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Turning Point

Chamber Works

Ferdinando DeSena composer

Release Date: May 10, 2024
Catalog #: NV6620
Format: Digital
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Electroacoustic
Flute
Voice

Ferdinando DeSena’s TURNING POINT is an experimental odyssey, an enticing collection of music that reimagines the timbres of familiar instruments like flute, piano, the human voice, and more. The title piece uses the audio synthesis technique called “convolution” in which musical audio samples are digitally joined with the sound of cymbal strikes and crashes to dramatic effect. In Sonorous Earth, DeSena conducts a different sort of experiment, this time by scoring for all the lower relatives of a woodwind quintet. An impressive tour de force, TURNING POINT leaves listeners with an expanded sense of what is possible in the realm of chamber music.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Quixotic Coquetry Ferdinando DeSena Cassandra Eisenreich, flute 9:50
02 A Book And Its Cover Ferdinando DeSena Yoko Hagino, piano 9:06
03 Rest In Peace: I Ferdinando DeSena Juventas New Music Ensemble | Oliver Caplan, artistic director; Ryan Shannon, 1st violin; Grant Houston, 2nd violin; Sam Kelder, 1st viola; Isaiah Chapman, 2nd viola; Thomas Barth, 1st cello; Timothy Paek, 2nd cello 4:18
04 Rest In Peace: II Ferdinando DeSena Juventas New Music Ensemble | Oliver Caplan, artistic director; Ryan Shannon, 1st violin; Grant Houston, 2nd violin; Sam Kelder, 1st viola; Isaiah Chapman, 2nd viola; Thomas Barth, 1st cello; Timothy Paek, 2nd cello 3:56
05 Rest In Peace: III Ferdinando DeSena Juventas New Music Ensemble | Oliver Caplan, artistic director; Ryan Shannon, 1st violin; Grant Houston, 2nd violin; Sam Kelder, 1st viola; Isaiah Chapman, 2nd viola; Thomas Barth, 1st cello; Timothy Paek, 2nd cello 3:49
06 Rest In Peace: IV Ferdinando DeSena Juventas New Music Ensemble | Oliver Caplan, artistic director; Ryan Shannon, 1st violin; Grant Houston, 2nd violin; Sam Kelder, 1st viola; Isaiah Chapman, 2nd viola; Thomas Barth, 1st cello; Timothy Paek, 2nd cello 1:17
07 Three Psalms Ferdinando DeSena The Kühn Choir of Prague | Lenka Navrátilová, choirmaster; Marcel Javorček, piano; UNI Quartet | Anna Burianová, 1st violin; Jan Petřík, 2nd violin; Mikoláš Čech, viola; Karel Urban, violoncello 13:36
08 O Rose! Who Dares To Name Thee? Ferdinando DeSena Megan Ihnen, mezzo; Marianne Parker, piano 9:01
09 Sonorous Earth Ferdinando DeSena Arcadian Winds | Vanessa Holroyd, alto flute; Jennifer Slowick, English horn; Rane Moore, bass clarinet; Clark Matthews, horn in F; Janet Underhill, contrabassoon 8:47
10 Turning Point Ferdinando DeSena Ferdinando DeSena, electronic music 7:30

Tracks 1-6
Recorded October 16 & November 6, 2023 at Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport MA
Recording Session Producer & Engineer Brad Michel
Recording Session Assistant Engineer Lucas Paquette
Editing & Mixing Melanie Montgomery (Tracks 1, 3-6)
Editing & Mixing Lucas Paquette (Track 2)

Track 7
Recorded September 25-26, 2023 at The Chapel at Korunni in Prague, Czech Republic
Recording Session Producer Jan Košulič
Recording Session Engineer Aleš Dvořák
Recording Session Assistant Engineer Adam Janků
Editing Jan Košulič
Additional Editing & Mixing Melanie Montgomery

Track 8
Recorded November 30, 2021 at Allen Hall, DePaul University in Chicago IL
Recording Session Producer Brad Michel
Recording Session Engineer Brad Michel, Hudson Fair
Production Director Levi Brown
Production Assistant Martina Watzková
Editing & Mixing Brad Michel

Track 9
Recorded January 8, 2019 at Futura Productions in Roslindale MA
Recording Session Producer John Page
Recording Session Engineer John Weston
Recording Session Assistant Engineer Jacob Steingart
Editing & Mixing Lucas Paquette

Track 10
Synthesis, Audio Editing & Mixing Ferdinando DeSena

Mastering Melanie Montgomery

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
Production Manager Martina Watzková (Tracks 1-7)
Production Assistant Adam Lysák (Tracks 1-7)

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Aidan Curran

Artist Information

Ferdinando DeSena

Composer

Ferdinando DeSena is a Miami-based composer who was born in Brooklyn NY. His earliest musical experiences were with neighborhood pop, rock, and doo-wopp groups. He worked as a musician in Ithaca NY for 13 years, playing in several regional bands as keyboard player and lead singer. His final group was Uptown Revue, which he led for seven years.

