya - Viola
Tyler J. Borden - Cello

Clockwork Fog

"Persephone" (2019) for orchestra
by Patrick Holcomb

Indiana University Concert Orchestra
David Dzubay, conductor

Recorded November 19-20, 2019
Musical Arts Center, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

"Persephone" © 2019 by N. Patrick Holcomb. All rights reserved.

Program Note:

Persephone (2019) is a reinterpretation of the Greek myth of Persephone, the goddess who was abducted by Hades and subsequently forced to spend a portion of each year with him in the underworld. The work was born out of my attempt to imagine Persephone seeing her reflection in each of the six rivers visible from the underworld on her annual journey into Hades.

The piece begins on the shore of the Oceanus, the river-sea that separates the worlds of the living and the dead. Persephone (represented here by the alto flute and the bassoon) cries out in anguish as she awaits her return to the underworld for the coming months. The towering but distant voice of her mother, the powerful goddess Demeter (represented here by the oboe and the bass clarinet), echoes Persephone’s distress back to her. As the goddesses’ voices become increasingly hysterical, Hades (represented here by the horn and the trombone) emerges from the earth, seizing Persephone and taking her in his chariot over the Oceanus and into the underworld. As they fly over the Acheron, the river of pain that marks the entrance of the underworld, Persephone sees the reflections of her and her captor distorted by the ripples caused by the oars of the ferryman Charon. The Phlegethon, the river of fire, is patrolled on both sides by centaurs who prevent the shades of the wicked from escaping the water; Persephone’s reflection stands alongside the ghosts imprisoned in the river. She sees her face contorted by rage in the turbulent waters of the Styx, the river of hatred that wraps around the underworld seven times. The dead who do not receive a proper burial spend eternity on the banks of the Cocytus, the river of wailing; similarly trapped, Persephone sees her reflection mingled with these ghosts and hears her voice echoed in their cries. The Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, passes by the cave of the sleep god Hypnos; in this river, Persephone watches herself surrender to sleep, accepting that she can do nothing to change her fate.

Persephone (2019) for orchestra

Car Chase 3

Car Chase 2

Car Chase 1

Puzzle

Dive

Kunal Gala (b. 1998) is a composer and percussionist based in Queens, NY. His work explores the convergence of tradition, technology, and rhythm. He investigates the humanity within nature and the relationships between resonance, fragmentation, and virtuosity.

He has worked with Ensemble Signal, Argus Quartet, and Hypercube Ensemble, among others, at festivals such as the Bowdoin International Music Festival, June in Buffalo, and New Music at the Point. His awards include the John Bavicchi Memorial Prize (2021) and Vuk Kulenovic Memorial Prize (2020). He won the Da Camera Content (2018) and Rachel Moore Contest (2017), and was selected for MainStage after collaboration with choreographers at the Boston Conservatory.

Gala studied percussion with Nancy Zeltsman and is a founding member of neither/nor (2018), a Boston-based ensemble focused on contemporary improvisation. He studied jazz drum set through high school and grew up playing in musicals, jazz band, wind band, drum corps, and orchestras. Previous to his matriculation at Berklee College of Music, he studied Hindustani Classical music for ten years.

Last fall, he began a masters in composition at Juilliard, in Andrew Norman's studio.

Currents | Ensemble Signal

Kunal Gala

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