Unseen Paths

Lawrence K. Moss composer

Release Date: June 14, 2024
Catalog #: NV6633
Format: Digital
21st Century
Chamber
Vocal Music
Clarinet
Flute
Voice

Navona Records is pleased to present UNSEEN PATHS, a variegated collection of works by late composer Lawrence K. Moss. Well known for his diverse musical oeuvre spanning vocal, instrumental, and electronic works, UNSEEN PATHS shows us a deeper look into his mastery in the chamber music genre, from flute and piano duos to music for string quartet, operas, and more. As a valediction to a remarkable career, this collection is a timeless tribute to Moss’ enduring legacy, inviting listeners to savor the depth and brilliance of his artistic voice.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
DISC 1
01 String Quartet No. 5 Lawrence K. Moss Benda Quartet | Jakub Cernohorský, violin; Petr Grabovský, violin; Petr Benda, viola; Tomáš Svozil, cello 1:26
02 Clarinet Duo: I. fast but delicate Lawrence K. Moss Rane Moore, clarinet; Nicholas Brown, clarinet 1:09
03 Clarinet Duo: II. Song and Silence Lawrence K. Moss Rane Moore, clarinet; Nicholas Brown, clarinet 0:59
04 For Flute and Piano: I. Dramatic Lawrence K. Moss Jessica Lizak, flute; Yoko Hagino, piano 1:07
05 For Flute and Piano: II. Lullaby Lawrence K. Moss Jessica Lizak, flute; Yoko Hagino, piano 1:19
06 For Flute and Piano: III. Running Lawrence K. Moss Jessica Lizak, flute; Yoko Hagino, piano 0:44
07 Rising Falling: I. Lawrence K. Moss Audrey Andrist, piano; James Stern, violin 2:01
08 Rising Falling: II. Lawrence K. Moss Audrey Andrist, piano; James Stern, violin 1:15
09 Rising Falling: III. Lawrence K. Moss Audrey Andrist, piano; James Stern, violin 1:17
10 Rising Falling: IV. Lawrence K. Moss Audrey Andrist, piano; James Stern, violin 0:53
11 Rising Falling: V. Lawrence K. Moss Audrey Andrist, piano; James Stern, violin 0:44
12 A Life: I. A Life (Variations on an elusive theme) Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 7:57
13 A Life: II. Buddha Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 4:36
14 A Life: III. Araby Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 3:16
15 A Life: IV. Gamelan Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 3:02
16 A Life: V. Religions I Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 3:19
17 A Life: VI. Religions II Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 2:49
18 A Life: VII. Play (Variations) Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 9:55
19 A Life: VIII. From Earth To Stars Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 3:30
20 A Life: IX. Blugar Boogie Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 1:57
21 A Life: X. Fast and Furious Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 0:51
22 A Life: XI. Dancing Thirds Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 1:30
23 A Life: XII. Ligeti Light Lawrence K. Moss Kadisha Onalbayeva, piano 6:45
DISC 2
01 The Brute Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 25:37
02 La Serva Padrona: Overture Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 0:19
03 La Serva Padrona: Aria No. 1 Uberto Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 1:46
04 La Serva Padrona: Recitativo No. 1 Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 1:10
05 La Serva Padrona: Aria No. 2 Uberto Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 1:42
06 La Serva Padrona: Recitativo No. 2 Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 2:04
07 La Serva Padrona: Aria No. 3 Serpina Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 2:04
08 La Serva Padrona: Recitativo No. 3 Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 2:06
09 La Serva Padrona: Duet No. 4 Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 3:08
10 La Serva Padrona: Recitativo No. 4 Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 2:58
11 La Serva Padrona: Aria No. 5 Serpina Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 3:33
12 La Serva Padrona: Recitativo No. 5 Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 2:12
13 La Serva Padrona: Aria No. 6 Uberto Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 2:49
14 La Serva Padrona: Recitativo No. 6 Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 3:45
15 La Serva Padrona: Final Duet Lawrence K. Moss Aliana de la Guardia soprano; Omar Najmi, tenor; Brian Church, baritone; Yoko Hagino, piano 2:48

