Lullaby. Edmonton Symphony Orchestra: "A Concert for New York" (2013). 2014 Western Canadian Music Awards nominee for Classical Recording of the Year.Purchase.
"...gentle textures and flowing themes occasionally yield surprising harmonic turns and briskly changing meters." —Allan Kozinn, New York Times, on Lullaby
"...a work of quiet rapture and refined sensibility...elegant concision..." —Jack Sullivan, American Record Guide, on Lullaby
"...a beautifully crafted work that will appeal to those who enjoy musical construction as much as it will to those who want their ears to be charmed." —Mark Morris, Edmonton Scene, on Sunshine Variations
"atmospheric dream world" (Birmingham News), "subtle and poignant" (What's On in London), "engaging" (Globe and Mail), "spectaculaire" (Le Devoir), "positive, upfront writing" (Montreal Gazette), "clever and evocative" (Ottawa Citizen), "rhythmically rich" (Edmonton Journal), "sophisticated" (Ottawa Citizen), "paints moods" (Edmonton Journal), "an unequivocal hit" (Vancouver Sun), "immediately appealing" (Ottawa Citizen), "brisk and bounding" (Toronto Star), "well crafted" (Ottawa Citizen) [reviews]
DEC 2024—Here's a musical bonbon for the holiday season: a complete recording of my Scherzo "Crème brûlée", deftly performed this past October by the students in the uOttawa Orchestra led by Dinuk Wijeratne. Hard and crunchy on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside.
I've also overhauled the Listen page where you can listen to complete recordings of selected orchestral, chamber & choral works.
JUL 2024—Released from the vaults comes this fine video recording of the instrumental fugue for sextet from The Grass Is Full of Stars. Recorded at CAMMAC (Harrington, QC) by Marc Djokic & friends back in Oct 2021, this movement sits between two songs for children's choir. Yet the fugue stands on its own and can be performed independently, much like Bach's six-part fugue from The Musical Offering, the score of which I had open on my desk while composing.
JUL 2024—I'm excited to announce that Midnight Sea, for men's choir (TTBB), has been published by Cypress Choral Music, as part of Mark Sirett's Profondo series (music for lower voices). The work was a finalist in Vancouver's Chor Leoni's C/4 Canadian Choral Composition Competition (2020). Check out complete video or audio.
JUN 2024—I'm pleased to have CBC Radio's permission to share the complete recording of Nature Rhythms I, commissioned by the Gryphon Trio and premiered at Music Toronto last year. This work for piano trio was inspired by the empirical study of semi-periodic rhythms occurring in nature: jellyfish, swaying branches, drifting clouds, falling raindrops.
JAN 2024—Robert Franz and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra gave two riveting performances of my Symphony No. 2 "Water" on Jan 27 & 28, the first since the premiere by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra a decade ago. It was a privilege to revisit this work inspired by the ocean and rainforest at Tofino, BC, and Helmcken Falls in the BC interior. I had a blast with the musicians, staff, and audience. As Franz quipped, "What's better than one Robert? Two Roberts!" Watch Robert F interview Robert R.
