Thrum–guitar quartet CD

Description

Thrum–guitar quartet CD

Innova 858, released 2013.

The Minneapolis Guitar Quartet performs David Evan Thomas’s Thrum on this guitar quartet CD. The Minneapolis Guitar Quartet personnel for this album was Joseph Hagedorn, Ben Gateño, Wade Oden and Steven Newbrough. Music by Daniel Bernard Roumain, Van Stiefel and Gao Hong completes the album.

David Evan Thomas has been honored with two McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowships, an Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and commissions from the Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Born in Rochester, New York in 1958, Thomas studied at Northwestern University, Eastman School of Music, and with Dominick Argento at the University of Minnesota. His music is published by ECS, MorningStar, Augsburg Fortress and several other publishers. Thomas lives in Minneapolis.

From the press:

• “Four strong pieces, one a masterpiece, all in excellent performances…. The real treasure here is David Evan Thomas’s Thrum. It reminds me of Giorgio Mirto’s Su Bentu—not so much in style as in invention, expressiveness, excitement, and the fresh voice of the composer. Thomas is not a guitarist himself, but he has written for the instrument and has a wonderful touch.” –Ken Keaton, American Record Guide
• “Thrum boasts four new contemporary works for this unusually successful classical guitar quartet. . . . The title suite [“Thrum” by David Evan Thomas], while less abrasive, glows with the thematic gifts of a contemporary classical style in search of a new expression while never forgetting the old ways. . . . Thrum is a delightfully mysterious product from a group that really knows how to pull the right commissioning strings.” PopMatters, John Garratt