CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - University of Illinois musicians - faculty members and students - perform works by renowned composer Augusta Read Thomas on a new CD. The music on "Astral Canticle" was recorded in December 2014 in the Great Hall at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
The CD includes two symphonic works performed by the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra; a choral piece performed by the U. of I. Women's Glee Club; and several chamber music pieces featuring faculty members as soloists. The CD is the first recording of six of the nine compositions, all of which were written between 2000 and 2013.
Donald Schleicher, conductor of the U. of I. Symphony Orchestra, called Thomas the most important female composer today. Recording the pieces for Thomas was "thrilling," as well as a lot of pressure, he said.
"Her works have been performed and recorded by every single major orchestra in the world and important chamber musicians," Schleicher said. "It's putting us up there with all the major performers across the globe."
It was also a valuable experience for the students who play in the orchestra, he said. Professor of flute Jonathan Keeble agreed, saying the choice by Thomas to record her music with the U. of I. Symphony Orchestra speaks volumes about the quality of the Illinois music students and the expert guidance of Schleicher.
"What I really enjoyed was watching our students playing music by one of our generation's leading composers, and seeing the professionalism she brought to the entire recording process," Keeble said.
The CD's title piece, "Astral Canticle," is a double concerto for flute, violin and orchestra. It was commissioned and premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and it was a finalist for a 2007 Pulitzer Prize for music composition.
"It's a very fine and very important work," said Keeble, who performs as soloist on three pieces on the CD, including "Astral Canticle." "It's brilliantly orchestrated. The way Thomas writes for the orchestra, supporting the violin and flute, and allowing the two forces to interplay and stand out in their own ways is fantastically well done."
Keeble noted the compositions "are really rather difficult pieces. They are demanding and very precise in their writing. It was likely the most challenging music I've performed this year, but it was also one of the most fun and rewarding things I've embarked on, as well."
Yvonne Redman, a voice professor who sings a solo piece on the CD, said she was pleased to support a female classical composer in a field mostly dominated by men. Redman described the piece she sang - "Twilight Butterfly," the most recent composition on the recording, written in 2013 - as evocative and impressionistic.
"There's a soulfulness, a depth of emotion in her work. It's very collaborative, so that the pianist role was equally as important as the singer's role," Redman said, adding that she would turn toward the piano while singing "so our resonances would combine and create sort of an ethereal sound as we catch those vibrating resonances."
Thomas was at the recording sessions and communicated with Schleicher about details of the music daily while he was preparing for the concert.
"She was intimately involved in the entire project from the beginning," Schleicher said. "Most conductors conduct music written by composers who died many years ago. To be able to discuss it with a living composer is quite a luxury for a conductor."
Redman also described working with Thomas as "extremely collaborative. If you had an idea about something, she really welcomed your impressions of it. She is genuinely interested in what other artists bring to her art."
The "Astral Canticle" CD is available from Nimbus Records.