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Inviting Worlds

New Works For Large Ensemble Vol 1

John Wineglass composer
Michael Wittgraf composer
John A. Carollo composer
Brian Belet composer
Richard E Brown composer
Liova Bueno composer
Jan Van der Roost composer
William Copper composer

Release Date: July 22, 2022
Catalog #: NV6435
Format: Digital
21st Century
Orchestral
Large Ensemble

From the mysterious magic of our darkest corners to the exuberant atmosphere of Carnaval, infinite possibilities lay within INVITING WORLDS from Navona Records. The musical dimensions of several composers are explored by the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Zagreb Festival Orchestra, and the National Moravian-Silesian Theater Choir in this dynamic journey, offering insight into new realms through imaginative approaches to composition. Even in far away lands, close-to-home concepts are explored in thought-provoking soundscapes, showcasing the rhythmic dexterity and textural nuance of today’s orchestras across a wide breadth of compositional styles.

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Performance Video

John Wineglass – Bonny Doon

Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Bonny Doon: From the Misty Redwoods Down to the Mighty Pacific Ocean John Wineglass Zagreb Festival Orchestra | Ivan Josip Skender, conductor 5:46
02 A Marriage of Seasons Michael Wittgraf Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava | Stanislav Vavrinek, conductor; 10:23
03 Dark Days John A. Carollo Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava | Jiří Petrdlík, conductor; National Moravian-Silesian Theatre Choir 10:49
04 Fantasia: Nocturne Brian Belet Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava | Jan Kučera, conductor; Jakub Černohorský, violin; Roman Buchal, flügelhorn 11:02
05 Expansions for Orchestra Richard E Brown Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava | Stanislav Vavrinek, conductor 7:56
06 Two Moods: Dusk & Carnaval: I. Dusk Liova Bueno Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava | Stanislav Vavrinek, conductor 3:43
07 Two Moods: Dusk & Carnaval: II. Carnaval Liova Bueno Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava | Stanislav Vavrinek, conductor 4:05
08 Céad Míle Fáilte Jan Van der Roost Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava | Stanislav Vavrinek, conductor; Eddy Vanoosthuyse, clarinet 5:57
09 This Full Bowl of Roses, Part I William Copper Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava | Jiří Petrdlík, conductor 3:03

Bonny Doon: From the Misty Redwoods Down to the Mighty Pacific Ocean
Recorded September 8, 2021 at Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall Theatre in Zagreb, Croatia
Producer Krešimir Seletković
Engineer Pavel Kunčar
Assistant Engineer Jana Jelínková
Editing & Mixing Melanie Montgomery

A Marriage of Seasons, Expansions for Orchestra
Recorded May 24-25, 2021 at Dům Kultury města Ostravy (The Ostrava House of Culture) in Ostrava, Czech Republic
Producer Jan Košulič
Engineer Pavel Kunčar
Editing & Mixing Lucas Paquette

Two Moods: Dusk & Carnaval
Recorded May 27, 2021 at Dům Kultury města Ostravy (The Ostrava House of Culture) in Ostrava, Czech Republic
Producer Jan Košulič
Engineer Pavel Kunčar
Editing Jacob Steingart
Mixing Levi Brown
Additional Editing Lucas Paquette

Dark Days, This Full Bowl of Roses, Part I
Recorded November 18-19, 2021 at Dům Kultury města Ostravy (The Ostrava House of Culture) in Ostrava, Czech Republic
Producer Jan Košulič
Engineer Aleš Dvořák
Editing & Mixing Melanie Montgomery

Fantasia: Nocturne
Recorded December 7, 2021 at Dům Kultury města Ostravy (The Ostrava House of Culture) in Ostrava, Czech Republic
Producer Markéta Janáčková
Engineer Aleš Dvořák
Editing & Mixing Lucas Paquette

Céad Míle Fáilte
Recorded October 25, 2021 at Dům Kultury města Ostravy (The Ostrava House of Culture) in Ostrava, Czech Republic
Producer, Editing & Mixing Jan Košulič
Engineer Aleš Dvořák
Additional Editing Melanie Montgomery

Executive Producer Bob Lord

Executive A&R Sam Renshaw
A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
A&R Danielle Lewis, Quinton Blue, Chris Robinson, Jacob Smith

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Production Director Levi Brown
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
Production Manager Jean Noël Attard
Production Assistant Martina Watzková
Mastering Melanie Montgomery

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming, Morgan Hauber
Publicity Patrick Niland, Brett Iannucci
Content Manager Sara Warner

Artist Information

John Wineglass

Composer

John Christopher Wineglass is a multiple ®EMMY Award-Winning Composer who has performed on five continents, before U.S. presidents since Ronald Reagan, and with several ®OSCAR and ®GRAMMY Award-winning artists including Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Jamie Foxx to name a few. He has written several scores and incidental music for shows on MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC as well as documentaries on Headliners & Legends for The Brady Bunch, Kathy Lee Gifford, and Farah Fawcett. Having scored mainly independent films, several of his nationally syndicated commercials include music for the United States Army, American Red Cross, and Texaco as well.