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Cassandra Eisenreich

Flutist

Dr. Cassandra Eisenreich is Associate Professor of Flute and Music Education at Slippery Rock University. She is the principal flutist with the Butler Symphony Orchestra (Butler PA) and has performed with the Pierce Theatre Players, Florida Grand Opera, Florida Sunshine Pops, and New World Symphony. She has also performed and recorded with top artists including George Benson, Michael Feinstein, Dave Grusin, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Mark O’Connor, Terence Blanchard, Jon Secada, Patti Austin, Arturo Sandoval, Nestor Torres, Sammy Figueroa, Pharrell Williams, Josh Groban, Lou Gramm, and groups including The Jacksons, Evanescence, Take 6, and Tiempo Libre.

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Yoko Hagino

Yoko Hagino

Pianist

Yoko Hagino was born and raised in Japan, where she began her piano studies at the age of 4. As a child, she performed her own compositions, which took her to Europe and the United States, including performances as a concert soloist with the Czech Symphony, the University of Southern California Symphony, Kyoto City Symphony, and Ensemble Orchestra Kanazawa. Hagino has appeared as a soloist with Osaka Century Orchestra, UMass Boston Chamber Orchestra, Key West Symphony Orchestra, White Rabbit Sinfonietta, and has also performed various piano recitals ranging from the music of Bach to contemporary repertoire. Hagino is a prize winner of the Steinway Society Piano Competition, the First International Chamber Music Competition, the All-Japan Selective Competition of the International Mozart Competition, and Chamber Music Competition of Japan.

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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.

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Kühn Choir of Prague

Choir

The Kühn Choir of Prague is one of the largest Czech choirs and has been part of the musical world for over 60 years. It devotes itself to the choral repertoire of all periods, and its activities include significant performances of contemporary music, performances of large vocal-instrumental works in collaboration with leading Czech orchestras and, last but not least, projects for the performance and recording of film music.

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Lenka Navrátilová

Conductor

Lenka Navrátilová studied piano and harpsichord at the Teplice Conservatory and choral conducting (sacred music) under the guidance of Jiří Kolář and Marek Štryncl at the Faculty of Education of Charles University in Prague. She is second chorus master of the Kühn Choir of Prague, professor of opera coaching at the Prague Conservatory, and répétiteur of the Prague Philharmonic Choir. As the assistant to the chorus master of the Prague Philharmonic Choir, she has participated in its appearances in Doha, Berlin, and at the Sankt Gallen opera festival.

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Megan Ihnen

Mezzo-Soprano

Megan Ihnen is a “new music force of nature.” The act of live performance is integral to Ihnen’s work and her performances thrive on elaborate sound worlds and fully-developed dramatic interpretations. Through narrative and non-narrative musical storytelling, she explores the subjects of memory, nostalgia, the perception of time, and relationships. Whether through chamber music, staged recitals, opera, or large ensemble soloist work, she emphasizes the full range of vocal sounds, timbres, colors, and uses that characterize the 21st century voice.

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Arcadian Winds

Ensemble

Arcadian Winds was founded at Boston University in 1987. Originally a woodwind trio consisting of flute, clarinet, and bassoon, the ensemble expanded to a wind quintet in 1989. Since its formation, Arcadian Winds has premiered almost 50 new works and championed many others. With a strong commitment to education, the group has brought chamber and contemporary music into the public, private and community schools in the Boston Area.

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Notes

Quixotic Coquetry is a virtuosic solo for flute commissioned by Cassandra Eisenreich, a frequent collaborator and one of my great musical friends.

— Ferdinando DeSena

Turning Point was composed in 2008. I chose to include this piece as a representative of my works for fixed media. It uses bits and pieces of audio created by several audio synthesis and editing programs: Digital Performer, Reason, Sound Forge Pro, Peak, Melodyne, Spear, Max/MSP, etc. One of the techniques used most prominently is convolution. Several passages are the result of convolving synthesized audio with audio samples of cymbal strikes and crashes.

