Laments

Artistic transformations come at the darndest times. Mine arrived November 9, 2016. The morning after Election Eve. Gobsmacked and sucker-punched, I figured I could either fall into a four year depression or do something constructive to deal with the oncoming Age of Trump. So I started writing. Furiously. Ten songs completed in two months, going in a very different, less "pop" musical direction than previous efforts. The sound is more stripped down, with a basic piano/bass/drums approach augmented by tasteful guitar, accordion, and backing vocals.

The benevolent shadow of Mozart meets a strain of emotional turbulence in Carl Nielsen’s unforgettable, at times inscrutable Clarinet Concerto – his last major orchestral work, completed three years before his death in 1931. Dating from two decades later, Aaron Copland’s concerto for the same instrument similarly bridges stylistic and expressive contrasts: composed with the genre-crossing expertise of Benny Goodman in mind, it brings a vein of lyrical sadness together with the verve of mid-century popular idioms from both the USA and Brazil.James MacMillan’s Tuireadh, meanwhile, is a single-minded outpouring of grief, raising instruments to an almost vocal quality of expression in a lament for the victims of the Piper Alpha oil-rig fire. Clarinettist Maximiliano Martín – an internationally active soloist as well as principal clarinet of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra – is joined here by the symphony orchestra of his native Tenerife in three works which truly cover the gamut of human emotion.

Critically acclaimed innovative guitarist Mak Grgic has selected the music of five composers from the Balkans. Miroslav Tadic traces Macedonian folk songs, while each of the other composers brings very personal qualities. Three of the works are world premiere recordings.