Octagon (Volume I)
Octagon New Music Ensemble, Nicole Paiement (conductor), Zelman Bokser (conductor)
Octagon is the new music ensemble of the University of California. It offers an important opportunity to young composers and performers in the UC system. The group creates a pre-professional opportunity to explore a large body of new literature from composers at the University of California. The works chosen for performances represent a broad spectrum of styles from the most experimental to the most traditional. The ensemble tours annually throughout the University of California system and elsewhere.
Track Listing
| Title | Composer | Performer |
|---|---|---|
| Juego | Miguel Chuaqui | Octagon Ensemble, Nicole Paiement and Zelman Bokser, conductors |
| Solstice Fragments | Kevin Doe | Octagon Ensemble, Nicole Paiement and Zelman Bokser, conductors |
| La Cité du Globe Captif | Ellen Harrison | Octagon Ensemble, Nicole Paiement and Zelman Bokser, conductors |
| The Chinese Teapot Teaches Patience | Angela Jelliffe | Octagon Ensemble, Nicole Paiement and Zelman Bokser, conductors |
| G-R-K | Keith Kothman | Octagon Ensemble, Nicole Paiement and Zelman Bokser, conductors |
| A Song Cycle | Cesar Andres Mateus-Vasquez | Octagon Ensemble, Nicole Paiement and Zelman Bokser, conductors |
| Divertimento | Jonathan Santore | Octagon Ensemble, Nicole Paiement and Zelman Bokser, conductors |
| Death of a Soldier | Kevin Stevens | Octagon Ensemble, Nicole Paiement and Zelman Bokser, conductors |
Reviews
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"These two discs (133 & 130) assemble works by fourteen young composers, scored for a variety of forces: the players listed on the back of the discs cover flutes, clarinets, bassoon, horn, percussion, voice, and strings. It's obviously an immensely valuable undertaking, and is an endeavor that should be widely emulated elsewhere; and Albany's adventurous involvement in the project should also be clamorously applauded. The trouble lies in the music itself. Although more or less every piece seems capably enough written, all the composers more than able to produce atmosphere and color, that seems to be the principal aim of all of them. Though, almost without exception, I enjoyed the music as it went past, I found little to remember afterward."
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