1. Une Aventure French

The present collection of Augusta Read Thomas's works spans 18 years, from 1999 to 2017. It juxtaposes the two sides of Thomas that we've already encountered in previous volumes, the large-scale thinker in the cello concerto Ritual Incantations, the piano trio Klee Musings and the recent string quartet Chi, and the miniaturist in the six other works which on this disc act as satellites to the above-mentioned three larger works. Two sides that, paradoxically, seem to share more similarities than differences.

Common to all the works collected here are the sunny, free-wheeling lyricism, luminosity, sense of colour, spontaneity, caprice, playfulness and spirituality which have long been ineradicable characteristics of her nuanced music, all tied up with an irrepressible energy and a sense of irreducible concision no matter how expansive the time frame, of taking all the time in the world to say everything that needs to be said in any given piece, but not a second more than that! “ Chi is based on the Chinese concept of life force. There was plenty of life force running through this concise work, which engaged.

Spektral played it with obvious affection, and Chi said a lot in less than 15 minutes. I’d welcome the chance to hear it again, as well as more from Thomas.” — Mr. Leslie Gerber, The Boston Musical Intelligencer“Thomas has produced a body of work that speaks to our hearts as well as our minds, and that constantly surprises and delights in its range, its beauty, and its magic.” — Jeremy Glazier, La Tempestad“the breadth of output here shows what I have been missing. This disc makes an excellent introduction to the music of Augusta Read Thomas, as it not only introduces the listener to the different aspects of her compositional style for different sized ensembles, but it also presents the works so well too, with each work being given a first-rate performance. The recorded sound is very good as are the booklet notes, if you haven’t heard her music this is a fine place to start, or to add to your collection of the music of this vibrant and engaging composer.” — Stuart Sillitoe, MusicWeb International.

'Scintillating and evocative.a luminous apotheosis.one can only await volume 2 of this series with impatience.' — Richard Whitehouse, Gramophone Magazine, March 2014' (The CD is also the Editor's Choice disk for the April 2014 issue of the magazine.)'Step forward a comparatively young composer writing today in a dissonant and provocative way. Augusta Read Thomas.has not been short of A-List proponents. Aureole for orchestra is.wrapped in provocative rhythms and colours. It's all very lucidly orchestrated. Words of the Sea for orchestra lets us hear a live concert performance.

This is virtuoso stuff. Carillon Sky for solo violin and chamber ensemble revels once again in a luxuriant web of dissonance and caprice. It's highly virtuoso writing redolent of Szymanowski and Dutilleux.

Terpsichore's Dream is for chamber orchestra, with more pattering percussion and silvery chiming filigree. Gritty dissonance carries the day but it's always cleanly scored.'

— Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International, 20 February 2014. A Portrait of Augusta Read Thomas is the latest release of works by Thomas from Nimbus Alliance and.' Bold, passionate, urgent — Augusta Read Thomas writes music that is wholly and completely alive.The first two volumes of this Augusta Read Thomas recording series focused on orchestral and chamber/piano music respectively, collecting performances by various ensembles. This third volume is something a bit different: a recording of a live 50th birthday concert presented by the New Haven (Connecticut) Symphony.' The collection includes live performances of Two E.E. Cummings Songs (with The Elm City Girls' Choir); the World Premiere recording of Hemke Concerto 'Prisms of Light' (with Frederick Hemke, saxophone); Prayer and Celebration; Absolute Ocean (with Tony Arnold, soprano, and Jenniery Hoult, harp); Silent Moon (with Katie Hyun, violin, and Mihai Marica, cello); Of Paradise and Light; and Spells (with The New York Virtuoso Singers). William Boughton conducts the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.

The first two volumes of this Augusta Read Thomas recording series focused on orchestral and chamber / piano music respectively, and the third volume was a recording of a live 50th birthday concert presented by the New Haven Symphony. This fourth volume has yet a different focus: music primarily featuring strings and almost exclusively performed by young musicians. Thomas wrote: 'If one were to shut one's eyes while listening to this CD, one should imagine a stage full of passionate young musicians. Two of these performances are even taken from live, unedited concert recordings (Juilliard and Tanglewood).

