Carpenter: From the Valley Baca Lawrence Indik & Charles Abramovic

• David Carpenter (b. 1972): String Trio:
• 1 String Trio: I. Quarter Note = 126 05:41
• 2 String Trio: II. Quarter Note = 80 04:09
• 3 String Trio: III. Quarter Note = 110 06:06
• From the Valley of Baca:
• 4 From the Valley of Baca: No. 1, Not While the Snow-shroud 04:54
• 5 From the Valley of Baca: No. 2, Ma yididot mishk'notecha Adonai tsivaot 01:53
• 6 From the Valley of Baca: No. 3, Across the Eastern Sky 06:08
• 7 From the Valley of Baca: No. 4, Ashrei adam oz lo bach m'silot bilvavam 01:03
• 8 From the Valley of Baca: No. 5, I Saw a Youth Pass down That Vale of Tears 05:12
• 9 From the Valley of Baca: No. 6, Adonai elohim tsivaot 01:00
• 10 From the Valley of Baca: No. 7, What, Can These Dead Bones Live 03:24
• 11 From the Valley of Baca: No. 8, Ki tov yom bachatserecha mealef 01:23
• 12 From the Valley of Baca: No. 9, I Saw in Dream 05:14
• Piano Sonata:
• 13 Piano Sonata: I. Quarter Note = Ca. 76 06:06
• 14 Piano Sonata: II. Quarter Note = 69 05:15
• 15 Piano Sonata: III. Quarter Note = 104 08:29
• Total Runtime 01:05:57

Info zu Carpenter: From the Valley Baca

Composer David Carpenter’s PARMA debut, FROM THE VALLEY OF BACA, features three works that illustrate the expansive scope of his compositional style. From the lyrical Trio, to the powerfully poetic title work for baritone and piano, to the romantically-inclined Sonata, FROM THE VALLEY OF BACA demonstrates the composer’s ability to express his artistic vision in a wide variety of musical genres.

The harmonic language and brooding character of the Trio, which recalls the introspective character of Shostakovich’s String Quartet in C minor, op. 110, is balanced by Carpenter’s penchant for long, lyrical lines, particularly in the Trio’s second movement. As much as this piece shows the influence of Shostakovich, it is still an intensely personal work for Carpenter, as what he has learned from the Russian master is filtered through his own musical and emotional sensibilities to make the Trio a completely original composition.

Carpenter cites two sources of inspiration for his song cycle From the Valley of Baca, one musical and one poetic: His work Job for baritone and piano, based on the book from the Hebrew Bible, sparked the idea of writing a song cycle based on the poetry of the Jewish-American author Emma Lazarus. One of Lazarus’s, poems, “The Valley of Baca,” which references the 84th psalm, also inspired Carpenter to intersperse the verses of this psalm, set in its original Hebrew, throughout the song cycle, serving as a counterbalance to the English texts of Lazarus’s poems.

In 2015, Carpenter composed a work entitled Rhapsody for pianist Katelyn Bouska as a companion piece to Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B minor, op. 58, both of which Bouska performed at a recital in Paris that year. At Bouska’s behest, Carpenter added two movements to this composition to form a sonata, employing a sighing, chromatic motive from the Rhapsody to bind the three movements together. Emphasizing again that the past informs the work of many artists, something of Chopin’s musical style, as well as that of other Romantic-era composers, finds voice in this new work.

While he has drawn musical inspiration from past masters, Carpenter’s music is intended neither as a pastiche of earlier musical styles nor an anachronism. Indeed, the works of FROM THE VALLEY OF BACA demonstrate an honest emotional expression by a 21st century composer.

Charles Abramovic, piano
Katelyn Bouska, piano
Rebecca Harris, violin
Cassia Harvey, cello
Myanna Harvey, viola
Lawrence Indik, baritone

Charles Abramovic
has received critical acclaim for his international performances as a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborator with leading instrumentalists and singers. He has performed a vast repertoire not only on the piano, but also the harpsichord and fortepiano. Abramovic made his solo orchestral debut at the age of 14 with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Since then he has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Baltimore Symphony, the Colorado Philharmonic, the Florida Philharmonic, and the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra. He has given solo recitals throughout the United States, France, and Yugoslavia. He has also appeared at major international festivals in Berlin, Salzburg, Bermuda, Dubrovnik, Aspen, and Vancouver.

