Album Notes

Erling Wold's "unique, breathtaking, and thoroughly unflawed" (Progression Magazine) chamber opera, A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil, has been highly acclaimed. The San Francisco Chronicle writes that "what keeps it all together, finally, is Wold’s beautiful, moody score, a fluent succession of vivid dramatic strokes and gentle minimalist thrumming.” Progression Magazine finds that “the performers shine, the music provokes, the mind engages, and it gets a perfect rating.” And the San Francisco Bay Guardian comments that “Wold’s lovely score” provides “a beguiling evening.”

Reviewing this CD, the San Francisco Chronicle states, “EXCELLENT – Dexterously minimalist music... its eerie charms are nearly as potent on disc as they were on stage.”

Based on a Max Ernst 1930s surrealist novel which explores the world of religious ecstasy and erotic desire, Little Girl interweaves the events of a girl’s dream the night before she is about to enter a convent with a surrealist narrative about the circumstances surrounding the dream. This CD features conductor Deirdre McClure and a seven-piece ensemble of flute, clarinet, horn, percussion, piano, viola and cello in a widely celebrated production, which has played to sold-out audiences in the US and Europe.

One of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most dynamic composers, Wold has been hailed as “the Eric Satie of Berkeley surrealist/minimalist electro-artrock” by the Village Voice.