Icicles of Fire

This CD is a significant contribution to Canadian music performed by two exceptionally talented Canadian artists. Heather Schmidt is a rare musical phenomenon, equally gifted as a composer and a concert pianist. Shauna Rolston, child prodigy turned artistic innovator, is one of the most lauded cellists of our time. Since 1998 the two have collaborated extensively. All the music on this disc is music that Heather Schmidt wrote specifically for Shauna Rolston. It marks the first time listeners will be able to experience the magic of the remarkable collaboration between Shauna and Heather outside of the concert hall.

Works/Tracks

1-2. Synchronicity (2007) 8:51

3. Fantasy* (2006) 11:09

4-5. Icicles of Fire (2003) 21:54

PERFORMERS:
Shauna Rolston
Heather Schmidt

REVIEWS

“Aside from its inherent interest due to the broad range of music that Schmidt has fashioned out of one of the more traditional chamber music duo configurations, this new Centrediscs recording of her music is a wonderful documentation of an ongoing collaboration between a composer and an interpreter. Relationships like this are so necessary for both sides of the music-making equation but are all too rare. Too frequently a performer will commission a composer just once or a composer will choose to write a sole work for a certain instrumental combination, but it is in the ongoing working through of materials that a real surety of purpose ultimately develops. Now if only every country in the world had organizations that documented their music as devotedly as the Canadian Music Centre continues to do through these recordings.”
– Frank J. Oteri, New Music Box USA

“There is obviously a strong bond between these two fine artists and Schmidt’s music is tailor-made to illustrate this.” – David Olds, The WholeNote