Discography

FRENERGY – The Music of John Estacio

FrenergyEDMONTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MARIO BERNARDI Conductor

The title track Frenergy (1998) is first up. Estacio’s combination of “frantic” and “energy” into this work speaks as well to its nature and verve as any worded description could. A Farmer’s Symphony (1994) was intended as a tribute to those that tilled the land — though it was not, Estacio was often at pains to point out, a work that either included “farmer songs” or was intended to be heard only by farmers. No, rather the three movements of the work were all musical illustrations and evocations of the sounds and impressions one is exposed to on a farm.

The elegiac strings-only work, Such Sweet Sorrow, takes its title from Act II, scene two of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, while the vibrant and engaging Bootlegger’s Tarantella which follows, has more of a folksong feel. The final three works on the CD have celestial origins. The first of these, Solaris, is a concert overture meant to accompany a performance of Gustav Holst’s The Planets. John Estacio felt that the Sun deserved its own place in a program about our corner of the galaxy. Having spent much of his life in Canada’s more southern places, John Estacio had never seen the Aurora Borealis for himself until his arrival in Edmonton. The natural display fired his imagination, resulting in Borealis and Wondrous Light.


Audio Samples
Frenergy
Such Sweet Sorrow
   
Works/Tracks
1 Frenergy
2-4 A Farmer's Symphony
5 Bootlegger's Tarantella
6 Such Sweet Sorrow
7 Solaris
8 Borealis
9 Wondrous Light

SILENCE WAKES MY SONG

Silence Wakes My Song
JULIA SHAW

and
NORA BUMANIS
Harpists

 

Harp duets, featuring Julia Shaw and Nora Bumanis, devoted almost entirely to nocturnal music, much of it related to the lullaby. Featuring compositions for harp by harp masters Marcel Grandjany and Carlos Salzedo, contemporary Canadian composer John Estacio, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, as well as transcriptions from piano works by Mendelssohn, Mozart and Brahms.

"This beautiful and ethereal instrument has always been associated with music meant to calm the soul and soothe the spirit and that is the intention of the selections contained herein." -Julia Shaw

Audio Sample
Silence Wakes My Song
   
Works/Tracks
1 Leroy Anderson
Forgotten Dreams
2 Marcel Grandjany
Eleanor and Marcia
3 Marcel Grandjany
Sally and Dinny
4-7 Maurice Ravel
Mother Goose Suite
8 Carlos Salzedo
Chanson dans la Nuit
/Song in the Night
9 Gabriel Fauré
Berceuse
10 John Estacio
Silence Wakes My Song
11 George & Ira Gershwin
Someone to Watch Over Me
12 E.Y. Harbert & Harold Arlen
Over the Rainbow
13 Ned Washington & Leigh Harline
When You Wish Upon a Star
14 Felix Mendelssohn
Barcarolle
15 Claude Debussy
Clair de Lune
16-25 Linda Kaiser, arr.
Lullabies for Earth Children
26 W.A. Mozart/Louise F. Pratt
Twinkle Variations
27 Johannes Brahms
Lullaby

VARIATIONS ON A MEMORY

Variations on a MemoryTHUNDER BAY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
TARA-LOUISE MONTOUR  Violin
GEOFFREY MOULL  Conductor



Audio Samples
Variations on a Memory
   
Works/Tracks
1-3 John Estacio
Variations on a Memory
4 Jeffrey Ryan
Pangaea
5 Régent Levasseur
Farewell to the Warriors
6-7 Aris Carastathis
Partly True, Mostly Fiction
8 Alexina Louie
Songs of Paradise