NEW Digital Download CD NOW AVAILABLE on (click on any of these names for link): Apple iTunes and Sony Connect. Coming soon on: MP3tunes, Liquid Digital Media, MSN Music, MusicNet, Napster, Rhapsody, Verizon Wireless, and many other download services! "Michael Kurek: Trio and Violin Concerto" -- Download the CD containing the complete four movement Piano Trio (the first movement can be downloaded for free on the home page of this site). Also on the CD, hear Michael Kurek's romantic Violin Concerto in a stunning chamber version with violin and piano, recorded at Zipper Hall in Los Angeles by violinist Kathryn Eberle and pianist John Blacklow. Full liner notes and samples may be found at Michael Kurek's CD Baby home page. You may also link to these sites and find more sound clips at the Michael Kurek MySpace site (click icon on the left).
Information about the "Michael Kurek" Compact Disc on New World Records:
The disc was released by New World Records (80497-1) in April 1996 and is available through Tower Records, Blockbuster Music, and most other major retailers. (If not in stock, they can order it quickly.) It can be ordered online from several sites (click on the bold type for the Kurek page at AMAZON.COM), also the web sites of CD Now, Tower Records, or New World Records (all of which offer on-line excerpts you can hear), or it may be legally downloaded for a fee as an MP3 file from several sites. The disc, produced by Michael Kurek, contains four of his compositions, totaling 70 minutes of music (details below). A review from Fanfare Magazine may be found in the "Reviews" area of this website. The disc appeared in four classical categories on the preliminary ballot of the 1997 Grammy Awards and was also nominated in the "Best Classical Album" category in the 1997 Nashville Music Awards.
This recording project was initiated by the American Academy of Arts and Letters ( New York ) when it awarded to Michael Kurek its 1994 "Academy Award in Music." Part of that cash award was designated as underwriting toward the recording of the recipient's music. The seal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters appears on the cover of the CD. Contact: American Academy of Arts and Letters, 633 West 155th St., New York , NY 10032-7599 ; Phone: (212) 368-5900; Fax: (212) 491-4615.
New World Records ( New York ) was founded in 1975 by the Rockefeller Foundation for the promotion and preservation of American music (including concert music and historic jazz). Works by Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, and Ned Rorem on the New World label have won Grammy Awards, and 16 other New World titles have garnered Grammy nominations. About 350 music libraries and universities subscribe to the New World series of releases. About 25 wholesale distributors service 3,000 record stores; international distribution includes over 25 foreign countries. Album cover art by Bob Defrin Design, Inc., New York ( Defrin is former head of art department for Atlantic Records, who now has an independent firm.) Contact: Director of Artists and Repertoire, New World Records, Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc., 16 Penn Plaza (481 Eighth Ave.), #835 , NY , NY 10001-1820 ; Phone (212) 290-1680; Fax (212) 290-1685.
Musicians appearing on the disc include the late Nashville Symphony Conductor Kenneth Schermerhorn , The Blair String Quartet and Blair Woodwind Quintet, and a variety of Nashville's musicians who not only perform symphonic and chamber music in Nashville but who have recorded commercially for recording artists from Elvis Presley to Reba McEntyre and many others. Recording venues included the historic RCA/ Javelina Studio A on Nashville 's famed Music Row. Engineers on the project, including Brent King and Hank Williams, are among the most respected in Nashville 's music industry. Liner notes by former New York Times writer Howard Klein highlight the cultural diversity of Michael Kurek's background and the unique climate of Nashville in which the CD was produced. Blair School of Music contact: Public Relations director, (615) 322-7656.
The score for Michael Kurek's String Quartet No. 2 , the first of four compositions on the disc, was chosen for inclusion in a 100-year "time capsule" buried April 27, 1997 at the Tennessee Bicentennial Mall (located near the State Capitol building in Nashville) in celebration of Tennessee's bicentennial year, 1996. This work received its official world premiere performance October 28, 1996 by the Blair String Quartet at the Blair School of Music in Nashville . The work consists of a single, 20-minute movement for two violins, viola, and cello. (Contact: Nashville Mayor's Office, Phone (615) 862- 6001; Blair String Quartet contact: Christian Teal, Phone (615) 322-7651). More recently, the work was performed by the University of Southern California 's Clarion String Quartet, both in California and in France during spring and summer of 2002.
The second work on the disc, Sonata for Viola and Harp , was performed by violist John Kochanowski (former Concord String Quartet member, current Blair String Quartet member) with distinguished Portuguese/American harpist Mario Falcao . The work consists of a single movement of around 13 minutes. It is published by Don Henry/International Music Service, 133 West 69th Street , NY , NY 10023 Phone (212) 580-9829. The work was premiered at the 27th National Conference of the American Harp Society in San Antonio , TX , June, 1990, and also performed at the 4th World Harp Congress in Paris , France , July, 1990, and a number of times since by several different performers worldwide. More recently, Kochanowski has commissioned and premiered Michael Kurek's new Sonata for Viola and Piano on April 19, 2002 (see Recent News page on this site).
The third work on the disc, Matisse Impressions , was composed on a commission from the Tennessee Music Teachers Association in connection with Michael Kurek's 1991 "Tennessee Composer of the Year" award from TMTA and has been performed extensively by the Blair Woodwind Quintet and several other quintets, with piano. It consists of two movements, totaling around 15 minutes, titled after paintings by Henri Matisse. The score is available from the composer.
The remaining work on the disc, Concerto for Harp and Orchestra (along with the Sonata for Viola and Harp) has been widely acknowledged as an important addition to the classical harp repertoire. The score has been published and internationally distributed in both full-orchestra and chamber editions for 11 instruments by Lyon & Healy Harps, Inc., the world's largest harp maker and publisher. It has been performed in the U.S. , Denmark , and Japan , including performances at the 1993 World Harp Congress in Copenhagen and the 1999 World Harp Congress in Prague by the Radio Prague Symphony Orchestra. The Nashville Symphony performed the concerto with renowned harpist Mario Falcao in September 1995. Falcao is the harpist on the CD as well. Publisher contact: Lyon & Healy Harps, Inc., 168 North Ogden Ave., Chicago IL 60607 Phone (312) 786-1881; Fax (312) 226-1502).