String Quartet No. 5
Recorded July 11, 2022 at Dům Kultury města Ostravy (The Ostrava House of Culture) in Ostrava, Czech Republic
Session Producer Jan Košulič
Session Engineer Aleš Dvořák
Session Production Director Levi Brown
Session Production Manager Jean Noël Attard
Editing & Mixing Jan Košulič

Clarinet Duo, for Flute and Piano
Recorded September 26-27, 2022 at Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport MA
Session Producer Lucas Paquette
Session Engineer Tom Stephenson
Session Production Director Levi Brown
Session Production Manager Jean Noël Attard
Editing & Mixing Lucas Paquette

A Life
Recorded July 2021 at University of Mobile in Prichard AL
Session Engineer Chris Springer, iNov8, Inc. (Tracks 12-22), Antonio D’urso (Track 23)

The Brute, La Serva Padrona
Recorded September 17-18, 2022 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester MA
Session Producer & Engineer Brad Michel
Session Assistant Engineer Lucas Paquette
Editing & Mixing Brad Michel

Mastering Brad Michel

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
Production Manager Martina Watzková
Production Assistant Adam Lysák

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

Artist Information

Lawrence K. Moss

Composer

Lawrence Kenneth “Larry” Moss was born Nov. 18, 1927 in Los Angeles CA, died June 24, 2022 at his home in Silver Spring MD. Even as a small child, Moss was a gifted musician and eager student who loved listening and learning. He was torn between chemistry and music, but eventually chose music, studying first at Pomona College, receiving a B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles and a M.A. at Eastman School of Music and a Ph.d. from University of Southern California. He taught Music at Yale University and University of Maryland and received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright Scholarship, and four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Benda Quartet

Ensemble

Since the Benda Quartet began performing in 2012 they have achieved a wide variety of musical successes and established themselves among highly respected Czech ensembles. Their first significant landmark was the concert debut they performed at the 60th Jubilee of the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava in April 2014. The concert was recorded by Czech Radio and garnered a huge audience acclaim. Since then has the collaboration with the studio of Czech Radio continued on regular basis and resulted in a number of publicly appreciated recordings. The Benda Quartet have worked intensively together with the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra and artist management agency Janáčkův Máj on numerous chamber music and educational projects.

Rane Moore

Clarinetist

Clarinetist Rane Moore is well-regarded for her thoughtful, provocative interpretations of standard and contemporary repertoire. Fiercely devoted to the new music communities of the East Coast and beyond, Moore is a founding member of the New York based Talea Ensemble which regularly gives premieres of new works at major venues and festivals around the world. Moore has recently joined the award winning wind quintet, The City of Tomorrow, and is also a member of Boston’s Callithumpian Consort and Sound Icon.

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.

Aliana de la Guardia

Soprano

The Arts Fuse lauds de la Guardia’s sound as “lovely, natural” and “as clear and powerful as grain alcohol.” As an active soprano vocalist, Aliana de la Guardia has garnered acclaim for her “dazzling flights of virtuosity” (Gramophone) in “vocally fearless” performances that are “fizzing with theatrical commitment” (The Boston Globe). A graduate of the Boston Conservatory and consummate interpreter of new classical concert repertoire, she has enjoyed collaborations with many ensembles featuring today’s most eminent composers including “Scenes from a Novel” and “Kafka Fragments” with violinist Gabriela Diaz by György Kurtág, “Aspen Suite” by Salvatore Sciarrino,“Nenia: the Death of Orpheus” by Harrison Birtwistle conducted by Jeffery Means, and the world premiere of “Earth Songs” by Ronald Perrera with New England Philharmonic, among others.

Nicholas Brown

Clarinet

Nicholas Brown is a Boston-based clarinetist and arts leader. As a performer, he is a member of the Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra, Portland Symphony Orchestra, New Bedford Symphony, and Boston Festival Orchestra, and a guest musician with Albany Symphony, Boston Ballet, Boston Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and many other groups across the country.

