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Press Releases
BMOP/Sound Releases New Albums by David Rakowski and Virgil Thomson
Boston, MA (For Immediate Release) — Known as the nation’s foremost label launched by an orchestra and devoted exclusively to new music, BMOP/sound today announced the release of two new recordings: David Rakowski: Stolen Moments (Released August 2016), and Virgil Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts (Released October 2016). Celebrating its recent 2016 Musical America Ensemble of the Year award, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) under conductor Gil Rose maintains its trademark skill and insight in interpreting and performing the music of today’s most innovative composers as well as overlooked 20th-century masters.
David Rakowski: Stolen Moments displays Rakowski’s intellect, wit, and ability to convey genuine emotion, while incorporating influences from an eclectic array of American musical styles. The opening work, Stolen Moments, was commissioned by the Kaufman Center as an interactive classical response to jazz; it includes characteristic jazz licks and echoes of tango and blues. Piano Concerto No. 2 is the latest chapter in Rakowski’s ongoing collaboration with pianist Amy Briggs, the inspiration behind his ongoing, open-ended collection of 100 highly varied piano études. According to the Boston Globe at the concerto’s premiere, Briggs “accommodates the concerto’s virtuosic demands with shockingly little outward effort” and her confidence and sensitivity make for a dynamic, high energy recording. David Rakowski: Stolen Moments follows the 2009 album David Rakowski: Winged Contraption also recorded on BMOP/sound.
Virgil Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts proves that music written nearly a century ago can still seem startlingly original today. The first of two Virgil Thomson-Gertrude Stein operas, Four Saints in Three Acts (1934) was a landmark in the history of American opera and musical theater. This modernist opera with only faint traces of an allegorical plot and a formal structure based solely on sound and texture has become an iconic work. Thomson channeled the traditional music of his Midwestern youth: waltzes, tangos, folk dances, marches, and hymns, all coupled with Stein’s witty libretto that draws on her trademark technique of building subconscious meaning through the sounds of words. “First time listeners will be taken aback by its outlandishness,” says Gil Rose, Executive Producer of BMOP/sound. “But somehow it all resonates in the end.”
About BMOP/sound BMOP/sound, BMOP’s independent record label, was created in 2008 to provide a platform for BMOP’s extensive archive of music, as well as to provide widespread, top-quality, permanent access to both classics of the 20th century and the music of today’s most innovative composers. BMOP/sound has garnered praise from the national and international press; it is the recipient of six Grammy Award nominations and its releases have appeared on the year-end “Best of” lists of The New York Times, Boston Globe, National Public Radio, Time Out New York, American Record Guide, Downbeat Magazine, WBUR, NewMusicBox, and others. Admired, praised, and sought after by artists, presenters, critics, and audiophiles, BMOP and BMOP/sound are uniquely positioned to redefine the new music concert and recording experience. BMOPsound.org # # #
David Rakowski: Stolen Moments displays Rakowski’s intellect, wit, and ability to convey genuine emotion, while incorporating influences from an eclectic array of American musical styles. The opening work, Stolen Moments, was commissioned by the Kaufman Center as an interactive classical response to jazz; it includes characteristic jazz licks and echoes of tango and blues. Piano Concerto No. 2 is the latest chapter in Rakowski’s ongoing collaboration with pianist Amy Briggs, the inspiration behind his ongoing, open-ended collection of 100 highly varied piano études. According to the Boston Globe at the concerto’s premiere, Briggs “accommodates the concerto’s virtuosic demands with shockingly little outward effort” and her confidence and sensitivity make for a dynamic, high energy recording. David Rakowski: Stolen Moments follows the 2009 album David Rakowski: Winged Contraption also recorded on BMOP/sound.
Virgil Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts proves that music written nearly a century ago can still seem startlingly original today. The first of two Virgil Thomson-Gertrude Stein operas, Four Saints in Three Acts (1934) was a landmark in the history of American opera and musical theater. This modernist opera with only faint traces of an allegorical plot and a formal structure based solely on sound and texture has become an iconic work. Thomson channeled the traditional music of his Midwestern youth: waltzes, tangos, folk dances, marches, and hymns, all coupled with Stein’s witty libretto that draws on her trademark technique of building subconscious meaning through the sounds of words. “First time listeners will be taken aback by its outlandishness,” says Gil Rose, Executive Producer of BMOP/sound. “But somehow it all resonates in the end.”
About BMOP/sound BMOP/sound, BMOP’s independent record label, was created in 2008 to provide a platform for BMOP’s extensive archive of music, as well as to provide widespread, top-quality, permanent access to both classics of the 20th century and the music of today’s most innovative composers. BMOP/sound has garnered praise from the national and international press; it is the recipient of six Grammy Award nominations and its releases have appeared on the year-end “Best of” lists of The New York Times, Boston Globe, National Public Radio, Time Out New York, American Record Guide, Downbeat Magazine, WBUR, NewMusicBox, and others. Admired, praised, and sought after by artists, presenters, critics, and audiophiles, BMOP and BMOP/sound are uniquely positioned to redefine the new music concert and recording experience. BMOPsound.org # # #
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