Thus this disc as a whole celebrates the skill and dedication of youthful musicians who play with utter commitment and flair.Includes Incantation, Passion Prayers, Spirit Musings (Violin Concerto No. Volume 1 of this series — devoted to Augusta Read Thomas's music — concentrated upon orchestral and concertante works, with the intention of giving the listener a sense of this composer's virtuosic command of large forces allied to a kaleidoscopic sense of colour and a formal fluidity which defies attempts at cut-and-dried analysis. Volume 2 (Wyastone Estate Limited NI 6261) also emphasizes the latter two attributes, but does so by shifting focus on music of a more intimate nature.

Six of the nine works gathered here are for various chamber combinations. The other three, which occupy the greater part of this CD's playing time, are solo piano works, and span the entire chronological range of this collection.Includes Starlight Ribbons, A Circle Around the Sun, Scat, Pilgrim Soul, Double Helix, Six Piano Etudes, Ring Flourish Blaze, Traces, and Toft Serenade. 'Augusta Read Thomas is a major figure in American music. The brilliant fanfare Ring, Flourish, Blaze is for thirteen brass instruments and three screaming, flutter-tonguing piccolos. An original and exciting sound. Listening to Pilgrim Soul. Is indeed something approaching a spiritual experience.'

— Gary Higginson, MusicWeb International'This disk is reaffirming the consistency as well as the versatility of her idiom. Throughout this programme, the performances are unfailingly responsive to Thomas's finely wrought and bracingly immediate language. Those who have acquired the earlier disc will need no prompting with its successor. Finely poised.underlying the composer's interest in jazz.eloquence intensified.vividly integrated.' — Richard Whitehouse, Gramophone Magazine, August 2014. Part of a major series of recordings of works by Augusta Read Thomas being released by Nimbus Records, this CD originates from a concert by musicians of the University of Illinois, which took place on December 9th 2014 in celebration of Thomas' 50th birthday.The works of Thomas gathered here cover a relatively short span in this composer's chronology — just 13 years from the earliest work ( Bells Ring Summer, from 2000) to the most recent (the song Twilight Butterfly, from 2013). Thomas the large-scale thinker is very much on display here, with two substantial orchestral works dominating the proceedings.

But Thomas the deft miniaturist is also present, with a brace of vocal and instrumental jeux d'esprit written either for specific occasions or as personal messages to friends and colleagues. If there is a larger theme to be gleaned from this grouping of apparent extremes from Thomas' output, it would surely be that for this of all living composers, music acts as the ultimate means of communication, be it in the shape of a ceremonial orchestral work such as Radiant Circles, or a surprise wedding gift such as Capricci.The largest work presented here is the gently meditative and brazenly celebratory Astral Canticle, for flute, violin and orchestra. It was premiered on June 1st 2006 by flutist Mathieu Dufour and violinist Robert Chen under Daniel Barenboim as part of his final concerts as the Chicago Symphony's Music Director. The work's two soloists are heard only very lightly supported, and their alternation with the fanfaresque sections which showcased the Chicago Symphony's legendary brass section imparts the work a 'call-and-response' quality. The music's harmonic environment moves seamlessly from the open diatonicism of the chant-like solo lines at the opening through dissonances which are bracing without ever being abrasive. Such harmonic flexibility seems to embody Thomas' own words: 'Old music deserves new music and new music needs old music.' Includes Plea for PeaceGIANTESS marks the second solo album of flutist Jennie Oh Brown.

A deeply personal project, this album is dedicated to her late grandmothers. Both grew up, raised families (at times as single mothers), and survived during a time when Korea was ravaged by war, oppression, and poverty.

This collection of works captures their spirits through stories of courage, wonder, faith, struggle, and loss.' Visionary composer Augusta Read Thomas’ work for flute and string quartet, Plea for Peace, was written to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the world’s first nuclear reactor, CP-1. Originally written as a vocalise (a wordless melody for voice), Thomas has created this version for alto flute. The constant interplay of tension and resolution is heightened by each perfectly nuanced and finely crafted phrase. This work is recorded together with Elizabeth Brausa Brathwaite and Cristina Buciu, violins, viola, and Paula Kosower, cello.' Includes Six Etudes for Piano and Eurythmy EtudesFour American composers, all pianists, all prizewinners at the height of their powers.