Brown has appeared as soloist with the Boston Festival Orchestra, Boston Pops, Concord Orchestra, Symphony Nova, and South Coast Chamber Music Series. He has performed on programs presented by the Library of Congress, Celebrity Series of Boston, Newport Music Festival, Morgan Library, and Williams Center for the Arts, and can be heard on Carlos Simon’s recent album Requiem for the Enslaved (Decca Records) as well as a forthcoming album of American music with the Albany Symphony (Albany Records). He has won awards from the St. Botolph Club Foundation, Boston Woodwind Society, Bay Chamber Concerts of Maine, Rossini Club of Portland, and Boston University.

As Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Boston Festival Orchestra, Brown is committed to expanding access and equity in classical music. The organization has created jobs for 60 local musicians and provides classical music experiences to thousands of community members annually.

Beyond the BFO, Brown was a Neighborhood Artist with the Celebrity Series of Boston and served as the Community Partnerships Manager at the North End Music & Performing Arts Center. He is currently Clarinet & Chamber Music faculty at Concord Academy, and is a former faculty member of the North End Music & Performing Arts Center, Natick Public Schools, and Wayland Public Schools.

Brown is a graduate of Boston University and New England Conservatory of Music. Originally from Portland ME, he currently resides in Massachusetts.

Jessica Lizak

Flute

Dr. Jessica Lizak has rapidly established herself as one of Boston’s most versatile young flutists. The Boston Music Intelligencer has described her performances as full of “youthful energy and rhythmic drive,” as well as possessing “light and free precision… a nearly jazz-like casualness.” She is principal flute of the Atlantic Symphony and Marsh Chapel Collegium, as well as section flute of the Orchestra of Indian Hill, all of which she has been a concert soloist. She also performs with the Boston Pops Orchestra, Portland Symphony, Back Bay Chorale, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Odyssey Opera, Opera Boston, Masterworks Chorale, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Collage New Music, and Zamir Chorale, among others. Nationally, she has joined the Gidon Kremer’s Kremerata Baltica, New World Symphony in Miami Beach, and the Albany Symphony (NY).

She has been a selected fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center (MA), Music Academy of the West (CA), Domaine Forget (Canada), and Interlochen (MI). She was awarded top prizes in several competitions, including the Pappoutsakis Flute Competition, Myrna Brown International Flute Competition, Bohemians Club of the Detroit Symphony Concerto Competition, and was a multiple winner of the Boston University Departmental Award for outstanding musical achievements. She has been a soloist at both the National Flute Convention and the Greater Boston Flute Association’s Flute Fair, and she has performed as a chamber musician on WGBH and WCRB. Her discography includes three commercial recordings available through the BSO website: a live performance of the American premiere of Carter’s opera What Next? conducted by James Levine, the first BSO release of live performances of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and a commemorative album of Elliott Carter’s works performed at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. She has also extensively recorded with BMOP, Boston’s premier orchestra for newly composed and experimental orchestral works. She can also be heard on Natalie Merchant’s album Leave Your Sleep, and in an upcoming children’s production in collaboration with John Lithgow.

Audrey Andrist

Piano

Hailed as a “stunning pianist with incredible dexterity” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Canadian pianist Audrey Andrist has thrilled audiences around the globe, from North America to Japan, China and Germany with her “passionate abandon”, “bright energy”, and “great intelligence.” Andrist grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan, and while in high school traveled six hours round trip for piano lessons with William Moore, himself a former student of famed musicians Cécile Genhart and Rosina Lhévinne.

She completed Masters and Doctoral degrees at New York’s elite Juilliard School, studying with Herbert Stessin, and garnered first prizes at the Mozart International, San Antonio International, Eckhardt-Gramatté, and Juilliard Concerto Competitions. She has performed in many of North America’s most prestigious venues, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Place des Arts in Montreal, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, and Alice Tully Hall in New York.

