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Press Releases
Acis presents the world premiere recording of Scott Ordway’s Nineteen Movements for Unaccompanied Cello
A 50-minute solo suite, Ordway’s work is a major new contribution to the modern cello repertoire. The piece
is performed by GRAMMY-winning Canadian cellist Arlen Hlusko, a newly-appointed member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars and an alumna of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect.
GRAMMY®-nominated producer, GEOFFREY SILVER says of the disc: “Scott has developed a new kind of minimalism, a deeply personal aesthetic of silence, stillness, and light that occasionally gives way to moments of unrestrained joy and sorrow. This music is designed with an architectural attention to form, balance, and detail. Pristine emptiness is offset by dense textures, and moments of quiet stillness evoke both vast landscapes and intimate spaces. A cellist himself, Ordway draws upon a deep connection to the solo repertoire and assimilates a wide range of influences from Bach to Boccherini through Britten and Saariaho."
"Uncluttered melodies and textures evoke wind or waves," says Silver, " and Arlen's cello is a beautiful singing voice that need no words. She takes us on a journey."
The first performance was given in the unique venue of a Quaker meeting house in Philadelphia which was designed by the celebrated visual artist James Turrell, whose medium is light itself.
Silver continues, “Arlen’s virtuosic performance aligns with the spareness, simplicity, and restraint of a composer whose language unites the clean lines of modernism with the immediacy and authentic emotion of our time. As each of us grapples with isolation (and, probably at some point in the past twelve months, our place in ????the universe), this album takes us to a clifftop or a forest floor and gives us space to contemplate the beauty of existence through the incredible voice of the cello."
Developed over more than a year (2017–18) through a series of intensive working sessions, NINETEEN MOVEMENTS FOR UNACCOMPANIED CELLO represents a kind of collaborative music-making that has become impossible after 2020. With the natural world as a mutual source of inspiration, performer and composer worked together closely to ensure that the piece said what they wanted it to say.
According to Arlen Hlusko, "every single measure of this piece was a conversation."
Canadian cellist ARLEN HLUSKO is a dynamic, versatile young artist who is quickly gaining international recognition for her solo and collaborative performances. Recently appointed cellist of the Bang on a Can All- Stars, Arlen is also a GRAMMY®-award winner for her work with The Crossing, a laureate of numerous competitions, and an alumnus of both Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect and the Curtis Institute of Music.
The work of composer SCOTT ORDWAY has been hailed as "exquisite" by the New York Times, "a marvel" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, and "an American response to Sibelius" by the Boston Globe. He is Assistant Professor of Music Composition at Rutgers University.
PRESS CONTACT for review materials (Hi-res audio and full booklet): cynthia.fischer@acisproductions.com
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