Henry Brant Collection Vol. 3

Henry Brant Collection Vol. 3

Description: 
Trinity of Spheres; Litany of Tides; Wind, Water, Clouds & Fire
Composers: 
Henry Brant
Performers: 
Daniel Kobialka
Present Music
San Jose Symphony
Denver Symphony
Catalog Number: 
#410
Genre: 
experimental
new classical
Collection: 
spatial
anthology
orchestra
concerto
choral
Location: 

Milwaukee, WI

Price: 
$15.00
Release Date: 
Jan 17, 2006
Liner Notes: 
View
1 CD
The Henry Brant Collection, Vol. 3iTunes Artist's PageiTunes Album Page
Song TitleTimePrice
1.Wind, Water, Clouds and Fire35:08
2.Litany of Tides26:47
3.Trinity of Spheres11:29
One Sheet: 

Not just your everyday extraplanetary environmental oratorio.

When I am 90 I hope to write an “extraplanetary environmental oratorio” like “Wind, Water, Clouds & Fire” for Present Music. But I wouldn’t be the first to do so. Henry Brant of Santa Barbara got there first, setting pearls of wisdom from Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebooks to music for no less than four choirs and twenty-five instruments all spread around a cathedral in Milwaukee. Recording such an ineffable musical experience, like the other 100 of his spatial works, gives a tantalizing 2D glimpse into this other dimension, like a Viewmaster for the ears. 

This third installment of the Henry Brant Collection moves Brant’s name even higher up the list in the pantheon of American Experimentalists as Partch, Cage, Cowell, Ruggles or Harrison. 

Other gargantuan creations inhabit this world: works written for the San Jose and Denver symphonies with the agile Daniel Kobialka’s violin acrobatics, and sonorities as cool as their titles: “Litany of Tides,” and “Trinity of Spheres.” 

If Leonardo were around he would surely approve. Brant may not have invented the helicopter or painted any chapel ceilings but he has made equivalent musical leaps. One day the world will discover this. Stay tuned. 

Reviews: 

"...a feisty exchange of views...the result is a vibrant expression of Brant's fascination for the workings of the natural world, and of his concern for man's interference with what he describes as "basic planetary processes".

- Philip Clark, The Wire

As ever, Brant cooks up a wild brew... from angular modernism to Brahmsian warmth.

- Josh Mailman, American Record Guide