| Label: First Hand Records
Catalog: FHR13
Format: CD Gerard McChrystal, Craig Ogden, Shiroma de Silva, Smith Quartet, Codetta, Trinity Laban String Ensembleworks include Philip Glass Façades, Faure Les Berceaux, Bozza Aria, as well as original works by Billy Cowie, Karen Tanaka, Andy Scott and Michael McGlynn, etc. Gerard McChrystal is a multi-award winning saxophonist who has performed as a soloist in over 30 countries with many of the World's leading orchestras and ensembles.
This brilliantly devised CD is a deeply personal album. The music is always beautiful and captivating.
Aria has similar qualities to Officium. Featuring soprano and alto saxophone with a colourful array of different ensemble accompaniments -- string orchestra, choir, guitar, piano, solo, string quartet and electronics.
Baroque music blends seamlessly with contemporary; Handel resolves into Michael Nyman, Debussy's Syrinx morphs into Ravel's Piece en forme de habanera.
All the tracks lead to the next by key or by starting and ending on the same note. Other works include Philip Glass Façades, Faure Les Berceaux, Bozza Aria, as well as original works by Billy Cowie, Karen Tanaka, Andy Scott and Michael McGlynn.
Accompanying Gerard on this album are some of the UK's finest classical musicians including the Smith Quartet and the No. 1 best-selling classical artist, guitarist Craig Ogden.
"The magnificently sustained tone of the soloist, Gerard McChrystal was a treat..." (The Independent) "McChrystal has an enviably full and warm soprano saxophone tone, and his intonation is as secure as his gift for melodic phrasing is unfailing." (Gramophone Magazine)  Price: $28.98 |
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