— Ferdinando DeSena

Rest in Peace is a string sextet (i.e. 2 violins, 2 violas, and 2 cellos). It is a combination for which I have never before written. It is modal in nature with no permanent tonal center but strong periods with tonal focus. It has four movements the second and third of which are meant to be connected “attacca.”

— Ferdinando DeSena

Sonorous Earth is an experiment in scoring for all the lower relatives of a woodwind quintet, the only regular representative instrument being English Horn. The instrumentation is: alto flute, English horn, horn, bass clarinet, and contrabassoon. The title implies sonorities “low to the ground.”

— Ferdinando DeSena

Three Psalms is a spiritually motivated piece for choir, string quartet, and piano. It is subtitled, “A Meditation on Psalms, 22, 23 & 24.” I have always loved the psalms and have often turned to them for solace and inspiration. These three psalms present — in order — a remarkable sequence.

“Psalm 22” is the prayer and cry uttered from the cross by Jesus: “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” It then goes on prophetically revealing the scene of the crucifixion and the actions of His executioners.

The most famous of psalms, the greatly beloved “Psalm 23,” is the image of the Good Shepherd.

“Psalm 24” presents the image of a regal entrance through the gates of Jerusalem of the “King of Glory.” This is not the pascal lamb of Palm Sunday, but the mighty “Lord of Hosts.” Perhaps the Second Coming.

The text of psalms 22 and 24 are excerpted while psalm 23 is presented in its entirety.

— Ferdinando DeSena

Psalm 22 Excerpts
My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
Be not far from me: for there is no-one to help.
I’m poured out like water all my bones out of joint:
My heart is like wax; melted in my belly.
They pierce my hands and feet.
They split my robe between them and gamble for my cloak.
O Lord hurry to help me.
I declare your name to my people: I praise your name.
Praise Him and glorify Him,
for He has not ignored my affliction, nor hid His face.
When I cried out He heard.
The kingdom is the Lord’s: He is gov’nor among all nations.
A generation shall come and declare his righteousness.

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
He restores my soul.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
I will fear no evil for You are with me;
Your rod and your staff they comfort me.
You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies:
You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 24 Excerpts
The earth and its fullness are the Lord’s.
He founded it upon the flood.
Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord?
Or who shall stand in his Holy place?
Oh! Lift up you heads, oh you gates; the King of glory shall come in.
The Lord strong and mighty.
Lift up your heads, O you gates; the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.
Sing out! Selah! Sing out!

Piano solos are perhaps under-represented in my catalog of works. A Book and Its Cover was an attempt to adjust that shortfall. The title takes the expression, “You can’t judge a book by its cover,” and suggests that you might be able to judge it by its content AND cover. At least that is my conceit.

— Ferdinando DeSena

O Rose! Who Dares to Name Thee? takes the text of A Dead Rose by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and sets it to music for mezzo-soprano and piano.

— Ferdinando DeSena

A Dead Rose
By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

O Rose! who dares to name thee?
No longer roseate now, nor soft, nor sweet;
But pale, and hard, and dry, as stubble-wheat,
Kept seven years in a drawer-thy titles shame thee.

The breeze that used to blow thee
Between the hedgerow thorns, and take away
An odour up the lane to last all day,
If breathing now, – unsweetened would forego thee.

The sun that used to smite thee,
And mix his glory in thy gorgeous urn,
Till beam appeared to bloom, and flower to burn,
If shining now, – with not a hue would light thee.

The dew that used to wet thee,
And, white first, grow incarnadined, because
It lay upon thee where the crimson was,
If dropping now, – would darken where it met thee.

The fly that lit upon thee,
To stretch the tendrils of its tiny feet,
Along thy leaf’s pure edges, after heat,
If lighting now, – would coldly overrun thee.

The bee that once did suck thee,
And build thy perfumed ambers up his hive,
And swoon in thee for joy, till scarce alive,
If passing now, – would blindly overlook thee.

The heart doth recognize thee,
Alone, alone! The heart doth smell thee sweet,
Doth view thee fair, doth judge thee most complete,
Though seeing now those changes that disguise thee.

Yes, and the heart doth owe thee
More love, dead rose! than to such roses bold
As Julia wears at dances, smiling cold!
Lie still upon this heart-which breaks below thee!