It is not surprising that the works collected here are idiomatic to the instrument and gratifying to play. Augusta Read Thomas explores the piano’s natural resonance and beauty. Wayne Peterson’s expressive, sweeping virtuosic lines reflect his past as a jazz pianist. Charles Wuorinen’s bracing rhythms leap across the instrument in a modernist romp that echoes the wit and humor of his opera. Eric Moe’s Afro-bebop encore rounds out the program. Release Date: September 23, 2017In their sophomore album, Open Book, Chicago-based women's vocal ensemble La Caccina 'sings the unsingable,' choosing texts that reflect the clamor and vulnerability of our innermost thoughts.

Open Book contains the world-premier recording of Augusta Read Thomas's 'Roses,' as well as works by other contemporary composers. The eight women of La Caccina bring their characteristic 'elegant, bold, inspiring, and centered' sound to Open Book. This album was funded by a grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Includes Ritual Incantations by Augusta Read Thomas.Composed in 1999 in response to a commission by Thomas van Straaten, Ritual Incantations was introduced by David Finckel and the Aspen Music Festival Chamber Orchestra under Hugh Wolff the same year. The three movement score gives directions to orchestra, soloist, and conductor all of which reflect the images that define the spiritual world that Thomas seeks to convey in her music:I: Majestic; driving and persistent; cantabileII: Mysterious and expansive; longing; yearningIII: Spirited; passionate, bold and lyricalIn Ritual Incantations Finckel offers the ingredients of vitality, passion and sense of risk. This all adds up to an enthralling performance throughout the score’s “musical landscapes.” Well supported by conductor and orchestra, his playing is both brilliant and dedicated.

I especially enjoy Finckel’s performance of the central movement where the “Mysterious and expansive; longing; yearning” imagery is evocatively portrayed and delivered with unyielding concentration.Michael Cookson. But the real gem of this disc is Augusta Read Thomas’ EOS. Thomas understands the instruments of the orchestra like few of today’s composers do. EOS is an excellent example of her orchestration talents; it’s brilliantly written and each instrument and section is seamlessly integrated into the textural and musical fabric. The score is vibrant, dynamic and rhythmically thrilling. It’s a well conceived and executed work that probes and explores the thematic material fully. It has depth, substance and is filled with real emotion.

— Edward Reichel, Salt Lake City Magazine April 20, 2016'Debussy’s Jeux may spring to mind, but the sparse transparency of Thomas’ palette in EOS edges closer to a metallic Copland. Resonant percussion enhances a mostly heterophonic score evoking various facets of Greek mythology. Thomas fulfills her goal to create a score that is “always luminous,” and the clarity of her vision presents the orchestra in full exposure, with nowhere to hide. The depth of the Utah Symphony’s talents, vigorously organized by Thierry Fischer, are on fine display through the work(and) the timbres of Thomas’ work clearly evoke a world of ethereal mythology.' — Marcus Karl Maroney, The Classical Music Network, April 7, 2016Grammy-winning Read Thomas, whose Eos celebrates the Goddesses and nymphs of Greek mythology, is content to let the yin side of her personality emerge as her creation dances through your listening room. The opening of the ballet is luminous, the sounds of darting rain wonderfully effective, and the kinetic effects most gratifying.

Eos.will surely find a home in the hearts of listeners who prefer to dream without being awakened with a bang.Prediction: The visionary new music, system-testing percussion, and virtual rainbow of colors that distinguish Dust to Dawn, the latest hybrid SACD in Reference Recordings' Fresh! Series, guarantee that it will become a hit among music-loving audiophiles who dare play tracks beyond 3 minutes in length.

The inventive genius that courses through the recording's three compositions—Control (Five Landscapes for Orchestra) by Nico Muhly, 34; Switch by Andrew Norman, 37; and Eos (Goddess of the Dawn), a ballet for orchestra by Augusta Read Thomas, 52—is, in and of itself, enrapturing, formidable, and breathtaking. But when combined with the spectacular coloristic and percussive effects captured by the Soundmirror engineering team, you have a recording virtually certain to earn Dust to Dawn at least one Grammy nomination and countless airings at audio demos. — Jason Victor Serinus, Stereophile Magazine April 9, 2016. “DREAM CATCHER for solo viola is a burst of expressive ideas.

