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Five Minutes for Earth / Kondonassis
Azica Records

Five Minutes for Earth / Kondonassis

$18.99

Details

Composer
Various
Artist
Yolanda Kondonassis
Format
CD
Label
Azica Records
Released
Apr 01, 2022
Catalog #
ACD-71349
UPC
787867134924

About

Yolanda Kondonassis writes: FIVE MINUTES for Earth is a project that both celebrates our planet and illuminates our challenge to preserve it. In 2020, I asked each of the composers featured in this collection if they would consider contributing a work for solo harp of approximately five minutes in length that expresses a powerful experience inspired by Earth in one of its many conditions or atmospheres. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of immediate responses and set about assembling this labor-of-love project. The endeavor quickly expanded to include a live, multi-media concert, fifteen unique videos for each track, a separate published collection of Earth-inspired solos for younger harpists, and most importantly, the opportunity for harpists all over the world to perform these innovative, Earth-inspired works for solo harp by some of today’s most lauded composers; in doing so, every verified performance of any of the works from the FIVE MINUTES for Earth collection, anywhere in the world, will result in a monetary contribution to a recognized earth conservation organization, sponsored by my non-profit organization, Earth at Heart. FIVE MINUTES for Earth is also a metaphor for the urgent and compressed timeframe that remains for our global community to embrace and implement solutions to our fast-growing environmental crisis.” 

REVIEW:

In 2020 harpist Yolanda Kondonassis asked each of the composers featured in this collection to consider writing a short solo harp piece that expresses “a powerful experience inspired by Earth in one of its many conditions or atmospheres.” Needless to say, the musical results prove as diverse as the planet’s ecosystems.

Takuma Itoh’s new-agey Kohola Sings shows how one can imitate a humpback whale song on a harp. For Hear the Dust Blow, Michael Daugherty checks his customary dazzle at the door and channels Roy Harris in slow motion. On Hearing Nightbirds at Dusk showcases Aaron Jay Kernis’ textural sensitivity and harmonic refinement at their best.

Chen Yi’s Dark Mountains offers wild contrasts in texture and touch. Reena Esmail’s Inconvenient Wounds utilizes a wide array of evocative scraping effects, while the subtle microtonal writing throughout Keith Fitch’s “as Earth dreams” mesmerizes. Sparsely deployed melodies and murmuring repeated notes hold attention throughout Zhou Long’s Green.

Perhaps Stephen Hartke’s Fault Line is the collection’s most probing, dramatic, discreetly resourceful, and least formulaic work: a substantial conclusion to a beautifully engineered contemporary harp collection that offers something for every musical taste. Well worth hearing.

-- ClassicsToday.com

Tracklist 15 tracks

  1. 1 Kohola Sings (Humpback Whales) 05:15
    Track
    1
    Title
    Kohola Sings (Humpback Whales)
    Duration
    05:15
    Composer
    Takuma Itoh
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  2. 2 This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie: No. 5. Hear the Dust Blow (arr. for harp) 06:56
    Track
    2
    Title
    This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie: No. 5. Hear the Dust Blow (arr. for harp)
    Duration
    06:56
    Composer
    Michael Daugherty
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  3. 3 On Hearing Nightbirds at Dusk 04:03
    Track
    3
    Title
    On Hearing Nightbirds at Dusk
    Duration
    04:03
    Composer
    Aaron Jay Kernis
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  4. 4 Dark Mountains 03:01
    Track
    4
    Title
    Dark Mountains
    Duration
    03:01
    Composer
    Chen Yi
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  5. 5 Milonga para mi Tierra 05:21
    Track
    5
    Title
    Milonga para mi Tierra
    Duration
    05:21
    Composer
    Máximo Diego Pujol
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  6. 6 Inconvenient Wounds 06:49
    Track
    6
    Title
    Inconvenient Wounds
    Duration
    06:49
    Composer
    Reena Esmail
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  7. 7 Memory of Trees 03:20
    Track
    7
    Title
    Memory of Trees
    Duration
    03:20
    Composer
    Gary Schocker
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  8. 8 As Earth Dreams 06:46
    Track
    8
    Title
    As Earth Dreams
    Duration
    06:46
    Composer
    Keith Fitch
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  9. 9 Melting Point 01:50
    Track
    9
    Title
    Melting Point
    Duration
    01:50
    Composer
    Jocelyn C. Chambers
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  10. 10 The Demise of the Shepard Glacier 04:54
    Track
    10
    Title
    The Demise of the Shepard Glacier
    Duration
    04:54
    Composer
    Philip Maneval
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  11. 11 Time Lapse 03:17
    Track
    11
    Title
    Time Lapse
    Duration
    03:17
    Composer
    Patrick Harlin
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  12. 12 Green 08:19
    Track
    12
    Title
    Green
    Duration
    08:19
    Composer
    Long Zhou
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  13. 13 Earthview 05:54
    Track
    13
    Title
    Earthview
    Duration
    05:54
    Composer
    Nathaniel Heyder
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  14. 14 Meditation at Perkiomen Creek 05:52
    Track
    14
    Title
    Meditation at Perkiomen Creek
    Duration
    05:52
    Composer
    Daniel Dorff
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis
  15. 15 Fault Line 07:48
    Track
    15
    Title
    Fault Line
    Duration
    07:48
    Composer
    Stephen Hartke
    Performer
    Yolanda Kondonassis