We are delighted to share with you our debut album, The Wild Swans!
The music on this recording draws inspiration from all kinds of stories — novels, fairytales, Irish folklore, even spiritual texts.
The album’s title — The Wild Swans — is taken from a fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1838. The wonderful Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin used the Andersen story as the basis for her ballet The Wild Swans. The “Eliza Aria” comes from that enchanting work. In Andersen’s story, the main protagonist Eliza must save her eleven brothers, who have been turned into wild swans by an evil stepmother. It is by chance that we realized there were eleven swans in the story, and there are eleven women composers on our album: serendipitous!
We wanted to make our recording debut with music that is eclectic and filled with fantasy. The repertoire ranges over the centuries, from Hildegard Von Bingen’s hypnotic sounds from 1098, to the music of today: Kelly-Marie Murphy’s The Swan Parapraxis, a fabulous work composed especially for us, and Alexina Louie’s Beyond Time, a work of brilliance and virtuosity.
This is great music from our musical history, and great music that is becoming our musical history! Moreover, we are sharing works that we love and hold close to our hearts.
Sincerely,
Yolanda & Isabelle
credits
released November 7, 2019
The Wild Swans
1. Kala Ramnath - Aalap and Tarana
2. Lera Auerbach - 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano, op. 46: No. 5 in D Major (Allegro moderato)
3. Lera Auerbach - 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano, op. 46: No. 6 in B Minor (Allegro marcato)
4. Lera Auerbach - 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano, op. 46: No. 9 in E Major (Allegro)
5. Lera Auerbach - 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano, op. 46: No. 23 in F Major (Andante)
6. Lera Auerbach - 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano, op. 46: No. 14 in E-Flat Minor (Presto) & No. 15 in C-Sharp Major (Adagio sognando)
7. Elena Kats-Chernin - Bucharian Melody
8. Elena Kats-Chernin - Eliza Aria from Wild Swans Suite
9. Alexina Louie - Beyond Time: I. Celestial*
10. Alexina Louie - Beyond Time: II. Eternal*
11. Alexina Louie - Beyond Time: III. Perpetual*
12. Hildegard von Bingen - O Virtus Sapientiae**
13. Roxanna Panufnik - Down the Rabbit Hole
14. Lili Boulanger - Cortège
15. Jennifer Higdon - Echo Dash
16. Lili Boulanger - D’un matin de printemps
17. Elena Langer - Snow
18. Kelly-Marie Murphy - The Swan Parapraxis***
19. Pauline Viardot - Bohémienne
* Premiere recording / Première discographique
** Carmen Bruno, cello / violoncelle - Didem Basar, kanun - Nazih Borish, oud
*** Commission and premiere recording / Commande et première discographique - Carmen Bruno, cello / violoncelle
Credits/ Crédits
Producer / Productrice: Denise Ball
Recording, editing, mastering / Enregistrement, montage, matriçage: Doug Doctor
Collaborators / Collaborateurs: Didem Basar, Nazih Borish, Carmen Bruno
Photography / Photographies: Helen Tansey (duo), Fabio Jock (swans / cygnes)
Recorded at / Enregistré au: Isabel Bader Centre (Kingston, Ontario) December 2018 / Décembre 2018
Violin / Violon: Domenico Montagnana (1737 Venice / Venise)
Piano: CFX from Yamaha Canada Music Ltd / CFX de Yamaha Canada Musique Ltée
Yolanda and Isabelle first met at McGill University in 2008 and have been making music together ever since. They have
premiered works written for them by Canadian composers Michel Szczesniak and Richard Covey, as well as the Canadian premiere of Broad and Free by Pulitzer winner Caroline Shaw. Their recitals have aired on CBC Radio 2 as well as ICI Musique....more
A work of beautiful, pointillist guitar from Martyn Heyne, the moving songs on “Electric Intervals” are made of tiny pinpricks of sound. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 11, 2017