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Michael Wittgraf

Composer

Michael Wittgraf (b. 1962) is an electronic music composer whose recent work explores live manipulation of feedback, interactive improvisation, and video. His music has been performed around the world, and is available on the Ravello, New Ariel, Eroica, and SEAMUS recording labels, and through iTunes, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, and other platforms. He has awards, commissions, and recognition from ASCAP, Modern Chamber Players, National Symphony Orchestra, Tempus Fugit, Louisiana State University, University of Minnesota, University of North Dakota, Florida State University, PiKappa Lambda, Zeitgeist, Chiara String Quartet, Bush Foundation, North Dakota Museum of Art, North Dakota Council on the Arts, and more. He was awarded a North Dakota Individual Artist Fellowship in 2007, and in 2011 he was named the North Valley Arts Council Artist of the Year.

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John A. Carollo

Composer

John A. Carollo was born in Torino, Italy and brought to the United States by his adoptive parents. When he was in grade school, he studied classical piano and sang in the church choir. While attending college in San Diego CA, he studied music and psychology. During this time, Carollo took piano lessons and began composing his first piano works. He graduated from San Diego State University being granted a master’s degree in clinical psychology.

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Brian Belet

Composer

Brian Belet lives in northwestern Oregon with his partner and wife Marianne Bickett. His album SUFFICIENT TROUBLE, containing ten of his computer music compositions, was published by Ravello Records in 2017. Stellar Nebulae, for string orchestra, was published on the album PRISMA VOL. 4 by Navona Records in 2020, and his brass quintet Three by Five was published on the album BRASS TACKS, also by Navona Records, in 2022. Additional music is recorded on albums published by Capstone, Centaur, Frog Peak Music, IMG Media, Innova, New Ariel Recording, SWR Music/Hänssler Classic, and the University of Illinois labels, with research published in Contemporary Music Review, Organised Sound, Perspectives of New Music, Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference, and Proceedings of the International Web Audio Conference.

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Richard E Brown

Richard E Brown

Composer

Richard E. Brown, a native of New York State and has been active as a composer-arranger and music educator for many years. His training includes M.M. and D.M. degrees in composition from Florida State University, as well as a B.A. in music education from Central College, which named him a Distinguished Alumnus in 1983. His principal composition studies were with Carlisle Floyd, John Boda, and Charles Carter.

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Liova Bueno

Liova Bueno

Composer

Liova Bueno's music is performed in concerts and music festivals internationally, from Europe to the United States and across Canada to countries in Central and South America. He has received commissions from and has collaborated with various ensembles, including Cuarteto de Bellas Artes (Mexico), Vox Humana Chamber Choir (Victoria, BC), the Victoria Choral Society (Victoria, BC), the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic), Brno Contemporary Orchestra (Czech Republic), the Illinois Modern Ensemble (Illinois), the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Juvenil and members of the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (Dominican Republic), and members of the Victoria Symphony. He has worked with various conductors and soloists including Ovidiu Marinescu, Noreen Cassidy-Polera, Darwin Aquino, Stanislav Vavrinek, Pavel Šnajdr, Brian Wismath, Pierre Strauch, Mark McGregor, and the Dunn/Ward Duo. 

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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.

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William Copper

William Copper

Composer

William Copper is an American composer of contemporary classical music, a theorist, and the authority on Intonalism, the science of structuring music according to intonation. His music is praised for its beauty, structural integrity, and innovative originality. He has been a life-long supporter and volunteer as Board Member and officer for music and cultural organizations.

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Zagreb Festival Orchestra

Orchestra

The Zagreb Festival Orchestra was founded in 1989, comprised of the top classical performers in Croatia and formed with the intent to record a single album. That intent was fulfilled with OVERTURES, a record of composer Gioachino Rossini’s greatest operatic works conducted by the acclaimed maestro Michael Halász, a resident conductor at the Vienna State Opera for 20 years, and produced by six-time GRAMMY Award winner Martin Sauer.

