SHADOWING
Piano quartet and piano solos
Ruth Lomon composer & piano
Eileen Hutchins piano
Katherine Winterstein violin
Scott Woolweaver viola
Patrick Owen cello
OVERVIEW
Navona Records proudly presents renowned composer Ruth Lomon’s SHADOWING, her debut album on the label. The release showcases her remarkable skill in writing for the piano, pushing the instrument’s timbre and color to its limits to create animated sound worlds such as those of the title work, Shadowing. Lomon writes of the colors in the piece: “’Shadowing’ means to have such a light touch, such a light tread, that one can move freely through the forest, observing without being observed… It is the equivalent of manifesting and then becoming like smoke, and then manifesting again…”
Lomon incorporates more radical colors—such as prepared piano—in Five Ceremonial Masks, which is inspired by masks used by the Navajo people in their Yeibichai Night Chant ceremonies. Native American imagery also appears in the second movement of Esquisses, “La Fête,” in which the rhythmic and melodic properties of the music are inspired by the Turtle Dance as seen by Lomon at New Mexico’s Taos Pueblo. The first movement of Esquisses, “Les Cloches,” incorporates overtone partials and change-ringing patterns of European flared tower bells, creating a distinctive pianistic color, culminating in the introspective, balladic “Memoires de…” to conclude the piece.
The album is completed with the recent The Sunflower Variations, a theme and 10 variations for solo piano. The colorful piece takes its theme from “The Sunflower,” a song for contralto and viola from Lomon’s earlier Five Songs after Poems by William Blake.
HIGHLIGHTS
Acclaimed Canadian-born composer and pianist Ruth Lomon (b. 1930) has studied under Frances Judd Cooke and Miklos Schwalb at New England Conservatory, Witold Lutoslawski at England’s Dartington College, and Lutoslawski and Henri Dutilleux at Centre Acanthes in Provence, France.
Lomon is probably best known for her song-cycle Songs of Remembrance and her oratorio Testimony of Witnesses for chorus, orchestra and soloists - both works are based on the poetry of Holocaust victims and survivors that Lomon researched at The Yad Vashem Memorial Library in Jerusalem, Israel, and the U.S. Holocaust Museum Library in Washington, D.C Songs of Remembrance was composed and given its premier performance while Lomon was a fellow of the Bunting Institute, Radcliffe, Harvard, 1995-96 and premiered at Paine Hall. Since 1998 Lomon has been a scholar and composer at the Women’s Studies Research Center (WSRC), Brandeis University, where she composed Testimony of Witnesses.
Her orchestration of Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata for the Rebecca Clarke Society, has been recorded by The Hallé Orchestra for Dutton Epoch recordings, Sarah-Jane Bradley, viola. Reweavings, a chamber work for Native American flute, clarinet, ‘cello, piano, and marimba was commissioned by the Abiquiu N.M. Chamber Music Festival for the Native American flutist, R. Carlos Nakai.
ALSO ON NAVONA
(NV6053) SELECTED PIANO WORKS BY ROBERT CASADESUS AND HENRI DUTILLEUX
CICILIA YUDHA, PIANO
Release Date: March 10, 2017
Catalog #: NV6080
TRACK LISTING
01 Sunflower Variations
Eileen Hutchins piano
Shadowing Piano Quartet
Eileen Hutchins piano
Katherine Winterstein violin Scott Woolweaver viola
Patrick Owen cello
02 I. Canto Hondo, Deep Song
03 II. Los Angelos Timidos, The Shyest Angels
04 III. Running with the Wolves
Esquisses
Eileen Hutchins piano
05 I. Les Cloches, The Bells
06 II. La Fête, The Holiday
07 III. Mémoires de…, Memories of…
Five Ceremonial Masks
Eileen Hutchins piano
08 I. Changing Woman
09 II. Dancer
10 III. Spirit
11 IV. Clown
12 V. Talking Power
Five Ceremonial Masks
A bonus performance by the composer, Ruth Lomon piano
13 I. Changing Woman
14 II. Dancer
15 III. Spirit
16 IV. Clown
17 V. Talking Power
CREDITS
Sunflower Variations & Esquisses
Recorded June 22-23, 2015 at Futura Productions in Roslindale MA
Shadowing & Five Ceremonial Masks
Recorded March 7, 2016 at Futura Productions in Roslindale MA
Recording Session Producer Jane Ring Frank
Recording Session Engineer John Weston
Artwork Hannah Shook
Wolves Two - oil on canvas
Booklet Editor Ann Stimson
Executive Producer Bob Lord
Executive A&R Sam Renshaw
A&R Chris Robinson
Audio Director Jeff LeRoy
Engineering Manager Lucas Paquette
Art & Production Director Brett Picknell
Graphic Design Emily Roulo
Marketing Scott Murphy
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Navona Records offers listeners a fresh taste of today's leading innovators in orchestral, chamber, instrumental, and experimental music as well as prime pieces of classic repertoire. Our music is meticulously performed by the finest musicians and handpicked to ensure the most rewarding listening experience.
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