LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

"The qualities I’ve praised in my prior reviews of Harbach’s music once again shine through in this release. Harbach is a composer whose works embody an arresting gift for melody, couched in unfailingly rich, shimmering, and transparent scoring. She strikes me as a composer with a decidedly life-affirming, optimistic approach. There is a beauty and uplifting energy that pervade her musical creations. Even in those moments in which she is depicting tragedy and pain, her music never becomes maudlin or bogged down by its own weight... I find that listening to Harbach’s music is a consistently engaging and fulfilling experience. The beautiful performances by the London PO under the direction of David Angus are captured in a rich and clear concert acoustic. The booklet includes detailed and informative liner notes (author uncredited). Recommended."

Ken Meltzer, Fanfare [September/October 2022]

"This is a fascinating, varied disc, with the London Philharmonic in top form and caught in a fabulous recording. This is volume six of Harbach’s orchestral music series on MSR; I’m sure there will be more, and for that we should be ever grateful."

Colin Clarke, Fanfare [September/October 2022]

"Harbach, always a skilled orchestrator, is particularly adept here in handling the balance within individual orchestral sections and between one full section and the next – and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under David Angus, in this work and throughout the CD, plays with refinement and a sure sense of style, pacing, and understanding of Harbach’s esthetic... each of the CDs [in the Harbach series on MSR] shows something different in Harbach’s compositional style, and each gives interested listeners a chance to hear some previously unrecorded material by a talented contemporary composer."

Mark J. Estren, InfoDad [June 2022]

"Barbara Harbach’s newest album, 'Orchestral Music VI: The Sound the Stars Make,' recorded for MSR Classics, contains some of today’s most beautiful contemporary music. Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under David Angus, it stands as a tribute to Harbach’s genius as a “neo-classic” composer. Beauty is very hard to find in our time, but it is celebrated here in ambulance by the players in the orchestra."

Joel C. Thompson, Cherry Grove Music Review [June 2022]

"The qualities I’ve praised in my prior reviews of Harbach’s music once again shine through in this release. Harbach is a composer whose works embody an arresting gift for melody, couched in unfailingly rich, shimmering, and transparent scoring. Harbach strikes me as a composer with a decidedly life-affirming, optimistic approach. There is a beauty and uplifting energy that pervade her musical creations... I find that listening to Harbach’s music is a consistently engaging and fulfilling experience. The beautiful performances by the London PO under the direction of David Angus are captured in a rich and clear concert acoustic. The booklet includes detailed and informative liner notes (author uncredited). Recommended."

Ken Meltzer, Fanfare [September/October 2022]

"This is a fascinating, varied disc, with the London Philharmonic in top form and caught in a fabulous recording. This is volume six of Harbach’s orchestral music series on MSR; I’m sure there will be more, and for that we should be ever grateful."

Colin Clarke, Fanfare [September/October 2022]

"MSR’s recorded sound is excellent; the performances are all that a composer might hope for, and the booklet is a great help for the listener new to Harbach. I don’t know if these recordings are leading to orchestral performances in America, but they should. Warmly recommended. Five stars: Lovely new orchestral music performed with devotion"

Henry Fogel, Fanfare [May/June 2022]

"Barbara Harbach's contributions to American music have been noteworthy."

All Music Guide

"dignified and instantly approachable orchestral works."

Records International

"Harbach’s music is in a class of its own and this is a CD which must not be missed at any cost.”

MusicWeb International

  Barbara Harbach has a large catalog of works, including symphonies, operas, works for string and chamber ensemble, choral anthems, ballet, musicals and film scores. She has also composed music for organ, harpsichord and piano and has arranged numerous Baroque works for brass and organ. A gifted performer as well, Harbach has toured extensively as both an organist and harpsichordist throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Her lively performances and recordings have captured the imagination of many American composers; the body of work written for and dedicated to her is substantial. Harbach is also heavily involved in the research, editing, publication and recording of manuscripts of 18th century keyboard composers, as well as historical and contemporary women composers. Also a prolific recording artist, Harbach can be heard on more than a dozen albums on MSR Classics, Naxos Records, Gasparo Records, Kingdom Records, Albany Records, Northeastern Records and Hester Park. Harbach, who serves as editor of the Women Arts Quarterly Journal, initiated Women in the Arts−St. Louis, a celebration of the achievements of women creators. More than 800 events by cultural organizations in the St. Louis region have provided audiences with new and historical examples of the work of women writers, composers and artists. In recognition of this, she received the Arts Education Award from the Missouri Arts Council, the Missouri Citizen for the Arts Award, the Yellow Rose Award from the Zonta International Club of St. Louis and the Faculty Excellence Award from the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Missouri St. Louis. The winner of numerous awards and honors, Harbach received the Hellenic Spirit Foundation Award, Grand Center Visionary Award for “Successful Working Artist,” Argus Foundation Award and YWCA Leader of Distinction Award in the Arts. She was recently named National Arts Associate Distinguished Member of the Buffalo Chapter of SAI, and one of the “30 Most Innovative Women Professors Alive Today”. Harbach is also the recipient of an honorary doctorate in music, Honoris Causa, from Wilmington College in Ohio for her achievements as a composer, performer, editor and publisher. Currently a Curators’ Distinguished Professor Emerita of Music at the University of Missouri−St. Louis, Harbach holds a Bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University, a Master’s degree from Yale University, a Konzertdiplom from the Musikhochschule of Frankfurt, Germany, and a Doctorate from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

Born in England, David Angus spent his early years in Belfast. He was a boy chorister at King’s College, Cambridge, under Sir David Willcocks, and read music at Surrey University where he specialized as a pianist. He finished his training with a Fellowship in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he won several prizes for his opera conducting. In the United States, Angus has appeared with the Utah Symphony and San Antonio Symphony, in Canada with the Calgary Philharmonic, and in the United Kingdom with many of their major orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Northern Sinfonia. He appears regularly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and London Mozart Players, both in concert and in the studio, and also conducts across Europe, particularly in Denmark and in Scandinavia, where he is a regular guest with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Angus is Music Director of Boston Lyric Opera and Honorary Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders, following several successful years there as Principal Conductor. He is heard frequently on BBC Radio 3 and on stations in Austria, Ireland, Holland, Denmark, Italy and Belgium. BARBARA HARBACH
VISIONS OF HILDEGARD
I. O vis eternitatis
II. O nobilissima viriditas
III. O ignee Spiritus

MISCHANCES OF LIFE
I. In the Cold, in the Deep, in the Dark
II. Away, Away. O Monstrous Choice
III. Misfortune’s Folly
IV. Dreams Among the Trees
V. Fly Low, Stay Out of Sight

THE SOUND THE STARS MAKE RUSHING THROUGH THE SKY
I. And Musing Awhile
II. Luna and Stella
III. Trail of Tears

ECLIPSIS LUNAE

SPAINDANGO – A TANGO CAPRICE
 

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Recorded 13-14 August 2019 at Henry Wood Hall, London, England. A Candlewood Digital high resolution Natural Presence™ recording: Produced, edited and mastered by Richard Price, Candlewood Digital LLC. Sound engineer: Mike Hatch, Floating Earth Ltd. Assistant engineer: Tom Lewington.



MSR Classics