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Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava

Orchestra

The Janáček Philharmonic is a world-class symphony orchestra based in Ostrava, Czech Republic and an emerging figure on the international performance scene. With over 100 top-level musicians, the orchestra aims to introduce unique, quality repertoire while showcasing their own recognizable sound.

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Stanislav Vavřínek

Conductor

Stanislav Vavřínek is one of the most prominent Czech conductors and has been Chief Conductor of the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice since 2018. Having graduated from the Conservatory in Brno where he studied flute and conducting, he continued his education at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Subsequently, he also took master classes with Roberto Benzi in Switzerland, culminating with a concert in which he conducted the Biel Philharmonic Orchestra.

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Jiří Petrdlík

Conductor

Jiří Petrdlík (b. 1977) is appreciated as one of the most respectable conductors of his generation. He studied piano, trombone, and conducting — 1995–2000 at Prague Conservatory, and 2000–2005 at Academy of Performing Arts Prague — with Hynek Farkač, Miroslav Košler, Miriam Němcová, Radomil Eliška, and Tomáš Koutník, and took part in the masterclasses of the New York Philharmonic Principal Conductor Kurt Masur and the BBC Philharmonic Principal Conductor Jiří Bělohlávek. Petrdlík also successfully took part in several competitions, including the Donatella Flick Conductor Competition in London.

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Eddy Vanoosthuyse

Eddy Vanoosthuyse

Clarinetist

Eddy Vanoosthuyse is the clarinet professor of the Royal Conservatory of Ghent/Belgium and the Fontys Conservatory of Tilburg/Holland. He is the artistic director of the “International Clarinet Competition Ghent,” and the former principal clarinet of the Brussels Philharmonic. He was selected for the World Philharmonic (Georges Prêtre) and invited for the Symphonicum Europae.

He performs throughout the world with more than 100 orchestras and ensembles such as I Pomeriggi Musicali (Milan), Shanghai Symphony, Simon Bolivar Orchestra (Caracas), Brussels Philharmonic, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Chamber Orchestra of the Stanislavski Theatre (Moscow), Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, ChengDu Symphony (China), Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra (Japan), Free State Symphony (South Africa), Beethoven Academy (Krakow), Simon Bolivar StringQuartet, Chili Quartet, Beijing Quartet, Quatacker Quartet, Daniel String Quartet, and Zemlinsky Quartet, among numerous others.

He works with composers such as John Corigliano, Olivier Messiaen, Alfred Reed, Hans Zimmer, Arthuro Marquez, Nicola Piovani, Jan Van der Roost, Scott McAlister, and Oscar Navaro. He has performed 31 world premiere concertos.

Vanoosthuyse has made recordings for radio and television (BRTN, RTBF, VRT, VARA, Radio Suisse Romande, Magyar Radio, Czech Radio, Danish Radio, Lietuvos Radio, Chili Radio, Classica, and Exqui) and CD (Sony, EMI, DECCA, Aeon, Naxos, Phaedra, Gobelin, Aliud, Talent, Etcetera, Antarctica, and Brilliant Classics).

Vanoosthuyse is a Honorary Member of the ICA. He plays Buffet Crampon clarinets along with Vandoren reeds and mouthpieces exclusively.

Notes

Commissioned by maestro Daniel Stewart, artist philanthropist David Kaun, and premiered by the Santa Cruz Symphony for their 2018-2019 Enlightenment Concert Series, this short 5-6 minute symphonic piece is a programmatic work through the eyes of endothermic vertebrates: the scientific word for the many birds like the snowy egret, red tail hawk, blue jays, ravens, woodpeckers, and even golden eagles that populate and are indigenous to this region. Bonny Doon was founded in the 1850’s as a logging camp and is a very small town (pop. 2,700) situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains on a slope with higher elevations in the redwood forest down to the lower elevations descending into the vast coastal zone of the Pacific Ocean.

From the “slow misty haze and mystic air” (the first tempo description opening the work) of one of my brisk morning walks in the redwoods to the mighty crashing waves of the Santa Cruz County beaches from the majestic Pacific Ocean, this work marks such a flight path. During this flight path “From the Misty Redwoods Down to the Mighty Pacific Ocean,” the birds eventually swirl high in the air around my own original Scottish theme. In the middle of that jig, I quote the Scottish folk song by Robert Burns — Ye Banks and Braes O’ Bonnie Doon — where John Burns, a Scotsman living in Santa Cruz in the 1900’s originally derived the name of the city referring back to the river that flows from Loch Doon to the Firth of Clyde in Ayrshire, Scotland. Enjoy the ride!

