Recordings

Virgin Classics has re-released Tobias Picker's Old and Lost Rivers on a disc titled "American Music of the XXth Century." Old and Lost Rivers is performed by the Houston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.

The other works on the disc include Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man and Appalachian Spring, and Leonard Bernstein's Candid and Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story".

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*Also available from iTunes as an mp3 or a ringtone.

Judith Bettina performs the songs of Tobias Picker and others on this new Bridge Records CD, with James Goldsworthy on piano. Songs featured are Picker's Native Trees, To the Insects, Half a Year Together, When We Meet Again,, and not even the rain, all of which were dedicated by the composer to Ms. Bettina (Bridge 9199).


Listen to an excerpt from NATIVE TREES Listen to an excerpt from TO THE INSECTS Listen to an excerpt from HALF A YEAR TOGETHER Listen to an excerpt from WHEN WE MEET AGAIN Listen to an excerpt from NOT EVEN THE RAIN
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First Edition Records has just rereleased the Houston Symphony Orchestra's recordings of Tobias Picker's Symphony No. 2 and String Quartet No. 1, with Sergiu Commisiona conducting (First Edition FECD-0029).

Picker's second symphony, commissioned for the Houston Symphony and dedicated to Sergiu Comissiona, takes its name from a poem by Goethe on the power of music to restore an awareness of beauty to senses that have become dulled by stress and everyday cares. The string quartet, subtitled "New Memories," was commissioned by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival to celebrate the centennial of Georgia O'Keeffe's birth.



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This CD features premiere recordings of Tobias Picker's Cello Concerto and his symphony, And Suddenly It's Evening.

In 1982 Tobias Picker received a commission for a work celebrating the centenary of Brooklyn Bridge, which became his piano concerto, Keys to the City. And Suddenly It's Evening (1994) was commissioned by a consortium of US youth orchestras, and the title is taken from a brief poem by Salvatore Quasimodo. Picker's Cello Concerto was commissioned by the BBC and first performed at a London Proms concert in August 2001.(Chandos 10039)

Click here for press and program notes on Keys to the City.
Click here for press and program notes on Cello Concerto.


Listen to excerpts from AND SUDDENLY IT'S EVENING			Listen to excerpts from CONCERTO FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA

Buy "Tobias Picker - Keys to the City" containing KEYS TO THE CITY, AND SUDDENLY IT'S EVENING and CELLO CONCERTO

The world premiere recording of the opera Thérèse Raquin has recently been released by Chandos (CHAN 9659). This CD features the live recording of the Dallas Opera's premiere production in November 2001, conducted by Graeme Jenkins. Featured performers include Diana Soviero, Sara Fulgoni, Gordon Gietz, Richard Bernstein, Sheryl Woods, Gabor Andrasy, and Peter Kazaras.

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	Listen to excerpts from THÉRÈSE RAQUIN
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EMMELINE (the Opera) is available on the Albany Records label. This CD features the live recording of the world premiere production at The Santa Fe Opera in 1996. Along with availability at many record stores, EMMELINE can be purchased directly from Albany Records at 1-800-752-1951.

Click here for more information on Emmeline.

Read what Patricia Racette had to say about Emmeline on US Opera Web's online magazine.


	Listen to excerpts from EMMELINE
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KEYS TO THE CITY was commissioned by the City of New York for the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge. It was first performed on May 24, 1983 at Fulton Ferry Landing , under the Great Bridge, before an unprecedented audience of two million people during a gala celebration of the bridge's centennial, as a prelude to one of the most spectacular fireworks displays New York has ever seen. Tobias Picker performed the solo piano part in this his second of three piano concerti and continues to perform the concerto with major orchestras. He is also heard as soloist on this recording. The art work on the CD is taken from the official poster by Andy Warhol, commissioned by the City of New York for the occasion. (Composers Recordings Inc./CRI CD554)

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Listen to an excerpt from KEYS TO THE CITY			Buy KEYS TO THE CITY

In 1985 Picker was commissioned by the Meet the Composer Residencies Program in cooperation with the Houston Symphony to write a large work for orchestra. He decided upon a symphony developed from his previously written song AUSSÖHNUNG (Reconciliation) to a poem of Goethe. Picker's SECOND SYMPHONY is a "big" work, worthy of the genre and incorporating a compelling dramatic design of seven movements flanked by a prelude and a postlude -- all of which inventively elaborate material found in the exquisite seventh movement for soprano and orchestra. The album also contains the composer's STRING QUARTET No 1 ("New Memories"). (WEA/Atlantic/Nonesuch 79246)

Click here for press and program notes on the Second Symphony.


