Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony Adam Schoenberg American Symphony, Finding Rothko, Picture Studies Hybrid Multi-Channel & Stereo SACD

2018 Grammy Award Nominee!
Best Engineered Album, Classical: Schoenberg, Adam: American Symphony; Finding Rothko; Picture Studies
Best Contemporary Classical Composition: "Picture Studies"
Magnificent Recording with Kansas City Symphony & Michael Stern on 5.1 Multi-Channel SACD!
World Premieres! First orchestral release from top contemporary composer Adam Schoenberg
This is a superb recording from the Kansas City Symphony performing three orchestral works by contemporary composer Adam Schoenberg. All are world premiere releases. Mr. Schoenberg is one of the most-performed living composers in America. It is a hybrid SACD disc, containing 5.1 Surround Sound, Stereo SACD and a Stereo compact disc layer encoded with HDCD.
Adam Schoenberg is one of the ten most frequently performed living contemporary composers in the United States. He studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and received his doctorate from the Juilliard School in New York. With Finding Rothko, American Symphony and Picture Studies, this album includes three of his works from different creative phases - from his studies to his time as a professional composer - that explore different styles.
For American Symphony and Picture Studies, Michael Stern conducts the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra. Schoenberg calls Stern "the first conductor to master my music. He understands it, embraces it, and gives it an emotional dimension that otherwise wouldn't exist." Grammy winners Keith O. Johnson and David Frost recorded the excellent recording and made it available for Reference Recordings as a multi-channel hybrid SACD.
Says Schoenberg: "I have dreamt of having an orchestral disc of my music since first becoming a composer. This is an extraordinary gift, and I am thrilled to be sharing my music with all of you. The three pieces that you will soon experience embody my growth from student to professional composer. They each explore different styles, but my artistic voice remains consistent throughout."
Recently named one of the Top 10 most performed living classical composers by orchestras in the United States, Adam Schoenberg's (b. November 15, 1980) music is "invigorating" (Los Angeles Times), and full of "mystery and sensuality" (The New York Times). A recent season included performances and premieres at the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Hollywood Bowl.
Reference Recordings are proud to present these new works, 2 of them commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony (American Symphony and Picture Studies). The collaboration between Schoenberg and Michael Stern is extraordinary. Schoenberg states: "He is the first conductor to champion my music. He understands it, embraces it, and gives it an emotional dimension that would otherwise not exist. I also must thank the musicians of the Kansas City Symphony. This is an orchestra that plays with tremendous vigor, spirit, and emotion." The performances were brilliantly captured by GRAMMY® award winners Keith O. Johnson (engineer), David Frost (producer) and GRAMMY® nominee Sean R. Martin (engineer). Released on hybrid SACD (contains 5.1 Surround Sound, Stereo SACD and Stereo CD with HDCD encoding), playable on all CD and SACD players.
The Kansas City Symphony is the region's only full-time professional symphony orchestra. Led by Music Director Michael Stern since 2005, the Symphony has experienced impressive artistic growth, garnering national and international acclaim. The orchestra’s 80 full-time musicians are area residents, and each season they reach more than a million people through their concerts, educational programs and community outreach performances. They also serve as the orchestra for the Lyric Opera and the Kansas City Ballet.
"If the name Adam Schoenberg gives an impression of being related to atonally-driven Arnold Schoenberg, it's false. Void of a genetic link to the Viennese, Adam Schoenberg also eschewed his educational curriculum's modernistic tilts and longed for tonality. In today's arena, he bucked the trend. Maybe that's why his music is very approachable, bringing relevancy, respectfulness and resonance in forward drive.
"Having affinity towards visual arts and sense of political reflection helps the listener grasp the overall matrix of these three pieces. There is an impenetrable sensitivity with Mr. Schoenberg's music: it titillates the tympanic membrane and touches us with a golden heart..." - concertonet.com

Features:

• Super Audio CD
• SACD Multi-Channel SACD Layer
• SACD Stereo SACD Layer
• This Hybrid SACD contains a Super HDCD 24 Bit encoded Stereo CD layer which is playable on most conventional CD Players!
• HDCD

Musicians:

• Kansas City Symphony
• Michael Stern, conductor

Selections:

Adam Schoenberg (1980-)
Finding Rothko
1. Orange
2. Yellow
3. Red
4. Wine
American Symphony
5. Movement I: fanfare
6. Movement II: white on blue
7. Movement III: rondo
8. Movement IV: prayer
9. Movement V: stars, stripes and celebration
Picture Studies
10. Intro
11. Three Pierrots
12. Repetition
13. Olive Orchard
14. Kandinsky
15. Calder's World
16. Miro
17. Interlude
18. Cliffs of Moher
19. Pigeons in Flight