She is a member of ROCO (River Oaks Chamber Orchestra) in Houston TX, and Strata, a trio with her husband, James Stern, violin, and Nathan Williams, clarinet, recipients of a major grant from the Rauch Foundation. She is also a member of the Stern/Andrist Duo with her husband, recently celebrating 35 years of performances together, and the Andrist-Stern-Honigberg Trio with her husband, and cellist Steve Honigberg. An avid performer of new music with many world premieres to her credit, Andrist can be heard on over a dozen recordings of both standard and modern repertoire on the Albany, Centredisques, and New Focus labels, among others. She currently lives in the Washington DC area, where she serves on the faculties of the Washington Conservatory and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Since moving to the Washington area in 2001, she has established herself as one of the most sought-after local pianists, regularly appearing with the PostClassical Ensemble, Smithsonian Chamber Players, National Chamber Players, and 21st Century Consort, and collaborating on performances and recordings with members of the National Symphony and artist faculty at all of the area Universities. Her CD of major solo works by Robert Schumann is available on Centaur Records.

James Stern

violin

James Stern is a multi-faceted musician whose violin playing has been heard worldwide and cited by the Washington Post for “virtuosity and penetrating intelligence.” He has performed at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Banff and Bowdoin festivals as well as at New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. He did all of his formal training at the Juilliard School where his teachers were Louise Behrend, Joseph Fuchs and Lewis Kaplan.

Stern is a member of two critically acclaimed ensembles, the Stern/Andrist Duo with his wife, pianist Audrey Andrist, and Strata, a trio in which they are joined by clarinetist Nathan Williams. The duo has performed throughout the United States, Canada and China, with additional recitals in Munich and Paris. The trio has received enthusiastic repeat engagements at San Francisco Composers Inc (for which they were listed as one of San Francisco Classical Voice’s “highlights of 2005”), the Piccolo Spoleto Festival and New York’s historic Maverick Concerts. Strata has recently commissioned new works from Kenneth Frazelle and the late Stephen Paulus, giving the world premieres at, respectively, the Secrest Artist Series in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and New York’s Merkin Concert Hall.

Well-known to Washington, DC audiences, Stern has performed as a member of VERGE ensemble, the 21st Century Consort, the Smithsonian Chamber Players and the Axelrod Quartet, at such venues as the Corcoran Gallery, the German and French Embassies, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the National Gallery, the Phillips Collection, Strathmore Mansion and the White House. In frequent appearances at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, he has brought innovative programming that includes performing in multiple capacities (as violist, pianist, conductor, reciter and arranger), and providing program annotations that are integral to the performance. His numerous chamber music and new music recordings can be heard on Albany, Bridge, Centaur, CRI, Dorian/Sono Luminus, Enharmonic, New Focus and New World. His recording of the Sonatas and Partitas by Bach was released on Albany Records.

A passionately devoted teacher, Stern has served on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music. He is currently professor and coordinator of the String Division at the University of Maryland School of Music. In summers he has performed and taught at the National Orchestral Institute, the Orfeo International Festival, the Schlern International Festival, ASTA International Workshops, California Summer Music, the Brian Lewis Young Artists Program, the Master Players Festival and the Starling/Delay Violin Symposium at the Juilliard School.

Stern performs on a violin by Vincenzo Panormo built in 1781.

Kadisha Onalbayeva

Piano

Steinway Artist Kadisha Onalbayeva was born in Zhetisay, Kazakhstan and began her musical training at the age of 5. She is the first pianist from Kazakhstan to be named a Steinway Artist. Onalbayeva continued her performances as a recitalist, chamber musician, composer, and as an orchestral soloist. She received a Soros Prize for her work in the development of international cultural exchanges and throughout her career, Onalbayeva has been a strong supporter of new music and she has been particularly interested in introducing the music of Kazakhstan to audiences in the United States. She also participates in international new music festivals as a composer, performer, and organizer throughout Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Europe, Costa Rica, Bahamas, and the United States. Onalbayeva is the Director of Piano Studies and Professor of Music at the University of Mobile and she is founder and currently serves as President of the Gulf Coast Steinway Society (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi). The Minister of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan recently filmed a documentary on the life and musical career of Onalbayeva titled Independent National’s Heritage which was released in both Kazakh and in Russian in 2015.