Listen to excerpts from SYMPHONY NO. 2: Aussöhnung			Listen to excerpts from STRING QUARTET NO. 1: New Memories

Buy "Meet the Composer - Tobias Picker," containing SYMPHONY NO. 2 and STRING QUARTET No. 1

Picker's VIOLIN CONCERTO dates from 1981, while the chamber works on this disk (WHEN SOFT VOICES DIE, RHAPSODY, SEXTET No. 3, and ROMANCE) are from the late seventies. In his early music, Picker began to give voice to an uninhibited Romantic streak, one that is eager to subvert any tendency toward over systematization so prevalent at the time. A tension between rigorous, disciplined structure and an impassioned, seemingly intuitive surface lends Picker's music its distinctive character. (Composers Recordings Inc./CRI CD589)

Listen to excerpts from the works contained on this recording
Buy "Tobias Picker - Violin Concerto," containing VIOLIN CONCERTO, WHEN SOFT VOICES DIE, RHAPSODY, SEXTET No. 3, and ROMANCE

THE ENCANTADAS, narrated by Sir John Gielgud, was commissioned by the Albany Academy to celebrate its one hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary and was first performed by the Albany Symphony in October 1983. Herman Melville's The Encantadas was first published in 1854. Melville had visited the Galapagos Islands in 1841, just six years after Darwin's famous voyage there. Picker's six movements depict their 'enchanted' quality, not just the bleakness but also the romance, the strangeness, the wild beauty, and in the forth and fifth movements, the busy bird life. The final movement, Dawn, displays Picker in his most lyrical and transcendent voice. THE ENCANTADAS has been performed throughout the world and translated into seven languages. (EMD/Virgin VCL-0061519)

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Listen to excerpts from the works contained on this recording

Buy "Old and Lost Rivers," containing OLD AND LOST RIVERS, THE ENCANTADAS, and ROMANCES AND INTERLUDES

Music for the Soul, A program for Re-Enchantment, Selections by Thomas Moore, Author of Care of the Soul

"...use this music...meditate to it, sit with it and hear it with a friend...solid food for the soul." --Thomas Moore

This CD, on the Angel label, includes Tobias Picker's famousOLD AND LOST RIVERS. (Angel 56402)

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Listen to an excerpt from OLD AND LOST RIVERS

If you want to purchase a recording containing OLD AND LOST RIVERS, please see "Old and Lost Rivers" (on EMD/Virgin, above) or "The Five Sacred Trees" (on Sony Classical, below)

This CD, on the Sony Classical label, is a collection of reflective, meditative pieces, conducted by John Williams, and featuring Tobias Picker's OLD AND LOST RIVERS, as well as compositions by John Williams, Toru Takemitsu, and Alan Hovhaness. (Sony Classical 62729)

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	Listen to an excerpt from OLD AND LOST RIVERS
	Buy "The Five Sacred Trees," containing OLD AND LOST RIVERS

Ursula Oppens Plays American Piano Music of Our Time, Volumes 1 and 2

Nominated for a Grammy and reviewed in Time Magazine when originally released, this collection, both volumes of which contain Tobias Picker's OLD AND LOST RIVERS, has been reissued by popular demand.

Volume 1 of this collection, on the Music and Arts label (CD-4862-2), also includes compositions by Conlon Nancarrow, William Balcom, Elliott Carter, Michael Sahl, Julius Hemphill, John Adams, Lukas Foss, David Jaggard, Frederic Rzewski, Charles Wuorinen, John Harbison, and Anthony Davis.

Volume 2 of this collection (CD-4699-1) also includes compositions by Nancarrow, Rzewski, Harbison, and Davis.

Click here for press and program notes on Old and Lost Rivers.


Listen to an excerpt from OLD AND LOST RIVERS			Buy "Ursula Oppens Plays American Piano Music of Our Time" containing OLD AND LOST RIVERS directly from Music and Arts.

Ursula Oppens Plays American Piano Music of Our Time