Patrick Higgins – Tocsin (2020)

Edward Haydn Higgins (February 21, 1932 – August 31, 2009) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and orchestrator.

Even more than in Beethoven’s case, Mendelssohn’s Lieder were intended for performance in the salons of the prosperous bourgeoisie: a convivial circle of highly qualified connoisseurs who shared the same outlook, and often a similar financial status.

A harrowing layered work of solo saxophone and electronics, Descension is at once beautifully elegiac and unflinchingly primal. Patrick Shiroishi is one of the key artists to emerge from the current L.A. free improvisation avant-underground; his first vinyl release is a spiritual journey that reveals his deeply reflective and unique musical vision. Descension is a sonic meditation on the legacy of a dark history and its echoing relevance in the present era.

Even more than in Beethoven's case, Mendelssohn's Lieder were intended for performance in the salons of the prosperous bourgeoisie: a convivial circle of highly qualified connoisseurs who shared the same outlook, and often a similar financial status. Those members of the upper middle classes were the musical link and the sociological crossroads between Hausmusik and the concert hall. Mendelssohn often wrote songs as gifts for the friends he was visiting, frequently as settings of their own texts: the considerable technical challenges they contained still needed to be manageable for members of those circles.

During his long and distinguished career, J. Rowland Higgins (1935-2020) made a substantial impact on many mathematical fields through his work on sampling theory, his deep knowledge of its history, and his service to the community. This volume is a tribute to his work and legacy, featuring chapters written by distinguished mathematicians that explore cutting-edge research in sampling, approximation, signal analysis, and other related areas. An introductory chapter provides a biography of Higgins that explores his rich and unique life, along with a bibliography of his papers; a brief history of the SampTA meetings – of which he was a Founding Member – is also included. The remaining articles are grouped into four sections – classical sampling, theoretical extensions, frame theory, and applications of sampling theory – and explore Higgins’ contributions to these areas, as well as some of the latest developments.

One of the most prominent solo flutists in the post-Rampal era, Patrick Gallois studied with Jean-Pierre Rampal and Maxence Larrieu at the Paris Conservatory, where at age 19 he won first prize. He immediately became principal flutist in the orchestra of Lille, the major city nearest his hometown, and in 1977 he moved to the principal position in the French National Orchestra, where he remained until 1984. After that, he pursued an increasingly successful career as a soloist, although he also founded his own chamber orchestra, the Académe de Paris, in 1990, and since then has served as a guest conductor with orchestras around Europe. In 2003 he became music director of Finland's Jyväskylä Sinfonia. He has also frequently performed chamber music in an ensemble that includes his companion, Canadian cellist Shauna Rolston.