Camerata Philadelphia - And I Paint Stars with Wings... (2020)

AND I PAINT STARS WITH WINGS is composer Stanley Grill’s most ambitious album to date, presenting several related works for larger ensembles. Expanding on the same themes that influence most of his work, the music on the album represents the composer’s attempt to influence the minds and hearts of those who hear it in such a way as to encourage thoughts about the possibility of world peace, as well as music composed in an attempt to translate something about the nature of the physical world.

At the core of the works on the album is the string orchestra, an ensemble that is particularly well suited for composer’s delicate sound landscape based on Renaissance influenced modal, contrapuntal writing, employing extended, interweaving lines of melody. The one work for string orchestra alone, Pavanne (for a world without war), is the first in a series of works for various instruments belonging to the composer’s Music for Peace project, composed, as described by the composer “after having made a decision that my music needed to serve another purpose besides the obvious one of touching the hearts of those who listened to it. However unlikely of success, that purpose is the achievement of world peace.” The work, intended to encourage a spirit of non-violence in those who hear it, imagines music that might be played in a world without war.

Adding to the core string ensemble are two works composed for the violist Brett Douglas Deubner, a concerto for viola, The Four Elements, and Mystical Songs, settings of four poems for soprano, viola and strings by Fernando Rielo, a Spanish Catholic mystic, philosopher, author, and founder of the Universidad Technica Particular de Loja, by whom the work was commissioned. As the title suggests, the music of The Four Elements is intended to represent the four ancient elements – earth, air, water and fire. One of Stanley Grill’s nature pieces, the music arose out of his fascination with how pre-technology thinkers were able, through reason alone, to arrive at an elemental understanding, which though the details differ is still correct, that the infinite complexity of the world arises from simple combinations of basic elements – very similar to music!

Again adding to the core string ensemble, In Praise of Reason, for solo cello, horns and strings, was composed for cellist and Camerata Philadelphia music director Stephen Framil. This music was started in the weeks leading up to the 2012 Presidential election – and the title came first, born in reaction to the lack of reason evident in the political discourse that preceded Election Day. At the time of its composition, when the composer was wondering how much better the world would be if only the beautiful logic that is found in music carried over into the rest of life, he never imagined that was only the beginning of a steep decline in politics, not only in America, but across the world, a severe failure in human rationality that, perhaps, music can counter.

The music on the album is performed by a group of acclaimed artists. Camerata Philadelphia brings together that city’s finest artists, working fluidly and without boundaries to present fresh interpretations of music ranging from orchestral to chamber music, lieder to choral to opera. Cellist and music director Stephen Framil has performed as concert soloist, chamber musician and conductor around the world. In addition to the Camerata Philadelphia musicians performing in the orchestra, the album introduces the artistry of Peggy Pei-Ju Yu, a Taiwan born soprano, now living and singing in the Philadelphia area. Cited for her clear, bell-like voice, in addition to her contribution to this first American performance of Mystical Songs, Ms. Yu has collaborated with many other composers to perform new music. The composer writes that he is “thrilled that Brett, for whom two of the works on the album were composed, was available to work with me on this recording.” Brett Douglas Deubner,one of this generation’s most accomplished violists, has inspired worldwide critical acclaim for his powerful intensity and sumptuous tone, and has been the recipient of over 40 viola concerti dedicated to him and over 100 works for viola, more than any living violist.