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New York Rising | Release: September 2019 | Classax Records

New Hudson Saxophone Quartet

Works by Joseph Trapanese, Aaron Copland (arr. Cohen), Robert Sirota, Percy Grainger, and David Noon

 

 

The world premiere recording of composer Robert Sirota’s Diners (2009) is released on the New Hudson Saxophone Quartet’s new CD, New York Rising (Classax Records, 2019). The album presents a diverse collection of original works and arrangements reimagined for saxophone quartet by New York composers that portray different aspects of New York and the region.

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American Romantics | Release: September 2018

American String Quartet

Works by DvoÅ™ák, Barber, and Sirota

 

 

Featuring the world premiere recording of Robert Sirota’s String Quartet No. 2, “American Pilgrimage,” as well as Antonin DvoÅ™ák’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, “American,” and Samuel Barber’s String Quartet, Op. 11: II. Adagio.

 

The American String Quartet commissioned Sirota to write this quartet after championing his first string quartet, Triptych, written for the Chiara String Quartet as an impassioned response to the 9/11 tragedy. American Pilgrimage is conceived as a companion piece to Triptych: a celebration of the beauty, pathos, and variety of both our geography and culture. Sirota describes the work as an effort to “capture a glimpse of the epic quality of our country – the awesome diversity of its landscape and its people.”

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Parting the Veil | Release: December 2014| Albany Records

Laurie Carney & Hyeyung Julie Yoon, violin

​David Friend & Soyeon Kate Lee, piano

 

 

Composer Robert Sirota’s works for violin and piano are now available on Parting the Veil, from Albany Records. The album features performances by violinists Laurie Carney and Hyeyung Julie Yoon and pianists David Friend and Soyeon Kate Lee, and includes Sirota’s Summermusic (2000), Pange Lingua Sonata (2012), and Sonata No. 2: Farewell (2013). It was recorded at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York by Grammy-winning producer Judith Sherman. Sirota’s Pange Lingua Sonata and Sonata No. 2: Farewell both honor departed loved ones. Sirota wrote Summermusic in 2000 as a “journal entry” of memorable days spent in the South of France, in the beautiful area around the ancient cities of Toulouse and Carcassonne. 

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Celestial Wind | Release: June 2014| Albany Records

Victoria Sirota, organ; Norman Fischer, cello;

Robert Sirota, piano​

 

 

Robert Sirota’s works for organ are now available on Celestial Wind, from the Albany Records label, featuring performances by organist Victoria Sirota, cellist Norman Fischer, and the composer as pianist. All of the works on the album were originally written by Robert Sirota for his wife, Victoria, and have subsequently been performed by numerous others. The recordings were made on the Holtkamp organ at Leith Symington Griswold Hall at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and on the Aeolian-Skinner Organ at The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York. Celestial Wind includes Toccata (1979), Four Pieces for Organ (1975), Easter Canticles for organ and cello (1993), Letters Abroad for organ and piano (1982), Two Lenten Chorale Preludes (1978/78), and Celestial Wind (1987).

 

Review from The Diapason Magazine

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TriptychReleased 2004 | New Voice Singles

Chiara String Quartet 

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Triptych is a powerful response to the tragedy of September 11, 2001. It was written in tandem with a triptych painting by artist Deborah Patterson. In its central panel, the painting depicts the body of father Mychal Judge, a chaplain for the NYPD, and the first victim of the tragedy, being carried by a group of firefighters. The piece uses this as inspiration for its central slow movement, Lamentation. The first movement, Desecration, is about the literal attack on the towers. The third movement, Prayer, was inspired by the painting's abstract right panel, where light manages to shine into the darkness.

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The Kay Africa Memorial OrganReleased 2002 | Oberlin

Conducted by Paul Polivnick | Oberlin Orchestra

David Boe, organ



Robert Sirota's 1999 work for organ and orchestra was recorded live at the 2001 Inaugural Concert of the Kay Africa Memorial Organ at Oberlin's Finney Chapel. The album includes music by Edward Elgar, Saint-Saens, and Joseph Jongen plus a special feature on The Organs of Oberlin hosted by Michael Barone of the national radio program Pipedreams.

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Works for Cello | Released 2001 | Gasparo Records

Norman Fischer, Jeanne Kierman, Victoria Sirota

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Sirota's album Works for Cello features compositions written for cellist Norman Fischer, the result of a long-time friendship and a professional association dating back to their college days at Oberlin College.  Tracks include Fantasy for Cello and Piano, Easter Canticles for Cello and Organ, Prayers and Lamentations, and Sonata for Cello and Piano.

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New Sounds from the Village Released 1994 | Capstone

NYU New Music Ensemble, Dinosaur Annex Ensemble,

NJ Percussion Ensemble, Ronald Sadoff, Robert Lanaghan



"We can perceive a distinct shift to neoclassic attitudes as we move to Robert Sirota's Seven Picassos for chamber ensemble. In each of the work's brief movements, a sense of clear linearity and lean, transparent texture is upper-most, with contrast provided by obvious tempo changes and an ever-shiftmg array of colors and melodic shapes.... Within this rather austere context, occasional passages of obvious sentimentality - such as a ghostly waltz fragment, or an idyllic pastoral moment in F major - take on a dream-like quality."  - American Music, Spring 1998​

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