STILLPOINT
STILLPOINT (via New Amsterdam Records) is a collection of six newly-commissioned works of profound grace, power, and depth, composed by a group of stylistically diverse composers (Alvin Singleton, Judd Greenstein, Paola Prestini, Pēteris Vasks, Tyshawn Sorey, and Jessie Montgomery whose piece “Rounds” received a 2024 Grammy nomination for best contemporary classical composition) for piano (Pratt), string orchestra (A Far Cry), and vocal ensemble (Roomful of Teeth).
Listen on Bandcamp | Listen on Apple Music | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Amazon
A Gentleman of Istanbul
A Gentleman of Istanbul (nominated for the 2024 Grammy award for best engineered album, classical) was commissioned by A Far Cry in 2017, is a collaboration with composer/multi-instrumentalist Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, who sings and performs piano, oud, and ney; and percussionist George Lernis. The symphony, which blends Turkish traditional, western classical, and jazz music, follows a 17th-century Ottoman world traveler, Evliya Çelebi, reflecting the cosmopolitan identity of this Muslim adventurer and celebrating the rich history and cultural diversity within Islam.
Order from Amazon | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
The Blue Hour
In 2016, A Far Cry commissioned a full-length song cycle to be written collaboratively by five female composers: Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, and Sarah Kirkland Snider. After a dynamic and collaborative creative process, The Blue Hour was born.
Set to excerpts from Carolyn Forché’s epic poem On Earth, the music follows one woman’s journey through the space between life and death via thousands of hallucinatory and non-linear images. Exploring memories of childhood, of war, of love, and of loss, The Blue Hour (nominated for the 2024 Grammy award for best engineered album, classical) amplifies the beauty, pain, and fragility of human life from a collective female perspective.
Learn more and purchase here.
Circles: Piano Concertos by Bach & Glass
Pianist Simone Dinnerstein joins A Far Cry in music that, in its repetitions, brings the listener into their own circle. This is the world premiere recording of Philip Glass’s Piano Concerto No. 3, written for Dinnerstein. This gorgeous new work is paired with something timeless: Bach’s music also marries incisiveness with beautifully measured passion.
CIACCONA: DVD
This daring program demonstrates the evolution of one of the oldest musical ideas, the ciaccona, across three centuries of solo violin music. Crier violinist Robyn Bollinger takes on this challenge in her multimedia recital program, CIACCONA: The Bass of Time. From the seminal Passacaglia of Biber and the storied Ciaccona of Bach, to the ground-breaking Solo Sonata of Bartók and the explosive Sequenza VIII of Berio, this program explores the development of this musical form from simplicity to complexity, and it offers a deep perspective on the relationships of these four remarkable composers across the ages. This recording represents the culmination of Robyn's prestigious Fellowship with the Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship Fund. Recorded at the Shalin Liu Performing Arts Center, Rockport, MA.
Ciaccona: The Bass of Time
Crier violinist Robyn Bollinger presents this daring program demonstrating the evolution of one of the oldest musical ideas, the ciaccona, across three centuries of solo violin music. Robyn takes on this challenge in her debut recording, the music of her multimedia recital program, CIACCONA: The Bass of Time. From the seminal Passacaglia of Biber and the storied Ciaccona of Bach, to the ground-breaking Solo Sonata of Bartók and the explosive Sequenza VIII of Berio, this program explores the development of this musical form from simplicity to complexity, and it offers a deep perspective on the relationships of these four remarkable composers across the ages. This recording represents the culmination of Robyn's prestigious Fellowship with the Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship Fund. Recorded at the Shalin Liu Performing Arts Center, Rockport, MA.
Law of Mosaics
Law of Mosaics features premiere recordings of two brilliant works by Ted Hearne and Andrew Norman. In Norman’s Companion Guide to Rome, a 2012 Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, A Far Cry explores the composer’s favorite churches in the Eternal City as nine separate string trios. In “Law of Mosaics”, Hearne creates a magnificent sonic patchwork, imaginatively spun by A Far Cry as a unified ensemble.
Dreams and Prayers
Dreams & Prayers (nominated for the 2015 Grammy award for best chamber music/small ensemble performance) century-hops over a millennium of music, juxtaposing A Far Cry’s own arrangements of music by Hildegard von Bingen and Ludwig van Beethoven with recent works by Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol (created for and premiered by A Far Cry) and Osvaldo Golijov (an arrangement receiving its first recording by A Far Cry). This premiere release on Crier Records consists entirely of premiere recordings.
VISIT THE INTERACTIVE WEBSITE TO EXPLORE THE ALBUM FURTHER.
Purchase from Amazon / iTunes / Native DSD / A Far Cry
Verklärte Nacht Live
A Far Cry's first LIVE album is an epic single: Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, recorded in front of a live audience in New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in 2011.
Purchase from A Far Cry
Piazzolla—Four Seasons
Purchase from A Far Cry
The Mozart Sessions
Purchase from A Far Cry
Richard Cornell—Tracer
RACER, a collection of recent chamber works by composer Richard Cornell, explores the nature of art and the collaboration that occurs naturally among artists and the interaction between creator and influence. Comprised of live recordings, this album highlights the performers’ instincts to respond to one another, interpreting the music as individuals and as a group, and exploring the intricacies of the works as they are played.
Purchase from Ravello Records
Debut
A Far Cry's first commercial recording is a great introduction to the energy and versatility of the Criers' music. Essential listening!
Purchase from A Far Cry
Clarinet Concertos
Purchase from Amazon