Release Date: November 10, 2017

Catalog #: NV6128

 

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TRACK LISTING

 

01  Blackbird (2015)  15:27

Cascade Quartet

 

02  Conundrums: Prelude 1:

For Saturday (2016)  3:10

Holly Roadfeldt piano

 

03  Conundrums: Prelude 2:

The few miracles attributed to the angel showed a

certain mental disorder (2016)  2:28

Holly Roadfeldt piano

 

04  Spark (2014)  7:51

JoDee Davis trombone  Trevor Thornton & Emily Trapp piano

 

05 Conundrums: Prelude 3:

I have saved all my ribbons for thee (2016)  2:05

Holly Roadfeldt piano

 

06  Conundrums: Prelude 4:

The bones becoming light (2016)  3:01

Holly Roadfeldt piano

 

07  Folium cubed (2015)  5:46

Zachary Shemon soprano saxophone

 

08  Sky-Born (2015)  5:00

UMKC Conservatory Singers | Robert Bode conductor

Vicki Olson, Melissa Edwards, Lorissa Sampson, Mindy Guidroz,

Michael Patch, Matt Wilson, Joshua Maize & Thou Yang singers

Samuel Huang, Elaine Ng violins

Esther Seitz cello

 

09  Conundrums: Prelude 5:

I have tried in my way to be free (2016)  1:19

Holly Roadfedlt piano

 

10  Conundrums: Prelude 6: Home is a failed idea (2016)  1:55

Holly Roadfedlt piano

 

11  One Voice (2016)  9:17

Michael Hall viola Megan Ihnen mezzo-soprano

 

 

sky-born

MARA GIBSON

 

OVERVIEW

Shocking, gripping, and thought-provoking, Mara Gibson's new album SKY-BORN conjures a flurry of emotions through its moody music. In one moment, the busy  strings create a fury of anxious, energetic sounds; the next, the strike of a lone piano chord paints a brooding soundscape.

 

SKY-BORN is Gibson's sophomore album, and the first to be released on Navona Records. She has worked at UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance for over ten years and will also be teaching this fall at Louisiana State University this year. Gibson's album features compositions performed by UMKC fellow faculty members, the Cascade Quartet, violist Michael Hall, mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen, and pianist Holly Roadfeldt.

 

Gibson drew her inspiration from a variety of artistic mediums. The piano preludes, which are interspersed throughout the album, were inspired by paintings from Jim Condron (www.jcondron.com), each piece extracting a beautifully haunting soundtrack from a series of abstract art. Gibson also used poems as the foundation for her compositions. The eerie One Voice reflected the writings of the Michigan-based poet Hannah Ensor, while The Folium Cubed is Gibson's response to Luisa Sello's Let Clover Be Aid. Sky-born sets Emerson’s “Music” for four soloists, full of idealism and hope, in the ugliness, and in the reality, something we do not share enough.

 

The 15-minute epic Blackbird carries the reader along a journey of grace and violence invigorated by Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, a poem by Wallace Stevens. Though influenced by literary works, SKY-BORN breeds nothing but visceral energy and harrowing emotion that resonates with the listener right down to the last note of the viola.

 

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CREDITS

 

Track 1

Recorded May 23, 2016 in Great Falls MT

Recording Session Producers & Engineers John Gemberling & Sam Krahn

 

TRACKS 2-11

Recorded at UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance James C. Olson

Performing Arts Center, White Recital Hall in Kansas City MO

Recording Session Producer & Session Engineer Robert Beck

 

TRACKS 2-3, 5-6

Recorded January 17, 2017

Piano Technician Kent Swafford

 

TRACK 4

Recorded April 29, 2016

 

TRACK 6

Dedicated to Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016)

 

TRACK 7

Recorded May 17, 2016

 

TRACK 8

Recorded February 7, 2017

 

TRACKS 9-10

Recorded June 19, 2017

Piano Technician Kent Swafford

 

TRACK 9

Dedicated to Noah Matthew Siegel (1989-2014)

 

TRACK 11

Based on Hannah Ensor’s “Breathe”

Recorded November 18, 2016

 

Executive Producer Bob Lord

Executive A&R Sam Renshaw

A&R Chris Robinson

Audio Director Jeff LeRoy

Engineering Manager Lucas Paquette

Mastering Shaun Michaud

Design & Marketing Director Brett Picknell

Design Ryan Harrison

 

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ALSO FEATURING PIANIST, HOLLY ROADFELDT

 

THE PRELUDES PROJECT (RR7947)

Holly Roadfeldt