Albums
Starting Point
Funded by IU Southeast’s Regional Research and Creativity Initiative, Starting Point showcases music from the Louisville region, featuring works by Daniel Gilliam and Erich Stem. The album cover was designed from a picture of the historic Heigold House, the last remaining structure of the 19th century neighborhood in Louisville called “The Point.”
As the group’s debut CD release, Starting Point represents A/Tonal’s passion for commissioning, performing, and recording new music.
Starting Point artists:
- Carrie RavenStem, clarinet
- Robert Simonds, violin
- Felix Borges, cello
- Jessica Dorman, piano
Daniel Gilliam is a composer from Louisville, Kentucky. In 2016, he was chosen for a Copland House residency and released his first album of art songs, The Call to Earth. In recent years, Gilliam has been commissioned and performed by Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, Longleash Piano Trio, violinist Rob Simonds (Louisville Orchestra), Kentucky Center Chamber Players, and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony with Jason Weinberger. fictivemusic.com
Variations
Ralph Waldo Emerson summarized music, without trying to, when he wrote in his 1841 essay, “Nature is an endless combination and repetition of a very few laws. She hums the old well-known air through innumerable variations.” Through this lens these Variations came to be. Owing debt to Wallace Stevens’ Variations on a Summer Day for structure and motive, these twenty (short) variations were composed during the winter of 2014/2015.
Erich Stem’s music has been described as “sophisticated and intriguing” (Washington Post) and “unique and beautiful” (Boston Theatre Review) and has been performed and broadcasted throughout the United States and in Europe. His credits include commissions, album releases and performances by critically acclaimed orchestras, ensembles and solo artists such as the Minnesota Orchestra, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, saxophonist Johan van der Linden and flutist Lindsey Goodman. To learn more about Stem’s music, please visit: www.erichstem.net
Consider
The title, Consider, refers to the consideration of different stylistic ideas (e.g. European avant-garde, neoclassic, jazz, and pop) that are interwoven through a piece that acts like an improvisation. The individual instruments’ lines either form a bridge to a new style or simply react to the other members of the group, adding their own twist to the direction of the music as the work unfolds