Twelve composers share their inner reflections on outer space in Cosmophony, Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa’s debut solo piano CD inspired by the beauty and mystery of the cosmos. The album opens with Denis Gougeon’s fiercely virtuosic invocation of the sun, Piano-Soleil. From there, it travels through the solar system, with pieces written for the planets and asteroids by ten Canadian composers in a wide range of styles, from the sparkling minimalism of Jeffrey Ryan and Jordan Nobles, to the contemplative simplicity of Jennifer Butler and Marci Rabe, the neo-tonal postmodernism of Christopher Kovarik and Alexander Pechenyuk, and the more abstract contributions of Rodney Sharman and Stefan Udell. To close, George Crumb’s monumental Makrokosmos II: 12 fantasy pieces after the Zodiac carries us past our galaxy and out into the stars. This recording was made possible with the assistance of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund), of Canada’s Private Radio Broadcasters, the Music Section of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the City of Vancouver’s Cultural Services Division.

“Brilliant… Unforgettable… A fascinating adventure about unimaginable largeness and gravity, unknowable states, an invitation to wonder.”

– Lloyd Dykk, Vancouver Sun

DENIS GOUGEON

1Piano-Soleil

RODNEY SHARMAN

2Mercurio dal ciel in terra

MARCI RABE

3Venus

ALEXANDER PECHENYUK

4Clouds from North

JOCELYN MORLOCK

5Phobos and Deimos, Circling

JORDAN NOBLES

6 – 10Fragments

CHRISTOPHER KOVARIK

11Jupiter

JEFFREY RYAN

12Saturn: study in white

STEFAN UDELL

13Uranus

JENNIFER BUTLER

14Neptune

EMILY DOOLITTLE

15Gliese 581c

GEORGE CRUMB

16-27.Makrokosmos, Volume II