Reale: Seven Deadly Sins Jessica Mathaes & Colette Valentine

• 1 I. Anger 02:38
• 2 II. Greed 03:18
• 3 III. Gluttony 01:59
• 4 IV. Sloth 03:35
• 5 V. Lust 02:58
• 6 VI. Envy 02:41
• 7 VII. Pride 03:09
• 8 I. Bartok 02:37
• 9 II. Puccini 02:56
• 10 III. Paganini 01:34
• 11 IV. Webern 01:33
• 12 V. Corelli 01:36
• 13 VI. Ives 02:21
• 14 VII. Haydn 01:55
• 15 I. Molto energico ma moderato 06:21
• 16 II. Entr'acte A 01:31
• 17 III. Adagio 08:04
• 18 IV. Entr'acte B 01:56
• 19 V. Finale 06:19
• 20 I. Thanksgiving 01:35
• 21 II. Christmas 02:48
• 22 III. New Year 01:44
• Total Runtime 01:05:08

Info for Reale: Seven Deadly Sins

American composer Paul Reale studied with George Rochberg and George Crumb, and was awarded the Luckman Prize in 1995. Written especially for this recording, his Seven Deadly Sins uses observations of human nature as well as the emotions associated with mortal transgression, creating a work full of surprise and psychological contrast. Composers’ Reminiscences is Reale’s stylistic impression of seven iconic composers, while the ‘Celtic Wedding’ Sonata is part of a series inspired by Anglo-Celtic folk melodies. Based on familiar holiday tunes, the Holiday Suite is ‘good time music…devoid of pretension’. Soloist Jessica Mathaes is considered ‘a violinist like no other’ by The New York Times, and pianist Colette Valentine can also be heard on the acclaimed flute and piano anthology Eight Visions (Naxos 8.559629).

Jessica Mathaes, violin
Colette Valentine, piano

Recorded at KUHA Studios Public Radio, Houston, Texas, 27–30 July 2012
Engineered by Todd Hulslander
Produced & edited by Jessica Mathaes

Jessica Mathaes
Hailed by critics as “a master of the Khachaturian violin concerto” (Austin Chronicle) and “a violinist like no other” (The New York Times), award-winning violinist Jessica Mathaes enjoys a multifaceted career as a soloist, recording artist, educator and concertmaster.

Ms. Mathaes has appeared with orchestras throughout Europe and the United States including the Austin Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony, the Northwest Iowa Symphony, the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Ballet, the Hot Springs Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival, the Des Moines Metro Opera, the Symphony of Southeast Texas, the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony, the Victoria Symphony, the Austin Civic Orchestra, the Astoria Symphony, the Round Rock Symphony, the Masterworks Festival Orchestra and the National Music Festival Orchestras. International engagements include the European Music Festival in Stuttgart, Germany and the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra. She has performed in many of the world’s great halls including the Concertgebouw and the Berliner Philharmonie, and has been presented in recital across the country at such venues as Louisiana State University, Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University, Northwestern College, Fredericksburg Music Club, Baylor University, the University of Houston, the University of Texas, the Organ Vesper Series, the Artist Series of Sarasota and the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York City. In 2011 Ms. Mathaes made her Asian solo debut in a recital tour of Singapore sponsored by the US Embassy, including performances at venues such as the National University of Singapore, the LaSalle College of the Arts, Library@Esplanade, Republic Polytechnic, and masterclasses at schools throughout the country. Press highlights include a review in The Straits Times stating that “her performance [of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending] was truly a beauty to behold.”

Ms. Mathaes has been featured on Performance Today as well as other radio shows throughout the country and ARTE, the French-German cultural television channel. Her debut solo CD, “Suites and Sweets,” was released on the Centaur label in the spring of 2009 to critical acclaim in Fanfare, Audiophile Audition, and MusicWeb International (UK) among others, and features works by Cowell, Stravinsky, Korngold, de Falla, Ravel and Massenet. A champion of new music, Ms. Mathaes has premiered works by numerous American composers such as Pierre Jalbert and Paul Reale among many others, and has collaborated twice with the New York City-based Random Access Music Composers’ Collective presenting new music recitals in venues throughout New York City. Ms. Mathaes is also currently collaborating with LA-based composer Paul Reale to produce a CD of his violin works in 2012.

Ms. Mathaes was appointed concertmaster of the Austin Symphony in 2005, becoming the youngest person to occupy the chair and the first woman concertmaster in the symphony's 100-year history. The first-ever winner of the Classical Artists Development Foundation fellowship, Ms. Mathaes has given recitals and masterclasses at numerous universities throughout the United States. She has served as a member of the faculty of the Hot Springs Music Festival and the International Festival- Institute at Round Top, and is currently on the faculty of the National Music Festival as well as the Masterworks Festival. She holds performance degrees in both violin and viola from Rice University, where she graduated magna cum laude and studied with Kenneth Goldsmith, Karen Ritscher, and Raphael Fliegel. Ms. Mathaes performs on a violin crafted in 1807 by Johannes Cuypers, who is known as the Dutch Stradivarius.

Colette Valentine
critically hailed for her “clean, sparkling technique” (Salt Lake Tribune) and for her “consummate skill and musicianship” (Classical New Jersey), has performed in such important venues as New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Merkin Concert Hall; Washington’s Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, the Library of Congress, and the Corcoran Gallery; and internationally in Paris, Zurich, Florence, Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong. As pianist of Ecco Trio, praised by the Washington Post for capturing “the intimacy of chamber music at its best,” she has toured the United States and Japan.

Ms. Valentine has collaborated in chamber concerts with the New York Philharmonic Winds, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, the Left Bank Concert Society, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the Miro Quartet, among others. For many years, she has been official staff pianist for the Washington International Competition for Strings, the William Kapell International Piano Competition, the Gina Bachauer International Junior and Young Artist Piano Competitions, and the National Flute Association National Convention.

She has also served in that capacity for such events as the Leonard Rose International Cello Competition, the Marian Anderson International Vocal Competition, and the Music Teachers National Association Competitions, and was a frequent collaborator in the Concert Artists Guild and Young Concert Artists competitions in New York City. She has recorded for the Albany, fontec, Antara, Well-Tempered, and CRI labels.

For 20 years, Ms. Valentine was a freelance musician in New York City, and was an adjunct faculty member of Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus (2000-2008), and New Jersey City University (1996-2008). Since 1990, she has taught and performed at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp.

In the fall of 2008, she joined the faculty of the newly created Collaborative Piano Department at the University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music, where she teaches accompanying classes, coaches chamber music and instrumental repertoire, performs in recital with BSoM faculty members and guest artists, and is a founding member of the Butler Trio. She earned BM and MM degrees from the University of Maryland with Nelita True, and a DMA from Stony Brook University with Gilbert Kalish.

Booklet for Reale: Seven Deadly Sins