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Resurgence

New Works for Cello & Piano

Liova Bueno composer
Joanna Estelle composer
L Peter Deutsch composer
Paul Halley composer
Catherine Neville composer
Ray Fahrner composer
John A. Carollo composer

Ovidiu Marinescu cello
Noreen Cassidy-Polera piano

Release Date: July 26, 2024
Catalog #: NV6646
Format: Digital
21st Century
Chamber
Cello
Piano

What happens when two world class performers unite in their efforts to carry on the traditions and collaborative spirit of classical music? Cellist Ovidiu Marinescu and pianist Noreen Cassidy-Polera share a shining example on RESURGENCE.

Featuring the works of several contemporary composers, this Navona Records release offers reflections on emergence and transformation, the throes of long distance love, the great artists of our past and present, the fusion of several musical influences, and more. Leveraging refined elegance in sound and raw virtuosity in approach, RESURGENCE is a thoughtful exploration into the expressive capabilities of the cello and the piano both as individual entities and a cohesive voice.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Alma Caribeña Liova Bueno Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano 5:53
02 Valsa da saudade (Waltz of Longing) Joanna Estelle Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano 5:14
03 Cello Fantasia Paul Halley Ovidiu Marinescu, cello 8:06
04 Awakening L Peter Deutsch Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano 3:26
05 Three Movements of Sun and Shadow: II. Adagio Catherine Neville Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano 4:02
06 Three Movements of Sun and Shadow: III. Reflective Catherine Neville Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano 5:41
07 Becoming Ray Fahrner Ovidiu Marinescu, cello 8:05
08 We Will Never Witness Another of His Kind: I. Con Bravura John A. Carollo Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano 5:11
09 We Will Never Witness Another of His Kind: II. Animato John A. Carollo Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano 4:45
10 We Will Never Witness Another of His Kind: III. Baile! John A. Carollo Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano 2:54
11 We Will Never Witness Another of His Kind: IV. Delicato, Tristezza John A. Carollo Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano 9:09

Recorded November 27-28 & December 18-20, 2023 at Madeline Wing Adler Theater, West Chester University in West Chester PA
Session Producer & Engineer Brad Michel
Assistant Engineer Lucas Paquette
Editing, Mixing & Mastering Brad Michel

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil
A&R Danielle Sullivan, Chris Robinson

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
Digital Marketing Manager Brett Iannucci

Artist Information

Liova Bueno

Liova Bueno

Composer

Liova Bueno's music is performed in concerts and music festivals internationally, from Europe, the United States, and across Canada to countries in Central and South America. He has received commissions from and has collaborated with various ensembles, including Cuarteto de Bellas Artes (Mexico), Vox Humana Chamber Choir (Victoria, B.C.), the Victoria Choral Society (Victoria, B.C.), the London Symphony Orchestra (U.K.), the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic), BRNO Contemporary Orchestra (Czech Republic), the Illinois Modern Ensemble (Illinois), the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Juvenil and members of the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (Dominican Republic), and members of the Victoria Symphony.

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Joanna Estelle

Joanna Estelle

Composer

Joanna Estelle (Storoschuk) is a Canadian composer, lyricist, and arranger, born of Ukrainian parentage. Her music has won critical acclaim from Parliament Hill, Ottawa (Canada) to London (United Kingdom), Barcelona (Spain), Carnegie Hall (New York City), and elsewhere around the world. Estelle studied classical piano and theory with the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto) as a young person, but her parents deterred her from pursuing music as a career. Instead, she graduated in Psychology and English (Brock, 1972), then went on to study management accounting. However, her enthusiasm for music never waned.

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Paul Halley

Composer

Paul Halley is one of Australia’s most popular composers of classical music, blending elements of traditional classical styles with a distinctive modern edge. Drawing on influences from the classical masters such as Beethoven, Bach and Mozart, Halley also draws inspiration from sources as varied as medieval music and film music. With his beautifully melodic and intensely dramatic music he has captivated audiences and made a reputation for himself as a composer of highly accessible contemporary classical music.

