Paul Chihara’s third disc on Bridge ranges widely, including recent works and his classic String Trio from the ‘80s. Chihara studied composition with the renowned pedagogues Nadia Boulanger in Paris, Ernst Pepping in Berlin, and Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood, and his far flung musical style is emblematic of the variety of his studies. Chihara has been commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, the New Juilliard Ensemble, Continuum, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He was the founder and chairman of the UCLA Visual Media graduate program, which is devoted to training composers for film, Broadway musicals, and the concert stage. Chihara began his film career scoring Death Race 2000 for Roger Corman, and has composed scores for more than 100 motion pictures including work with directors Sidney Lumet, Louis Malle, Arthur Penn, John Turturro, Michael Richie, and Jacques Cousteau. Mr. Chihara is currently an Artist Faculty member in Film Music at New York University.
Reviews:
“This album is superbly engineered, edited, and mastered in a way that combines the presence and dynamism of the best of popular music in recordings of classical music. It should be a likely candidate for industry awards and honors, and is not to be missed.” - Phil’s Classical Reviews
“The final work is a real knockout. Duke Ellington’s I’m Beginning to See the Light is a great opener; the arrangement of Sophisticated Lady is quite stunning, and the CD’s title track provides a great jazzy ending to an excellent disc.” - theWholeNote
"A thoroughly enjoyable disc." — Gramophone
String Trio (1985)
Gavin String Trio: Jesse Mills, violin, Masumi Rostad, viola, Raman Ramakrishnan, cello
Bagatelles (2010) (Twice Seven Haiku for Piano)
Jerome Lowenthal, piano
The Girl from Yerevan (2014)
David Starobin, guitar, Movses Pogossian, violin, Paul Coletti, viola
Ellington Fantasy (1982)
Lark Quartet: Maria Bachmann, violin 1, Deborah Buck, violin 2, Kathryn Lockwood, viola, Astrid Schween, cello
BRIDGE 9488
Related discs: