Recording artist and Cal Poly Pomona Music Professor Nadia Shpachenko’s new CD “The Poetry of Places” has been nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Classical Compendium for the album and for Producer of the Year Classical, for producers Victor and Marina Ledin.
Shpachenko recorded her “The Poetry of Places” album at Skywalker Sound and the album was released on the Reference Recordings label, produced by Marina A Ledin and Victor Ledin, and engineered by Barry Werger-Gottesman.
The CD features eight world premiere recordings of compositions by award-winning American composers Amy Beth Kirsten, Hannah Lash, James Matheson, Harold Meltzer, Andrew Norman, Lewis Spratlan, Nina C. Young and Jack Van Zandt.
Each music work was inspired by a unique building: American Visionary Art Museum (Baltimore, MD), Aaron Copland’s House (Cortlandt, NY), House on Island (Pine Plains, NY), Frank Gehry’s IAC Building (Manhattan, NY), Frank Gehry’s House (Santa Monica, CA), Louis Kahn’s National Assembly Buildings (Dhaka, Bangladesh), Lowell House at Harvard (Cambridge, MA), and Newgrange Ancient Temple (Boyne Valley, Ireland).
The ensemble works on the album were recorded with Los Angeles Philharmonic pianist Joanne Pearce Martin and Los Angeles Percussion Quartet artists Nick Terry and Cory Hills.
Shpachenko said she often feels attuned to the spaces where she performs, drawn to the ornamentation, history, light and sound of a concert hall. Through her most recent project, she found out that she is not alone.
“I discovered a few years ago that this affinity for architectural space is shared by many of the composers that I admire,” she said. “I began inquiring about their interest in contributing to a program of works inspired by buildings or places that have impacted them.”
Each composition is a testament to the creativity of all of the artists, according to Shpachenko.
“The music on this album is exciting, diverse and adventurous,” she said. “The composers use many unusual instruments, such as the toy piano in Kirsten’s ‘h.o.p.e.’ or the handmade percussion instruments in ‘Frank’s House,’ all made of materials that Frank Gehry’s house features, including plywood, chain link fencing and corrugated metal.”
The album has received rave reviews from the San Francisco Chronicle, Fanfare Magazine, and Piano Magazine, among others.
“I hope that the music on this album will transport the listeners to the locations that inspired each of the pieces,” she said, “and that each listener’s imagination will take them to a new place, full of wonder and discovery through the music.”
Visit http://nadiashpachenko.com/recordings-the-poetry-of-places/ for more information about the album.