Brandon Patrick George Releases New Album Twofold on In a Circle Records September 15th
Brandon Patrick George Releases New Album Twofold on In a Circle Records
Pairing Canonical Works for Solo Flute with New Compositions
Featuring Music by C.P.E. Bach, Claude Debussy, Reena Esmail, Saad Haddad, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Toru Takemitsu
Release Date: September 15, 2023
Downloads available to press on request
Grammy®-nominated flutist Brandon Patrick George has been praised as “elegant” by The New York Times, as a “virtuoso” by The Washington Post, and as a “knockout musician with a gorgeous sound” by The Philadelphia Inquirer. On September 15, 2023, In a Circle Records will release George’s second solo album, Twofold, which explores musical dialogues that transcend space, time, and identity. The recording features music by C.P.E. Bach, Claude Debussy, Reena Esmail, Saad Haddad, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Toru Takemitsu, and is being released digitally in stereo as well as in full Dolby Atmos spatial audio, available via Apple Music.
Twofold follows the success of Brandon Patrick George’s debut solo album, which included music by Kalevi Aho, J.S. Bach, Pierre Boulez, and Sergei Prokofiev, and was released in 2020 on Haenssler Classics. George was featured in The New York Times around the album’s release, in an article titled “A Flutist Steps into the Spotlight,” which described the album as “a program that showcases the flute in all its wit, warmth and brilliance."
George’s concept for his new album Twofold is to pair canonical works for solo flute with new compositions, reveling in the conversations composers have across time and space. He was inspired by Saad Haddad’s piece Tasalsul I, which was written in response to the slow movement from C.P.E. Bach’s Sonata in A minor, WQ. 132, H. 562 – both included on the album.
Three extraordinary lyrical works – Claude Debussy’s Syrinx, Tōru Takemitsu’s Air, and Reena Esmai’s Zinfandel – provide Twofold’s core, plumbing the interplay between European, Hindustani, and Japanese musical traditions. Debussy’s colorful harmonies and textures were a source of inspiration for Takemitsu, the celebrated Japanese composer who blended sounds from the East and West. Reena Esmail weaves scales and harmonies from Hindustani music throughout her music. She has said that it was in this work, Zinfandel, that she first began exploring this concept, which is now part of her signature compositional style.
The final pairing comes from two American composers, both Chicago-based but working at a distance of 90 years from one another. Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Diaphonic Suite from 1930 is written in a conversational style, with the flutist providing both halves of a dialogue. Likewise, Shawn E. Okpebholo’s On a Painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner - The Thankful Poor from 2021 imagines a soulful dialogue between a boy and his grandfather, depicted in Tanner’s painting.
Engaging in his own colloquy with all of these exceptional composers, George takes listeners on an adventurous journey and invites them to join the conversation themselves.
About Brandon Patrick George:
Brandon Patrick George is a leading flute soloist and Grammy®-nominated chamber musician whose repertoire extends from the Baroque era to today. He is the flutist of Imani Winds and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Albany symphonies, American Composers Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, among others.
George has performed at the Elbphilharmonie, the Kennedy Center, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Prague Spring Festival. In addition to his work with Imani Winds, his solo performances include appearances at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 92nd Street Y, Tippet Rise, and Maverick Concerts. His current collaborations include touring projects with harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, pianist Aaron Diehl, and harpist Parker Ramsay.
In 2021, Brandon Patrick George was part of the inaugural class of WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, a program designed to advance the careers of early and mid-career artists and support the future of classical music. During his yearlong residency at WQXR, he guest hosted Evening Music, interviewed Ford Foundation president Darren Walker about diversity and equity in the performing arts, and recorded with pianist Aaron Diehl and harpist June Han.
Prior to his solo career, Brandon Patrick George performed as a guest with many of the world’s leading ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). With the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl with music Director Gustavo Dudamel. His ensemble work allowed him to work closely with some of the foremost composers of our time including John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Tania León, Steve Reich, and George Lewis.
Raised by a single mother in Dayton, OH, George is the proud product of public arts education. He draws on his personal experiences in his commitment to educating the next generation, performing countless outreach concerts for schoolchildren every year, and mentoring young conservatory musicians of color embarking on performance careers. He trained at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Conservatoire de Paris, and the Manhattan School of Music, and he serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
About In a Circle Records:
In a Circle Records was founded in 2008 by Grammy® Award-winning violinist and producer Johnny Gandelsman. Since then, the label has released albums by Brooklyn Rider, Christopher Cerrone, Layale Chaker & The Sarafand, Nicholas Cords, Christina Courtin, Sandeep Das & The HUM Ensemble, The Knights, Jon Mendle, Silkroad Ensemble & Yo-Yo Ma, Kojiro Umezaki & Wu Man, and Gandelsman himself. The label received its first Grammy® Nomination in 2021, for Brooklyn Rider's Healing Modes. Most recently, the label released an album of original music from Ken Burns & Lynn Novick's PBS documentary, The U.S and the Holocaust.
Track Listing:
Twofold
Brandon Patrick George, flute
Release Date: September 15, 2023
In a Circle Records | ICR029
C.P.E. Bach: Sonata in A minor, WQ. 132, H. 562 (1747)
1. Poco adagio [4:26]
2. Allegro [5:04]
3. Allegro [4:26]
4. Saad Haddad: Tasalsul I (2022) [5:55]
5. Reena Esmail: Zinfandel (2010) [5:06]
6. Shawn E. Okpebholo: On a Painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner - The Thankful Poor (2021) [8:32]
Ruth Crawford Seeger: Diaphonic Suite (1930)
7. Scherzando [0:37]
8. Andante [2:10]
9. Allegro [1:05]
10. Moderato, Ritmico [0:41]
11. Claude Debussy: Syrinx (1913) [2:50]
12. Toru Takemitsu: Air (1995) [6:30]
Total Time: [47:22]
Executive Producer: Brandon Patrick George
Producer: Graham Parker
Engineer & Editor: Charles Mueller, Oktaven Audio
Mastering Engineer: Oscar Zambrano, Zampol Productions
Recorded: June 12-13, 2022 at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, NY
Photography: Lauren Desberg
Art Direction & Design: Christopher Kornmann / Spit + Image