Discography
FRENERGY – The Music of John Estacio
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The title track Frenergy (1998) is first up. Estacio’s combination of “frantic” and “energy” into this work speaks as well to its nature and verve as any worded description could. A Farmer’s Symphony (1994) was intended as a tribute to those that tilled the land — though it was not, Estacio was often at pains to point out, a work that either included “farmer songs” or was intended to be heard only by farmers. No, rather the three movements of the work were all musical illustrations and evocations of the sounds and impressions one is exposed to on a farm. The elegiac strings-only work, Such Sweet Sorrow, takes its title from Act II, scene two of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, while the vibrant and engaging Bootlegger’s Tarantella which follows, has more of a folksong feel. The final three works on the CD have celestial origins. The first of these, Solaris, is a concert overture meant to accompany a performance of Gustav Holst’s The Planets. John Estacio felt that the Sun deserved its own place in a program about our corner of the galaxy. Having spent much of his life in Canada’s more southern places, John Estacio had never seen the Aurora Borealis for himself until his arrival in Edmonton. The natural display fired his imagination, resulting in Borealis and Wondrous Light. |
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SILENCE WAKES MY SONG
Harp duets, featuring Julia Shaw and Nora Bumanis, devoted almost entirely to nocturnal music, much of it related to the lullaby. Featuring compositions for harp by harp masters Marcel Grandjany and Carlos Salzedo, contemporary Canadian composer John Estacio, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, as well as transcriptions from piano works by Mendelssohn, Mozart and Brahms.
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VARIATIONS ON A MEMORY
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THUNDER BAY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA