This project began with a concert of my music in Prague in 2012, curated by American-born Prague-based pianist Patricia Goodson and featuring some of Prague's most respected musicians, including the Stamic Quartet, oboist Vilém Veverka, and Patricia on piano.
Subsequently, with funding from Creative New Zealand, my sextet for string quartet, oboe and piano, Shadows cross the water, was commissioned and premiered in the EuroArts Festival in Prague in 2014. With the prospect of two further performances in Berlin in 2016, one in the Czech Embassy and another in the Matthäus- Kirche, we decided to capitalize on the opportunity and record the pieces in Prague. The music was recorded in late 2016 and early 2017 by one of the best Czech audio engineers, Ondřej Urban.
This is an important album for me, containing several substantial pieces that are very close to my heart. The programme consists of eight pieces that span my compositional career, from Three improvisations for solo oboe (1963) to Shadows cross the water (2016). The recording features six outstanding musicians, artists who are sympathetic to my music and perform it brilliantly with authority and understanding.
Gillian Whitehead, October 2017
credits
released February 20, 2018
Stamic Quartet
Jindřich Pazdera (violin)
Vilém Veverka (oboe)
Patricia Goodson (piano)
Produced by Markéta Janáčková
Recorded by Ondřej Urban at Sound Studio HAMU, Prague
Design by UnkleFranc
Printing by Studio Q
Gillian Whitehead, Patricia Goodson, and Rattle Records extend their warmest thanks for the generous support of Fleur Adcock, Louise Beer, Jim Bramlett, John and Julie Cabaniss, Robert Carew and Scilla Askew, Rodney Edmondson, John Elmsly, Mary Ensor, Erika Fox, George R. Goodson Jr., Carol Grant, Franci Hibbert, Ivan Karhan, Yorke Lawson, Dr. John Mattern, Augusta Leigh McDonald, Cathie McGowan, Ann Speirs, Janet S. Thomson, and Chris Wilson. Special thanks to Mary Ensor and Marcela Jakubská.
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