1. Lamentation/Invocation (1984) 15:05 First recording
Alan Shearer, baritone
New Music Consort, Linda Bouchard, conductor
2. Rite of the Black Sun (1980) 16:35 First recording
New Music Consort, Claire Heldrich, conductor
3. Planxty Bowerbird (1982) 7:35 First recording
Anne LeBaron, harp, tape
4. Noh Reflections (1986) 22:10 First recording
The Theatre Chamber Players of Kennedy Center
5. Concerto for Active Frogs (1975) 8:10 First recording
New Music Consort, Anne LeBaron, conductor, with: George Cartwright, tenor sax & animal calls, Jim Staley, trombone, William Trigg, percussion & tape, David Shea, baritone voice.
Composer/harpist Anne LeBaron has had an interesting career in both classical and jazz genres. As a Fulbright scholar, she studied with Gyorgy Ligeti. Her active career as a harpist has led to collaborations with Derek Bailey and Anthony Braxton, and her own Anne LeBaron Quintet in the jazz fields as well as solo and chamber works, including a recent commission for a Double-Harp Concerto.
A description of Anne LeBaron’s sound world can best be told by the composer herself: “These works respond to diverse stimuli in my life, ranging from the sounds of frogs, birds, and preachers–the sonic geography of the American South–to the writings of Artaud and the vocal and dramatic art of Korea and Japan.”
Ms. LeBaron has achieved international recognition for her pioneering work with extended techniques for the harp, fully demonstrated here by her solo performance of Planxty Bowerbird.
The balance of the CD is performed by the outstanding ensembles, the New Music Consort and the Theater Chamber Players of the Kennedy Center, including the Artaud inspired Rite of the Black Sun for percussion ensemble, and the evocative Concerto for Active Frogs for soloists with frog sound accompaniment.