As an American and a guitarist I can't imagine composing a set of preludes and fugues without a grateful consideration of blues, ragtime and other popular styles. Overtly and obliquely these styles permeate the cycle alongside more obviously traditional European elements. I believe the music of Scott Joplin, Robert Johnson, Duke Ellington, and Thelonius Monk is as indissolubly part of the Western musical heritage as Bach, Haydn, William Byrd or Stravinsky. There is no "opposition" between twelve-bar blues and contrapuntal processes for me.

And if the history of American music is full of blues, it's also full of Gospel (and other styles). Alert listeners will note the variety of traditional Christian hymns woven into the cycle. My aim was to make a cycle that reflected upon the span of polyphonic music up to even its more "modernist" forms, yet remains traditionalist enough that a majority of the music could still potentially be played in liturgical contexts. I've played some of these preludes and fugues in church services. Just as the cycle was not composed with any duality in academic and popular music in mind, neither was it composed to be construed in strictly "concert" or "church" music terms.

Jeremiah Lawson

Artwork courtesy of Abhijit Kar Gupta at http://tinyurl.com/j5rsghd

1. Prelude in A Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)
2. Fugue in A Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)
3. Prelude in B Major (Jeremiah Lawson)
4. Fugue in B Major (Jeremiah Lawson)
5. Prelude in G sharp Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)
6. Fugue in G sharp Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)
7. Prelude in B flat Major (Jeremiah Lawson)
8. Fuguein B flat Major (Jeremiah Lawson)
9. Prelude in G Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)
10. Fugue in G Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)
11. Prelude in A Major (Jeremiah Lawson)
12. Fugue in A Major (Jeremiah Lawson)
13. Prelude in B Minor (Jeremiah Lawson homage to William Byrd)
14. Fugue in B Minor (Jeremiah Lawson homage to William Byrd)
15. Prelude in A flat Major (Jeremiah Lawson)
16. Fugue in A flat Major (Jeremiah Lawson)
17. Prelude in F sharp Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)
18. Fugue in F sharp Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)
19. Prelude in B flat Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)
20. Fugue in B flat Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)
21. Prelude in D Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)
22. Fugue in D Minor (Jeremiah Lawson)

Listen to: the entire album.

Release date: 8/31/2016
Daniel Estrem lives in Minnesota USA

Tagged as: Classical, Contemporary, Instrumental, Composer: Jeremiah Lawson, Classical Guitar

1. The Melodious Birde - Keyboard Music By William Byrd by Colin Booth: solo harpsichord music
2. Messe a l'usage des Couvents by Craig Hanson: exquisitely moving Baroque organ music
3. Sylvius Leopold Weiss Suites en si Bemol et la Majeur by Mauricio Buraglia: a marvelous classical spiral of lute sounds
4. Stile Moderno, Stile Antico by Thomas Walker: Lute music of 17th century France and Italy
5. Le 9 sonate per violoncello solo e continuo by Vito Paternoster: cellist extraordinaire
6. Patrons of the Lute by Daniel Shoskes: A feast of Baroque lute
7. Influenza Italiana by Ensemble Mirable: rare and extraordinary music of the Baroque
8. Instant Fires by Poeticall Musicke: Late Renaissance and Early Baroque music, historically performed
9. CD2-JS Bach-Six Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord by Ingrid Matthews and Byron Schenkman: baroque violin & harpsichord
10. Ancient Mosaic with Guitar by La Reverie: Recreating traditional music from a modern perspective
11. Fogliano to Froberger - A Century of Ricercars by Colin Booth: solo harpsichord music
12. Pasquale Pericoli - Sei Sonate a Violoncello e basso by Vito Paternoster: cellist extraordinaire
13. Musica da Camera by Streicher Trio: classical chamber music on period instruments
14. Sister Awake by Jeni Melia: Elizabethan lute and folk song
15. CD1 - Bach - The Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Lara St John: Bach violin concertos
16. Josquin des Prez Lute Settings by Jacob Heringman: renaissance lute
17. Alessandro Piccinini by Paul Beier: solo lute of the Italian renaissance.
18. SL Weiss on 11 Strings by Paul Berget: renaissance lute, modernized.
19. Le Tresor dOrphee by Antoine Francisque by James Edwards: baroque guitar music
20. New Jazz Galaxy by Jive Ass Sleepers: chilled out grooves & uptempo funkathons

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