The Bottom Line
Pros
- Winner of the 2007 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award
- Multiple premier recordings
Cons
- Hardly a con to some, but this isn't your typical classical period music
Description
- Released: March, 2007
- Total Play Time: 69:54
- 1 Disk, 21 Tracks
Guide Review - Chamber Music by Sebastian Currier, On the Verge - Music from Copland House
Sebastian Currier was born in a very musical family in 1959, learning violin and guitar. Currier continued is musical studies and earned degrees from The Julliard School and the Manhattan School of Music. Currier has received a slew of awards, commissions from leading institutions, and residence from the American Academy in Berlin. Currier's music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall, the Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, and other renowned venues.
About the Performer(s)
The name of the chamber ensemble performing Currier's music is Music from Copland House. Though its name may sound unusual, its apparent meaning is pretty cool. Music from Copland House is the resident ensemble at Aaron Copland's historic, longtime New York home. The one-of-a-kind ensemble is made up of a small group of musicians who play an expansive range of American music spanning nearly 150 years.
About the Music
On the Verge has four works called Verge, Static, Night Time, and Variations on Time and Time Again. The music explores, constructs, and destructs musical ideas evoked by their provocative titles. Verge is a unique piece. For example some of its movements are titled "almost too fast" and "almost too little". The entire piece flirts with the idea of going past the point of no return. Grawemeyer Award winning Static as said by Currier, "...is some sort of Rorschach's test: 'What do you think of when you read the word "static?"'" Currier takes his listeners on an ethereal journey dotted with dissonant sounds, emptiness, variations in tempo, mood, and color, and divergent thought processes. For Night Time, Currier uses harp and violin to describe his perspective of night time. Variations on Time and Time Again is a nine minute work exploring a previous melody written by Currier.