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L Peter Deutsch

Composer

L Peter Deutsch is a native of Massachusetts, now living in Sonoma County CA, and British Columbia, Canada. He writes primarily for small instrumental or a capella vocal ensembles, spanning styles from devotional to romantic to jazzy, and from Renaissance to early 20th century. Works to date include four choral commissions; releases through PARMA Recordings include music for chorus, string quartet, woodwind and brass quintets, piano trio (featuring work with Trio Casals), and full orchestra.

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Catherine Neville

Composer

Catherine Neville (b. 1974) is a composer of concert music for instrumental ensembles and choir. An alumna of Interlochen Arts Academy, her experiences as a clarinetist and music theorist led to studying composition with Jeff Nichols. She holds degrees in composition from the Aaron Copland School of Music in Queens, NY, in Music Education from Hofstra University, and in Performance (clarinet) from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

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Ray Fahrner

Ray Fahrner

Composer

Ray Fahrner composes in eclectic styles and conducts all manner of music in Cambridge MA. Fahrner began his composition studies with Robert Wason and Arnold Franchetti at Hartt College of Music, University of Hartford, subsequently studying with Scott Huston and Norman Dinerstein at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, where he received his doctorate in 1980.

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John A. Carollo

Composer

John A. Carollo was born in Torino, Italy and brought to the United States by his adoptive parents. When he was in grade school, he studied classical piano and sang in the church choir. While attending college in San Diego CA, he studied music and psychology. During this time, Carollo took piano lessons and began composing his first piano works. He graduated from San Diego State University being granted a master’s degree in clinical psychology.

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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.

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Noreen Cassidy-Polera

Pianist

Pianist Noreen Cassidy-Polera ranks among the most highly regarded and diverse chamber artists performing today. She maintains a career that has taken her to every major American music center and abroad to Europe, Russia, and Asia. Recent performances include those at Alice Tully Hall, Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, Jordan Hall, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Kennedy Center, and Salle Cortot. She has appeared at the Caramoor, Bard, Grand Teton, and Cape Cod music festivals, and has performed with the chamber music societies of Philadelphia and La Jolla. She has recorded for Sony, EMI, Audiophon, and Centaur Records.

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Notes

When composing Alma Caribeña (Caribbean Soul), I was inspired to fuse together a mix of musical influences, not only from my home country of the Dominican Republic but also from Haiti (which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic) as well as from Cuba, whose musical culture has historically been closely linked that of both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The result is a polytonal, polyrhythmic piece infused with elements of merengue/ méringue, son, guaguanco, balada, and bolero. These influences are explored in both the fast and slow sections, whether through contrapuntal lines, rhythmic drive, lyrical melodies, or infectious dance grooves. Extended tonal harmonies create a soundscape that draws the listener in and leads the ear through various tonal centres before settling on a final resolution.

The Caribbean quintuplet — a ubiquitous element in Caribbean music — serves both as a basis for rhythmic and melodic figurations as well as for larger-scale structural elements. I like to think of the end result as “un bonche musical,” or, a shindig.

— Liova Bueno

The two main themes of Valsa da saudade were originally written as a wedding present for cellist Ovidiu Marinescu and his second wife, Suelen, who, due to circumstances, were not able to live together immediately after their marriage. At the time of their meeting, Ovidiu was working in West Chester PA, and Suelen was living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where they met on a winter vacation. Ovidiu and Suelen were married exactly one year after meeting, but their physical separation continued for an additional 22 months, other than for sporadic visits during holidays and vacations. Needless to say, the situation was difficult for both of them. The piece evolved as a result of comparing joyful social media pictures of Ovidiu when he was with Suelen versus despondent photos when he was not: the difference in his demeanor was striking. Valsa de saudade opens with the melancholy theme A played by the cello in d minor, first in the bass register, then in the treble, representing the two sweethearts pining for one another. Theme B, beginning in F major, is a tender melody that expresses their joy when together, but quickly moves back into d minor as another physical separation approaches. The middle section of the piece is played agitato to suggest the distress that they both must have felt during their extended periods apart. It reverts briefly to Theme B to demonstrate their change of mood whenever they could be together. The final section restates Theme A but modulates up to e minor to convey that their mutual longing continued until they were finally able to live together as husband and wife, but that they remained hopeful throughout their extended separation.

— Joanna Estelle

Written in 2009, Cello Fantasia develops entirely out of the first eight notes. Growing slowly and majestically, the unbroken melodic line embarks on a musical journey encompassing almost the entire range of the cello and a wide range of emotions from peace and tranquility to fiery passion and anger.

