Ravel: Valses Nobles Et Sentimentales, Miroirs, Le tombeau de Couperin

Miroirs, M. 43: V. La vallée des cloches. Très lent

Tokyo Sidecar

Sacred Echoes

Devotion

Piano Concerto No.7 (i) Op. 47

Piano Concerto No.9 (i) Op.49

AFTERWARDS... presents music that imagines a world different from the one we find ourselves in today, music that strives towards a sound that might be heard in a world where violence is no longer the ready answer to men’s disputes, a world where reason prevails, a calmer world.  On this album, the vehicle for this expression of hope is the string quartet, an ensemble about which composer Stanley Grill writes,  “it is the string quartet that has mostly occupied my attention over the years, as the intimate sound of a small consort of bowed strings is the perfect medium to express the contemplative sound landscape I strive to create.”  The music presented on this album reflects the same themes that dominate much of Stanley Grill’s work: an attempt to influence the minds and hearts of those who hear it in such a way as to encourage thoughts about the possibility of world peace, as well as music composed in an attempt to translate something about the nature of the physical world.

Dreaming of a Better World, as the title suggests, is another work in Stanley Grill’s Music for Peace series. “While the optimism of my youth in the ‘60s that real change in how humans deal with one another was possible has largely collapsed in the face of reality, as the world we live in today turns increasingly ugly, it becomes all the more important for me to bring beautiful music into the world that dreams of something better.”  Each movement is characterized by rising swirls of sound that symbolize hope for our better future.

The Time is Past is intended to capture an innocence preserved in Appalachian folk tunes that form the basis of the four movements of this quartet. For the composer, such songs seem to hark back to a day that the world has bypassed. “The melodies in this work were taken from a small but wonderful collection of Jean Ritchie’s, one of my favorite books of music. These are not settings of the songs for string quartet, but rather music that reflects back on those tunes, as if seen through the distance of time and haze of memories from my childhood.”

The albums closing quartet, The Beckoning Stars,  attempts to capture the complex feelings evoked by looking up at the vast night field of stars. “The high melody in the first violin is the distant stars, so out of reach. The cello is me, grounded on earth, unable to do more than think about and yearn for the stars. The middle section of the piece, with its sudden flurries of motion, was intended to represent the energetic fluxes of energy in the depths of space out of which stars and everything else we know are born. At the end, the stars continue to flash indifferently in the sky, while below on earth I fall silent…”

The music is performed by the string players of Camerata Philadelphia,  violinists Luigi Mazzocchi and Blake Espy, violist Jonathan Kim, and Camerata Philadelphia music director and cellist Stephen Framil.  About the players, Stanley Grill writes that “working with Camerata Philadelphia is always a great pleasure.  They get my music completely – and perfectly capture the contemplative spirit with which it was written.”

AFTERWARDS... was produced by violinist/violist and founding ETHEL member Ralph Farris and recorded, engineered and mixed by Randall Crafton at Kaleidoscope Studio in Union City, NJ.


Afterwards...

The Time is Past (Moonshiner)

Can eyes be too blue? Were they glowing red—
Lucifer among us—they could pierce the soul,
as a fingernail moon slices the night sky,
expose our film and reveal flaws,
leave behind a telltale hollow
to show we lay sleeping too long.

We’ve invested our souls with moths,
let them go the way of the sea,
hoping what is hidden will reappear
under the gaze of blue,
where freedom follows confession. 

The most alive among us is the wildest.
Step out of the wings, throw kisses
down to the orchestra that plays your requiem.

Meg Freer (by permission of the poet)

A SONG ALBUM

A Single Thorn (The Power of a Different Color Altogether)

A drama for string quartet conveying the combined pathos and lightheartedness that characterizes much of Irish life and art. The piece itself, through its dramatic arc, shares a similar diversity.

He Laughed on his Way to the Gallows... (Op. 97, 2019)

A Feather For Voltaire

Fantasie-Sonata (4 movts cello & piano)

This is the second movement (solo cello) of my 4-movement Fantasie-Sonata for cello and piano.

