Boyer: Symphony No. 1 Peter Boyer

• 1 Silver Fanfare 04:11
• 2 Festivities 05:55
• 3 I. Apollo 04:59
• 4 II. Aphrodite 05:37
• 5 III. Ares 03:42
• 6 Celebration Overture 06:40
• 7 I. Prelude 06:54
• 8 II. Scherzo/Dance 06:08
• 9 III. Adagio 11:09
• Total Runtime 55:15

Info for Boyer: Symphony No. 1

Peter Boyer is one of the most frequently performed American orchestral composers of his generation, widely admired not least for his GRAMMY®-nominated Ellis Island: The Dream of America (Naxos 8.559246). The composer writes, “The five works included on this recording represent a cross-section of my orchestral music. Three Olympians reflects my interest in mythology and history. Often I have received invitations to compose music for celebratory concerts, and three of the works included here—Silver Fanfare, Festivities and Celebration Overture—were created for such occasions.” Symphony No 1 is a lyrical and rhythmically charged work, dedicated to the memory of Leonard Bernstein.

„Three Olympians…must rank among Boyer’s finest pieces. It has great tunes and exploits the timbres of the string orchestra in a very fetching and vivid way… Silver Fanfare, Festivities and Celebration Overture are all short, splashy, tuneful occasional works, and probably great fun to play. The London Philharmonic under the composer’s confident direction does a fine job with them… Like all of the music on this disc, the symphony is tuneful, expertly crafted, colorfully scored… Boyer knows what he wants, and how to do it. This very well-engineered disc is lots of fun, and a really good listen.“ (David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com)

„This delightful concert work [Silver Fanfare] has a sort of Bruce Broughton/John Williams-esque style with great writing across the orchestra… ‘Aphrodite’ [from Three Olympians]… allows for some repose and a more lyrically romantic theme that is simply beautiful… The result is an almost cinematic essay. Of primary interest will be the concluding work on the disc, Boyer’s first symphony… [on the Adagio third movement:] The theme itself is very romantic in nature, and equally stunning as it develops. The performances here are simply superb, showing off his engaging and easily accessible cinematic style. This is certainly a recording that should have broad appeal, and one which you will likely find yourself returning to time and again. The music is brilliantly orchestrated with engaging thematic ideas and a fine sense of dramatic shape.“ (Steven A. Kennedy, Cinemusical)

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Peter Boyer, conductor, composer
Guest Leader:
Simon Blendis,

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, England, on June 17th, 2013
Produced and edited by Tim Handley
Engineered by Jonathan Allen
Mastered by James Linahon

Peter Boyer
is one of the most frequently performed American orchestral composers of his generation, with over 300 public performances of his works by more than 100 orchestras, and numerous national broadcasts in the U.S. and abroad. Conductor Keith Lockhart chose Boyer for the Boston Pops’ 125th anniversary commission honoring the legacy of John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy, The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers. Its premiere in 2010, narrated by Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Ed Harris, was attended by members of the Kennedy family, and received extensive national media attention. The Boston Pops also performed the work on their Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular for an audience of over 750,000; gave it two separate telecasts; performed it at Tanglewood with narrator Alec Baldwin; and released its recording. Boyer’s major work Ellis Island: The Dream of America (2002) has received over 140 live performances by 60 orchestras, making it one of the most-performed American orchestral works of the last decade. His recording on the Naxos label was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

In addition to his work for the concert hall, Boyer is active in the film and television music industry. He has contributed orchestrations to more than 20 film scores by top Hollywood composers, including Skyfall (composer Thomas Newman), The Amazing Spider-Man (composer James Horner), the Oscar-winning Up, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible III, John Carter, Super 8, Cars 2 (composer Michael Giacchino); and Dolphin Tale (composer Mark Isham). Boyer has twice arranged music for the Academy Awards, and composed music for The History Channel.

As conductor, Boyer has led such orchestras as the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Hartford Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Richmond Symphony in concert; and the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, and Los Angeles studio orchestras in recording sessions. Boyer holds the Helen M. Smith Chair in Music at Claremont Graduate University. He served as the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s Composer-in-Residence in 2010-11, and is the Pasadena Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence this season.

Booklet for Boyer: Symphony No. 1