Composer Victoria Bond's Blue and Green Music released on Albany Records October 1
Album features world premiere recordings; highlights Bond's longstanding collaboration with the Cassatt String Quartet
Title track inspired by Georgia O'Keefe painting of same name
[Victoria Bond's works are] "powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding." — The New York Times
On October 1, 2022, composer Victoria Bond's new album, "Blue and Green Music" will be released on Albany Records (TROY 1905). The centerpiece of the album is the world premiere recording of Blue and Green Music, commissioned by the Cassatt Quartet through a Chamber Music America commissioning grant.
The title track was inspired by a Georgia O'Keeffe painting of the same name, which uses the two colors to create an abstract study in motion, color and form. Victoria Bond writes, "O’Keeffe said, 'Since I cannot sing, I paint.' Her painting is filled with music and it was my challenge to hear that music. I created two distinct motifs to express the two colors, and those motifs developed their own sense of direction and form. Just as O’Keeffe’s painting is suggestive rather than specific, my music is intended to evoke rather than describe."
The Cassatt Quartet is a longstanding collaborator with Ms. Bond, who has appeared as guest composer at The Cassatt's Seal Bay Music Festival twice. The quartet has performed Bond's Dreams of Flying numerous times on the concert stage, and the world premiere recording is included on this album.
Rounding out the album are songs performed by baritone Michael Kelly and pianist Bradley Moore. From an Antique Land is Bond's setting of poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Percy Shelley and Gerard Hopkin, each tied together by the theme of memory. Art and Science was inspired by a 1927 letter written by Albert Einstein. Bond says she discovered through this letter that Einstein valued art fully as much as he valued science, and drew a connection between them.
Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.
“The excellent Cassatt String Quartet” — Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
Blue and Green Music
String Quartets and Vocal Works by Victoria Bond
Cassatt String Quartet
Michael Kelly, baritone
Bradley Moore, piano
Albany Records (TROY 1905)
Release date: October 1, 2022
TRACKS
Blue and Green Music^ [15:35]
01 Blue and Green [06:08]
02 Green [02:03]
03 Blue [03:34]
04 Dancing Codes [03:49]
05 Art and Science* [08:28]
From an Antique Land* [28:04]
06 Recuerdo [05:32]
07 Ozymandius [07:04]
08 Spring and Fall [07:40]
09 On Hearing a Symphony of Beethoven [7:48]
Dreams of Flying^ [17:41]
10 Resisting Gravity [06:20]
11 Floating [01:40]
12 The Caged Bird Dreams of the Jungle [05:17]
13 Flight [04:24]
Total Time = 69:47
^Performed by the Cassatt String Quartet
*Performed by Michael Kelly, baritone & Bradley Moore, piano