American Aggregate Inscape & Richard Scerbo

• 1 Oblivion - I. Ex Machina 06:32
• 2 Oblivion - II. Into Thin Air 06:57
• 3 Oblivion - III. The Reckoning 05:21
• 4 Wide Open Spaces 07:15
• 5 Black Bend 06:39
• 6 Wordless Creatures 12:20
• 7 The Extraodinary Gryssandra Wycke 03:28
• 8 What I Decided to Keep 03:19
• 9 The Bear and the Dove 06:49
• Total Runtime 58:40

Info for American Aggregate

American Aggregate, the follow up to Inscape’s GRAMMY® nominated debut album Sprung Rhythm on the Sono Luminus label, explores the rich and varied sounds of American music in the 21st century. From the mechanized world of our cities to the natural beauty of our landscapes, from the sounds of jazz and rock to indigenous folk music, the picture of contemporary classical music is revealing and diverse. The works contained on this album reflect American culture, landscape, and environment as expressed through the distinctly American voices of seven young composers.

The album opens with Nathan Lincoln-DeCuasitis’ Oblivion, a chamber symphony in three movements in which each movement is modeled on a specific sonic shape. Armando Bayolo’s Wide Open Spaces was composed to address the concerns surrounding the impact of climate change. Dan Visconti’s Black Bend begins with a spacious collage of distant, mournful sounds with the flavor of limpid summer landscape and the slow drawl of rural vernacular. From this texture a slow blues emerges and accelerates in a wailing frenzy, only to dissolve into nothingness as quickly as it materialized. Julia Adolphe brings the ensemble Wordless Creatures, a work that imagines a community of small, scurrying characters moving through a series of scenes portrayed through shifting soundscapes. The Extraordinary Gryssandra Wycke by Joseph Hallman is the story of a young witch who is new to her powers and the world of witchcraft. The piece is composed as a tone poem that reflects the spells she learns and employs. Stephen Gorbos’ What I Decided to Keep propels the CD forward with the influences of funk and progressive rock, drawing inspiration from Béla Bartók’s 5th string quartet in its linear succession of events. Included on the Blu-ray disc and for digital download, Gregory Spears’ new arrangement of The Bear and the Dove was commissioned to accompany Christopher Williams’ choreographic staging of Prokofiev’s ballet Trapeze at the Bard Spiegeltent.

Founded in 2004 by Artistic Director Richard Scerbo, Inscape creates compelling concert experiences that aim to engage audiences and provide exciting, accessible ways to explore both standard and non-standard repertoire. Inscape’s performances have been praised by The Washington Post for their “guts and musical sensitivity,” and their 2014 Grammy nominated album Sprung Rhythm was recently singled out as “brilliant” and “gorgeously recorded” by The New York Times.

Inscape has worked joyously and often with emerging American composers and is committed to presenting concerts featuring the music of our time. Since its inception, Inscape has commissioned and premiered over twenty new works.

Inscape
Richard Scerbo, conductor

Recorded at Sono Luminus, Boyce, Virginia - January 14-16, 2014
Recording, Mixing & Mastering Engineer: Daniel Shores
Editing Engineers: Daniel Shores, Dan Merceruio
Produced by Dan Merceruio

Inscape
Founded in 2004, Inscape performs concerts that aim to engage audiences and provide a compelling way to explore both standard and non-standard works. With its flexible roster of musicians, Inscape programs explore a variety of styles. Praised by The Washington Post for their “guts and musical sensitivity,” Inscape’s energetic concerts are well-established in the Washington DC region and continue to garner praise from audiences and critics alike.

Inscape has worked joyously and often with emerging American composers and has a commitment to presenting concerts featuring the music of our time. Since its inception, Inscape has commissioned over twenty works.

Inscape members regularly perform with the National, Philadelphia, Virginia, Richmond, and Delaware symphonies, the Washington Opera Orchestra, and are members of the premiere Washington service bands. Former Inscape performers are currently members of orchestras across the United States and abroad.

Inscape regularly performs as the Ensemble-in-Residence at the The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Bethesda, Maryland with additional performances at the National Gallery of Art, Strathmore Music Center, and other local and national venues. Inscape records exclusively for Sono Luminus.

Richard Scerbo
In 2004, Artistic Director Richard Scerbo founded Inscape with the intent of introducing audiences to diverse chamber and ensemble repertoire. This unique brand of programming has made Inscape one of the most exciting ensembles in the Washington Metropolitan area. Under Mr. Scerbo’s leadership, Inscape has commissioned and premiered numerous new works. In 2012, Mr. Scerbo conducted members of Inscape in a performance of Dominick Argento’s opera A Water Bird Talk for the composer as part of a month-long festival celebrating his music at the University of Maryland. In 2013, he leads Inscape in multiple performances at the National Gallery of Art, including a program highlighting the music of the Ballets Russes featuring Igor Stravinsky’s Renard and Manual de Falla’s El corregidor y la molinera.

Mr. Scerbo co-founded his first orchestra, The Philharmonia Ensemble, in 2000 with violinist Dale Barltrop while studying at the University of Maryland. As Music Director, he led the orchestra in a series of diverse and exciting programs that included collaborations with artists such as pianist Rita Sloan, soprano Carmen Balthrop, and the Prism Brass Quintet. In 2003, he made his operatic debut conducting Dominick Argento’s A Water Bird Talk with The Philharmonia Ensemble and G.F. Handel’s Xerxes with the Maryland Opera Studio. That same year he conducted Igor Stravinsky’s L'Histoire du soldat in a fully staged production at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Mr. Scerbo helped launch the Londontowne Symphony Orchestra (Maryland) in 2003 when he was invited to conduct their inaugural concert, and returned again in 2004 to conduct their season opening concert.

Mr. Scerbo is a graduate of the University of Maryland where he studied conducting with James Ross and bassoon with Daniel Matsukawa, Sue Heineman, and Linda Harwell. He has attended conducting programs in Austria and the Czech Republic working both with the International Festival Orchestra, Kromeriz, and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic. He has also been guided in his studies by classes with Leonard Slatkin, Heinz Fricke, Gustav Meier, and with Johannes Schlaefli at the Musikhochschule Zurich.

In addition to his work with Inscape, Mr. Scerbo is the Associate Artistic Director and General Manager of the National Orchestral Institute, a training program for orchestra musicians on the threshold of their professional careers. He serves concurrently as Assistant Director for Artistic Planning and Operations at the University of Maryland School of Music.

Booklet for American Aggregate