Sonix+ - album cover

Sonix+

Jan Järvlepp composer

Trio Casals
Alexandr Kislitsyn violin
Ovidiu Marinescu cello
Anna Kislitsyna piano

Chelsea Meynig flute
Antonello DiMatteo clarinet

Release Date: January 19, 2024
Catalog #: NV6596
Format: Digital
21st Century
Chamber
Clarinet
Flute
Piano Trio

SONIX+ is a collection of new works from cellist and composer Jan Järvlepp that stand as some of his most creative and defiant. The title piece, composed for the Ónix Ensemble of Mexico, draws upon elements from Järvlepp’s renowned works with a hidden theme from the 1960s sprinkled within. Trio No. 3 incorporates a very different concept from 1960s culture: protest music. The piece cries out against the constant surveillance that takes place in modern life, from cameras on every street corner to keyword tracking on search engines. Järvlepp’s music is unrelenting, one-of-a-kind, and inspired — a well balanced blend of time-tested virtuosity spoken through modern themes.

Listen

Hear the full album on YouTube

Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Sonix Jan Järvlepp Chelsea Meynig, flute; Antonello DiMatteo, clarinet; Trio Casals | Alexandr Kislitsyn, violin; Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Anna Kislitsyna, piano; 9:00
02 Trio No. 3: I. Surveillance Cameras Everywhere Jan Järvlepp Trio Casals | Alexandr Kislitsyn, violin; Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Anna Kislitsyna, piano 7:57
03 Trio No. 3: II. Constant Telephone and Internet Surveillance Jan Järvlepp Trio Casals | Alexandr Kislitsyn, violin; Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Anna Kislitsyna, piano 7:19
04 Trio No. 3: III. Drones Jan Järvlepp Trio Casals | Alexandr Kislitsyn, violin; Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Anna Kislitsyna, piano 6:12

Recorded June 15, 2023 at the Madeline Wing Adler Theater at West Chester University in West Chester PA
Session Producer & Engineer Brad Michel
Assistant Engineer Melanie Montgomery

Editing, Mixing & Mastering Melanie Montgomery

Executive Producer Bob Lord

A&R Director Brandon MacNeil

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
Production Manager Martina Watzková
Production Assistant Adam Lysák

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Aidan Curran

Artist Information

Jan Järvlepp

Composer

Composer Jan Järvlepp creates a genuine European/American musical fusion by combining the excitement of rock and jazz rhythms with the large-scale classical structures found in orchestral and chamber music. The seriousness of his well-thought-out forms and the immediacy of contemporary rhythmic and melodic ideas make a potent brew that is appealing to both open-minded classical listeners and pop music listeners who are searching for something new.

Trio Casals

Ensemble

Since making a highly-praised debut at the 1996 edition of the Pablo Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, Trio Casals has delighted audiences with spectacular virtuosity, engaging enthusiasm, and exquisite musical elegance. The ensemble released several commercial albums with PARMA Recordings and Navona Records to critical acclaim with Ovidiu Marinescu and past members including Anna Kislitysyna, Alexandr Kislitsyn, and Sylvia Ahramjian, from the beloved MOTO series to A GRAND JOURNEY and more. Marinescu remains in the current ensemble line up, with Mădălina-Claudia Dănilă and Timothy Schwarz joining in 2024.

Anna Kislitsyna

Pianist

Pianist and harpsichordist Anna Kislitsyna made her solo debut at age 10 with the Omsk Symphony Orchestra. She remains in high demand as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and educator. Recent season highlights include five new album productions with PARMA Recordings and two release concerts in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, performing Haydn and Shostakovich Piano Concertos with Helena Symphony and Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra, and returning to the Omsk Philharmonic as a soloist to give the inaugural performance on the new harpsichord.

Ovidiu Marinescu

Cellist, Composer

Ovidiu Marinescu is internationally recognized as a cellist, composer, conductor, and educator. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall (New York), the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Holywell Room in Oxford, Oriental Art Center in Shanghai, and has appeared as soloist with the London Symphony, New York Chamber Symphony, the National Radio Orchestra of Romania, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Helena, Great Falls, Portsmouth, and Newark Symphonies, Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Philharmonic, Limeira Symphony in Brazil, Orquesta de Extremadura in Spain, and most of the professional orchestras in his native Romania. The album LONDON CELLO CONNECTION features Marinescu and London Symphony Orchestra in eight newly commissioned cello concertos by North American composers.

Notes

After playing cello for 52 years, 38 of them in the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, I decided to retire from performance to become a full-time composer. No need to practice scales, arpeggios, octaves and thumb position every day! No more gigs at weddings, funerals, baptisms, parties, business events and shows! I found it very liberating and quickly adjusted to this new pace of work. I still pull out my guitar and bass guitar once in a while, or sit down at the piano, because that can be useful for trying out ideas of a work-in-progress.

With a less hectic schedule, I feel a greater creative flow and can focus more deeply on my own music. I have more time to continue work on my orchestral compositions that have been sitting on the back burner. I am also freer to explore new creative ideas that arise and can pursue them for extended periods. Some musical ideas take only a few weeks to come to fruition; others take years. I am very pleased and grateful that Navona Records continues to release my music to a growing audience.

— Jan Järvlepp

Sonix was composed for the Ónix Ensemble of Mexico in 2016, thus the title Sonix for Ónix. Pierrot Solaire is my most popular chamber music work and the Garbage Concerto is my most popular orchestral work, so I decided to use elements of both pieces in this new piece. The influence of popular music is heard in the parallel chord movements and in the rock rhythms. There is even a little influence of the theme from the 1960s TV show Batman. The hard rocking sections, such as the beginning and the ending, contrast with the more lyrical flute and clarinet solos. This 9-minute juggernaut unfolds relentlessly until it finally runs out of gas.

— Jan Järvlepp

Trio No. 3, for the classic combination of violin, cello, and piano, was composed in 2013 funded by a City of Ottawa Arts Grant. It was first performed at the 2015 Music and Beyond Festival in Ottawa. At that time I noticed that things were becoming strange in society and it was starting to bother me. These influences worked their way into my music.

The first movement is called “Surveillance Cameras Everywhere.” I noticed that cameras were popping up in public places and it bothered me. The second movement, “Constant Telephone and Internet Surveillance,” made me feel like I was in the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. For several years I had been aware of the Echelon surveillance program, which operates by tracking keywords. I even managed to obtain a list of their key words at one point. Technically, I use a variable ostinato bass which is always similar but never quite the same. So you never quite know where you stand yet you are stuck in the same kind of situation and can’t escape. The third movement, “Drones,” refers to spy drones for tracking the public using video cameras and facial recognition software. I have attended an outdoor political meeting where such drones were in use.

In a way, this is like protest music of the 1960s except that I don’t use words. I set moods of resentment and defiance. We should all be insulted when someone inspects our e-mail messages and phone calls without permission using keyword searches. It is a major invasion of privacy. So that is what this trio is all about. It is a trio for our times.

— Jan Järvlepp