Rodland shapes the piece with vibrant fluency, tracing its surprising flights as if they were cogent ideas popping into her head.” — Donald Rosenberg, Gramophone June 2016“The title (Dream Catcher) is carefully chosen; although the music is rigorously structured, the composer likes it to imply a “captured improvisation”, as she puts it. The performance here is by the solo viola version dedicatee and is heard in a most eloquent account. Rodland does indeed find the intended spontaneity; yet the fact that the work extends over nine minutes and yet is so eminently satisfying a musical experience underlines the musico-organizational activities behind it all. A remarkable disc that holds many treasures.” — Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine. Augusta Read Thomas' Resounding Earth is a work for written for the intrepid Third Coast Percussion ensemble, exploring the meditative and profound sound world of bells. An instrument that has figured prominently in Thomas' ensemble music, bells have a broad set of associations and functions in world cultures, and this piece reverently explores that range.

The composer writes, 'the piece is conceived as a cultural statement celebrating interdependence and commonality across all cultures; and as a musical statement celebrating the extraordinary beauty and diversity of expression inherent in these incredible objects.' This recording is being released as a two cd set, one an audio recording and the other a high definition video recording of Third Coast's poised performance, expertly filmed and edited by percussionist/video artist Ross Karre.' We consider this New Focus Records album to be representative of deeply important collaborations — between Third Coast Percussion and August Read Thomas, who has been a generous musical collaborator and a brilliant champion of our ensemble, and between Third Coast and the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. The DeBartolo Center provided the leadership and support that allowed for our work with Augusta to really flourish. We are so delighted that New Focus Records is helping us share this work with the larger public,' says Third Coast Percussion founding member David Skidmore.Written in 2012, Resounding Earth is the culmination of an ongoing fascination Ms. Thomas has with bells; both with their extraordinary resonant qualities, and with their ritual roles in diverse cultures across the globe. Scored for nearly three hundred unique bells, the composition of the work, and the selection of the specific bells used in the recording, was completed in close collaboration between Ms. Thomas and Third Coast.Resounding Earth was commissioned by the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, with additional funding from the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by The Andrew W.

Mellon Foundation, and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund. 'The decay of a bell ring can be mapped linearly, but the resonance of struck metal contains in it an element of eternity, floating away rather than being extinguished.

Augusta Read Thomas's new four-movement commission for Third Coast Percussion, Resounding Earth, embraces the spiritual connotations of these instruments with titles 'Invocation,' 'Prayer,' 'Mantra' and 'Reverie Carillon.' The exuberant trades and dueting of the opening 'Invocation' lift skyward as though each bell were tethered to a helium balloon. The dynamic range on display throughout the album further magnifies the elysian quality of Thomas's writing, and Third Coast's performance is as synchronous as it is dramatically fertile. Toss out those Deepak Chopra guided meditations cassettes and find a true state of bliss (with 100% less synthesizer) in Resounding Earth.'

— Doyle Armbrust, Time Out Chicago (Best of 2013: The top 10 classical and new-music albums of the year). Founded in 1988, the New York Virtuoso Singers are celebrating a quarter century of music-making by commissioning and performing works by over two dozen of today's most celebrated composers, including Spells, for SATB chorus, by Augusta Read Thomas — her elegy for Elliott Carter.

Under conductor Harold Rosenbaum, the Virtuoso Singers have always been friends of contemporary music, but with this latest project, they've created — all at once — a little repertoire of important contemporary choral works.Spells had its first performance on 3 March 2013, at Merkin Hall. 'Augusta Read Thomas's two solo viola pieces, PULSAR and INCANTATION, operate on a mesmerizing plane anchored in a Bachian sense of line and structure, and bombarded with echoes and reflections.' — Laurence Vittes, Gramophone'One of the bonuses in this collection is the inclusion of the two brief wonderful works for solo viola by Augusta Read Thomas. I am very familiar with much of her work and she is a talented composer with a unique voice. Incantation is a very plaintive sounding work.

Pulsar is characterized by long melodic lines interspersed with short urgent bursts. Much of Thomas' music is fully and precisely notated but sounds very spontaneous, almost like it is being improvised. Like most of her music there is a beauty but also some obvious technical prowess that the performer must master. Carol Rodland.a sensitive master of her instrument and her passion for these pieces shows in these performances.'

