Sumna is the third solo album of Kivie Cahn-Lipman (founding cellist of the International Contemporary Ensemble, founder of baroque band ACRONYM and HiP Scottish ensemble Makaris, and co-founder of viol consorts LeStrange and Science Ficta). Here he offers first recordings of new cello solos written for him by Daijana Wallace, Édgar Guzmán, and Vincent Calianno, along with a modern classic by Caroline Shaw and a multitracked cello octet by Kaija Saariaho. Cahn-Lipman's passion for early music emerges both in the opening track (a fresh take on HIF Biber's solo violin Passacaglia, a seventeenth-century masterpiece), and the title track (a commission from Mario Diaz de Leon for unaccompanied viola da gamba).
| # | Audio | Title/Composer(s) | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Time | 74:16 | ||
| 01 | Passacaglia | Passacaglia | 9:33 |
| 02 | Neiges: Nuages de neige | Neiges: Nuages de neige | 4:04 |
| 03 | Sumna | Sumna | 8:01 |
| 04 | Neiges: Étoile de neige I | Neiges: Étoile de neige I | 1:15 |
| 05 | Shades | Shades | 6:31 |
| 06 | Neiges: Étoile de neige II | Neiges: Étoile de neige II | 3:01 |
| 07 | in manus tuas | in manus tuas | 6:57 |
| 08 | Neiges: Aiguilles de glace | Neiges: Aiguilles de glace | 3:44 |
| 09 | Notes on the Deliverance Machine | Notes on the Deliverance Machine | 7:32 |
| 10 | Neiges: Fleurs de neige | Neiges: Fleurs de neige | 3:32 |
| 11 | Remains (Hecho en México) | Remains (Hecho en México) | 20:06 |
I saw snowflakes falling from the dark sky of the Finnish autumn. Focusing on the snow, the idea of writing variations on it and its various forms became clearer in my mind.
—Kaija Saariaho
Sumna means “prayer” or “hymn” in Sanskrit, and the music features echoes of Hildegard of Bingen, heavy metal riffing, and the gamba works of Marin Marais.
—Mario Diaz de Leon
From mysterious and aggressive to soft and sultry, Shades explores many moods. Though centered around a single note, intensity comes through gesture, variation of a simple melody, and breathing.
—Daijana Wallace
In manus tuas is based on a sixteenth-century motet by Thomas Tallis. While there are only a few slices of the piece that reflect exact harmonic changes in Tallis’s setting, the motion (or lack of) is intended to capture the sensation of a single moment of hearing the motet.
—Caroline Shaw
Engineering and mastering: Ryan Streber, oktavenaudio.com
Editing: Kivie Cahn-Lipman and Ryan Streber
Design: Marc Wolf, marcjwolf.com
Cover photo: Evgeni Tcherkasski (Unsplash.com)
Huge thanks to Mario, Daijana, Vin, and Édgar for the amazing new music, and deep gratitude to Kaija for her approval of multi-tracking the octet.
This recording was made possible in part by a Research Professorship from Youngstown State University.
Kivie Cahn-Lipman holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and The Juilliard School, and he is a Doctoral candidate at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He is the founding cellist of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and the director of the new period-instrument ensemble ACRONYM. From 2005-2012 he was a Lecturer in Music in a full-time position shared between Mount Holyoke College and Smith College.
Kivie has recorded on the New Focus, Naxos, Bridge, New Amsterdam, Tzadik, Kairos, Mode, ECM, and Nonesuch labels. The present release is his first solo recording. As a chamber musician, Kivie has performed in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and Rose Theatre, and other major venues on three continents, as well as live on WNYC 93.9 in New York and WFMT 98.7 in Chicago. He has been a faculty member at the Cortona Sessions for New Music in Cortona, Italy, since 2012. Kivie plays a 2003 William Whedbee cello, and additionally performs on electric cello, Baroque and piccolo cellos, bass and tenor viols, viola d’amore, and lirone.
http://iceorg.org/about/artist/cahn-lipmanNew Focus Recordings is an artist led collective label featuring releases in contemporary creative music of many stripes, as well as new approaches to older repertoire. The label was founded by guitarist Dan Lippel, composer Peter Gilbert in 2004, and composer/engineer Ryan Streber in 2004, formed …Read More …
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