Heard Again for the First Time Paul Cohen

• Ingolf Dahl (1912 - 1970): Concerto for Alto Saxophone:
• 1 Dahl: Concerto for Alto Saxophone: I. Recitative - Adagio 16:41
• 2 Dahl: Concerto for Alto Saxophone: II. Rondo 10:31
• Marguerite Roesgen-Champion (1894 - 1976): Concerto No. 2:
• 3 Roesgen-Champion: Concerto No. 2: I. Prelude 02:16
• 4 Roesgen-Champion: Concerto No. 2: II. Allegro Moderato 04:29
• 5 Roesgen-Champion: Concerto No. 2: III. Intermede 01:19
• 6 Roesgen-Champion: Concerto No. 2: IV. Final 03:17
• Charles Martin Loeffler (1861 - 1935):
• 7 Loeffler: Ballade Carnavalesque 13:18
• 8 Loeffler: The Lone Prairee 03:48
• Steve Cohen (b. 1941): Trio:
• 9 Cohen: Trio: I. Andante moderato 05:12
• 10 Cohen: Trio: II. Slow Blues 04:59
• 11 Cohen: Trio: III. Fast Afro-Cuban Feel 04:13
• Total Runtime 01:10:03

Info for Heard Again for the First Time

From compelling solo interpretations to dramatic instrumental flourishes, saxophonist Paul Cohen revives original works for saxophone that were lost or unknown for decades. On HEARD AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME, Cohen is joined by the Eastern Wind Symphony under Todd Nichols and an impressive roster of soloists who breathe fresh life into this centuries-spanning collection.

The majestic and expansive original 1949 version of Dahl’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone, long-lost manuscripts of works by Loeffler, Roesgen-Champion’s mid-century impressionism, and Steve Cohen’s contemporary Trio not only reveals a previously unknown depth of saxophone repertoire, but nobly illustrates the saxophone’s role in a multitude of musical styles.

Paul Cohen, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
Roger Nye, bassoon
Rebecca Cypess, harpsichord
Kathleen Nester, flute
Kaoru Hinata, flute
Lynne Cohen, oboe
Allison Brewster Franzetti, piano
Brett Deubner, viola
Eastern Wind Symphony
Todd Nichols, conductor

Paul Cohen
is one of America’s most sought-after saxophonists for orchestral and chamber concerts and solo recitals. He has appeared as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Richmond Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Charleston Symphony, and Philharmonia Virtuosi. His many solo orchestra performances include works by Debussy, Creston, Ibert, Glazunov, Martin, Loeffler, Husa, Dahl, Still, Villa-Lobos, Tomasi, and Cowell. He has also performed with a broad range of orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera (NYC), American Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, New Jersey Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Long Island Philharmonic, Group for Contemporary Music, Greenwich Symphony, Charleston Symphony, New York Solisti, Phiharmonia Virtuosi, and the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded three albums with the Cleveland Symphonic Winds under the direction of Frederick Fennell and an album of the music of Villa-Lobos with the Quintet of the Americas as well as recordings with the Saxophone Sinfonia, Philharmonia Virtuosi, New York Solisti, Paul Winter Consort, North-South Consonance, and the New Sousa Band. He collaborated with Paquito d’Rivera in a 2017 release of a lost work by Cuban composer Caturla. His most recent recordings include Quiet City, which includes premiere recordings of works by Ornstein, Lunde and Harltey, as well as Breathing Lessons, an album of new works for saxophone quartet. In 2016 his album American Landscapes was released featuring three centuries of American music for saxophone including the newly discovered concerto by the 19th-Century American composer Caryl Florio. In 2018 his album Common Ground features chamber music with strings, winds, and piano, including premiere recordings of works by Aldridge, Shawn, and McPeek. In 2019, New York Rising, featuring recent saxophone quartets written for Cohen was released, plus a first recording of Grainger’s Lisbon. Earlier recordings include Vintage Saxophones Revisited, including the premiere recording of Cowell’s Hymn and Fuguing Tune #18. Cohen is featured on a 2016 release of the saxophone music of Henry Cowell and Percy Grainger, as soloist and chamber player on alto and soprano saxophones.

