Brandon Patrick George - Twofold (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Grammy®-nominated flutist Brandon Patrick George has been praised as “elegant” by The New York Times, as a “virtuoso” by The Washington Post, and as a “knockout musician with a gorgeous sound” by The Philadelphia Inquirer. On September 15, 2023, In a Circle Records will release George’s second solo album, Twofold, which explores musical dialogues that transcend space, time, and identity. The recording features music by C.P.E. Bach, Claude Debussy, Reena Esmail, Saad Haddad, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Toru Takemitsu, and is being released digitally in stereo as well as in full Dolby Atmos spatial audio, available via Apple Music.

Twofold follows the success of Brandon Patrick George’s debut solo album, which included music by Kalevi Aho, J.S. Bach, Pierre Boulez, and Sergei Prokofiev, and was released in 2020 on Haenssler Classics. George was featured in The New York Times around the album’s release, in an article titled “A Flutist Steps into the Spotlight,” which described the album as “a program that showcases the flute in all its wit, warmth and brilliance."

George’s concept for his new album Twofold is to pair canonical works for solo flute with new compositions, reveling in the conversations composers have across time and space. He was inspired by Saad Haddad’s piece Tasalsul I, which was written in response to the slow movement from C.P.E. Bach’s Sonata in A minor, WQ. 132, H. 562 – both included on the album.

Three extraordinary lyrical works – Claude Debussy’s Syrinx, Tōru Takemitsu’s Air, and Reena Esmai’s Zinfandel – provide Twofold’s core, plumbing the interplay between European, Hindustani, and Japanese musical traditions. Debussy’s colorful harmonies and textures were a source of inspiration for Takemitsu, the celebrated Japanese composer who blended sounds from the East and West. Reena Esmail weaves scales and harmonies from Hindustani music throughout her music. She has said that it was in this work, Zinfandel, that she first began exploring this concept, which is now part of her signature compositional style.

The final pairing comes from two American composers, both Chicago-based but working at a distance of 90 years from one another. Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Diaphonic Suite from 1930 is written in a conversational style, with the flutist providing both halves of a dialogue. Likewise, Shawn E. Okpebholo’s On a Painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner - The Thankful Poor from 2021 imagines a soulful dialogue between a boy and his grandfather, depicted in Tanner’s painting.

Engaging in his own colloquy with all of these exceptional composers, George takes listeners on an adventurous journey and invites them to join the conversation themselves.

Tracklist:
01. Sonata In A Minor, WQ. 132, H. 562 (1747) - 1. Poco Adagio
02. Sonata In A Minor, WQ. 132, H. 562 (1747) - 2. Allegro
03. Sonata In A Minor, WQ. 132, H. 562 (1747) - 3. Allegro
04. Tasalsul I (2022)
05. Zinfandel (2010)
06. On A Painting By Henry Ossawa Tanner: The Thankful Poor (2022)
07. Diaphonic Suite (1930) - 1. Scherzando
08. Diaphonic Suite (1930) - 2. Andante
09. Diaphonic Suite (1930) - 3. Allegro
10. Diaphonic Suite (1930) - 4. Moderato, Ritmico
11. Syrinx (1913)
12. Air (1995)


Thanks to the Original customer!