— Paul Halley

While I’ve written a fair amount of music for piano trio, Awakening is my first work for piano / cello duo. Similar to other work of mine for small ensembles, it has a middle section that embodies my signature use of imitative counterpoint; it also conforms to my preference for giving each instrument in the ensemble its turn to lead, rather than treating the work as a concerto in which the piano accompanies the string(s). However, its distinctive feature is that the work as a whole is based on a hidden Morse Code structure that is responsible for the very short phrases separated by short rests. I chose this structure before writing any of the music, and I was concerned that the structure might interfere with the music’s appeal; but I was very pleased with the dance-like result.

— L Peter Deutsch

In the summer of 2021, the world had just begun emerging from quarantine. I attended an outdoor concert, a gamelan ensemble; the first performance I watched in person in more than a year at that point. I was grieving the loss of my mother in the pandemic, and trying to make sense of the new world in which I found myself. There were many in attendance at this outdoor event, all widely separated. I found it lonelier than the online meetings to which I’d become accustomed: here, the physical space that kept us safe was tangible and very evident. The optimism that had drawn me to this concert disappeared and isolation took its place. On my way home, I listened to Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominos, RV 608, arranged for cello. Once there, I sat down and “It Flickers, and It’s Gone” for cello and piano came into being, taking its place as the middle movement of a 3-movement composition.

Creating the final movement took much longer. How does one turn from isolation and sadness back into optimism and unfettered socializing? In musical terms, the e minor sonority that ends the second movement is reduced to its root, an E, which carries us from minor to major. Our new sense of place and purpose does not forget the past: this final movement reflects a transformation. Intricate counterpoint casts themes and figures into a complex fabric, a nod to both the Baroque and Indonesian music that inspired the piece. We emerge from the shadowy flickers into full sunlight, enjoying the moment all the more for the sadness that has come before.

— Catherine Neville

Becoming, for solo cello, is a playful exploration of the expressive possibilities of the instrument, in the hands of the master cellist Ovidiu Marinescu. The work is moody and melodramatic, humorous and quirky, self-mocking and mischievous. Stating a few straightforward musical motives, the piece — over the course of eight minutes — evolves by becoming a more expansive and thoughtful elaboration of these ideas.

After an opening flourish, Becoming continues with a simplistic, back-and-forth two-note motif. (In order to “become,” you have to start somewhere!) The motif is stretched, poked, and prodded, finding a fuller and more dramatic range of the instrument. The accelerating motion is interrupted abruptly.

Beginning with a brief phrase of lyric introspection, the next section whimsically varies the earlier two-note motif in its various guises, finally expanding to a lengthy section of dramatic arpeggios reminiscent of the opening flourish. After a brief section of quiet tremolos, this part of the work concludes with a thoughtful but insincere cadence.

The next section, in direct and extreme contrast to its precedent, opens with a calm melody of harmonics, followed — after a brief silence — by a turmoil of pizzicatos and angry interruptions. This evolves to a definitive, dramatic point of arrival, marked maestoso, followed by an extended section of lyric exploration, culminating with another clear cadence, this time a mocking, in-your-face dissonance.

The final section of the work asks more questions than it answers, tearing apart the familiar musical ideas that were previously assembled. After a puckish cadenza, the music doesn’t summarize; rather, it seems to wistfully remember fragments of its travels, with an air of evocative satisfaction.

— Ray Fahrner

I have been an Edward Gorey collector all my life. When I reflect back on his achievements as an artist, I think of other great artists who have lived and think, “will we ever witness such greatness again?” It brings to mind the lives of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart in the musical world. It seems that such greatness is a rarity in life and it makes me wonder if today, there is someone who walks among us, perhaps unrecognized, who is achieving something very special indeed that future generations, when looking back, will marvel at his or her greatness. These thoughts were ruminating in my mind before beginning this four-part duet, which is special to me for these reasons. And finally, though we are all unique in our own ways, there are those who stand out in their genius and we, therefore, are compelled to ask if we will ever witness another of his kind.

— John A. Carollo

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Ovidiu Marinescu, cello and Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano at recording session

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Marinescu and composer Ray Fahrner