— John Wineglass

A Marriage of Seasons combines subjective musical sensibilities with objective mathematical processes in order to produce a final musical product that speaks to the emotions while maintaining organizational logic. The title of the work reflects this unlikely marriage. How can seasons be joined? How can the subjective and the objective be wed?

Organizational logic is achieved through a mathematical system that I began developing in 1995. Without getting into details that involve polynomials and their roots, it is enough to say that the system converts sets of numbers into ordered series of numbers. By assigning numbers to various musical parameters such as durations, groups of occurrences, pitches, instruments, and so forth, it is possible to convert any collection of musical events into another collection, now with a specific order. By applying the mathematics consistently throughout the music, a kind of musical logic appears.

However, in the interest of composing music that speaks to the emotions, numbers are assigned only to musical parameters that are not rigid by nature to allow for the compositional freedom necessary to make the mathematics subservient to the final musical product. For example, no rhythmic note durations are specified by the numbers. Rather, simply the number of notes in a musical figure are specified, allowing for specific rhythms to be freely composed. Likewise, the total duration of the music is not specified, but the ratios of durations between sections are.

Composing in this manner is very satisfying. Essentially, it allows the composer to construct a systematic framework for the music, which, in turn, creates a collection of musical puzzles to be solved. With enough freedom to make meaningful musical choices, the composer is able to sculpt and shape the music to fit the structure, while allowing for emotion to come to the fore.

— Michael Wittgraf

I began to compose Dark Days for Choir and Orchestra on May 21, 2020 shortly after writing a poem of the same title in the infancy of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has affected many lives across the world, hurting economies, harming and killing our loved ones, and isolating people from friends, family, and social events. These dark days expose inequities and instill fear into the hearts of every person you meet. You will hear periods of intensity and furious anger, tranquility and dreamy states. The music is at once dramatic, dark, and mysterious.

This is for you.

Extract from Dark Days – Set to music on 5/21/2020

It’s the season of darkness,
isolation becomes your friend.
You try to grasp the situation,
but fail each time.
In this season of darkness,
isolation becomes your friend.
We hold each other in suspicion
fearing contamination, and worse,
the virus will not be kind.
It’s the season of darkness,
isolation becomes your friend.
American dreams filled with fear!
Weeping comrades struggle to survive.
In this season of darkness,
In this season of darkness.

— John A. Carollo

Fantasia

  • A work in which the author’s fancy roves unrestricted: something possessing grotesque, bizarre or unreal qualities.
  • A composition free in form and inspiration, usually for an instrumental soloist; in 16th and 17th century England, the term was applied especially to fugal compositions for consorts of string or wind instruments.
  • The play of imaginative invention.

Nocturne

  • Inspired by, or evocative of, the night.
  • Generally thought of as being tranquil, often expressive and lyrical, and sometimes rather gloomy.

Fantasia: Nocturne was composed in 2020 for Bridges, a string orchestra on Bainbridge Island WA, and is dedicated jointly to Patricia Strange, founder, director, and concertmaster of the ensemble, and to Stephen Ruppenthal.

The five continuous sections of this work progress from relatively high density and activity (Introduction) towards an eventual dissipation of the texture into nothingness (Finale: Coda). All of the material – melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic – derives from an initial gesture (Ur-melody), which is used almost unaltered as the second fugal subject. Overall, the music is an exploration of texture and timbre, and the interplay between solo flugelhorn, solo violin, and strings on several levels.

— Brian Belet

Expansions for Orchestra is modeled on a concert band composition that was commissioned from me in 1975, which I titled Expansions for Winds and Percussion. The title of both pieces refers to the way the music takes a few short motifs and, without using any of the common musical forms, develops or “expands” them into a complete composition.

Written in an atonal contemporary idiom, the music uses tone clusters, dissonant counterpoint, and various aleatoric devices to build and release tension. Rhythm, color, and texture are stressed above melody and harmony.

The composition is in three sections, each building on the previous one:

  1. Rather slowly 2. Faster, tense 3. Fast, frantic 

Expansions for Orchestra is scored for 2 flutes/piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets/bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, bells/xylophone, timpani, 2 percussion, and strings.