— Daniel Coombs, Audiophile Audition. Jennifer Koh features Augusta Read Thomas's PULSAR on her Cedille release, 'Rhapsodic Musings: 21st Century Works for Solo Violin.' This 5:33 work takes its name from a kind of neutron star that spins rapidly, pushing out regular pulses of radiation. Marked 'Passionate, intense, driving,' the composition is accordingly packed with energy, much of it fortissimo. This is a piece, one might say, in which the violin discovers its inner trumpet.

Also included on this recording are pieces by Elliott Carter, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and John Zorn (Cedille Records CDR 90000 113). The Walden Chamber Players are current and former members of prestigious musical organizations such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Artistic Director Christof Huebner is a member and current Artistic Director of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Members of the ensemble perform at leading festivals throughout the United States and abroad.This recording, 'Sun Threads,' was funded in part through a grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc. The CD contains premiere recordings of:A Circle Around the Sun for piano trio (2000) 5:01Sun Threads for string quartet (1999-2002) 29:47Toft Serenade for violin and piano (2006) 7:54Scat for oboe, string trio, and piano (2007) 6:18Silent Moon for violin and viola (2006) 9:00Moon Jig for piano trio (2005) 5:07. A world premiere recording, conducted by Cliff Colnot, of Augusta Read Thomas' TERPSICHORE'S DREAM for chamber orchestra (2007), as performed by members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago based freelance musicians, Robert Chen, concertmaster. This is Thomas's fifth self-produced recording on her ARTCD label.Edward Reichel of the Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah) writes, ' Terpsichore's Dream is an evocative, atmospheric piece that is filled with subtle lyricism and rhythmic vitality. It's the kind of piece that appeals to both musicians, because it spotlights them individually and sectionally, and to audiences, because of its irresistible infectiousness. Colnot and his players give a fabulous reading that captures the vibrancy of the music. Their playing is articulate and their execution is immaculate.

Une Aventure French

And throughout they bring a luminous expressiveness to the performance.' Augusta Read Thomas's LIGHT THE FIRST LIGHT OF EVENING, written for Oliver Knussen, is one of thirteen works by contemporary composers on 'Snapshots,' on the London Sinfonietta label (SINF CD1-2004).

'Snapshots' is the recording of the Royal Festival Hall fiftieth birthday tribute to Knussen, and each of thirteen compositions features was composed as a birthday present for him. George Benjamin conducts the London Sinfonietta. LIGHT THE FIRST LIGHT OF EVENING is composed for orchestra, and this recording represents the world premiere. A new CD of thirteen chamber works by Augusta Read Thomas, Prairie Sketches, conducted by Cliff Colnot and performed by the Callisto Ensemble plus guests, is available from Amazon.com.

Works included are Rumi Settings, Piano Etudes, Incantation, Bubble: Rainbow (Spirit Level), Bells Ring Summer, Pulsar, Chant, and Prairie Sketches I.John von Rhein, music critic of the The Chicago Tribune, wrote on January 11 2005 'When writing for voice and instruments, Thomas is particularly drawn to texts that resonate with spiritual wonderment and suggest intriguing possibilities of color and texture. Thomas's setting, like the poem, mirrors the shifting light over a windswept Kansas prairie from dawn to dusk to late evening. Winds, strings and harp build rich, resonant chords in the opening stanzas, bathed by the brilliance of the solo soprano lines.

A mystical choral refrain, 'My Soul, breathe deep,' amplifies the image of tall green grasses reaching 'to embrace silken sunlight.' When the poetic imagery grows denser, so does the solo soprano part. Indeed, the vocal lines take on a bounding, filigreed energy that propels them high above a luminous field of instrumental activity punctuated by the bright metallic clangor of crotales and temple bells representing twinkling stars.' On the same day, Wynne Delacoma of The Chicago Sun-Times wrote 'Like all of Thomas' compositions, Prairie Sketches explodes with color. Few composers have as keen an ear for the expressive possibilities in a cello's deep, dark rumble, a clarinet's smoky velvet or the clarion authority of a single, plucked harp string. In Thomas' music, poet Zimmerman's vast Kansas prairie was a joyful place of endless possibility.'

Writing in the New York Times 'Arts & Leisure' section in December 2006, Steve Smith enthuses, ' In Prairie Sketches I, which includes harp and a chorus of three female voices, Ms. Thomas revels in the poet Suzann Zimmerman's paean to a sweeping Kansas landscape with music by turns radiant and ethereal.' Augusta Read Thomas's SPIRIT MUSINGS was performed by the Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center as part of Tanglewood's 2003 season, and part of it is featured on the new recording, Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood — A 10th Anniversary Celebration.

