Music Selections/Samples

MP3 files

1. Mirror in the Mirror Arvo Pärt (49 seconds)
2. COLLAGING - Sample #1 (29 seconds)
    COLLAGING - Sample #2 (49 seconds)

Performers
(click on the name for each performers bio)

Cello: Sarah Fiene
Vocals: Catherine Rondinaro
Piano: Lisa Spector

Credits

Sarah Fiene: Executive Producer

Produced by Sarah Fiene and Jared Emerson-Johnson

Jared Emerson-Johnson: Sound Designer

Engineered and Mastered by Jared Emerson-Johnson
at the Bay Area Sound Department
Gustavo Lantas: Recording Engineer
Ronald Bruce Smith: Arranger/Producer/Recording Engineer

Photo front cover: Paolo Vescia
Photo back cover and Graphic Design: Brian Vahey

Special thanks: Jared Emerson-Johnson, the Bay Area Sound Department, CNMAT, Peter McConnell, Lauren Mathews, Thomas and Nancy Fiene, Clint Bajakian, Paolo Vescia, Brian Vahey and St. Dominics Church. Could not have done this without your support.

Made possible through grants from American Composers Forum San Francisco Bay Area Chapter Subito Grant, The Zellerbach Family Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Friends of Trio Phoenix Inc.

Artist Statement

Creative works can come together in ways that are mystical and therefore difficult to fully grasp as they are happening. Sometimes it is only in retrospect that one can fully appreciate what has taken place. One of those retrospective moments occurred to me when I realized that two important elements of my life have both been struggling desperately to find their bearings in the modern world. My music and my faith are alive, liberating and deeply significant to me, but the path into them takes space, depth, trust and the courage to receive.

Without intention, COLLAGING became a synthesis of the old and the new. It started one morning when I woke up ready to do something I had wanted to do for a long time - find a composer to arrange sections of the Britten and Bach Solo Cello Suites. I wanted to take the parts that are especially powerful to me and frame them in a context which bring out their intensity even more. That same day I bumped into electronic music composer Ron Smith in Golden Gate Park, and I mentioned my idea to him……
……..After a recording session, with the music from our session still in his head, Ron was winding down, listening to a CD of Hildegard of Bingen's music. He realized that the Hildegard was in the same key as the music that we had just recorded. Just for fun, he decided to see what would happen if he superimposed the Hildegard over the Britten Solo Cello Suite. The result was uncanny, and Hildegard became a part of the project. In fact, she eventually became the unifying force as we used transcriptions of her music both in cello and in voice throughout the work.

Hildegard of Bingen was a mystic visionary who lived in the Rhineland valley for most of the 12th century. Besides being the abbess of a large and prosperous Benedictine abbey, she is believed to have been a prominent preacher, doctor, scientist and artist, as well as a poet and composer. Each time I read her writing, I'm struck by the way I connect to something new, and I'm inspired by how her wisdom continues to resonate today.

Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976) was a British composer now familiar to many. Arvo Pärt (1935) grew up in Estonia and currently lives in Berlin. One reason that the music of Britten and Pärt blends so well with that of Hildegard and Bach is that the two modern composers both have a deep affinity for early music. Pärt was highly influenced by modal plainchant as well as by music of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Britten's inspiration for his Suites came from the famous Six Solo Cello Suites by JS Bach, composed in 1720.

COLLAGING intertwines music of Britten, Bach and Hildegard, juxtaposing and superimposing the material in a way that celebrates the unity of old and new and seeks to bring out that common thread of humanity that transcends all ages.
The beauty and depth of Pärt's Mirror in the Mirror is in its purity and simplicity. It gently embraces its listener, guiding inward and quieting the mind. Setting COLLAGING between Mirror in the Mirror is a way to create a context: Ultimately isn't one's perception deeply influenced by how it's framed?

During my collaboration with Ron, I often had no need to verbalize an idea to him. He already seemed aware of where I wanted to go. Jared Emerson-Johnson took over the sound design work where Ron left off. How rewarding it was to find creative ways to solve problems with Jared. He seemed to have a magic bag that he could reach into and produce a solution that not only fixed a problem but also created something awesome in the process. I was amazed at the organic way in which new ideas would evolve, and at how and where they would lead us. My collaborations with both Ron and Jared were filled with inspiration and I feel truly blessed to have the expertise and support of such fine artists.

Sarah Fiene 2004