Primavera IV: The Heart (World Premiere Recordings)

Primavera IV: The Heart is the fourth of six albums in a momentous series encompassing 81 world premieres for solo cello. This album presents 13 new commissions for groundbreaking, multi-Grammy nominated cellist Matt Haimovitz as part of The Primavera Project. A collaboration between Haimovitz, artist Charline von Heyl, and director Jeffrianne Young, The Primavera Project is inviting 81 composers to respond to two paintings, Sandro Botticelli’s enigmatic painting, Primavera (ca. 1480), and the prophetic large-scale triptych, Primavera 2020, by world-renowned contemporary artist Charline von Heyl. Passing the halfway point of the commissioning cycle, Primavera IV: The Heart presents an eclectic mix of composers who gravitate to various themes in the paintings. Three approaches to the Graces – by MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Tyshawn Sorey, Pulitzer- prize winner Aaron Jay Kernis, and award-winning Justine F. Chen – offer three distinctive interpretations of the Graces. Justine F. Chen’s Iridescent Gest highlights the moto perpetuo kinetic energy of the dancers; Tyshawn Sorey’s Three Graces offers a dramatic, richly nuanced and complex arc through the interlocking gestures of the graces; and Aaron Jay Kernis’ Grace reimagines the heart of each of J.S. Bach’s Six Suites for Cello Solo, the Sarabande, in search of a timeless musical language. Matt Haimovitz, Cellist