Cohen has rediscovered and performed lost saxophone literature, including solo works for saxophone and orchestra by Loeffler, Florio and Dahl (for winds), as well as rare chamber works by Grainger, Ornstein, Sousa, Cowell, Siegmeister, and Loeffler. As arranger he has written The Renaissance Book for saxophone quartet (Galaxy Music); Four Piano Blues by Copland for saxophone quartet (Boosey and Hawkes); and, as editor, has prepared the ossia passages for the Concerto for Saxophone by Ross Lee Finney. His company, To the Fore Publishers, (www.totheforepublishers.com) publishes his arrangements and settings for saxophone ensemble as well as original, historical, and contemporary saxophone works from selected composers. Cohen frequently presents lectures illustrating his talks with rare instruments, manuscripts, and archival material from his extensive private collection. The Presser Music Company recently published his arrangement for saxophone choir of Variations on America by Charles Ives and the Schumann setting of Billing’s When Jesus Wept. Boosey and Hawkes just issued Cohen’s saxophone quartet arrangements of music Simple Gifts, and Our Town by Aaron Copland. He also has authored The Altissimo Primer a specialized technique book. Cohen holds an MM and D.M.A. degree from the Manhattan School of Music. His teachers have included Galan Kral, Joe Allard, and Sigurd Rascher. He has published more than one hundred articles on the history and literature of the saxophone worldwide. His seminal column, “Vintage Saxophones Revisited,” was featured in the Saxophone Journal from 1985 - 2002. Cohen is on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and Rutgers University.

Allison Brewster Franzetti
A multiple GRAMMY Award nominee and Latin GRAMMY Award winner, pianist Allison Brewster Franzetti is known for her stunning virtuosity and musicality. Performances include the televised Latin Grammy Awards, the Grammy Awards Classical Music Tribute to Earl Wild and Lang Lang, and the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. She has been a guest soloist with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Queens Symphony Orchestra, Long Island Philharmonic, English Sinfonia, City of Prague Philharmonic, Denver Symphony, Colonial Symphony, European Women’s Orchestra, and the Montclair Orchestra. She played the world premiere of Carlos Franzetti’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires, the European premiere with the Janáček Philharmonic, and the U.S. premiere with the Queens Symphony Orchestra. Solo recitals include debuts at Merkin Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, and tours throughout the United States, Mexico, Europe, and Argentina.

As accompanist and chamber musician, Franzetti has collaborated with composers and directors worldwide, including Sir James Galway, John Corigliano, Stephen Paulus, Lowell Liebermann, Robert Aldridge, Victoria Bond, David Maslanka, Carlos Franzetti, Paquito D’Rivera, Ruben Blades, Benny Goodman, Julius Baker, Ransom Wilson, Eugenia Zukerman, and Robert White. Franzetti holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, the Juilliard School, and Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. She joined the faculty of the InterHarmony International Music Festival in 2019.

Todd Nichols
is the artistic director and conductor of the Eastern Wind Symphony and is Director of University Bands at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He serves as a guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and recording producer, and is especially honored to have guest conducted the United States Army Field Band. An advocate for new compositions, Nichols has supported the efforts of composers in over 20 commissions from numerous leading composers.

As artistic director for the Eastern Wind Symphony, Nichols conducted performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and commissioned six new works. Under his direction, the EWS has recently received multiple GRAMMY Award eligibility nominations and has been invited to perform at major conventions including the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, NAfME All Eastern Convention, and Association for Concert Bands National Convention.

Nichols was published in The Conductor’s Companion – 100 Rehearsal Techniques, Imaginative Ideas, Quotes, and Facts. He was inducted into the American Bandmasters Association and American School Band Directors Association in 2016, received two NBA Citations of Excellence, and the New Jersey Governor’s Teacher Recognition Award.

The Eastern Wind Symphony
founded in the spring of 1996, is a wind ensemble of 65 professional musicians from the New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania areas. The EWS has presented performances at Carnegie Hall, John F. Kennedy Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Patriots Theater at the War Memorial. The EWS has also performed at The Midwest Clinic, Northeast Horn Conference, Association for Concert Bands National Convention, International Trumpet Guild Conference, and multiple NaFME Eastern Division Conferences.

Internationally acclaimed musicians including Stanley Drucker, Phil Smith, Paul Cohen, Joe Alessi, Alan Baer, Greg Giannascoli, and Allen Vizzutti have performed with the ensemble. The EWS is proud to be active in commissioning for wind band from today’s leading composers, including Julie Giroux, Joseph Spaniola, Bruce Yurko, Kevin Bobo, and William Ryden. The EWS has produced commercial CDs on the Klavier, Curnow Music Press, and MASTERS labels and is proud to now be represented on Navona Records.

This album contains no booklet.