The Fantasie-Sonata for cello and piano was written in 2008, and is dedicated to my late mother. The work comprises four movements, Allegro moderato, Moderato, Andante maestoso and Allegretto ma non troppo. The second movement - Moderato - is for solo cello. Each movement, although of contrasting moods, share a theme. Where the first movement is forward-moving, and full of passion, the third movement is more march-like, and robust. At the time of writing it, any thought of adhering to strict sonata form was furthest from my mind, favouring more the freedom of expression as the piece seemed to dictate itself to me; hence the title ‘Fantasie-Sonata.’

The performers for the entire sonata are Minah Choe (cello) and Jeanell Carrigan (piano)

Minah Choe was born in Seoul, Korea and began her studies at the age of 8. She graduated with Bachelor of Music with First Class of Honors from the Sydney Conservatorium where she was admitted whilst at high school and received scholarships throughout her studies. She was a full scholarship holder at the Australian National Academy of Music in 2002. In 2004 Minah received master's degree from the Indiana University Jacob’s School of Music under the guidance of Prof. Janos Starker and continued with doctoral degree as his teaching assistant at IU. Currently Minah is pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Sydney Conservatorium while working as a freelance cellist in major orchestras and performing widely in various chamber music concerts and recitals. ​Minah has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras including Sydney Symphony, Christchurch Symphony, Nizhny-Novgrod Philharmonic, Indiana Univeristy Philharmonic, Bloomington Camerata, Sydney Conservatorium Chamber, and Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic, the Beecroft orchestras, and Melbourne String Ensemble. Minah has won numerous awards including “Most Promising Performer” in 4th Adam International Cello Competition, Australian Postgraduate Award, inaugural Janos Starker Scholarship, Dorothy Fraser Scholarship and Australian University of Women Federation Commemorative Fellowship. Minah is passionate about teaching cello. She was a tutor at AYO Young Symphonists in 2010 and tutor at the Riverina Summer School for Strings in 2013. This year, Minah teaches at the Sydney Conservatorium and the Conservatorium High School and has commenced working as a Music Co-ordinator of the ​Australian Korean Classical Association.Minah plays a cello by Joseph Hel (1869).

Dr Jeanell Carrigan is presently an Associate Professor in Collaborative Piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. She has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist in Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and throughout Australia, and has recorded for the Bavarian Radio Corporation, the ABC and for regional stations in Australia on many occasions. She holds a Doctor of Creative Arts in the area of Australian post-1970 solo piano repertoire and in May, 2016 released her seventeenth solo compact disc of Australian piano music. She is passionate about promoting Australian Music particularly the piano music of Australian women composers. In a review of the CD A Little Variation, composer Houston Dunleavy said “This recording is one to add to the list of treasures of Australian music that seem to be growing by the year. Surely Jeanell Carrigan belongs in this category as well. Australian music has a great champion in Carrigan’s fine playing and scholarship. She deserves far wide recognition for the quality of her work.” (Music Trust 1/4/15)
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Fantasie Sonata for cello and piano, 2nd movt. (solo cello)

This is my "world premiere" of this amazing piece that was supposed to be premiered on March 13th, 2020.  With concerts cancelled, this amazing piece was unheard until I recorded it at Lafayette College on January 29th, 2021.  It was without an audience but it was a single take.

Please share this "world premiere" freely!  This is a miraculous piece that Tony wrote for me and I would love for him to keep writing them!

Anthony J. Lanman: Hommage to a Broken Fairy Tale (2020)

Stanley Grill is a classical composer whose passion for medieval and Renaissance music has greatly influenced his writing. Two main themes permeate many of his works – music composed in an attempt to translate something about the nature of the physical world, and music composed to inspire and promote world peace.

If you like the music you hear on this website and would like to commission a work for yourself or your ensemble, let’s start the conversation!

ASCAP, Recording Academy

A Single Thorn (The Power of a Different Color Altogether)

Stanley Grill, Composer