This recording contains seven chamber works by American composer Robert Paterson, performed by the New York City based American Modern Ensemble. This world premiere recording is the first recording dedicated entirely to Paterson s music. It was recorded at the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City and produced by multi-Grammy winning producer Adam Abeshouse. All works feature combinations of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion, with the exception of Embracing the Wind (flute/alto flute, viola and harp) and Elegy (two bassoons and piano). A few works call for the performers to use police whistles or play exotic percussion instruments. These works are inspired by subjects as diverse as a criminal on the run, space travel, an Olympic athlete, the four classical elements, rock and roll, and the music of J.S. Bach. Based in New York City, the American Modern Ensemble has quickly become a major force in the New Music scene, having programmed the widest possible repertoire by American composers, and especially living composers. Since its inception, AME has presented over thirty concerts, featuring performances of works by over eighty composers, using a world-class ensemble that includes some of the finest instrumentalists and vocalists in North America. Further information: https://www.americanmodernensemble.org.

Star Crossing Album

Star Crossing
Instrumentation: flute (doubling piccolo and alto flute), B-flat clarinet (doubling B-flat bass clarinet), percussion (vibraphone [with working motor] and orchestra bells) and piano
Duration: 9'
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1326
Performers: American Modern Ensemble
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/star_crossing_fs_bound_perusal
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/star-crossing

PROGRAM NOTE
Although I will probably never have an opportunity to travel through outer space, I often look up at the stars with wonderment, marveling at the vastness of the night sky, wishing I could have that experience. This work is my attempt to impart the sensation of what I think it might feel like to travel through the galaxy, and to give the feeling, through sound, of staring up at the star-filled sky on a quiet, clear night.

Star Crossing

Embracing The Wind
Instrumentation: flute (doubling alto flute), viola and harp
Duration: 10'
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/etw-fs-bound
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/embracing-the-wind
Music Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=921&zenid=7f0b81b591feb79cca80d1f88a7f043b

PROGRAM NOTE
My original inspiration for Embracing the Wind was the image of an Olympic athlete running against the wind. The process of writing this work eventually shifted me to more abstract thoughts, such as the concept of creating music that sounds flexible and has wind-like, ebb-and-flow qualities. I try to achieve this by creating musical zephyrs from repeated motives and smooth phrases that utilize gradual dynamic swells and subtle tempo fluctuations. In this sense, Embracing the Wind is perhaps more minimal and Romantic than many of my other pieces: minimal in that cells that are repeated over and over again as textural background, Romantic in that the form is intentionally less severe and also has a narrative, structural quality.

Embracing The Wind (Flute, Viola, Harp)

Elegy for Two Bassoons and Piano
Duration ca. 10'
Performers: American Modern Ensemble; Charles McCracken and Gilbert DeJean, bassoons; Elizabeth DiFelice, piano
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1073

PROGRAM NOTES (SHORT VERSION — FOR PROGRAMS)
After hearing my music, and in particular, my Sonata for Bassoon and Piano, bassoonist Charles McCracken asked me to write Elegy for two bassoons and piano in memory of his father, Charles P. McCracken, a well-known and highly-regarded cellist in the New York musical community. His only request was that I quote a work that his father loved to play, one of the cello suites by J.S. Bach. I also love Bach’s music, so this was an easy request. I quote Bach’s Fifth Cello Suite, one of his father’s favorite pieces, and also Bach’s Third Cello Suite, a work that Charles Jr. likes, creating a sort of father and son pairing of references. Although Charles described his father as gregarious, fun loving and larger than life, this work is perhaps more earnest than humorous, but with a sense of playfulness in the way I manipulate the musical materials.

Elegy was commissioned by Charles McCracken and Gordon Harris through the American Composers Forum and is written in memory of Charles P. McCracken.

Elegy for Two Bassoons and Piano

Sextet for Chamber Sextet (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion and piano)
Duration: 8'
Publisher: Bill Holab Music:http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1323
For more information: https://robertpaterson.com/sextet

PROGRAM NOTES
Although this sextet is not intended to openly convey a specific program, the work itself is inspired by television shows that expose people in the act of committing crimes. The form and materials are developed from imaginary scenes depicting a day in the life of a criminal: running scared (from the police), traveling on the interstate, having nightmares while sleeping (probably in a rundown motel in the middle of nowhere off Old Route 66), looming shadows and hysterical visions, breaking out in cold sweat when someone supposedly comes looking and traveling again at 1:00 a.m. As you would expect, the unfortunate criminal is finally caught in the end.

Sextet

The Thin Ice of Your Fragile Mind
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion and piano
Duration: 8'
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1102
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/the_thin_ice-fs-bound_copy
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/the-thin-ice-of-your-fragile-mind

PROGRAM NOTES
I came up with the title The Thin Ice of Your Fragile Mind before I began writing the piece. I soon realized that the work would be far more abstract than the title itself implies. I often come up with titles before I begin writing, but this one could have easily been added after I finished. In some ways, it describes the nature of the piece: there are sections that sound icy, cold and fragile, and even moments that sound like plunging into the dark depths of a black lake.

I also knew this work would be premiered at Arcosanti, a prototype "arcology" (a word meaning architecture coherent with ecology) in the Arizona desert designed by architect Paolo Soleri. Since I could not stop thinking about the wonderful windbells made there, I chose percussive sounds that are entirely metallic: a vibraphone, crotales, orchestra bells and finger cymbals. This works perfectly for two reasons: metal percussion instruments can sound icy and cold, and the percussionist in E.A.R. Unit, the group premiering the work, was limited to bringing instruments that would not be adversely affected by the intense summer heat. While composing the piece, the irony never escaped me that a work inspired by ice and cold would be premiered in a sweltering desert.

The Thin Ice of Your Fragile Mind

American composer Robert Paterson is a true New Yorker—born and bred in Buffalo, he lived in Rochester and Ithaca for over ten years, in New York City for over twenty years, and now lives in Saratoga Springs, near the Adirondacks. Paterson’s colorful music embraces a wide variety of themes, everything from goddesses and online dating to mathematics and the environment. His music is filled with emotion and fierce rhythmic energy, marked by elegance, wit, and meticulous craftsmanship. Named Composer of The Year by the Classical Recording Foundation at Carnegie Hall, Paterson is the winner of the Alfred I. DuPont Award, and his opera Three Way won the Grammy® under Best Classical Producer of the Year. His music is often a Best of the Year pick on National Public Radio. His orchestral tone poem, Dark Mountains, regularly airs on NPR’s Performance Today. Three Way premiered with Nashville Opera, then BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and across the United States. Minnesota Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, The Oratorio Society of New York, Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Pro Musica, Albany Symphony, Musica Sacra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, and ensembles worldwide perform his works. Paterson gives masterclasses at the Curtis Institute of Music, New York University, the Aspen Music Festival, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and more. He is the Artistic Director and house composer for Mostly Modern Projects. Robert is a lifelong vegan and advocates for animals and the environment, celebrating the natural world with ground-breaking works such as his Triple Concerto, A New Eaarth, Listen, and I Go Among Trees.

Star Crossing

Robert Paterson Composer