“Beaufort Scales” is composer Christopher Cerrone’s dramatic and alluring music for women’s voices and electronics, performed by the acclaimed Lorelei Ensemble and the composer. Its title and primary text come from a 19th-century measure of wind speeds.
Cerrone writes about this work:
“I first became aware of the Beaufort scale because of Scott Huler's book ‘Defining the Wind: The Beaufort Scale, and How a 19th-Century Admiral Turned Science into Poetry.’ The book describes the author's obsession with the elegance and beauty of this 13-step, 200-word scale, still in use, which measures wind from its gentlest (‘Calm / smoke rises vertically’) to its roughest (‘The air is filled with foam and spray’).
“I came to share Scott's obsession and began composing a work for eight female voices and electronics, transforming the steps of the scale into 13 corresponding movements of escalating musical intensity. As the work proceeds and the weather becomes more chaotic, each of the voices is increasingly distorted. This mirrors our technology-saturated world, one in which uncanny and tumultuous weather has a growing presence.
“Interpolated between these 13 sung movements are four narrated interludes featuring four different texts—from the novels of Herman Melville and F. Scott Fitzgerald, the poetry of Anne Carson, and the King James Bible—all of which comment on the state of weather at one point in time, serving as both a reprieve and a reflection upon the surrounding movements.”
Beaufort Scales
Released May 17, 2024
Listen on Spotify here
Listen on Bandcamp here
Listen on Apple Music here
Lorelei Ensemble:
Elizabeth Bates, soprano
Kathryn Radakovich, soprano
Sonja Tengblad, soprano
Corrine Byrne, soprano
Kate Maroney, mezzo-soprano
Elisa Sutherland, mezzo-soprano
Clara Osowski, alto
Emily Marvosh, alto
Beth Willer, conductor and artistic director
Christopher Cerrone, electronics
In memoriam Ingram Marshall.
“Beaufort Scales” (2022–23) was commissioned by Lorelei Ensemble, Beth Willer, Artistic Director.
Thanks to the following funders for their support of the commission and premiere: National Endowment for the Arts, Choral Arts New England, New Music USA, the Adele and John Gray Endowment, Raulee Marcus, Stephen Block, and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.
All music by Christopher Cerrone.
Electronics realized with the assistance of Dave Sanchez, Olivier Pasquet, and Nate Thatcher.
“Plainwater” was first published by Penguin Random House Knopf. Reprinted by permission of Anne Carson and Aragi Inc. All rights reserved.
Produced by Mike Tierney and Christopher Cerrone.
Executive producer, Jim Fox.
Recorded, mixed, and edited by Mike Tierney.
Recorded at Dimension Sound, Boston, MA, Nov. 5–6, 2023.
Mastered by Scott Fraser, Architecture, Los Angeles.
Design by Jim Fox. Photos by iStock and Jim Fox.
Composition © 2024 Christopher Cerrone (BMI)
Album © & p 2024 Cold Blue Music.
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