Label: Recital

同Recitalが手掛けた2016年1st [In My Arms, Many Flowers]が何度も再プレスされる人気作となり、また2019年2nd [Abies Firma]では完全没入型の音源を聴かせてくれた、70年代より活動するアメリカのコンポーザーにして楽器ビルダー、そしてアメリカン・ガムランの作家であるDaniel W. Schmidt。待望の3rdアルバムが米Recitalより出版。ルーハリソンとジョンケージへ捧げた楽曲をはじめ、親友の死や自身の癌治療、自然の風景等々、様々な影響を落とし込んだ作曲作品で、演奏は本人指導の下アンサンブル"Gamelan Encinal"とミルズ大学の学生が担当。過去作には無い声を使用した楽曲も含まれており氏の別の側面を聴く事が出来ます。24ページブックレット付き。





Limited Edition CD (glass mastered)
with 24 page booklet of program notes by Daniel Schmidt

Cloud Shadows is the third album by the American gamelan composer, Daniel Schmidt. The pieces in Cloud Shadows, which are quite varied and more current than the work represented on his first two albums In My Arms, Many Flowers & Abies Firma, mostly came about each in their own way. For example, the cloud shadows on the mountains of central Nevada, unimaginably old, invited Daniel into their realm, resulting in the opening composition ‘Cloud Shadows’. The composition ‘SEOR’ developed from the daily repetitions of radiation and relief from his cancer treatments. Also, the death of a close friend plunged the composer into deep emotions but ultimately nudged him over a compositional hump, leading to the creation of the ‘Sandy Suite’. ‘A River in Delta’, dedicated to Lou Harrison and John Cage, utilizes chance operations and a poem written by Cage for Harrison’s 60th birthday.

Under the direction of Schmidt, these ten pieces were performed and recorded by Gamelan Encinal and students at Mills College between 2017 and 2019. They unveil a compositional evolution, most noticeably the weaving of voice and poetry with gamelan. The lyrics were written by poet Deborah Bachels Schmidt (Daniel’s wife), often sung in the style of 19th century lieder. Recital presents Cloud Shadows as a celebration of Daniel Schmidt’s 80th birthday, a rich album that continues the exploration of “American” gamelan music via one of its creators.

“Starting at perhaps age four or five, I would sit on the top step of our front porch, just under the overhang of the roof, and look at the rain. I was transported. I remember quite clearly the transcendent state I would enter. But I learned early to keep my experiences with the rain to myself. At church I would hear references to the “spiritual.” It seemed to be defined as something beyond everyday life, and that puzzled me, because it sounded much like my own experience when watching rain. I ask you, as you listen to this album, to imagine the rain as I felt it as a child. Please allow this music to flow into you.” -Daniel Schmidt