Unraveling Beethoven Nicholas DiEugenio & Mimi Solomon

• David Kirkland Garner (b. 1982):
• 1The Sky Was Good for Flying06:24
• Allen Anderson (b. 1952):
• 2Linen13:15
• Robert Honstein (b. 1980):
• 3Olmsted: I. Jamaica Pond04:52
• 4Olmsted: II. The Ramble07:03
• 5Olmsted: III. Long Meadow05:11
• 6Olmsted: IV. World's End04:42
• Tonia Ko (1988):
• 7Tribute (Axis II)12:13
• Jesse Jones (b. 1978):
• 8Scherzo (After Beethoven)06:38
• Total Runtime01:00:18

Info for Unraveling Beethoven

Violinist Nicholas DiEugenio and pianist Mimi Solomon release their second recording on New Focus, this one a chronicle of their commissioning project, Unraveling Beethoven. The duo approached several composers, Tonia Ko, David Kirkland Garner, Jesse Jones, Robert Honstein, and Allen Anderson, and asked them to write works that are inspired by Beethoven's Violin Sonatas. The attractive results display a range, from a mixture of direct references to Beethoven's work to more oblique reactions to the violin sonatas.

"In approaching the ten Beethoven violin sonatas as a whole, we have commissioned the composers Allen Anderson, David Garner, Robert Honstein, Jesse Jones, and Tonia Ko to respond to specific pairings of sonatas in the context of various musical fabrics—the sonic threads that are woven together by a composer to produce a musical work’s aural tapestry. We’ve asked these composers to pull on a “loose thread” of Beethoven’s and reweave it. Originally intended to be included in a cycle of five concerts consisting of two Beethoven sonatas paired with one new work, we have been inspired by our work with these five wonderful composers, as well as many of the listeners at the premieres of these various works, to send these new pieces out into the world together on one album, standing apart from (but very much in relation to) Beethoven. In this way, one could consider these new works as distinct, unique mushrooms, having nonetheless all sprouted from the same Beethovenian mycelium.

As part of our ongoing, lifelong engagement with the Beethoven violin sonatas, we think a lot about how we hear these works and the things we notice–not just on repeated hearings, but also with 21st century ears and sensibilities. To de-canonize, unravel, and humanize a figure like E.T.A. Hoffman’s heroic Beethoven is paradoxical; we seek a new image for “Beethoven” in our post-canonic age, yet in so doing we reanimate this figure in a different way. We are writing a new chapter in our ongoing relationship with this music.

We are grateful to the many contributions of Allen, Tonia, Dave, Robert, and Jesse over the past two years, and humbled by the various ways that Unraveling Beethoven continues to evolve as a creative group project. Thanks to our fabulous producer Tom Chiu, whose enthusiasm and indomitable musical spirit we so deeply admire and respect. Thanks also to our incredible sound engineer Ryan Streber of Oktaven Studios for his eternally fresh ears and Midas touch. Thanks to the various presenting organizations for believing in this project, and for programming world premieres; in New York at the Chelsea Music Festival, in Chapel Hill at the UNC Process Series, and in Durham at the Mallarme Chamber Players. Thanks to Dan Lippel and New Focus Recordings, and to all genuine lovers of great, adventurous music."

Nicholas DiEugenio, violin
Mimi Solomon, piano

Nicholas DiEugenio
Praised for the 'rapturous poetry' in his playing (American Record Guide) and as an 'excellent' and 'evocative' violinist (New York Times), Nicholas DiEugenio leads a versatile performing life as a chamber musician, leader, and soloist in music ranging from early baroque to current commissions. In this capacity, he performs in venues such as Glinka Hall in St. Petersburg, Trinity Well St., Freiburg's Ensemblehaus, the Beijing Concert Hall, and Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. Together with pianist and duo partner Mimi Solomon, Nicholas has recorded, commissioned and premiered new works in Prague, Tokyo, New York, and across the US. A committed period violinist, Nicholas is a core member of the Sebastians, and performs with groups such as NYBI, EM/NY, Ars Antigua, and others.

His recording of the complete Schumann violin sonatas with fortepiano with Chi-Chen Wu, named one of the Top 10 albums of 2015 (The Big City) is available on the Musica Omnia label. His August 2017 release on the New Focus label with Mimi Solomon, critically lauded as "a touching, committed tribute' (I Care If You Listen), is an homage to the late Pulitzer Prize-winner Steven Stucky.

A two-time prize-winner at the prestigious Fischoff competition, Nicholas dedicates his priorities as a performer to chamber music. He is violinist of the Chanterelle Trio, a core member of The Sebastians, and has collaborated with Laurie Smukler, Joel Krosnick, Joseph Lin, Peter Salaff, and Ani Kavafian. He is an alum of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, where he was deeply influenced by pianist Seymour Lipkin.

Regarded as an inspiring teacher, Nicholas is currently Assistant Professor of Violin at UNC Chapel Hill; he was previously Assistant Professor of Violin at the Ithaca College School of Music. He also serves as co-artistic director of MYCO, a non-profit chamber music organization for middle and high school students and is on the faculty of Kinhaven Music School. Nicholas holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music (B.M, M.M), where he studied with David and Linda Cerone and Paul Kantor, and the Yale School of Music (D.M.A., A.D.), where he was a student of Ani Kavafian. Nicholas performs on a 1734 violin made by Dom Nicolo Amati, and on a baroque violin made by Karl Dennis in 2011.

