Debut Album Aheym out November 5, 2013
I’m very excited to announce that I will make my recorded debut as a composer with the album Aheym, out November 5th on Anti- Records. The album is a collaboration with the Grammy Award-winning ensemble Kronos Quartet and features four of my original compositions performed by Kronos, with an appearance by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
I first crossed paths with Kronos Quartet back in 2009 when the ensemble’s founder David Harrington approached me about writing a piece for their performance at the Celebrate Brooklyn! festival in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. The piece I wrote, “Aheym” (meaning “homeward” in Yiddish), was inspired by the stories of my Jewish immigrant grandparents who settled near the park when they arrived in Brooklyn. Over the years my collaboration with Kronos Quartet grew and now “Aheym” has become the title track of our forthcoming album.
Aheym also includes a composition dedicated to Laurence Neff, Kronos Quartet’s lighting designer of 25 years (“Tenebre”); a composition influenced by the obscure Czech viola da gamba performers Irena and Vojtěch Havel (“Little Blue Something”); and a setting of a poem by Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro, which was originally commissioned by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus who perform the track on Aheym alongside Kronos Quartet (“Tour Eiffel”).
I’m thrilled to be able to share this music with in just a few weeks. The tracklist is below.
BRYCE DESSNER/KRONOS QUARTET, AHEYM
1. Aheym
2. Little Blue Something
3. Tenebre
4. Tour Eiffel