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By the Waters of Memory

Solo Works for Piano, Viola, Cello & Oboe

Richard Crosby composer, pianist

Release Date: February 2, 2024
Catalog #: NV6598
Format: Digital & Physical
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Cello
Oboe
Piano

Lyricism and melody are often vainly sought in contemporary composition. American composer Richard Crosby goes against the grain on BY THE WATERS OF MEMORY, a selection of compositions so aesthetically sublime, yet so profound, one wonders if this is still music, or someone mesmerizingly peeling back the layers on existence itself.

BY THE WATERS OF MEMORY features two scintillating chamber duos with piano – one a viola, the other a cello sonata – as well as a charming tetralogy of Latin dances for piano and oboe. But perhaps the greatest revelation arrives in the form of trenchantly beautiful solo piano pieces, which bear all the hallmarks of unadulterated classical-romantic genius. If Schubert had been an American, he would have sounded like this.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 By The Waters of Memory Op. 9 Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano 4:08
02 Sonata for Piano in B Minor Op. 21: I. Allegro molto Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano 4:26
03 Sonata for Piano in B Minor Op. 21: II. Andante Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano 3:54
04 Sonata for Piano in B Minor Op. 21: III. Allegro energico Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano 2:46
05 Variations for Piano Op. 13 Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano 15:22
06 Sonata for Viola and Piano Op. 10: I. Allegro Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano; Sila Darville, viola 3:52
07 Sonata for Viola and Piano Op. 10: II. Andante Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano; Sila Darville, viola 5:06
08 Sonata for Viola and Piano Op. 10: III. Vivace Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano; Sila Darville, viola 2:12
09 Sonata for Cello and Piano Op. 19: I. Allegro Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano; Nathan Jasinski, cello 4:43
10 Sonata for Cello and Piano Op. 19: II. Un poco Andante Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano; Nathan Jasinski, cello 4:27
11 Sonata for Cello and Piano Op. 19: III. Allegro energico Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano; Nathan Jasinski, cello 2:55
12 Four Latin Dances for Oboe and Piano Op. 14: I. Bolero Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano; Julie Smith, oboe 1:57
13 Four Latin Dances for Oboe and Piano Op. 14: II. Tango Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano; Julie Smith, oboe 2:17
14 Four Latin Dances for Oboe and Piano Op. 14: III. Bossa Nova Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano; Julie Smith, oboe 2:07
15 Four Latin Dances for Oboe and Piano Op. 14: IV. Mambo Richard Crosby Richard Crosby, piano; Julie Smith, oboe 1:36

Recorded August 9 & 30, 2023 at EKU Center for the Arts, Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond KY
Recording Session Producer Richard Crosby
Recording Session Engineer David Henderson
Editing & Mixing David Henderson
Mastering Melanie Montgomery

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Morgan Hauber
Publicity Aidan Curran

Artist Information

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.

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Sila Darville

viola

Sila Darville is a Turkish violinist who holds degrees from Istanbul Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory, University of Minnesota, and Texas Tech University. She received many international awards and honors including Rotary Club International Competition for Young Musicians, Turkish Educational Foundation Outstanding Achievement Award, Thursday Musical Young Artist Scholarship Competition, and Schubert Club Scholarship Competition.

Darville has performed with many Symphonic Orchestras including the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra and Ballet Lubbock as the principal second, Lubbock Moonlight Musicals, the Amarillo Symphony, Midland Symphony, the La Crosse Symphony, Paducah Symphony Orchestra, and Louisville Orchestra.

Most recently Darville has finished a commercial chamber music recording of works by Kentucky composer Joe Levin with EKU faculty members. As an EKU faculty member she represented EKU nationally and regionally as a guest teacher and clinician at University of Tennessee’s 2020 Violin Symposium, Kentucky All State Orchestra, and Kentucky Music Educators Association.

Nathan Jasinski

cello

Cellist Nathan Jasinski has given solo performances in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and throughout the United States. A recent highlight includes a performance of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the Keweenaw Symphony in Michigan. He performs regularly with the Appalachia Piano Trio, as continuo/solo cellist with the Kentucky Bach Choir, and as a solo recitalist. From 2003 to 2008, Jasinski was a member of the Eero Trio (clarinet, cello, piano).

