Release Date: June 1, 2011
Catalog #: NV5852
Format: Digital & Physical
20th Century
Chamber
Large Ensemble
Wind Ensemble

Sculpting the Air

Modern Works For Wind Instruments

Samuel Barber composer
James Adler composer
Jan Van der Roost composer
Barry Seroff composer
Brian Gillett composer
Juan Sebastian Lach Lau composer
Richard Crosby composer

Solaris Quintet
Jordan P. Smith tenor saxophone
James Adler piano
Michael Finegold, Douglas Worthen, Vanessa Mulvey, Judith Braud, flute
Peggy Friedland, Linda True, alto flute
Daniel Speer Trombone Quartet
Juventas Ensemble
Black Sea Brass Quintet | Brian Gillett conductor
Moravian Philharmonic Chamber Players
Ken Haddix trombone
Richard Crosby piano

SCULPTING THE AIR is a collection of modern works featuring brass and flute instrumentations from composers Samuel Barber, James Adler, Russ Lombardi, Jan Van der Roost, Barry Seroff, Brian Gillett, Juan Sebastian Lach Lau and Richard Crosby. The works on this disc range from a rhapsodic wind quintet originally composed for winds, strings and piano to a musical representation of a familial argument to a spectral piece based on one of Satie’s Gymnopédies. With each track featuring a different combination of brass and flute instruments, this release offers compelling examples of the impact and versatility of the instruments.

Listen

Hear the full album on YouTube

Artist Information

James Adler

Composer

A pianist who "can create whatever type of music he wants at the keyboard" (Chicago Sun-Times) and a composer who writes "with uncommon imagination" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), James Adler's extensive list of compositions is headed by Memento mori: An AIDS Requiem.

Jan Van der Roost

Composer

Jan Van der Roost was born in Duffel, Belgium in 1956. He studied at the Lemmensinstituut and at the Royal Conservatories of Ghent and Antwerp, where he qualified as a conductor and a composer. Besides being a prolific composer, he also is very much in demand as an adjudicator, lecturer, clinician, and guest conductor: his musical activities took him to over 50 countries while his compositions have been performed/recorded around the world.

Barry Seroff

Composer

Barry Seroff was born in Flushing, Queens on July 4th 1978. He earned his Bachelors Degree at the Aaron Copland School of Music where he studied theory with Joe Strauss, composition with Paul Alan Levi, Jeff Nichols, and Bruce Saylor, and musicology with Henry Burnett. At the same time outside of school, he studied classical flute with Michael Laderman and Petina Cole, modern and traditional jazz guitar with Joe Giglio and Bern Nix, and shakuhachi with Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin.

Brian Gillett

Composer

Self-taught composer and pianist Brian Gillett was born in 1972 in Marietta, GA. His facility with extemporization colored his development as a composer, and an improvisatory character underlies many of his compositions.

Juan Sebastián Lach Lau

Composer

Composer and keyboard player Juan Sebastián Lach Lau's recent instrumental and electroacoustic music, as well as sound installations, are based on algorithmic processes and harmonic microtonal inquiries, a field in which he obtained a doctorate in artistic research at the University of Leiden, Holland, in 2012.

Richard Crosby

Composer, Pianist

Richard Crosby was born in Ashland OH and raised in Largo FL. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education (1979), a Master of Music degree in Piano and Wind Conducting (1981), and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano (1990) from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. His principal piano teachers at CCM were John Meretta and Richard Morris.

Juventas New Music Ensemble

Ensemble

Juventas New Music Ensemble is a contemporary chamber group with a special focus on emerging voices. Juventas shares classical music as a vibrant, living art form. They bring audiences music from a diverse array of composers that live in today’s world and respond to our time. Since its founding in 2005, Juventas has performed the music of more than 300 living composers. The ensemble has earned a reputation as a curator with a keen eye for new talent. It opens doors for composers with top-notch professional performances that present their work in the best possible light.