Giantess Jennie Oh Brown, Carter Pann & Friends Innova 043 726708604325 Birds of Paradise – Shulamit Ran 1 I. Sparkling, energetic 4:04 2 II. With mystery and awe, slow and flexible 6:00 3 III. Brilliant, articulate, propulsive 4:38 Carter Pann, piano Melodies for Robert – Carter Pann 4 1. Sing 2:51 5 2. Listen 7:28 Kurt Fowler, cello Carter Pann, piano 6 Wish Sonatine – Valerie Coleman 12:49 Jennifer Parker Harley, recitation Daniel Paul Horn, piano 7 Amazing Grace – Misook Kim 7:56 Misook Kim, piano 8 Plea for Peace, transcribed for alto flute – Augusta Read Thomas 5:45 Elizabeth Brausa Brathwaite, Cristina Buciu, violins Amanda Grimm, viola Paula Kosower, cello 9 Giantess – Carter Pann 10:38 Carter Pann, piano 10 Double Espresso – Carter Pann 1:54 Carter Pann, piano Total: 64:06 Jennie Oh Brown, flute and alto flute This album is dedicated to my grandmothers, Kwak Sung-Sil and Yoon Chung-Suk. Photographed circa 1928 and 1962. The inspiration for this album came as I reminisced about the remarkable lives of my late grandmothers, Kwak Sung-Sil and Yoon Chung-Suk. These were two women who survived a time in Korean history when the country was ravaged by oppression, war, and poverty; Their strength of character sustained their families as they suffered through tremendous losses. These women loved deeply and always greeted me with joy, encouragement, humor, and affection. They watched the world change, especially as one grandmother’s life touched three centuries from 1899 – 2011. Their stories and struggles are echoed in the lives of many Korean women of their generation and are the foundations on which my generation stands. The brilliant works in this album reminded me of my grandmothers, as these composers shared profoundly human, soul-filled stories, whether expressing wonder, loss, faith, whimsy, or particularly the indomitable spirit of courage in Wish Sonatine. At the center of the album is Carter Pann’s Giantess, a heroic work that is relentless in its strength and resilience, yet filled with moments of beauty and tenderness.   THE MUSIC My decision to name this work “Birds of Paradise” (2014)was based entirely on the imagined vision of a fantastical bird of many bright and amazing colors and the ability to soar high and in different speeds, conjured up in my mind. My work intersperses music that is brilliant and energetic with the wondrous and songful. Its title notwithstanding, I did not set out to compose a “bird” piece — Messiaen's music, which I admire immensely, would seem to render such an effort quite unnecessary.  The title does allude, however, to the musical imagery that the music, as I was composing it, was evoking in my own mind, where shifting motion and brilliant color take center-stage. The work is structured in three movement-like sections that are played without breaks and that together form a fast-slow-fast shape, more a large ABC than true arch form. internally shaped in ways that allow for numerous detours into further contrasting terrains. — Shulamit Ran (Presser.com/composer/ran-shulamit) Melodies for Robert (2017) was commissioned by SDG Music Foundation as a celebration of the life of flutist Robert Vincent Jones (1920 – 2016).  The two movements of the work (I. Sing and II. Listen) explore the lyrical, colorful, and contemplative sides of these three instruments in concert together.   — Carter Pann (CarterPann.com) Valerie Coleman's first work for flute and piano, Wish Sonatine (2015) was inspired by a poem of the same name. Wish is a dramatic tone poem for flutist and pianist alike, depicting the “Middle Passage” in which Africans were trafficked across the Atlantic by tall ship to be sold into slavery. Coleman's 12-minute sonatine serves as a powerful recital work, expressive and with thrilling impact.  — Valerie Coleman (VColemanMusic.com) Wish The Rose of Toulouse Fred D'Aguiar I wish that those tall ships at Africa's shore Had dropped anchor to plant crops there; Sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, and coffee. Instead they filled the hungry bellies Of hulls with Africans and set sail Wanting nothing from that big place  That wasn't diamond, gold, ivory, flesh. I wind the clocks back and turn the ships Around, not a single bullet, whip, or cutlass. Sound to deafen our ears for centuries. No Atlantic road of bones from people Dumped into the sea to form a wake. The introduction of the flute part in “Amazing Grace for Flute and Piano” (2019) represents the Daegeum, a large bamboo transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. This long solo flute section intensifies the Daegeum’s distinctive sound; along with the soothing low notes, the piercing high notes, altered timbres caused by overblowing, slow yet wide vibrato and spit attack, there is also the almost eerily beautiful musical quality. The piece is derived from the hymn, “Amazing Grace” which is written using the pentatonic scale. The main motivic ideas from “Arirang” (a Korean folk song that is also based on the pentatonic scale) and “Amazing Grace” were utilized throughout the work. — Misook Kim (MisookKim.org) In Plea for Peace (2017), clean perfect intervals that begin and end the work give rise to both expansionist leaps and cocooning retractions. The soloist’s elegant, wordless vocalise weaves in and out of the string quartet’s sustained harmonies in graceful counterpoint, drawing us closer to our common humanity. Simple harmonies slowly transform, becoming rich and complex at the insistent, dramatic climax: a wordless scream from the soul. As the music’s opening glow returns, the alto flute seamlessly dovetailing with the strings, we return to the sonic space of meditation, reflecting on an absolute plea for lasting peace. (AugustaReadThomas.com) — Jennifer Iverson Giantess (2017) was commissioned by the Flute New Music Consortium, an organization comprised of many professional flutists throughout the United States. In this single-movement rhapsody, the flute presents a far-reaching melody against an incredibly robust piano part.  This melody seemingly never ends and explores the entire range of the flute at all times.  It is this quality of the melodic line that inspired the title of the work: the image of a gigantic performer who has the ability to make the flute expand in range, timbre and volume, breaking the bounds well beyond its humble size.  — Carter Pann Double Espresso (2017) was written as a gift to my flutist colleague Christina Jennings.  It is a short encore piece flung forward at break-neck speed for flute and piano.  The flutist zips through a multitude of unwinding ribbons in a frenzied, caffeinated state while the piano sizzles and crackles underneath. — Carter Pann Dan Nichols, Recording Engineer, Producer  Qi Yu and Mark Alletag, Assistant Engineers Edited, mixed and mastered at Aphorism Studios Innova Director: Philip Blackburn Operations Director: Chris Campbell Publicist: Tim Igel Innova is supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation. Artist: Caroline Oh Recorded at Northern Illinois University, May 2018 – June 2019 With all my gratitude: Stephen, Cameron, Nathan, Oliver, and Kevin Brown Hyun T. and Cecilia Oh Patrick Oh and Julia Kang Matt and Graeme Vanek Donald and Lynda Brown Heidi Ames Pann Bonita Boyd Walfrid and Sherry Kujala Peter McDowell Andrea DiOrio Kuang-Hao Huang Jonathon Kirk Jennifer Blyth Northern Illinois University Brannen Brothers Flutemakers, Inc. innova is the label of the American Composers Forum. © Jennie Oh Brown, 2019. All Rights Reserved. www.innova.mu | www.jenniebrownflute.com