
ANTONIN
DVORAK
Piano Quintet
in A major, Op.81*
Quartet in E-flat, Op.51
Romance for Violin, Op.11**
ARRANGED
FOR WINDS
WINDSCAPE
TARA
HELEN O'CONNOR flute
RANDALL
ELLIS oboe
ALAN R. KAY clarinet
DAVID JOLLEY
horn
FRANK MORELLI
bassoon
JEREMY DENK* piano
DANIEL
PHILLIPS** violin
$14.95 ~ MS1175
"Once
you've heard the opening theme of the Quintet played by David Jolley's horn,
there's no going back. It captures the whole tenor of a Romantic century in a
handful of notes...these well-balanced tapes project Windscape, and also Denk's
piano in lifelike fashion...Philips plays the violin Romance beautifully, and
passionately. The Quintet interpretation is positive, dramatic, and involving in
its own right...these are vigorous, pioneering accounts. Great fun, stimulating,
and recommended."
Fanfare
~ March / April 2008
"Here
[David Jolley's] transcriptions are sensitive to all the nuances, dynamics, and
character of the originals. Windscape is a very versatile ensemble and performs
with the mindset of a string quartet. An exceptional ensemble like this one can
bring out nuance and character in the music that only the new instruments are
capable of. This is most certainly a recording you should add to your
collection."
American
Record Guide
~ March / April 2008
"This
is a remarkable recording of gorgeous music...[The Piano Quintet] is a
convincing transcription, skillfully achieving a fine balance, and with allk the
nuances captured in a truly masterful manner..."
The
Horn Call
~ February 2008
"A
trio of wise transformations can be heard on this new disc...Windscape proves
that the transference of string parts to winds can work beautifully in works by
the Czech composer. Jolley has paid such close attention to wind timbre as he
divides the [Quintet] material...that the music flows in all its emotional
generosity and vigor...[Jeremy Denk plays the piano part] with sensitivity to
phrasing, nuance and balance...[the Quartet] is deliniated with refined, loving
care. Daniel Phillips shapes phrases so poignantly in tandem with the winds'
elegance that the result is a performance of serene loveliness"
Gramophone
~ January 2008
"...
if you are interested in fine readings of great music regardless of genre, stick
around a bit and let me tell you about a really fine disc played to the hilt by
some sensational musicians...the transcriptions are very successful, inasmuch as
your attention is quickly led away from the fact that these are transcriptions
at all, and towards their intense musicality. There is more punch and vigor in
these pieces than in the string originals... these folks play with the requisite
style and swagger needed to successfully sell this music to us, and it works
well...sumptuous playing by Daniel Philips... if you are looking for a new take
on these pieces, or especially if you simply desire to hear some impeccable
musicianship, this is for you."
Audiophile
Audition
~ February 2008
"Windscape...plays
Dvorak's music with an unusual degree of sensitivity and insight, tapping into
all the emotion of the composer's chamber music without milking it too heavily,
as some are tempted to do. This is also a nicely chosen program, which includes
an arrangement for violin and wind quintet of Dvorak's Romance for Violin and
Orchestra, Op. 11. Recommended."
CD
HotList for Libraries
~ December 2007
"Featuring
lovely transcriptions of Dvorák's monumental Opus 81 Piano Quintet, his
melancholy String Quartet Opus 51, and his soulful Romance Opus 11, this disc
will be at once familiar and surprising to Dvorák fans. It is also on the short
list of the most beautiful recordings of Dvorák's chamber music for winds...The
players of Windscape are all first-rate soloists and equally adept ensemble
players, blending and balancing with an ease and musicality on par with the best
string quartets. Pianist Jeremy Denk and violinist Daniel Philips prove to be
superb partners as well. Produced, engineered, edited and mastered in utterly
natural sound by Richard Price, this disc is as good as it gets in the woodwind
world."
All Music Guide
~ October 2007
*
* *
Created in 1994 by five eminent woodwind soloists, WINDSCAPE has won a
unique
place for itself as a vibrant, ever-evolving group of musical individualists, an
"unquintet"
which has delighted audiences throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia.
Windscape's innovative programs and accompanying presentations are created to
take listeners on a musical and historical world tour, evoking through music and
engaging commentary vivid cultural landscapes of distant times and places.