Mimi Solomon
American pianist Mimi Solomon enjoys a multi-faceted career as a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. She has performed throughout the United States, China, Japan and Europe, has appeared as soloist with orchestras including Shanghai Symphony, Philharmonia Virtuosi, and Yale Symphony Orchestra, and has been featured on numerous radio and television broadcasts including the McGraw-Hill Young Artist's Showcase, France 3, France Inter, and National Public Radio. An avid chamber musician, she regularly appears at music festivals on both sides of the Atlantic such as Santander, IMS Prussia Cove, Lockenhaus, Rencontres de Bel-Air, Ravinia, Taos, Norfolk, Yellow Barn, Charlottesville, La Loingtaine, and Aspen.

Mimi is also an enthusiastic and dedicated pedagogue: she is co-artistic director of MYCO Youth Chamber Orchestra, she spends part of every year coaching and performing chamber music at Kinhaven Festival in Vermont, and she has taught at Cornell University, East Carolina University, and Ithaca College. She is currently on the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mimi graduated cum laude in East Asian Studies from Yale, went on to receive a Master of Music from Juilliard, and then studied the fortepiano in Paris. Her main teachers were Peter Frankl and Robert McDonald, and she has also played regularly for Ferenc Rados and studied the fortepiano with Patrick Cohen. Her studies were generously supported by a Beebe Grant and two Woolley Scholarships from the Fondation des Etats-Unis. She currently lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, violinist Nicholas DiEugenio.

David Kirkland Garner
writes music, plays banjo, studies fiddle, listens to jazz, hears everything, but suspects he knows nothing. Encompassing chamber, large ensemble, electroacoustic, and vocal works, his music reconfigures past sounds—from Bach to minimalism to bluegrass—into new sonic shapes and directions. He seeks to make time and history audible, particularly through an exploration of archival recordings documenting the musical traditions of the U.S. South.

Garner has worked with world-renowned ensembles including the Kronos Quartet, which commissioned a work based on the music of the Scottish diaspora. Awards include a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, an ASCAP Young Composer Award, and first prizes in the OSSIA, Red Note, and NACUSA competitions. His music has been performed by the Imani Winds, Ciompi Quartet, Vega Quartet, San Diego Symphony, Locrian Chamber Ensemble, the Wet Ink Ensemble, the Boston New Music Initiative, and the yMusic ensemble.

Garner holds degrees from Duke University (PhD, 2014), University of Michigan (MM, 2007), and Rice University (BM 2005), and has taught music theory and aural skills at Duke, Kennesaw State, North Carolina State, and Elon Universities. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory at the University of South Carolina.

Allen Anderson
has written works for the Empyrean Ensemble, the Raleigh Chamber Music Guild, Speculum Musicae, Ensemble Ascolta, the University of North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the UNC Chamber Singers, UNC New Music Ensemble, Nicholas DiEugenio and Mimi Solomon, Aleck Karis, Thomas Warburton, Daniel Stepner, Tod Brody, Grace Kennerly, and Sara Soltau among others. Recent compositions include Fire for soprano, baritone and string quartet, Speak, Then for large orchestra, Remove/ (a multi-movement work for mixed ensemble and five singers on the subject of the Cherokee Removal), and music for the Hans Richter's 1926 silent Filmstudie. Iceblink, a multi-media meditation on Antarctica created in collaboration with photographer and flutist Brooks de Wetter-Smith, has been issued on DVD from Centaur Records. Anderson's work has been acknowledged with awards or commissions from the Guggenheim, Fromm and Koussevitsky foundations, Chamber Music America, BMI, League of Composers/ISCM (both the National and Boston chapters), the Institute for Arts and Humanities at UNC and the Raleigh Chamber Music Guild. In 2005 he received the Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. An Opportunity for Mischief, a recording of five of his solo and chamber music works released on Albany Records, was described in Fanfare as 'thoughtful, literate music that supplies its own logic; it makes an impact and is worth returning to for a point of view that suggests meaningful identities, relationships, and associations.'

Anderson is Professor and Chair of the Department of Music at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Before joining the UNC-CH faculty in 1996, he taught at Columbia University, Wellesley College and Brandeis University. He holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley (BA) and Brandeis University (MA, PhD).

Tonia Ko
music is guided by explorations into visual texture, physical movement, and the relationship between melody and memory. She has collaborated with leading soloists and ensembles across a variety of media—from acoustic concert pieces to improvisations and site-specific sound installations. Recipient of a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship, her work has also been recognized by the Fromm Music Foundation, Chamber Music America, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She served as the 2015-2017 Composer-in-Residence for Young Concert Artists. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Ko holds a DMA from Cornell University.

Jesse Jones
The music of Rome Prize- and Guggenheim-winning composer, Jesse Jones, has been described as "striking,...elegant and poised' (New York Times), "engaging,...eerie, and well-written' (Los Angeles Times), "fascinating," and possessed of the melodic earthiness of Britten' (New York Classical Review). Performed extensively across North America, Europe, and Asia, Jones's music has been heard in venues such as Lincoln Center, Avery Fischer Hall, St. John's Smith Square (London), the Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam), Glinka Hall (St. Petersburg), the Paul Hindemith Foundation (Switzerland), the American Academy in Rome (Italy), and the St. Matthauskirche (Berlin), among others.

Jones has received commissions and premieres from many of the world's leading ensembles and soloists, including the Juilliard String Quartet, Ensemble Recherche (Germany), Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, the English Symphony Orchestra, Cochlea (Switzerland), and from Tanglewood, Aspen, the Barlow Endowment, and many others. Jones has also been awarded prizes and fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Heckscher Foundation, and Aldeburgh Music's Jerwood Foundation.

Jones holds a DMA in music composition from Cornell University, and currently professes music at the Oberlin Conservatory. His music is commercially available on the innova, Albany, Equilibrium, Bridge, and New Focus record labels.

Booklet for Unraveling Beethoven