GM2059 Gunther Schuller: Orchestral Works

This recording spans 50 years of Schuller’s compositional work from 1946 (when he was known only as a horn player) to the present as a Pulitzer prize-winning composer/conductor. Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee, Schuller’s most popular work and one of the few post-war compositions to become standard orchestral repertory, is here recorded for the first time in nearly forty years and for the first time conducted by the composer himself.

An Arc Ascending, inspired by photographs of environmental artist Alice Weston, sonically reflects upon the different seasonal aspects brought about by the path of the sun in its seemingly ascending arc. Three seasons are represented (summer, winter and spring) with as many ascending musical ‘arcs,’ using a palette of register, orchestral color and rhythmic intensity, culminating in a climactic clash of brightly iridescent harmonies.