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Sky Legends: Music of David Owens

David Owens, composer

Victor Cayres, piano
Heeyeon Chi, piano
Hyun-Ji Kwon, cello

Catalog #: TROY1989
Release Date: February 7, 2025
Format: Digital
Chamber

The majestic beauty of the night sky has been a perennial source of inspiration throughout history, spawning myths and tales that have endured for millenia. On SKY LEGENDS, composer David Owens transforms the ancient Greek constellations of the zodiac into miniatures for four-hand piano, turning the epic stories into colorful soundscapes. The musical illustrations of Hercules, Orion, and more match the intensity of the original mythology and animate the sky’s static imagery with simultaneous ferocity and grace. These works, along with Owens’ Sonata for Cello and Piano and two soliloquies, highlight the composer’s penchant for powerful, expressive music that commands attention.

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Track Listing

# Title Composer Performer
01 Sonata for Cello and Piano: I. Agitato David Owens Hyun-Ji Kwon, cello; Victor Cayres, piano 5:03
02 Sonata for Cello and Piano: II. Andantino David Owens Hyun-Ji Kwon, cello; Victor Cayres, piano 7:59
03 Sonata for Cello and Piano: III. Allegro inquieto David Owens Hyun-Ji Kwon, cello; Victor Cayres, piano 5:01
04 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Ares – Ram David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 2:38
05 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Taurus – Bull David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 2:01
06 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Gemini – Twins David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 3:52
07 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Cancer – Crab David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 1:12
08 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Leo – Lion David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 1:52
09 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Virgo – Virgin David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 3:14
10 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Libra – Balance David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 1:38
11 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Scorpio – Scorpion David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 1:58
12 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Sagittarius – Archer David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 3:00
13 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Capricorn – Goat David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 2:35
14 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Aquarius – Water Bearer David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 3:00
15 Sky Legends – Twelve Miniatures on the Signs of the Zodiac: Pisces – Fishes David Owens Victor Cayres, piano; Heeyeon Chi, piano 2:30
16 Soliloquy II David Owens Hyun-Ji Kwon, cello; Victor Cayres, piano 5:17
17 Soliloquy VII David Owens Victor Cayres, piano 7:06

Recorded April 30 & May 1, 2018 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester MA

Produced by Foundation for Modern Opera
Executive Director J.S. Summer
Recording Producer J.S. Summer
Recording Engineer Joseph Chilorio
Mixing & Mastering Joseph Chilorio
Piano Technician Barbara Renner

Financial support provided by Mattina R. Proctor Foundation
All scores published by Andrea Press, Holliston MA

Executive Producer Bob Lord
Artistic Directors, Albany Records
Peter Kermani, Susan Bush

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil
A&R Chris Robinson

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Morgan Hauber
Publicity Aidan Curran
Digital Marketing Manager Brett Iannucci

Artist Information

David Owens

Composer, Pianist

David Owens, pianist/composer, has long experience as an organist, conductor, and accompanist. He has appeared as piano and organ soloist, besides working as a collaborative artist with hundreds of singers and instrumentalists. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music and piano at the Manhattan School. A widely-read music journalist, he received the Deems Taylor Award for Distinguished Music Criticism from the American performing rights society, ASCAP. He has published and networked widely on the subject of contemporary music, including radio work, lectures and panels, besides serving as a consultant on the subject to such organizations as the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the American Symphony Orchestra League.

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Victor Cayres - Headshot

Victor Cayres

Pianist

Pianist Victor Cayres has earned praise for concerts with the Sine Nomine string quartet and as soloist with Boston Pops, Orchestre des Jeunes de Fribourg in Switzerland, and Brno Philharmonic in the Czech Republic. He has been a guest artist at Banff Center for the Arts in Canada, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Claflin University, Western Washington University, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory and State University for Arts and Culture. He has recorded for Albany Records, Centaur Records, Navona Records, and PARMA Recordings, and frequently performs in Brazil, Europe, South Korea, and in the United States, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s Preston Bradley Hall, and Boston’s Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall. His concerts have been broadcast live at Brazil’s TV Cultura channel, Boston’s WGBH 99.5 All Classical, and Chicago’s WFMT Fine Arts Radio. Cayres currently serves as Piano Faculty at New England Conservatory Preparatory School, Lecturer at Boston University, and Co-Director for Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Piano Program.

