CM Editions 1 Essence: Une Collection De Musique / The Complete Work

Liner Notes:

I was asked recently on two separate occasions, by two separate people, just what it is I do. This prompted me to realize I did not have a single place to point them to about my life’s work as a musician and composer. Although I had compiled a compilation of early work quite a ways back, I had not put together a collection of pieces in what I call… my modern era. Thus I began to review and gather together a series of brief works (often excerpts) that contain the essence of what it is… I do. Every composer has his or her own approach in terms of conveying what they wish the listener to hear. Some are concerned with melody, some with complexity and performance etc. My approach, my concern and what I wish to convey, is mood… atmosphere… placement. I wish to take the listener to the emotional landscape I live in… a place well within my heart. My music is therefore a portrayal… a mapping of these emotional provinces I travel in. As for notes... notes to me are but the carriers of certain sounds that evoke certain feelings… from the bright yellows of joy… to the deepest ambers of sorrow… and so the texture and aging of the sounds are important to me. I’m very mindful in writing for these instruments (and sounds) I choose so as to share my feelings with others through those instruments (and sounds) as truthfully as I can. The notes themselves are signposts to guide the listener along the way… for it’s what we experience in our lives that determines how we see the world... and then… how we express ourselves about those experiences we’ve had. Here, in this gathering of seven pieces (that unfold over forty-six minutes) is the essence of what it is I do. In both larger scale works (such as the original scores/soundtracks and the ballets) to the very intimate of small pieces (the chamber works)… the same conveyance applies. Each piece contains the whole… and the whole collection is the emotional map entire.

So as to the question of what is it that I do… it’s here in these seven pieces… in this forty-six minutes. My life’s work is here… in musical terms… all of what I hope to tell of my innermost thoughts and feelings. My journals...my travels… my joys and my sorrows are here… my life is here... as a human being and as a composer. My essence is here.

- R.

Essence: Une Collection De Musique / The Complete Work was composed and arranged by Russell Giffen. Produced, engineered and recorded in the Autorium at St.Sann’s / Cinterscore Studios NY.

Special thanks to Spitfire Audio UK, Abbey Road Studios London, The London Contemporary Orchestra and Westwood Instruments UK without whom this recording wouldn't have been possible.

Cover photography: cPress Graphics / CM

To Music… in all her forms. How you have saved me. - R.

Essence: Une Collection De Musique / The Complete Work © 2019/20/21/22/23/24 Russell Giffen. CM Publishing

- R.

The work continues…