The Promises of Darkness (1975)
ensemble of 11 players
Mistral (1985)
Chamber ensemble
Dionysus (1990)
Positings (2013)
for flute/piccolo, horn, violin, cello, piano/percussion, and computer-processed sound
Liner notes: Mathias Reumert & Roger Reynolds
Primary Artist(s): Hélène Navasse: flute. Natalie Harris: clarinet. Ignas Mažvila: bassoon. Ola Nilsson: horn. László Molnár: trumpet. Christian Larsen: trombone. Mads Hebsgaard Andersen: percussion. Kristoffer Hyldig: piano. Katrine Grarup Elbo: violin, John Ehde: cello. Anders Bjerregaard: bass.Joke Wijma & Thorbjørn Gram: horns. Ales Klancar & Laszlo Molnar: trumpets. Anders Østergaard Frandsen: trombone. Andre Jensen: bass trombone. Jonas Olsson: harpsichord. Kana Sugimura. Pau Codina Masferrer, cello. Karla Egebjærg Wulff & Thoralf Strandli Pedersen: contrabasses, Elaine Ruby: clarinet (alternating). Jakob Sandberg: bass trombone (alternating). Mathias Reumert: conductor, triangles, computer triggering
Label: Ekkozone
Release date: 7 March 2025
Date of recording: The Promises of Darkness, Dionysus & Positings 1-3 Nov. 2021; Mistral 4 May 2023
Recording: The Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen and KocertKirken, Copenhagen
Editing: Sebastian Vinther Olsen
Mastering: Josef Kucera
About:
The chamber work, The Promises of Darkness presents a sectionally diverse tribute to Reynolds’ mentor, Roberto Gerhard. It attempts to recognize and rethink his strategic interests and the deeply meaningful impact their inventive musicality has on listeners.
Mistral arose from a powerfully unsettling experience with that implacable wind the composer experienced while in Arles, where Van Gogh’s final paintings were made. The crystalline sky is represented by a harpsichord soloist, the climatic force by competing sextets of strings and brass.
Greek mythology offers the man-god Dionysus, at war with himself between savagery and seduction. This chamber work cross-fades instrumental sub-groups so as to manifest, intensify, and release tempo conflict. Trumpet and piccolo soloists contribute empathic commentary.
Positings requires a mixed instrumental quintet, computer algorhythms and spatialization. It constitutes a game where the ensemble posits a musical gesture and a computer musician summons the flexible power of algorhythms to generate its own versions. Finally, the ensemble overlays its own comments upon the computer’s.
