|
|
Four Illuminations
|
|
|
1. Fluid Skies
|
|
|
|
2. Playful Dance
|
|
|
|
3. Prelude and Dervish
|
|
|
|
4. Song of Peace
|
|
Allan Vogel, oboe; Los Angeles Piano Trio (Haslop, Landauer,
Martin) 
|
Fantasia
|
|
|
5. Fantasia
|
|
Clayton Haslop, violin; Joanne Pearce Martin, piano
|
Ancient Echoes
|
|
|
6. Ancient Echoes
|
|
Susan Greenberg, flute; Clayton Haslop, violin; Roland Kato,
viola; Barbara George, cello
|
Silhouettes at Sunrise
|
|
|
7. Starlit Awakenings
|
|
|
|
8. Dance of the Silhouettes
|
|
|
|
9. The Breath of Dawn
|
|
|
|
10. Illumination and Renewal
|
|
Los Angeles Piano Trio (Haslop, Landauer, Martin)
|
Equinox
|
|
|
11. Andante placido-Allegro con spirito
|
|
|
|
12. Scherzo: Allegro precipatato
|
|
|
|
13. Andante cantabile
|
|
|
|
14. Allegro con brio
|
|
Clayton Haslop and Jacqueline Brand, violin; Roland Kato, viola;
Timothy Landauer, cello Recorded June 97 at Little Bridges,
Pomona College, Claremont, CA.
Recording, Editing and Mastering: Sonny Ausmann
|
|
|
Commissioned
by internationally renowned oboist Allan Vogel in 1996, Four
Illuminations received its premiere with the Los Angeles Piano
Trio on September 22, 1996 on the opening concert of the Stotsenberg
Recital Series at Pepperdine University. Aiding in the creation of
this work was the composer’s close acquaintance with the artistry
of each instrumentalist she was writing for. It is no accident therefore,
that each of the four movements features one performer in a solo cadenza
which underscores his or her unique contribution to this ensemble.
Fantasia
for violin and piano is the result of a commission for the 1998 convention
of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, where
it was premiered on January 30 by the Haslop/Martin Duo. Here the
germinal thematic material is a simple, exotic and rhythmically ambiguous
melody inspired by feelings the composer had while listening to classical
Persian music.
Commissioned by Los Angeles flutist Susan Greenberg, Ancient
Echoes was given its premiere on May 7, 1995 on the Lagerstrom
Chamber Music Series at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Referring
to the title and feeling of this work, the composer has written: "When
I listened to the opening melody on the flute, I had a vision of an
American Indian playing the flute on the rim of a beautiful canyon.
From there I easily felt the piece suggested the passage of a day
in the life of one of our indigenous ancestors."
Composed soon after a retreat taken at the Grand Canyon in September
of 1993, Silhouettes
at Sunrise gives voice to feelings inspired by several sunrises
observed from Yavapai Point on the South Rim. The commissioning organization,
Pacific Serenades, was so taken with the spontaneous enthusiasm given
this work at its premiere, that it was encored two years later in
concerts celebrating the best in ten years of commissioning.
Upon hearing the string quartet Equinox
as well as a pre-concert interview with the composer, Scott Duncan
of The Orange County Register was moved to include the following in
his review: "She feels music can put humans in touch with a notion
of beauty, and that it can be a path to understanding an inherent
balance in the universe. French not only pursues these ideas but succeeds
in making them tangible and persuasive." Composed in January
1992, Equinox
was premiered in New York on April 18, 1993 by the Angeles String
Quartet.
|
