Stravinsky / Hartwick Faculty Wind Octet / Pease - Alone No More [CD]

The Hartwick Faculty Wind Octet and conductor Andrew Pease are proud to present "Stravinsky: Alone No More." This first-of-it's-kind recording takes Igor Stravinsky's seminal Octet for Winds (1923) as it's starting point, with it's Neo-Classical form and unique instrumentation (flute, clarinet, two bassoons, two trumpets, and two trombones). It adds four 21st century pieces, among the first to be written for that same colorful combination. Oliver Caplan's Krummholz Variations takes a theme on an emotional journey that Mozart might recognize. Chris Lamb's Chamber Symphony explores individual paradoxes using that most classical of multi-movement forms. Michael Markowski's Machiavelli's Conscience looks even further back, to Renaissance-era Italian writer (and evil genius?) Niccolò Machiavelli, dissecting his most troublesome ideas through music. JoAnne Harris's Dawn Chorus, commissioned expressly for this project, answers the question of what a sunrise sounds like from a rooftop in urban New Jersey. Stravinsky's Octet is now in good company.