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Premiere Recording of Douglas J. Cuomo's Seven Limbs Released on Sunnyside Records

Sep. 01, 2021

The premiere recording of Douglas J. Cuomo's Seven Limbs, composed for Wilco guitarist Nels Cline and the Aizuri Quartet has been released on Sunnyside Records. The world premiere of Seven Limbs was presented virtually at the Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech on last season and the New York premiere of the work was performed at Caramoor in July. The composer describes his inspiration for Seven Limbs:

"This piece is inspired by an ancient Buddhist purification ceremony called The Seven Limbs. It’s part of a meditation practice I do every day. The practice has lots of words; the piece has none. The feel of this ceremony is what I kept going to as I composed, and then at some point I realized I was setting text without using words. For me Seven Limbs is a dream-like piece; I can look inward to a new terrain and find out what’s there. Stillness, turmoil, suppleness, euphoria, high drama. I wrote it for Nels Cline and the Aizuri Quartet because, for composers, to write for great players is another kind of dream. Together, we offer you our dream, in the hope that it will make a connection with you."

Click here or on the image below to learn more and purchase "Seven Limbs".

("Seven Limbs" - Music by Douglas J. Cuomo; Performers: Nels Cline and the Aizuri Quartet)

In addition, Douglas J. Cuomo's monodrama Savage Winter was performed on September 9 at PS21 as part of their Modern Opera Festival. Performers included tenor (and stage director) Tony Boutté, Douglas J. Cuomo, Guitar/Electronics, Alan Johnson, Conductor/Piano, and Frank London, Trumpet.

Originally produced by American Opera Projects and Pittsburgh Opera, Savage Winter is a monodrama for tenor, three instrumentalists and electronics, with text that is a contemporary reimagining of Wilhelm Müller's poetry, set by Franz Schubert in his Winterreise song cycle. An intensely modern work, Savage Winter is infused with acid jazz, a punk energy and an electronic soundscape depicting a portrait of lost love, longing, and regret.


("Illusion" from Savage Winter/Douglas J. Cuomo/Pittsburgh Opera/
Jonathan Moore, director/Eric Ferring, tenor)

To learn more about Douglas J. Cuomo, please visit schott-music.com.

Douglas J. Cuomo
Seven Limbs (2020)
for electric guitar and string quartet
75'

Savage Winter (2017)
for tenor (amplified), trumpet (amplified, with improvisatory sections), 
piano (keyboards), electric guitar (with improvisatory sections), 
and electronics
Text based on poetry by Wilhem Müller, freely adapted by Douglas J. Cuomo
75'  

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