Heeyeon Chi - Headshot

Heeyeon Chi

Pianist

Pianist Heeyeon Chi has performed in Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Russia, Switzerland, and in the United States, where she recently appeared at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and at The Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center. She has been awarded several prizes in piano competitions, such as International Keyboard Odyssiad Festival & Competition, Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, Canadian Music Competition, Burnaby Clef Society Competition, and Burnaby Concerto Competition. Highlights of her previous engagements include appearances as soloist with the New England Repertory Orchestra conducted by Tiffany Chang, Orchestre des Jeunes de Fribourg conducted by Theophanis Kapsopoulos, guest artist at Banff Centre Arts Program, Eastern Illinois University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Program. Chi is currently on the piano and chamber music faculty at New England Conservatory Preparatory School and Continuing Education, as well as faculty at Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Piano Program.

Hyun-ji Kwon - Headshot

Hyun-ji Kwon

Cellist

Cellist Hyun-ji Kwon currently maintains an active schedule as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestra player, and educator. She is a member of the Boston Lyric Opera orchestra, Meadowlark Trio, Echo Bridge Cellos, and Convergence Ensemble, and frequently performs with the Boston Ballet Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. She recently played the solo cello chair in the pre-Broadway musical The Queen of Versailles and in the revival of the Broadway musical 1776 on its national tour.

Kwon has taught at Colby College, Boston University, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI), where she served as co-director of the cello workshop and cello coach for BUTI’s Young Artist Orchestra Program. Currently, she is a cello faculty member at Phillips Exeter Academy, Project STEP, and Four Strings Academy.

She earned her Bachelor of Music degree at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, Korea, her Master of Music and Graduate Diploma at the New England Conservatory in Boston, and her Doctor of Musical Arts at Boston University under the mentorship of Rhonda Rider.

Notes

Following a recital in which pianist Victor Cayres participated in performing a major work of mine, I was introduced to the brilliant cellist Hyun-Ji Kwon, with whom Victor regularly played chamber music. I also was introduced to the fact that Victor and his wife Heeyeon Chi were a piano-four-hand-duo team. On the spot, I was urged by the three of them to produce fresh compositions for both piano-duo and cello/piano.

Ideas for a cello/piano sonata came readily. Casting about what I’d write for piano four-hands was more difficult. The elements of colorful interest and excerptability came to mind, and I eventually lit upon producing some character pieces on the classical myths surrounding the constellations. (I wanted to take care that listeners didn’t come to the suite expecting portrayals of their personal astrology horoscopes!) As there were to be 12 units, brevity became a watchword as well; hence the vignette nature of the pieces, which are arranged in standard zodiac order, beginning with the springtime arrival of Aries.

–David Owens

Aries – Ram
The tale of the Golden Fleece. The winged ram was sent to save Phrixus from sacrifice in Athens. In gratitude for being saved, Phrixus sacrificed the ram and sheared its golden fleece as a present to the king who was hospitable to him. The fleece was cast up into the heavens to form the constellation Aries.

Taurus – Bull
The bull was the fierce Minotaur who inhabited the interior of the labyrinth at Crete. When the hero Theseus went to slay him, Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, provided him with a ball of yarn, to unravel and mark his way back out of the labyrinth after dispatching the creature.

Gemini – Twins
Castor (who was human) and Pollux (who was divine) were among the heroes on Jason’s ship, Argo. Their access to divine intervention saved the vessel at sea, and to this day, sailors regard sight of their constellation as a good omen.

The twins were devoted to each other. After Castor was killed, Pollux was grief-stricken, but was offered a place in Olympus alongside the other deities. Pollux refused it, insisting he did not desire to live forever whilst his brother was dead. Instead, Zeus arranged their images to be placed in the stars together, so that they would not be separated again.

Cancer – Crab
The story surrounds the second labor of Hercules: to kill Hydra, the hundred-headed water snake. Hera opposed Hercules by sending a giant crab, who dug its claws into Hercules’s foot. Although he stamped it to death, Hera was grateful to the crab, and placed its image amongst the stars — the constellation Cancer.

Leo – Lion
The first labor of Hercules was to capture the Nemean Lion. He strangled it, then famously wore its pelt. Zeus elevated the Nemean Lion’s image to become a constellation.

