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Artist: Labeques / Dessner / Chalmin
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Sonic Wires

“Several years ago as we were finishing our album ‘El Chan’ which my dear friends Katia and Marielle Labèque made for Deutsche Grammophon, Katia and Marielle asked me if I would consider adding a piece in which I also play on the album (the record consists of music I had written for Katia and Marielle including a two piano piece and the large double concerto which they have performed very widely.) I thought it was a great idea and I composed ‘Haven’ for two pianos and two electric guitars that we would record along with guitarist and producer David Chalmin. This piece was the start of the Dreamhouse Quartet and a several year journey which has included many concerts and premieres and new commissions.

Prior to ‘Haven’, Katia, Marielle and David had been working on several installments of their ‘Minimalist Dreamhouse’ project which dedicates their incredible musicianship toward the various strands of the American minimal movement in music. Katia and Marielle have a long personal history playing new creations by many of the 20th century’s greatest composers including Berio, Boulez, Messiaen, Bernstein. Their passion and dedication to music transcends genre and has brought a whole new repertoire for two pianos to life.

Prior to meeting Katia and Marielle and David in 2014, I had spent the better part of 20 years living in New York City. My own experience of minimal music began in my early twenties just after finishing music school at Yale, I was asked to tour and record with the great American composer Steve Reich. Some of my first trips to Europe as a twenty five year old were performing with him. This was a highly influential time for me and Steve was also very supportive of my own compositions. Around that time I also toured with Philip Glass performing on stage with him several of the early Glass compositions from the 60s and 70s including ‘Music in Fifths’ and ‘Music in Similar Motion’.