Northern Arch/Arc du Nord

(Arktos 94 001 CD)

Patricia Armstrong, violin; Marnie Giesbrecht, organ; Dennis Prime, clarinets; Barbara Pritchard, piano; Tanya Prochazka, cello; Sylvia Shadick-Taylor, piano

Liner notes in English and French.

The Society’s very first (and Canada-Council-sponsored at that!), already classic CD recording. Featuring music by seven Albertan composers: the first CD ever devoted solely to the composers of this province!

“Sound is a call from the cosmos, an aural umbilical cord to reality. Music is nothing less than all the world is, and can be: pastoral, hysterical, grinding, cooing. We are accosted by music, cajoled by it, soothed, inspired and aroused. Northern Arch/Arc du Nord is a collection of work composed by artists living in Alberta; in fact, it is the first recording dedicated solely to featuring Alberta concert composers. You will hear, in Northern Arch/Arc du Nord, seven very different pieces, each a small window into a unique mind and spirit. Each piece offers a question, ventures a little further, exploring.” [From liner notes by Nora Abercrombie]

Allan Bell: Old Coyote’s Saturday Night for piano (1992) [07:52]

Violet Archer: Soliloquies for changing Bb and A clarinets (1982) [three movements, 14:13]

Ron Hannah: Five Preludes for organ (1979) [14:06]

Brent Lee: Maquette V for piano trio (1985) [03:59]

Reinhard von Berg: Christ ist Erstanden – organ prelude (1990) [04:07]

Piotr Grella-Możejko: aa69/coloratura for Dennis Prime, thirteen mini-pieces for basset-horn alone (1983/93) [11:41]

Robert Rosen: Meditation #6 “Return” for piano [11:08]

This production by the Edmonton Composers’ Concert Society offers a fine sample of Alberta music-making, reportedly the first recording devoted exclusively to music by composers from that province… the package is, overall, most attractive and the recording… is top notch.

Rick MacMillan, Classical Music Magazine, November 1994

Most of the contributors make great use of aural space such that the instruments are able to “breathe” in an atmosphere unhampered by any asphyxiating presence of majesty.

J. W. Booth, SEE Magazine, July 13-26, 1994

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