Album Notes

“The rhythmically thoughtful works of Rain Worthington take ideas of American musical style to a new place – like a walk in a familiar, yet very different park.”
Kyle Gann, Chamber Music magazine

In composer, Charlemagne Palestine’s loft in an old spice warehouse where the pungent smells of oregano and thyme drift through the air, Rain Worthington sits at a Bösendorfer grand piano. A reel-to-reel tape recorder situated on the floor under the piano is turned on and Rain begins the first notes of a collection of dreamily evocative solo piano pieces.

This archival concert performance is contemplative and sensuous, mesmerizing and haunting – romanticism on the edge of minimalism.

In her composing career, Rain has transited through loft concerts in Tribeca, East Village avant music spaces, retro-chic dance clubs, and orchestra recordings in Europe. She performed solo piano concerts at composer Charlemagne Palestine’s loft, the Ear Inn, and the Kitchen. Her new music ensembles, Zone, and Hizohi, (co-directed by Jill Burton) played such avant-garde and legendary music clubs as 8BC, CBGBs, Roulette, PS122, and Tin Pan Alley, as well as, Danceteria and the Peppermint Lounge.

Her orchestra works, Yet Still Night and Shredding Glass, have been recorded for ERMMedia’s prestigious CD series, Masterworks of the New Era, Volumes 11 and 12. The SEM Ensemble Orchestra, conducted by Petr Kotik, premiered Still Motion and Yet Still Night. Her more recent piano music is being recorded by Max Lifchitz for a CD release on the North/South Consonance label.

World music, minimalism and romanticism have influenced Rain’s compositional style, as well as the rhythms of both urban and natural environments.

Rain’s music was the subject of an "American Composer" profile by Kyle Gann in Chamber Music magazine. In this and other articles, Mr. Gann has referenced her orchestra and chamber music to that of Ruth Crawford Seeger, Copland, Stravinsky and Debussy.