CD Flights of Passage Claude Baker

An Indiana University Jacobs School of Music "IUMusic" production . 'Flights of Passage' features chamber a collection of chamber music written by internationally celebrated composer and Jacobs School of Music faculty member Claude Baker over a period of 25 years. Baker utilized an international team of talented Jacobs’ alumni and current students to perform and record his work: pianists Timothy Best and Peter Henderson, percussionist Chris Martin, violinists Véronique Mathieu and Stanislav Pronin, violists Sheldon Person and Daniel Stewart, and cellist Alvin Wong. Also performing on the CD is the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, directed by chair of the Jacobs School’s composition department, David Dzubay. The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is pleased to announce the IUMusic label release of “Flights of Passage,” a collection of chamber music written by internationally celebrated composer and faculty member Claude Baker over a period of 25 years. A Class of 1956 Chancellor's Professor of Music, Baker utilized an international team of talented Jacobs’ alumni and current students to perform and record his work: pianists Timothy Best and Peter Henderson, percussionist Chris Martin, violinists Véronique Mathieu and Stanislav Pronin, violists Sheldon Person and Daniel Stewart, and cellist Alvin Wong. Also performing on the CD is the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, directed by chair of the Jacobs School’s composition department, David Dzubay. When creating the compilation, Baker drew inspiration from one of America's most beloved poets, Walt Whitman. The disc's title piece, “Flights of Passage” for solo piano, consists of four separate movements, each using as its programmatic basis a poem from “Leaves of Grass.” “Three Phantasy Pieces” for viola and percussion, commissioned by the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa, makes reference to three well-known compositions for viola by Brahms, Robert Schumann, and Berlioz. “Elegy” for solo violin was commissioned by Lewis Kaplan, violinist and director of the Aeolian Chamber Players. In the liner notes for the CD, Baker writes, “Although written in memory of a very dear friend, “Elegy” can also be viewed as an homage to Béla Bartók, whose ghost haunts every page of the score.” “Tableaux Funèbres” for piano and string quartet, commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Louisville in celebration of its 50th Anniversary, is dedicated to the memory of American composer Nelson Keyes. The work provides extended musical commentary on four haiku texts of rather dark imagery. The final piece on the CD, “Awaking the Winds” for chamber orchestra, is a composition in which Baker pursued a very different aesthetic direction from that taken in most of his compositions written before and since. In all of the previous works on the disc, musical borrowing and stylistic allusion play significant roles. “Awaking the Winds,” however, uses no conscious quotations whatsover, nor does it contain any extramusical or programmatic associations. Tracks 1-4: Flights of Passage 5-7: Three Phantasy Pieces 8: Elegy for Solo Violin 9-12: Tableaux Funèbres 13: Awakening the Winds for Chamber Orchestra “Tableaux Funèbres” for piano and string quartet, commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Louisville in celebration of its 50th Anniversary, is dedicated to the memory of American composer Nelson Keyes. The work provides extended musical commentary on four haiku texts of rather dark imagery. The final piece on the CD, “Awaking the Winds” for chamber orchestra, is a composition in which Baker pursued a very different aesthetic direction from that taken in most of his compositions written before and since. In all of the previous works on the disc, musical borrowing and stylistic allusion play significant roles. “Awaking the Winds,” however, uses no conscious quotations whatsover, nor does it contain any extramusical or programmatic associations.