Cambria Master Recordings is proud to announce a pre-release of “Dancing on the Brink of the World” (Cambria CD-1170), that will be released on NAXOS in 2009. “Dancing on the Brink of the World” is a collection of colorful orchestral works by Deon Nielsen Price recorded by the venerable National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine with Grammy-winner John McLaughlin Williams, conductor, and Berkeley A. Price, virtuoso clarinet soloist and guest conductor.
A diversity of works in rich orchestral rhythms and timbres celebrates the lives and pathos of shifting cultures and civilizations of a small area of land on the Pacific Rim in the San Francisco Bay Area. Represented are the First People, Spanish and Mexican padres and soldiers, Chinese, Japanese, and European immigrants and their descendants who now co-exist as modern Americans. Yellow Jade Banquet, tour de force for Clarinet (Bb, Eb, Basset Horn) and Orchestra, was premiered by the China National Symphony Orchestra at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing in April 2008, and is based on a Chinese folksong and inspired by the menu for a sumptuous Chinese banquet. A fantasy on “Dies Irae”, the medieval tune for the Day of the Dead, Epitaphs for Fallen Heroes features the composer as piano soloist. America Themes is a potpourri of well-known patriotic and spiritual tunes. Gateways features the winds and percussion sections. States of Mind, played by the strings, encompasses: “Meditation”, “Troubled Thoughts”, “Mysterious Dream” and “Transformation”. The title work was inspired by the cover painting and was a winner in the 2007 Mu Phi Epsilon International Original Composition Contest. A special feature of this recording is the outstanding natural acoustic of the Grand Concert Studio of the National Radio of Ukraine (Kiev).
Deon Nielsen Price, Doctor of Musical Arts and retired professor, enjoys an active career as composer, orchestrator, pianist, conductor, and author. Her several previous recordings have received great critical acclaim.
To order: Dancing on the Brink of the World