Album Notes

Modern Chamber Music Vol 2 - by Darian Stavans.

Natalie Warnke - Clarinet. Monique Olivier - Flute. Gabriel Pereira - Cello. Darian Stavans - Piano.

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"Success is found in freedom, not in the tangible expressions of success..."

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PRODUCT DESCRIPTION


Modern Chamber Music Vol. 2 is a second proposal of academic knowledge and Darian Stavans’ personal view of our modern times. This album compiles works for solo instruments like the piano in "Sonatina" and "Variations" and pieces for duets like the clarinet and piano in the six nocturnes written for this instrument combination. The album ends with a trio for flute, cello and piano, a piece with great emotional content and an exquisitely accomplished instrumental dialog. Once again, the conceptual language is academic, but as we listen we can count on the freshness of its musical nature.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS


A native of USA, Natalie Warnke received her musical training in Boston from Samuel Gardner and Eleanor Bridges.
Living today in Arizona, she has held a professorship at Arizona State University at Phoenix since 1992, and since 1994 has served as Clarinet Player at the Tucson Music Ensemble. International recognition was established in 1992 when she won the Arizona First Chamber Music Festival, and has grown through a recording career with two recordings. Natalie Warnke performs frequently in major international halls and concert festivals. She conducts master clarinet classes at the Arizona State University.

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A native of Italy, Monique Olivier received her musical training in Italy from Roberto Tulip and Donato Spori.
Living today in Mexico City, she has held a professorship at Mexico City School of Music since 1988, and since 1999 has served as Flute Player at the Mexico City Symphony Orchestra. International recognition was established in 1992 when she won the Houston Second Flute Music Contest, and has grown through a recording career with three recordings. Monique Olivier performs frequently in major international halls and concert festivals. She conducts master clarinet classes at the Mexico City School of Music.

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A native of Brazil, Gabriel Pereira received his musical training in Dallas Texas from Roger Williams and Natasha Misky.
Living today in New Mexico USA, he has held a professorship at the New Mexico University at Santa Fe since 1998, and since 2002 has served as Cello and Bass Player at the Albuquerque Music Ensemble. International recognition was established in 2000 when he won the New Mexico State Festival for the Arts, and has grown through a recording career with two recordings. Gabriel Pereira performs frequently in major international halls and concert festivals. He conducts master violoncello classes at the New Mexico University at Santa Fe.

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Evocative is a word that has been used to describe, or better said, react to the music of Darian Stavans. Evocative? One would imagine that such a music would bring to the mind and heart shared memories, but one does not necessarily share memories with an artist; one shares feelings, reflections, dreams. These are the things one finds in the music of Darian Stavans— a passage of sorts to that special place we all have deep in our souls.

The apparent simplicity of works such as Interiors, Passion, and Poetic is powerfully touching and intensely beautiful. Captivating melodies hold our attention as their notes drop ever deeper into the soul of the listener, retrieving echoes of the human experience we all share. Our lives may be different, but our feelings are not. Stavans’ music glides us soothingly into currents of profoundly romantic reverie, pools of sunlit serenity, and occasionally into the depths of fleeting melancholy.

Stavans, the composer, imbues his music with texture: a guitar lends its sometimes earthy, sometimes airy quality to Els Segons Temps; whereas a lighter, more translucent harp is used to render Lullabies. In making his music come alive, Stavans has also become a producer (he produced all the works featured here) and a conductor. He conducted and recorded the St. Angelis Symphony Orchestra for his works Noir et Blanc and Prayer.

Nonetheless, Darian Stavans is first and foremost a gifted composer and pianist. His music speaks his soul and in so doing, speaks to our own. Perhaps listening to his works we might become acquainted with the artist, but it would be more accurate to say, we become reacquainted with ourselves.

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