This album is a labor of love. It is a compilation of works composed, performed, and recorded throughout my career. It is dedicated to all the amazing people in my life, but most particularly my incredible wife and the two babies due to arrive within two months of this writing. Huzzah! 1) Thunk!...A Ghost Story: I composed this rather wacky ride of a string quartet in the aftermath of a lengthy phase spent writing increasingly wild, "out" works. At the outset my goal was to consolidate some of the techniques I'd been developing into something a bit more accessible, and also a bit less overtly theatrical. I'm not entirely sure I succeeded in the aforementioned goals, but damn it if I didn't compose a pretty nifty piece, so I've no complaints. This work makes particularly overt nods to my interest in heavy metal and horror movies, just a few of my favorite things. It is dedicated to my beautiful wife, Erin Raines. This wonderful live performance by the Sirius String Quartet was recorded at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Performers: The Sirius String Quartet 2) Thrash: The amazing sax player Christopher Creviston commissioned this piece for his duo with the equally extraordinary Oren Fader, guitar. With players such as these at my disposal I knew I wanted to create something virtuosic, showy, and oodles of fun. I dug deep into my non-classical music influences on this one, particularly Black Metal and Jazz, and had tons of fun applying compositional technique to the surface level textural/thematic goodness. Christopher and Oren kill it. This is a live performance recorded at SUNY Potsdam. Performers: Christopher Creviston, sax & Oren Fader, guitar 3-7) OYOU Suite: The rather post-modern ballet OYOU was commissioned by Stuart Loungway and Terra Firma Dance Theatre. I work daily with dancers in my capacity as a dance musician, and always enjoy the opportunity to compose for performances. Creating an evening length ballet was an opportunity I particularly relished. These five pieces comprise a suite derived from the larger score. I only periodically delve into electronic composition, but I had a lot of fun putting this music together, and am really proud of the work. Many of these individual pieces have since been re-worked with new choreography by a number of dancers. Neat! Performer: Eric Schwartz 8) Dog-Gerel: I have had a lengthy and fruitful collaboration with Ryan Zhwalen and the fantastic assortment of contemporary music projects he operates in Southern California. This commission, for solo english horn, was a particular challenge. Solo wind pieces always unnerve me a bit, mostly because I tend not to much care for them as a listener, so I wonder how on earth I can create something worth a listen. On his CD In The City at Night, Ryan does a great job proving that solo pieces can, in fact, work out wonderfully, give a collection of great composers and a great player at the helm. Me, I decided to cheat: I composed a little micro-suite of children's music for singer/narrator and english horn. This final movement was a joy to put together, and is performed pretty well exactly the way I heard it in my head, no mean feat. The complete studio recording of the suite is available here on CD Baby on Ryan's excellent album. Performers: Ryan Zwahlen, english horn & Jenni Brandon, voice 9) The Spirits of the Dead: I found my voice while writing this piece. It is the second oldest on this compilation, and was composed over my first winter in NYC. I knew that setting Poe would be in my wheelhouse, but the language that came out of me has informed pretty much everything I've written since. This live performance is from the Music 2001 contemporary music festival in at the University of Cincinnati. Performers: Alex Hurd, baritone &Skirmante Ketzke, piano Spirits of the Dead by Edgar Allan Poe Thy soul shall find itself alone 'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone; Not one, of all the crowd, to pry Into thine hour of secrecy. Be silent in that solitude, Which is not loneliness — for then The spirits of the dead, who stood In life before thee, are again In death around thee, and their will Shall overshadow thee; be still. The night, though clear, shall frown, And the stars shall not look down From their high thrones in the Heaven With light like hope to mortals given, But their red orbs, without beam, To thy weariness shall seem As a burning and a fever Which would cling to thee for ever. Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish, Now are visions ne'er to vanish; From thy spirit shall they pass No more, like dew-drop from the grass. The breeze, the breath of God, is still, And the mist upon the hill Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken, Is a symbol and a token. How it hangs upon the trees, A mystery of mysteries! 10) Brouhaha!: Gosh. This brings back some memories. Far and away the oldest piece on this compilation, I wrote Brouhaha! while a sophomore at the Cleveland Institute of Music way back in the 20th Century. Interestingly, it is also one of only two orchestra works I've written to date. It might be a bit derivative, and I might not quite have known what I was doing, but I really like this piece and I think that you probably will as well. Performers: The Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra 11) Ghosts (Echo): This stripped down remix of Ghosts (from OYOU) was created on my own whim, and was not used in the original score. Sometimes I think my music can get fussy and intellectual. I like fussy and intellectual, actually, but sometimes it's nice to make something raw, pretty, and naked. That's just what this is. Thanks so much for listening. Performer: Eric Schwartz