A. Sierra: Birds and Insects

Featuring

Steven Beck
Sarah Cahill
Arlene Sierra

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Compositional Technique

The Birds and Insects collection uses three main compositional processes: spelling the animal's name in pitches, incorporating transcriptions of its song, or recalling its physical movement.

Compositional Technique

Arlene Sierra's approach to bird song in her compositions involves extracting essences from recordings to build longer forms, rather than faithfully transcribing detailed bird calls like Messiaen.

Performer Biography

Steven Beck, who performs Books 1 and 2, is a Steinway Artist and a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he now teaches orchestral piano.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Composer Arlene Sierra's music often explores themes from the natural world, including landscape, evolutionary biology, and the sounds and behaviors of birds and insects.

Performer Biography

Sarah Cahill, who performs Book 3, has commissioned and premiered over seventy compositions for solo piano and was named a 2018 Champion of New Music by the American Composers Forum.

Composer Biography

Arlene Sierra, an American composer based in London, holds degrees from Oberlin College-Conservatory, Yale School of Music, and the University of Michigan.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Arlene Sierra's aesthetic vision, which she calls 'modern pastoral,' stems from a scientific understanding of bird song's function combined with an awareness of its threatened existence.