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Baltic Sketches

Collected Symphonies 2006-2020

Scott Brickman composer

Release Date: February 7, 2025
Catalog #: NV6698
Format: Digital

BALTIC SKETCHES by composer Scott Brickman is a collection of symphonic works inspired by Brickman’s Baltic and Slavic ancestry. The album features his Symphony No. 5, which draws on Latvian folk traditions, including folk dances, songs, and Lutheran liturgical music. It also includes Symphony No. 1, an exploration of neoclassical form influenced by contemporary socio-political events, including military conflict in the Middle East and the climate crisis. Symphony No. 6 for wind ensemble explores textural and timbral color and nods to the Lutheran chorale, In Dulci Jubilo. Blending classical forms with asymmetrical dance meters and folk melodies, Brickman’s BALTIC SKETCHES finds unexpected connections between time-honored traditions.

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Performance Video

Scott Brickman and Symphony #6, Sinfonia for Wind Ensemble

Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Symphony #5: I. Allegro con Spirito Scott Brickman Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra | Ivan Josip Skender, conductor 8:44
02 Symphony #5: II. Cantabile (Valse Melancholique) Scott Brickman Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra | Ivan Josip Skender, conductor 4:25
03 Symphony #5: III. Energico Scott Brickman Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra | Ivan Josip Skender, conductor 4:38
04 Symphony #1: I Scott Brickman Kiev Philharmonic | Robert Ian Winstin, conductor 3:19
05 Symphony #1: II Scott Brickman Kiev Philharmonic | Robert Ian Winstin, conductor 3:24
06 Symphony #1: III & IV Scott Brickman Kiev Philharmonic | Robert Ian Winstin, conductor 5:03
07 Symphony #4 “Restoration” Scott Brickman Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava | Jiří Petrdlík, conductor 10:57
08 Symphony #6 (Sinfonia for Wind Ensemble): I. Maestoso Scott Brickman Filharmonie Brno | Jiří Petrdlík, conductor 4:07
09 Symphony #6 (Sinfonia for Wind Ensemble): II. Cantabile: Risoluto Scott Brickman Filharmonie Brno | Jiří Petrdlík, conductor 3:42
10 Symphony #6 (Sinfonia for Wind Ensemble): III. Grandioso Scott Brickman Filharmonie Brno | Jiří Petrdlík, conductor 3:32

Symphony #5
Recorded March 3-4, 2021 at Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall Theatre in Zagreb, Croatia
Session Producer Krešimir Seletković
Session Engineer Filip Vidovic
Recording Session Director Levi Brown
Editing & Mixing Lucas Paquette

Symphony #1
Recorded at the National Radio Studio of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine
Session Producer Alexander Hornostai
Session Engineer Andrij Mokrytsky

Symphony #4 “Restoration”
Recorded February 28, 2019 at Dům Kultury města Ostravy in Ostrava, Czech Republic
Session Producer Jan Košulič
Co-producer Bob Lord
Session Engineer Aleš Dvořák
Assistant Engineer Maroš Hlatký
Recording Sessions Manager Levi Brown
Recording Sessions Assistant Emma Terrell
Editing & Mixing Shaun Michaud

Symphony #6
Recorded November 18, 2022 at Besední dům in Brno, Czech Republic
Session Producer Jan Košulič
Session Engineer Jaroslav Zouhar
Editing Jan Košulič
Additional Editing & Mixing Melanie Montgomery

Mastering Melanie Montgomery

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil

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

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming, Morgan Hauber
Publicity Chelsea Olaniran
Digital Marketing Manager Brett Iannucci

Artist Information

Scott Brickman

Composer

Scott Brickman (b. 1963, Oak Park IL) is passionate about sports, his Baltic and Slavic ancestry, and culture. He loves traveling through Central, Eastern, Northern Europe, and Canada, which is a mere kilometer from where he currently lives. Currently he is Professor of Music and Education at the University of Maine at Fort Kent where he has taught since 1997. Though scholarship has not been the focus of his activities, he recently presented papers on set theory, jazz history, and music education in Strasbourg, France, Lviv, Ukraine, and Liepaja, Latvia respectively. His orchestral music has been performed and recorded by ensembles in Croatia, Czechia, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine. 