Abramovic has performed with such stellar artists as Midori, Sarah Chang, Robert McDuffie, Viktoria Mullova, Kim Kashkashian, Mimi Stillman, and Jeffrey Khaner. His recording of the solo piano works of Delius for DTR recordings has been widely praised. He has recorded for EMI Classics with violinist Sarah Chang, and Avie Recordings with Philadelphia Orchestra principal flutist Jeffrey Khaner. Actively involved with contemporary music, he has also recorded works of Milton Babbitt, Joseph Schwantner, Gunther Schuller, and others for Albany Records, CRI, Bridge, and Naxos.

Abramovic is a Professor of Keyboard Studies at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music in Philadelphia, where he has taught since 1988. He is an active part of the musical life of Philadelphia, performing with numerous organizations in the city. He is a core member of the Dolce Suono Ensemble, and performs often with Network for New Music and Orchestra 2001. In 1997 he received the Career Development Grant from the Philadelphia Musical Fund Society, and in 2003 received the Creative Achievement Award from Temple University. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, and received his doctorate from Temple University. His teachers have included Natalie Phillips, Eleanor Sokoloff, Leon Fleisher, and Harvey Wedeen.

Dr. Katelyn Bouska
With performances described as “musically evocative” and a skill at engaging audiences in the musical dialogue, Dr. Katelyn Bouska is a frequent solo and collaborative musician. Her unique programming, combining rarely-heard Czech and American music with music being written specifically for her by rising composers, has found an audience throughout America and on the international concert stage.

With her ability to perform a broad range of repertoire ranging from early music to the most contemporary, she is at ease on clavichord, harpsichord, fortepiano, and modern piano. She currently serves as a member of the music studies faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

In addition to her D.M.A. in piano performance from Temple University, she holds degrees in early keyboard performance and collaborative piano. Committed to re-capturing the imagination of audience members, Bouska is frequently involved in promoting new and historic music through creative artistic partnerships and innovative programming.

Rebecca Harris
Praised for her “impeccable tone, pitch, dynamics, and phrasing,” violinist Rebecca Harris performs on both period and modern instruments. Her artistic life is a love letter to the extraordinary history of her instrument, from its inception to the present day: in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader in the field of historically informed performance, she also pursues a concurrent commitment to the performance of new music.

Harris is a founding member of the Franklin Quartet, serves as concertmaster of the Philadelphia Bach Collegium and as Principal Second Violin of Tempesta di Mare, with whom she tours as a member of the Chamber Players, and has recorded extensively for Chandos. Harris has appeared with early music ensembles across the United States, including Piffaro, Washington Bach Consort, Rebel Baroque Orchestra (New York), Musica Redemptor (Austin), Spire Chamber Ensemble (Kansas City), The Raritan Players, Handel Choir of Baltimore, The Dryden Ensemble, and Nassau Sinfonia (Princeton). She appears regularly in recital, and in 2018 released her debut solo album, A String Mysterious, featuring music by Heinrich Biber and new works by Riho Esko Maimets and Mark Rimple.

An abiding passion for poetry and literature has led Harris to nurture close ties with vocalists. She has collaborated with The Crossing, appearing on the ensemble’s 2017 Grammy- nominated release of Thomas Lloyd’s Bonhoeffer, and Lansing McLoskey’s Zealot Canticles, and her discography includes recordings with Choral Arts Philadelphia (David Ludwig’s Hannukah Cantata), Maren Montalbano (Sea Tangle: Songs from the North), and Andrew Lipke (Siddhartha).

A native of the United Kingdom, Harris is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied with Richard Ireland after initial studies as a scholar in the specialist music program at Wells Cathedral School.

