It’s always exciting when a project comes to fruition. And when that project has both local and international ties, it becomes especially cool.
This week The American Sound is proud to feature Seize the Day, the brand-new album of music by Columbus composer Richard Jordan Smoot, with performances by the Carpe Diem String Quartet, international clarinet soloist Richard Stoltzman and other artists.
Tune in at 6 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Tuesday to hear the finale of Smoot’s Quartet for Clarinet, Violin Cello and Piano. And be prepared for the finale’s high funk factor.
“It’s very rock ‘n’ roll,” Smoot told Classical 101 in a 2015 interview.
Smoot was inspired to compose his Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano while attending a live performance by Stoltzman and other musicians of Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time.
"There was that beautiful solo clarinet (movement), Abyss of the Birds, and I remember just sitting there going, 'Oh my gosh, I'd love to write for this man someday,' " Smoot said.
So he did. And Stoltzman and friends have now recorded Smoot’s quartet on an album that was produced right here in Columbus.
To mark this special occasion, during the next two weeks you can enter to win a CD of Seize the Day signed by Richard Jordan Smoot and the members of the Carpe Diem String Quartet. Just fill out our online entry form.
Tune in for a special preview of Richard Jordan Smoot’s new recording, Seize the Day, 6 p.m. Saturday, July 15 and 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 18 on Classical 101's The American Sound.