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Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra

Orchestra

The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra boasts 150 years of tradition of first-class musicianship in Zagreb and across Croatia. It acts as a promoter of the art of music in Croatia and a cultural ambassador of Croatia in the world. It is a symbol of the city in which it operates and a musical institution that captures the urban image of Zagreb as a central European musical, art and cultural centre.

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Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava

Orchestra

The Janáček Philharmonic is a world-class symphony orchestra based in Ostrava, Czech Republic and an emerging figure on the international performance scene. With over 100 top-level musicians, the orchestra aims to introduce unique, quality repertoire while showcasing their own recognizable sound.

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Jiří Petrdlík

Conductor

Jiří Petrdlík (b. 1977) is appreciated as one of the most respectable conductors of his generation. He studied piano, trombone, and conducting — 1995–2000 at Prague Conservatory, and 2000–2005 at Academy of Performing Arts Prague — with Hynek Farkač, Miroslav Košler, Miriam Němcová, Radomil Eliška, and Tomáš Koutník, and took part in the masterclasses of the New York Philharmonic Principal Conductor Kurt Masur and the BBC Philharmonic Principal Conductor Jiří Bělohlávek. Petrdlík also successfully took part in several competitions, including the Donatella Flick Conductor Competition in London.

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Filharmonie Brno

Orchestra

Since its earliest days, Filharmonie Brno has established a profile as a Janáčkian orchestra, thus making a substantial contribution to the cultural life of Brno — where Leoš Janáček composed nearly his entire oeuvre — and becoming an enthusiastic champion of his music. Since its foundation in 1956, the orchestra has regularly performed Janáček’s works in concerts at home and abroad; it has also recorded, multiple times, his complete symphonic works and cantatas.

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Notes

Symphony #5 was written in part at the suggestion of PARMA CEO Bob Lord. In three movements, most of it was conceived and sketched during 2019 when I was in the Czech Republic and Latvia. The inspiration for this work is my experience with Latvian culture and history. During the summer of 2019 I spent my time continuing my Latvian Language studies, as well as learning folk dances and songs. For me, the ideas of these seeming separate elements began to merge into a single unified concept; I began to see and understand the relationships between them. This symphony is my reaction and interpretation of the elements I found interesting and meaningful.

The first movement is a celebration of the asymmetrical meters of Latvian folk songs and dances and contains an obvious allusion to the country’s Lutheran heritage. Additionally, certain decorative patterns of Latvian linen arts which have a relation to the songs and dances served as an inspiration. The movement is in a very loose sonata form. Composer Emil Darzin’s (1875–1910) Valse Melancolique was the inspiration for the second movement. In contrast to the first movement’s focus on shifting meters and textures, this movement is a direct melody and accompaniment. The last movement is a rousing finale. Somewhat similar to the first movement, the emphasis is in shifting textures and timbres, and not so much shifting meters by rhythmic patterns which are characteristic of Latvian folksongs.

— Scott Brickman

Symphony #1 (2006) is in four movements, the third and fourth being played without pause.

It is cast in a traditional mold; the first movement is a moderate tempo sonata form, the second movement slow and lyrical, the third a scherzo, and the finale a perpetuum mobile with a fughetta.

The work is based on 12-tone rows whose initial hexachords are subsets of the octatonic scale. It “sounds” neoclassical.

When writing this piece, I believed I was constructing a piece of absolute music. I do get the sense that the music tells a story of a struggle. Perhaps the socio-political events of the early 21st century, for instance the global protests surrounding the World Trade Organization, military activities in the Middle East and issues regarding oil, and the debate about global warming and the effects of recent natural disasters had more of an impact on the narrative of this work than I was conscious of.

— Scott Brickman

My Symphony #4, Restoration (2018), is in one movement. While not quoting any folksongs, the melodic material was inspired by Baltic and Slavic folksongs, music from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine, all of whom celebrated the 100th anniversary of the restoration of their countries in 2018.

— Scott Brickman

Symphony #6 (Sinfonia for Wind Ensemble) was written in the summer of 2020. I began this composition immediately after I had finished chemotherapy treatments. Each of the three movements of this composition were inspired by Latvian music. The first movement is also influenced by the Lithuanian singing tradition called “Sutartine,” which is a type of singing game usually practiced by women. The second movement is a study in instrumentation and texture, where a theme is varied not necessarily by changing pitch elements but by instrumental color. The finale is tangentially based on a Lutheran Chorale, “In Dulci Jubilo.”

— Scott Brickman