Paul Sperry created Jacob Druckman's 'Animus IV' for the opening of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and Bernard Rands' Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Canti del Sole' with the New York Philharmonic.
Composer Biography
William Bolcom, a composer on this album, began composition studies at age 11 and later studied with Darius Milhaud and Olivier Messiaen.
Composition History
Robert Beaser's 'Songs from The Occasions' is a song cycle for tenor and chamber ensemble, commissioned by Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Historical Context
The poems in 'Songs from The Occasions' by Eugenio Montale are described as prophetic of the impending disaster in Europe before World War II, and also as love poems to a mysterious woman named Clizia.
Composer Biography
William Bolcom won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1988 for his '12 New Etudes for Piano' and four Grammy Awards in 2005 for his setting of William Blake's 'Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience'.
Performer Biography
Paul Sperry, the tenor on this album, is recognized as an outstanding interpreter of American music and has premiered works by over forty American composers, including Leonard Bernstein.
Composition History
Robert Beaser's 'Songs from The Occasions' sets six poems by Italian Nobel Laureate Eugenio Montale, selected from his volume 'Le Occasioni'.
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