Commissioned by Thomas van Straaten, this work for violin and chamber orchestra has a duration of eleven minutes. Movements II and III are represented here.Of Spirit Musings, Seth Brodsky writes in the All Music Guide, 'its opening violin line, spidery and liquid, gradually enlists and entangles the entire ensemble in a volatile venture of expansion and contraction, elastic and intensely lyrical. The work's sound is also characteristic of Thomas' music: a swirl of thirds, sixths, and tritones envelopes the ensemble in the most radiant tintinnabulation, betraying Thomas' devotion to French music (Debussy, Messiaen, Boulez), but also to the great contrapuntalists (Bach and Byrd).

But in their 'finite infinity,' the concise, intimate breath of her gestures confess great sympathy with Mahler and her favorite poet, Emily Dickinson.' Augusta Read Thomas's CHANT (1990, rev. 2002), here in its premiere recording, is 'sober and ecstatic at once. It begins with the solo cello, keening in a spare song in long arcs. The piano, while always an equal partner to the cello, above all offers punctuation, interjections, and outbursts that underpin and motivate the cello part.' This work joins others by Richard Wernick, Robert Helps, and Elliott Carter, on 'Sound Vessels,' duos for cello and piano performed by Scott Kluksdahl on cello and Noreen Cassidy-Polera on piano. Augusta Read Thomas is featured twice on Blooming Sounds (Works for Unaccompanied Violin).

Her 2003 work, Pulsar, was commissioned by the BBC jointly with the Royal Philharmonic Society, and first performed by Ilya Gringolts in London. Incantation dates from 1995, and was premiered by Catherine Tait. Both works are presented here in their world premiere recordings. The album's other eight tracks include late twentieth century works by Sharafyan, Khoudoyan, Segerstam, Felder, as well as Hindemith's Sonata Op. 2 (Albany Records, TROY810).

The new CD of works by Augusta Read Thomas, '.Words of the Sea.,' is available from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra store and Amazon.com. Conducted by Pierre Boulez and featuring the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, '.Words of the Sea.' Contains the seventeen minute title work, which was premiered by the CSO in December 1, 1996, and In My Sky at Twilight,' a 19-minute work featuring soprano Christine Brandes and premiered in December 2002 by the CSO's MusicNOW Ensemble. In June 2006, Augusta Read Thomas re-released this CD, adding to it Carillon Sky for solo violin and 14 players, with Oliver Knussen conducting, Baird Dodge as violin soloist, and the CSO's MusicNOW Ensemble.Of 'In My Sky at Twilight,' The New Yorker's Russell Platt said 'Thomas, a prodigious talent, is the most accessible ambassador of the new modernism, and the piece, a fierce and jagged take on the love poetry of Sappho, Neruda, and Flaubert, among others, shines with passion and color.' And Joshua Rosenblum said in an Opera News review, 'Is it worth going online and paying eleven bucks to hear nineteen minutes of music for voice and chamber orchestra by Augusta Read Thomas?

Words of the Sea and In My Sky at Twilight are two of Thomas's seven orchestral compositions for the CSO, and part of an impressive list of works for the world's premier orchestras that includes Ceremonial for Daniel Barenboim and the CSO, and Aurora for Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic.The four-movement Words of the Sea, was inspired by the Wallace Stevens 1934 poem 'The Idea of Order at Key West,' which contrasts the artless, natural power of a raging ocean with the notion of a voice in song. Each movement bears a subtitle taken from the poem: I.words of the sea.; II.the ever-hooded, tragic-gestured sea.; III.beyond the genius of the sea.; IV.mountainous atmospheres of sky and sea. (homage to Debussy).

