Contemporary Music Score

Cambodian born composer Chinary Ung (b. 1942) produces complex but very interesting music that is steeped in the sounds, mindset and history of his native land. Ung has been writing this very attention-getting type of music for a long time now and his works have always evoked a very “Eastern” sound but with a clearly emotional impact. ...The entire “Spiral” series is characterized by some playing techniques and timbres that have come to identify much of Ung’s output. These two works, like many of the others, call upon the players in the ensemble to sing and play small percussion instruments in places, throughout the score.

Celebrated Chicago composer James M. Stephenson’s Symphony No. 3 is classical in nature. The work’s opening E-minor 7th chord is central to the piece, both harmonically and structurally, as is the opening flute duet. These materials are constantly in the pages of the work, whether hidden or most obvious. The four movements are laid out in B minor, E major, G major, and D major, spelling out the notes in the opening chord (although not in order). The ideas in the symphony, always reworked and revisited, appear in many guises, ranging from soaring and heroic, to quirky and fugal, to lush and sentimental, to intimate and lonely, to grand and triumphant. Particularly evocative and unusual is the use of three saxophones in the central section of the third movement. The piece was composed for the sheer enjoyment of the players on stage, the conductor, and the audience in the hall. The composer’s goal was to write music that he could envision bringing colleagues, patrons, and conductors to the edge of their seats, eager to play and experience.

As one of America's most honored young composers, Aaron Jay Kernis received the coveted Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition (2002) for this cello and orchestra version of Colored Field as well as the Grammy Award nominations for both Air and Second Symphony. The main work on this album, Colored Field …..