— Richard E Brown

Two Moods: Dusk & Carnaval was inspired by fond nostalgia of times spent in the Dominican Republic countryside during my youth. “Dusk” evokes the shifting light during sunset in the mountains, the warmth and peacefulness at the close of day, and the striking clarity of distant ocean views from on high. The clarinet/violin unison is reminiscent of the timbre of the plaintive, old accordions one could hear floating through the air as twilight fell, playing the canciones del ayer (“songs of yesterday” — old merengue tunes, serenades, and ballades) as players and listeners relaxed with a drink by the fire after a long week of work.

“Carnaval” harnesses the energy of the festivities that would start after darkness fell: the town band playing música de la linea (traditional Dominican big band merengue tunes), and everyone dancing in a joyous and uninhibited whirl. As captured in the oboe solo, every so often there would be a respite from the high-energy dancing, but the fastest and most brilliant musical numbers were always saved for the end of the night, rising to a fever pitch of blazing brass and furious percussion.

I feel lucky to have experienced this part of Dominican culture before so many changes began in the country, and these types of musical moments began to fade away. My vivid memories of this rustic charm — once so much a part of the lives of the campesinos Dominicanos — link me to something which is now, musically and culturally, a relic of a different time. Imprinted on my musical psyche, they are a strong influence on me to this day.

— Liova Bueno/Kiiri Michelsen

Cead Mile Failte is the Irish, or rather Gaelic way to say “A Hundred Thousand Welcomes.” You can read that phrase when entering an Irish pub, for example. The green country has many rural areas and that pastoral aspect is quite audible in this short but atmospheric piece of music. Both the clarinet and some solo string instruments display their musical skills via short cadenzas, often accompanied by aleatoric patterns. A short pseudo Irish dance with typical dotted rhythms and bagpipe-like reminiscences is being evoked in the central part, but the main character is contemplative and quiet. No real virtuoso passages for the solo clarinet, but still the soloist needs to master their instrument, especially during the — sometimes — very soft moments. No problem for an outstanding soloist like Eddy Vanoosthuyse, of course! Cead Mile Failte can be performed as an encore piece, but it also perfectly works as a peaceful resting moment during a concert. And by the way: this little piece also is available with string quartet.

— Jan Van der Roost

This Full Bowl of Roses, Part I is a representation in music of the image described so beautifully in Die Rosenschalle by Rainer Maria Rilke. Created by William Copper, the music is written in a rigorous form of just intonation called Intonalism. Every interval, melodic or harmonic, is perfectly tuneable, and easily hearable by the musicians who play the piece. The music begins as all art must begin with a reference to the first moments of creation, the moment of “brooding over the face of the waters.” Out from this primordial liquid comes Rilke’s words, arriving at the Bowl of Roses through a circuitous path of wide ranging images of humanity and nature.

In a paper about Phenomenology, the scholar Rochelle Tobias said “the mind’s orientation toward objects enables it to project a unity out of the various and sundry impressions that run through it.” (Rilke, Phenomenology, and the Sensuality of Thought, 2015). In the same way, the poem is a representation of a thing. The bowl of roses, through a collection of verbal images, and the music is a representation of the poem of the thing through another collection of musical images, beginning with a rich, complicated melody in the cellos rising out of the rich, complicated waters of consciousness.

Die Rosenschale (excerpt)

Und sind nicht alle so, nur sich enthaltend,
wenn Sich-enthalten heißt: die Welt da draußen
und Wind und Regen und Geduld des Frühlings
und Schuld und Unruh und vermummtes Schicksal
und Dunkelheit der abendlichen Erde
bis auf der Wolken Wandel, Flucht und Anflug,
bis auf den vagen Einfluß ferner Sterne
in eine Hand voll Innres zu verwandeln.

The Rose Bowl: (translation Edward Snow)

Aren’t they all that way: simply self-containing
if self-containing means: to transform the world outside
and wind and rain and the patience of spring
and guilt and restlessness and muffled fate
and darkness of the evening earth
out to the roaming and flying and fleeing of the clouds
and the vague influence of distant stars
into a handful of inwardness.

This Full Bowl of Roses is in three parts. Part III was released in April 2021 on PRISMA VOL. 5 from Navona Records.

Scores

Bonny Doon: From the Misty Redwoods Down to the Mighty Pacific Ocean (excerpt)

John Wineglass

A Marriage of Seasons (excerpt)

Michael Wittgraf

Fantasia: Nocturne (excerpt)

Brian Belet

Two Moods: Dusk & Carnaval (excerpt)

Liova Bueno

Explore more albums in this series

Inviting Worlds Vol 3

Inviting Worlds Vol 2