As Artists-in-Residence at the Manhattan School of Music, the members of
Windscape are master teachers, imparting not only the secrets of instrumental
virtuosity, but also presenting a distinctive concert series, hailed for its
creative energy and musical curiosity. The series offers the perfect setting for
the ensemble to devise new--sometimes startling-programs, and experiment with
new arrangements and repertoire combinations. Popular programs which have
emerged from this process in recent seasons include "The Roaring
20's", "The Fabulous 50's", "The Young Titan:
Beethoven Comes to Vienna", and "East Meets West: The Music of Japan
and the Impressionists".
The 2006-2007 season takes them from coast to coast, with concerts in Portland,
Oregon and at Wolftrap in Vienna, Virginia. Past seasons include
performances at Carnegie Hall with the New York String Orchestra, at New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as recitals in Philadelphia, Madison,
Wisconsin, Charlottesville, Virginia and Reno, Nevada, in addition to other
cities around the United States. Recent highlights include their Kennedy Center
debut, tapings for NPR's "Performance Today" and Minnesota Public
Radio's "St. Paul Sunday", performance "Live From Glenn Gould
Studio" for CBC-Toronto, and a tour of New Zealand. Windscape has given
concerts and master classes in Boston, New York, San Francisco, College Park,
Des Moines, Omaha and Winter Park, Florida, among others. They have collaborated
with esteemed chamber musicians, including Eugene Istomin, Andre Michel Schub,
John Kimura Parker, Daniel Phillips and Anne Marie McDermott.
www.windscape5.com
Violinist Daniel Phillips enjoys a versatile career as an established
chamber musician, solo artist and teacher. Born into a musical family, Mr.
Phillips began violin studies at age four with his father Eugene Phillips, a
composer and former violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony. He continued
his professional training at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian and Sally
Thomas, and later worked with Sandor Vegh and George Neikrug. As a winner of the
Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1976, he performed recitals at
New York's Alice Tully Hall and the 92nd Street "Y" and has performed
as soloist with many leading symphony orchestra, including Pittsburgh,
Houston, New Jersey, Phoenix and San Antonio. He appears regularly at
the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto USA ,Chamber Music Northwest, Music
from Angel Fire, and the International Musicians Seminar in Cornwall, England.
He is a veteran of the Marlboro Music Festival and a past participant at the
Lockenhaus Kammermusikfest. He has toured and recorded with Gidon Kremer, Kim
Kashkashian and Yo-Yo Ma.
Daniel Phillips is a founding member of the Orion String Quartet,
which tours internationally. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center,
where they are the quartet-in-residence, presented the Orion in the complete
cycle of Beethoven string quartets in six free concerts as a new millennium gift
to New York City in May, 2000. Each concert honored a different childrens’
arts organization. Mr. Phillips is Professor of Violin at the Aaron Copland
School of Music of Queens College.
Pianist Jeremy Denk has built a reputation as one of today's most
compelling young artists, with a wide-ranging, challenging repertoire. A 1998
recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, he also won the 1997 Young Concert
Artists International Auditions. He made his debut with the Philadelphia
Orchestra in June 2005, and has appeared as soloist at the Ravinia
festival, with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Youth Symphony,
Philharmonia Orchestra in Royal Festival Hall and Juilliard Orchestra under
Kurt Masur in Avery Fisher Hall. His current performing repertoire ranges from
standard works to those of Messiaen, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Kirchner and Ives, and
he maintains working relationships with a number of living composers. Mr. Denk
is an avid chamber musician, and has collaborated with leading string quartets,
including the Borromeo, Brentano, Mirň, St. Lawrence, Shanghai and Vermeer. He
has appeared at numerous festivals, including those of Santa Fe, Seattle, and
the Spoleto Festivals in Italy and Charleston, and has spent several summers at
the Marlboro Music School in Vermont and been part of "Musicians from
Marlboro" national tours.
Jeremy Denk studied at the Oberlin Conservatory, and later earned a master's
degree in music from Indiana University as a pupil of György Sebök, and a
doctorate in piano performance from the Juilliard School, where he worked with
Herbert Stessin.