Cassia Harvey
is a cellist, cello teacher, and writer of cello technique. She began her cello studies at the age of eight with Lillian Kauffman and continued her studies with Deborah Reeder and Jeffrey Solow. A soloist with the Kennett Symphony and the Warminster Symphony and first-place winner of the Concerto Soloists and Cafferata-Jackson competitions, Harvey’s performances have been broadcast on Philadelphia’s Channel 57 and New York Public Television. Recent performances include the Reading Public Museum, the Ethical Society of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, the Academy of Music, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and New York’s Weill Recital Hall, as well as lecture recitals at Columbia University and Barnard College.

Harvey performs regularly with the Harvey String Duo, the Philmore Trio, and the Musicalia Ensemble. Her recording, The Russian Cello: Rare Treasures from Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union with pianist Tim Ribchester, was released in March 2016 by Montag Records. Harvey has been teaching cello for over 25 years. Her students have been accepted into Philadelphia Sinfonia, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Pennsylvania’s District, Regional, and All-State Orchestras, MENC All-Eastern Orchestra, and the MENC All-National Orchestra, and have been accepted into music schools including Indiana University School of Music and the Juilliard School. Harvey has authored over 170 study books for the classical string instruments.

In 2002, she founded C. Harvey Publications, which has sold over 40,000 books to string players in over 40 countries. Harvey was the subject of a 2017 article in the Epoch Times entitled “Pedagogist Cassia Harvey: The Classics Are Our Collective Memory, Our Cultural DNA” and her contributions about the creative process were featured in the Epoch Times article “Fourteen Artists Break Down the Creative Process.”

Myanna Harvey
studied primarily with Estelle Kerner and performed in master classes with Elmar Oliveira and David Cerone. She was a first-place winner in the Bournemouth Music Festival Competition and has premiered works by Ciach, Koprowski, and Clearfield. Harvey has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and the Philadelphia Academy of Music. She has also performed at the Reading Public Museum, the German Society of Pennsylvania, An Die Musik LIVE!, Sundays at Central, the Trinity Center for Urban Life, the Ethical Society of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.

As part of the Philmore Ensemble, Harvey has performed lecture-recitals at Columbia University and Barnard College. Recently, Harvey, as a member of the Harvey String Duo, was profiled in WXPN’s The High Key Portrait series. Harvey’s playing is featured on the CD release Duos and Trios from Four Centuries. A dedicated teacher for over 18 years, Harvey maintains a full studio of private violin and viola students. Her students have been accepted into Pennsylvania’s District, Regional, and All-State Orchestras, MENC All-Eastern Orchestra, Delaware County Youth Orchestra, Philadelphia Sinfonia, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, the Trowbridge Chamber Orchestra, and Pennsylvania’s Governor’s School for the Arts, and have been accepted as performance majors at the Esther Boyer College of Music, University of Delaware’s School of Music, Carnegie Mellon’s School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, and San Francisco Conservatory.

Harvey has been the strings director at the Upper Moreland Summer Arts Program for the past 10 years and was music director and conductor of the Cheltenham Youth Orchestra. She has written 15 books for strings and a number of chamber and orchestral arrangements which are published by C. Harvey Publications and sold worldwide. In addition to the Philmore Trio, Harvey performs regularly as violinist and violist of the Harvey String Duo and the Musicalia Ensemble.

Lawrence Indik
regularly performs as a soloist and recitalist throughout the United States. He has performed a wide range of repertoire including oratorio, chamber music, and solo song repertoire, and has also appeared in numerous operatic roles. An active member of the Philadelphia music community, he performs often in the area’s new music venues and has premiered over 80 new works by contemporary composers. Indik’s CD of new music, Songs of Separation and Perspective on Gesher Records, has been widely praised.

Indik is also an active author and pedagogue. His articles have appeared in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Journal of Singing. He also regularly lectures and gives master classes on the application of vocal pedagogy and vocal science to singing.

Indik received his Bachelor of Arts in mathematics cum laude from Harvard University, a master’s in opera performance from the Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Voice and Opera Department at Temple University.

Booklet für Carpenter: From the Valley Baca