Seth Brodsky says in the liner notes, 'As much as anything, the 17 loaded minutes of Words of the Sea constitute a wildly active barometer which, in Thomas's characteristically euphoric mode, records the rare climate of Stevens's poem.' Words of the Sea, commissioned by the Ernst and Young Emerging Composers Fund of the CSO, was the beginning of an eight-year working relationship between Thomas and Pierre Boulez.Donald Rosenberg of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said, 'Words of the Sea is a vibrant series of aquatic images that had no difficulty standing alongside favorite pieces by Barber and Prokofiev. Words of the Sea is a healthy example of a work from a composer who is smitten with the chameleonlike qualities of the orchestra and knows how to exploit its myriad facets.' And John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune said, 'Thomas' music, particularly her orchestral music, fairly explodes with an extroverted boldness of utterance audiences and musicians alike find challenging yet immediate. It's music that doesn't sound like anybody else's — music that insists you pay attention.' 'Colors of Love,' the album by Chanticleer, won a Grammy Award at the February 2000 ceremony in Los Angeles for 'Best Recording by a Small Ensemble, with or without conductor.'

This recording of all contemporary music, featuring works by Augusta Read Thomas, Steven Stucky, John Tavener, Bernard Rands, Zhou Long, Chen Yi, and Steven Sametz, is available on Teldec (#3984-24570-2) from your favorite record retailer.Commissioned by renowned choral group Chanticleer, Augusta Read Thomas composed THE RUB OF LOVE, 'a short madrigal that is virtuosic and comical,' and LOVE SONGS, an 'extended experiment in choral texture,' for the album COLORS OF LOVE. Augusta Read Thomas's SPRING SONG has prominent placement on CRI's LINES FOR SOLO CELLO, featuring performances by cellist Scott Kluksdahl.' SPRING SONG resulted from a previous collaboration with Kluksdahl, who presented west coast premiere performances of (Thomas's) cello concerto VIGIL.

The performance so inspired her that she asked him if she could write a solo work, and he eagerly accepted. The work is like the gradual descent of a bird from the heights of flight to gravity-bound earth, starting in the cello's upper register and gradually covering the entire range of the instrument. It moves from a pure monophonic line to denser textures with double stops, at the same time incorporating progressively more tonal gestures (including a series of triumphant-sounding major sixth double-stops that first appear about two minutes in, and return near the conclusion). Augusta Read Thomas's ANGEL SHADOWS, commissioned and premiered by Laurel Ann Maurer at Carnegie Hall, is the title work on this anthology of American flute music. Along with the world premiere recording of ANGEL SHADOWS, this album contains world premiere recordings of works by Thom Ritter George, Meyer Kupferman, and Dana Paul Perna, as well as performances of Walter Piston's and Lowell Liebermann's Sonatas for Flute and Piano. The recording is in the 4-Tay catalog (4-Tay #4006). This work has been withdrawn from the composer's catalog, and is no longer available.

Augusta Read Thomas's ANGEL SHADOWS, commissioned and premiered by Laurel Ann Maurer at Carnegie Hall, is the title work on this anthology of American flute music. Along with the world premiere recording of ANGEL SHADOWS, this album contains world premiere recordings of works by Thom Ritter George, Meyer Kupferman, and Dana Paul Perna, as well as performances of Walter Piston's and Lowell Liebermann's Sonatas for Flute and Piano. The recording is in the 4-Tay catalog (4-Tay #4006). This work has been withdrawn from the composer's catalog, and is no longer available. Label: Orion EnsembleAugusta Read Thomas's ANGEL MUSINGS, here performed by its commissioning organization, The Orion Ensemble, is a chamber work in two movements. 'A densely packed composition, Angel Musings paints a cosmic picture of the transformation from darkness to light by exploring extremes of dynamics and textures. As Thomas suggests, the music could be taking place in the moment between death and rebirth.Collaborating in rehearsal with the Ensemble musicians, Augusta Read Thomas summed up Angel Musings as such: 'The loud, explosive, rhythmic chords bring forth the energy of star constellations above — particularly meaningful for a group called Orion.'

' (Recording produced by The Orion Ensemble, ). This work has been withdrawn from the composer's catalog, and is no longer available. Augusta Read Thomas's SONATA for solo trumpet is presented here on Terry Everson's CD, Parable, along with other trumpet works by such notable composers as Norman Dello Joio, Vincent Persichetti, Jan Krzywicki, Joseph Turrin, and Robert Suderberg. 'Fanfare and dramatic song, two musical gestures ideally suited to the trumpet, are combined under vibrant rhythmic and dynamic diversity to form the musical argument of Augusta Read Thomas' unaccompanied sonata. The work was completed in London while Thomas was pursuing postgraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music.'

. This work has been withdrawn from the composer's catalog, and is no longer available.