M. Camargo Guarnieri: Libera Me (1957)

M. Camargo Guarnieri (1907-1993)

sopranos Regina Stroncek and Elissa Alvarez

alto Thea Lobo

organist Sam Nelson

M. Camargo Guarnieri (1907-1993) was a composer, conductor, and professor from São Paulo, Brazil. He was a direct descendent of Italian immigrants, and music played an important role in his family. He initially took piano lessons from his parents at a young age and wrote his first composition at the age of 10. Later he studied piano with Ernani Braga and composition with Lamberto Baldi. Through the mentorship of writer Mário de Andrade, Guarnieri regularly reflected on aesthetics, literature, and Brazilian culture, which influenced the Brazilian nationalistic style he is known for today. Guarnieri is recognized for his works throughout Brazil and internationally. He has written over 600 works, most prominently for piano, strings, and voice. Guarnieri directed the Coral Paulistano, and Orquestra Sinfônica da Universidade de São Paulo (OSUSP), and mentored generations of Brazilian composers. His choral works are known for their counterpoint, scalar motion, and chromaticism. Of his 54 works for choir, the majority are in manuscript form.

- Regina Stroncek

The digital Æolian organ in this recording was developed and provided by Pat Graham Crowe II: www.PatGrahamCrowe.com

Pauline Viardot: Le rêve de Jésus, VWV 1074 (1890)

Pauline Viardot (1821-1910)

soprano Elissa Alvarez

pianist Eunmi Ko

We are happy to celebrate the legacy of Pauline Viardot this summer as her 200th birthday approaches July 18th!

Though this composition first appeared in publication in 1890, it is not certain when it was originally written. Despite highest praise and regard, from fans and famed colleagues alike, Pauline Viardot never identified herself as primarily a composer. Born into a well-known musical family in Spain in 1821, Pauline Viardot emerged as a famous musician and performer in her own right by the age of seventeen when she made her operatic debut in Rossini's Otello. She studied composition with Anton Reicha and piano with Franz Liszt and ran in Parisian circles with Berlioz, Gounod, Meyerbeer, and Saint-Saëns, among others. With over 100 vocal works, Viardot's compositions varied greatly in style. She was an accomplished pianist and was known for her gifts as a great singing actress; these elements of pianistic and vocal drama are on display in "Le rêve de Jésus," with poetry by Stéphan Bordèse. The song, in which Jesus describes a premonition of his own persecution, expands to near scena proportions as the initial, gentle melody gives way to description of the terrifying dream itself. At the close of the nightmare, the original, sweet melody returns, an act of self-soothing for narrator and providing melancholic reflection for the listener.

Kathleen Dale: Dance in Spring (1920)

Kathleen Dale (née Richards) (1896-1984)

pianist Eunmi Ko

Kathleen Dale (née Richards) was a British composer and musicologist. She is probably most well known for her 1970 biography of Johannes Brahms, but she also wrote a number of stunning chamber compositions, often featuring piano, violins, and/or voice, none of which have previously been recorded. In 1921 she married composer and teacher Benjamin Dale, but outlived him by some 41 years. She is also recognized for her pioneering research into composer Dame Ethel Smyth. This is likely the first recording of one of her compositions.