kadishaonalbayeva.com

Omar Najmi

Tenor

Praised for his “clarion, luxuriously Italianate voice,” tenor Omar Najmi enjoys a versatile career in opera and concert. A regular favorite at the Boston Lyric Opera, Najmi has been featured in over 15 of their productions including appearances as Nick in The Handmaid’s Tale, Vanya Kudrjas in Katya Kabanova, Beppe in Pagliacci, Goro in Madama Butterfly, Reverend Harrington in Lizzie Borden, and more. Recent and upcoming appearances include the title role in the world premiere of HAMLET (State Opera Ruse), Tito in La Clemenza di Tito and Rodolfo in La Boheme (Opera Steamboat), Alfredo in La Traviata (MassOpera), San Giovanni in La Resurrezione, and tenor soloist in St. John Passion (Emmanuel Music).

Najmi has also appeared with Opera Colorado, Annapolis Opera, Odyssey Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Saratoga, American Lyric Theater, Opera Maine, Opera Fayetteville, and more. Najmi made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2018 as the tenor soloist in Mark Hayes’ Gloria. He has since returned as the tenor soloist in Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living, and as a featured soloist in Talents of the World Inc.’s Caruso Tribute Concert.

Najmi has been a recipient of the Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellowship from Emmanuel Music, the Stephen Shrestinian Award from Boston Lyric Opera, and the Harold Norblom Award from Opera Colorado. Also active as a composer, Najmi premiered his first opera, En la ardiente oscuridad, in 2019.

In 2021, Najmi was a recipient of Opera America’s New Work Exploration Grant and The Boston Foundation’s Live Arts Boston Grant, which he will use to produce a workshop of his newest opera, This is not that dawn. He recently served as Boston Lyric Opera’s first Emerging Composer, where he premiered his song cycle My Name is Alondra, a collaboration with Boston’s youth poet laureate, Alondra Bobadilla.

Brian Church

Baritone

Baritone Brian Church has a busy and varied career in the Boston performing arts scene. A longtime member of the Choir at King’s Chapel and the Cantata Singers as well as a frequent guest performer with Callithumpian Consort, Church has been a strong proponent of contemporary music. Performances have included SoundIcon, Boston Musica Viva, Dinosaur Annex, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Firebird Ensemble, NEC Shivaree, and many others. In 2013 he performed the Speaker’s part in Lachenmann’s zwei Gefuhl as part of the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. He has also performed the vocal parts for Roger Reynolds’ Submerged Memories and The Palace.

Church has performed Peter Maxwell Davies’ rigorous 8 Songs For a Mad King with both Callithumpian and Collage New Music. The most recent performance was selected as “Most Exciting Contemporary Classical Concert” in the Boston Phoenix’s 2009 Year In Review. This past year, Church has performed as a substitute member of the GRAMMY® Award-winning vocal octet Roomful of Teeth in concerts in Boston, New York City, Seattle, Portland, and Carlsbad CA. Church enjoys a long-standing relationship with Guerilla Opera. He premiered the roles of Joe Biden/Joe the Plumber in Curtis Hughes’ Say It Ain’t So, Joe, Clem in Rudolf Rojahn’s Bovinus Rex, and Darren in Adam Roberts’ Giver of Light. He also performed as the Doctor in Copeland Woodruff’s restaging of Rojahn’s Heart Of A Dog in performances in Boston, Memphis, and upstate New York. This past fall, he premiered two roles in four different stagings of Ouroboros (Rojahn) and Rarebit (Hughes) as part of the “Let’s Make A Sandwich” project. Church teaches voice, beginning piano, guitar and bass at music 101 studios in melrose. He is also the father of two boys, Elias and Quentin. For 11 years, he played bass and sang in the avant-noise punk group Tristan Da Cunha. This past August he released his first solo album, The Third Came First (brianchurch.bandcamp.com).