Virgo – Virgin
Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, goddess of grain, agriculture, and fertility. Hades abducted Persephone to the Underworld. Distraught, Demeter threatened to make the earth barren.

A deal was struck for returning Persephone to her mother. But before it was completed, Hades tricked Persephone into eating a pomegranate: Anyone who tasted the food of Hades must remain in the Underworld. A compromise was nonetheless reached: Persephone would remain in the Underworld for half the year and the other half in Olympus with her mother, Demeter.

During the time Demeter was separated from her daughter, the earth experienced barrenness and famine; during the other half, the earth regained fertility and yielded harvests. The myth is one of the original explanations of the changing of the seasons — autumn and winter versus spring and summer.

Libra – Balance
Libra sits at the midpoint in the band of constellations. Day and night are equal in length when the sun passes through it, thus giving rise to its reputation as a symbol of balance, justice and equality.

Scorpio – Scorpion
Orion, handsome and boastful, behaved offensively by chasing the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione — the Pleiades. A scorpion was sent to sting Orion in punishment for his lasciviousness.

According to one version of the myth, Zeus arranged the stars of Orion and the Pleiades sisters in the heavens, such that it seems he is forever pursuing, but not overtaking them, and Scorpio seems always to be chasing Orion, but never quite catching him.

Sagittarius – Archer
Cheiron was the wise centaur and teacher of Hercules. He was later accidentally struck by one of Hercules’s poisoned arrows. Although he was painfully wounded, Cheiron was semi-divine and thus could not end his misery by dying. Zeus allowed the centaur to transfer his divine status to Prometheus, and thus finally to be able to die.

Capricorn – Goat (Goat’s Horn)
Rhea begat Zeus and feared his father, Cronus, would devour him. She hid Zeus and had him nursed by Amalthea, the goat nymph.

Later, Zeus honored Amalthea by turning one of her horns into a cornucopia — symbol of the source of plenty — and set her stars in the sky as the goat’s horn.

Aquarius – Water Bearer
Zeus admired the comely Ganymede and installed him in Olympus as his cupbearer (water bearer). He placed his image in a prominent celestial position.

Pisces – Fishes
When Olympus was attacked by the monster Typhon, the gods assumed disguises, hoping the creature would not recognize them. Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, and her son Eros, hid in the ocean as twinned fish, swimming tails tied, in opposite directions.

After Olympus was saved, Aphrodite, grateful to the fish for lending their form to her and Eros, put their image in the sky, as the constellation Pisces.

–David Owens

I. Agitato
Turbulence informs the outer movements of the Sonata, and both instruments get down to business at it from the first bar. A brusque downward motif is spat out by the cello as an opening, and it becomes the identifying feature throughout the work. Tonality is quite abundant, although both instruments spin nervously through rapid successions of keys in chasing the anxious musical variants of the opening. A lyrical respite in the center offers a short haven from the intensity.

II. Andantino
Counterpoint has always been an important element in my music. The Sonata’s middle movement is built on it, with both lines and harmonic ideas braided round each other in numerous ways throughout. The cello’s and piano’s voices lead the movement into and out of several climaxes and slightly eerie moments, before settling into a peaceful resolution.

III. Allegro inquieto
That the andantino’s restful oasis was only temporary is signaled immediately by the finale’s quietly threatening beginning. “Menacing” is one of the performance directions in the score of the third movement. A febrile steeple chase of the musical materials brings back the tension the first movement introduced — this time culminating in a fugue. I realized introducing this device always risks triteness, but nevertheless felt the music’s momentum strongly suggested it at this juncture. It breaks out into a final breathless dash through the main idea.

–David Owens

My eight (to date) Soliloquies have been a series of short pieces written over the years, for various instruments. They have in common a generally introspective nature, although some of them contain contrasting livelier sections. One could say number II bends the “soliloquy rules” somewhat, in featuring a piano accompaniment for the cello — as does number VIII, for Cor Anglais and piano.

The other Soliloquies in the series have been: I. for organ, III. for harp, IV. for flute, V. for bass clarinet, and VI. for viola.

–David Owens

*Album cover provided for Editorial use only. ©Albany Records. The Albany Imprint is a registered trademark of PARMA Recordings LLC. The views and opinions expressed in this media are those of the artist and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views and opinions held by PARMA Recordings LLC and its label imprints, subsidiaries, and affiliates.