Chicago Classical Music

This month marks the release of Composers in the Loft, Cedille Records catalog number CDR 90000 100 – the one hundredth album in our main line of recordings featuring the work of musicians and composers in and from Chicago. (Cedille has also issued some lower-priced compilation discs and samplers, and one recording on its midprice Cedille FOUNDation imprint.)

It is particularly appropriate that this landmark recording was planned in collaboration with Chicago’s acclaimed Music in the Loft series of chamber music concerts, as a way to showcase the series, and in particular the work of its five composers in residence to date (prior to the current concert season).

Here is Music in the Loft Founder and Artistic Director Fredda Hyman’s description of how her composer in residence program has worked. The names of the composers and their pieces on the CD are highlighted:

In 2000, I decided to add another component to our Music in the Loft series. It would be to feature some of the works of a young composer as well as a specially commissioned piece to be played on our series. For our first composer, I chose Ricardo Lorenz, and his piano piece Bachangó was one of the works performed on our 2000/01 series. Carter Pann, the second composer I selected, had five of his chamber works performed, one of which was Differences for cello and piano. In 2003/04, Pierre Jalbert was the composer-in-residence and his Trio for violin, cello, and piano was performed as well as a commissioned piece written to a Billy Collins poem that will be included on a future “Billy Collins Suite” CD to be produced by Cedille Records. Our next composer-in-residence was Stacy Garrop; four of her chamber works were featured on our 2004/05 series, including the commissioned String Quartet No. 2, “Demons and Angels”. In 2005/06, Vivian Fung was our composer. Her first quartet was performed as well as a piano piece and Miniatures, a commissioned work for clarinet and string quartet.

No person should be the judge of their own case, but I am convinced that you will find as much pleasure in listening to the music of these gifted young composers as I found in bringing their work forward.

– Fredda Hyman

To celebrate this milestone release, we are offering Composers in the Loft on our web site at 25% off the regular price through the end of the month. Since this is the month of Halloween, we are also running a web-only, $10 special (through the end of October) on two particularly appropriate Cedille titles: violinist Rachel Barton Pine’s Instrument of the Devil album and Chicago Opera Theater’s chilling recording of Gian Carlo Menotti’s great ghost-story opera, The Medium.

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