An enthusiastic educator, Jasinski frequently gives master classes at educational venues throughout the United States. He joined the music faculty at Eastern Kentucky University in 2006. Prior to this appointment, he taught at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and Snow College in Ephraim UT. His love of teaching has led to his working with young musicians at the Interlochen and Steven Foster music camps. He is currently president of the Kentucky Cello Club, an organization that promotes cello playing and teaching throughout the region.

Julie Smith

Oboe

Julie Smith received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music, a Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance from Mercer University in Macon GA, and a Master’s Degree from the University of Kentucky. Her principal teachers include Dr. Mark Ostoich, Nancy Clauter, and Maestro Adrian Gnam. Smith has recently joined the faculty of Eastern Kentucky University as Adjunct Professor of Oboe.

Notes

I chose the title for this nocturne-like, lyrical piece from Greek mythology. According to the followers of the Orphic School, the soul of the deceased would cross the river Styx and be parched with thirst from the long and arduous journey to the Underworld. Upon arriving on the shore, the first thing they would come to was a pool called the Waters of Lethe (forgetfulness), and if the soul drank from those waters, its memory would be erased and it would have to reincarnate again into the weary sorrowful circle of life. But if it remembered not to drink from this pool and proceeded on it would encounter the Waters of Mnemosyne (memory), and after drinking from this pool it would remember not only its recently completed life but its previous lives as well and could then proceed on to the Elysian Fields. While this piece is not an attempt to describe the story per se, I have had many people describe memories and images that were conjured up by it, and I hope that it will touch upon the emotions of the listener and that it will bring to the surface the memory of some important event or person in their life.

— Richard Crosby

The sonata was commissioned by the Sigma Alpha Iota fraternity for their national convention in Scottsdale AZ as part of their Inter-American Music Awards and was premiered by the composer in July of 2018. It is published by C. F. Peters. The work is laid out in the standard three movement structure with a sonata form first movement marked “Allegro molto,” a slow “Andante” movement with a chant-like melody, and a multi-metered final movement marked “Allegro energico.”

— Richard Crosby

These variations were composed in 2013 and I presented the world premiere at the EKU Center for the Arts on October 20 of that year. I wrote this work as a gesture of gratitude to Dr. Amit Gupta, the Louisville surgeon who saved my career as a pianist. I chose a variation form to explore a wide variety of musical styles. The theme is followed by nine “character variations:”

Variation 1: Shifting Meters and Rhythms
Variation 2: Tempo di Valse
Variation 3: Homage to Bartók
Variation 4: Fantasia
Variation 5: Contrapunctus
Variation 6: Quasi Una Fantasia
Variation 7: Tarantella
Variation 8: Homage to Rachmaninoff
Variation 9: Invocation and Dance (Basant Mukhari)

In the last variation, in honor of Dr. Gupta, I transformed the theme into an Indian Raga and used the sostenuto pedal at the beginning to allow for sympathetic vibration of the strings to create the impression of a sitar.

— Richard Crosby

This work was commissioned by the Kentucky Music Teachers Association for their 2010 convention at the University of Louisville and was written while I was on a sabbatical. It consists of three movements in fast-slow-fast order with the first being an Allegro in sonata form, the second being Andante in ABA form, and the third a mono-thematic Vivace in compound duple meter in a perpetuum mobile format. The work was premiered with Jeremy Mulholland on Viola with me as the composer at the piano.

— Richard Crosby

This sonata was commissioned by the Kentucky Music Teachers Association for their fall conference in 2017 and was premiered by cellist Abby Whitt accompanied by the composer. It is in the standard three movement structure — sonata form, ABA, and rondo — and features romantic harmonies as well as mixed meter and increasing dissonance in the final movement.

— Richard Crosby

These four dances were commissioned by pianist Imelda Delgado and oboist Evelyn McCarty in memory of Narciso Delgado, a Tejano music pioneer. The dances are a Bolero, Tango, Bossa Nova, and Mambo.

­— Richard Crosby