Paradigm Lost PRISM Quartet

• 1 Paradigm Lost 13:05
• 2 Fearful Symmetries (Excerpt) [Arr. T. McAllister] 03:03
• 3 Compass: I. W 06:20
• 4 Compass: II. N 04:18
• 5 Compass: III. S 06:24
• 6 Compass: IV. E 04:15
• 7 Prism (Memo 6b) 10:55
• 8 Not Alone 14:03
• 9 Squeeze 02:35
• Total Runtime 01:04:58

Info for Paradigm Lost

If it is possible for a group with over three decades of pioneering work to reintroduce itself, then that’s what Paradigm Lost does for the PRISM Quartet. After a string of important and boundary-busting releases on Innova, ECM, and many other labels, this collection firmly establishes PRISM’s own XAS label, and offers a kind of “State of the Union” address for the saxophone quartet.

The album title is also well-considered. If there ever was a paradigm for a saxophone quartet, PRISM has long since dispensed with it, through a radical re-examination of what the saxophone can do... and who it can do it with. The quartet has worked with choirs, chamber ensembles, jazz bands, and the weird and wild instrumentarium designed by Harry Partch. As it happens, the works on this album, whatever their origins, are simply for saxophone quartet, but they all come from a place of collaboration, with composers who reflect the musical and cultural diversity of 21st century America.

The six composers featured on Paradigm Lost represent the pinnacle of excellence in new American music. Between them, they have received virtually every major composition award and fellowship, including the Pulitzer Prize for Music, Grawemeyer Award, Rome Prize, Gram- my Award, Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, Charles Ives Living Award and Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, and commissions from the Fromm, Naumburg, and Koussevitzky foundations.

Paradigm Lost is the third release of PRISM’s label, XAS Records, founded to advance the Quartet’s mission to share extraordinary saxophone music with listeners around the world.

Paradigm Lost was made possible with generous sup- port from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.; the National Endowment for the Arts; and New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from Helen F. Whitaker Fund, and Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

PRISM Quartet

PRISM Quartet
Intriguing programs of great beauty and breadth have distinguished the PRISM Quartet as one of America’s foremost chamber ensembles. PRISM seeks to place the saxophone in unexpected contexts, chart fresh musical territory, and to challenge, inspire, and move audiences. “A bold ensemble that set the standard for contemporary-classical saxophone quartets” (The New York Times), PRISM was founded by students of the renowned Donald Sinta at the University of Michigan in 1984. Shortly after winning the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, PRISM was chosen by Musical America as “Outstanding Young Artists,” performed on Entertainment Tonight and National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” and toured virtually every state in the U.S.

Two-time recipients of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, PRISM has performed in Carnegie Hall on the Making Music Series, in Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and throughout Latin America, China, and Russia under the auspices of the United States Information Agency and USArtists International. PRISM has also been presented to critical acclaim as soloists with the Detroit Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra, and conducted residencies at the nation’s leading conservatories, including the Curtis Institute of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory.

Champions of new music, PRISM has commissioned over 250 works, many by internationally celebrated composers, including Pulitzer Prize-winners Julia Wolfe, William Bolcom, Jennifer Higdon, Zhou Long, and Bernard Rands; MacArthur “Genius” Award recipients Bright Sheng and Miguel Zenón; Guggenheim Fellows William Albright, Martin Bresnick, Chen Yi, Lee Hyla, and Steven Mackey; and jazz masters Greg Osby, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Steve Lehman, and Dave Liebman. In 1997, PRISM initiated its own concert series, now in Philadelphia, New York City, and Ann Arbor, presenting the newest compositions created for the ensemble by composers from around the world.

PRISM’s discography is extensive, with releases on Albany, ECM, innova, Koch International, Naxos, New Dynamic, New Focus, and its own newly launched label, XAS Records (distributed by Naxos). PRISM may also be heard on the soundtrack of the filmTwo Plus One, by Emmy nominee Eugene Martin, scored by Quartet member Matthew Levy, and has been featured in the theme music to the weekly PBS news magazine “NOW.”

PRISM’s concert series and recordings feature a who’s who of contemporary music makers, including BMOP, Ethel, Sō Percussion, Talujon, Partch, Music From China, Opera Colorado, Cantori New York, Nick Didkovsky, Marilyn Nonken, and top jazz artists, including Jason Moran, Chris Potter, Ravi Coltrane, Tim Ries, Jay Anderson, Ben Monder, Bill Stewart, Gerald Cleaver, and John Riley. PRISM has also performed with The Crossing (choir), the New York Consort of Viols, the Chilean rock band Inti-Illimani, as well as Miro Dance Theatre, Nai Ni Chen Dance Company, and the Pennsylvania Ballet.

In 2016, the PRISM Quartet was named by its alma mater, the University of Michigan, as the first recipient of the Christopher Kendall Award in recognition of its work in “collaboration, entrepreneurship, and community engagement.”

Booklet for Paradigm Lost