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Track Listing:

Agnegram

Not Everyone Thinks That I’m Beautiful

Street Song with the Bay Brass / Street Song I

Street Song II

Street Song III

From the Diary of Anne Frank - Instrumental Intro

Part 1 - “I hope I shall be able to confide...”

Part 1 - “It’s an odd idea...”

Part 1 - “There is a saying...”

Part 2 - “Dear Kitty. So much has happened...”

Part 2 - “Daddy began to tell us...”

Part 2 - “I feel wicked sleeping in a warm bed...”

Part 2 - Instrumental

Part 3 - “I believe that it’s spring...”

Part 3 - “Do you gather a bit of what I mean...”

Part 4 - “I want to go on living...”

Sentimental Again

Whitman Songs / I. Who Goes There?

II. At Ship’s Helm

III. We Two Boys Together Clinging

Poems of Emily Dickinson / I. Down Time’s Quaint Stream

II. The Bible

III. Of God We Ask One Favor

IV. Fame

V. The Earth Has Many Keys

VI. Nature Studies

VII. Take All Away From Me

I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Urban Legend

Symphony Cowgirl

Notturno

Island Music / Introduction: Long Familiar Refrains

Part One: Thoughts on the Dance Floor

Part Two: In the Clearing

Part Three: Ride Outs

Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind

Meditations on Rilke / Herbtsttag

Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen

Das Lied des Trinkers

Immer wieder

Imaginärer Lebenslauf

Herbst

Snappy Patter

Upon Further Reflection / Bygone Beguine

Soliloquy

You Come Here Often?

Lope

Grace

Michael Tilson Thomas :

GRACE, the music of

In celebration of his 80th birthday, PENTATONE will honor Michael Tilson Thomas’ lifetime of contributions as a composer by releasing a deluxe collection of CDs and digital recordings of his compositions. This four-disc set spans more than five decades of his compositional career and features 18 works, from premiere recordings to remastered archival recordings available for the first time.
The collection also includes an extensive booklet containing composer’s notes, original essays, and a timeline of archival photos chronicling MTT’s life as a pianist, conductor, composer, recording artist, and teacher.

All net proceeds from GRACE: The Music of Michael Tilson Thomas will be donated to brain cancer research at the UCSF Brain Tumor Center.

There are two key times in an artist’s life. The first is inventing yourself.
The second, the harder part, is going the distance.
How do you sustain the vision, make it grow, and share it? To be an artist means to have the courage for rebirth and growth. It’s never ending.
Michael Tilson Thomas

BOX SET CONTAINS:
4 CDs (featuring 18 works)
Both premiere recordings and remastered archival recordings available for the first time
Extensive booklet
Composer’s notes, original essays, timeline of archival photos chronicling MTT’s life as a pianist, conductor, composer, recording artist, and teacher

TRACK LIST

Disc 1

1 Agnegram
with the San Francisco Symphony

2 Not Everyone Thinks That I’m Beautiful
with Sasha Cooke and Jean-Yves Thibaudet

Street Song
with the Bay Brass
3 Street Song I
4 Street Song II
5 Street Song III

From the Diary of Anne Frank
with Isabel Leonard and the San Francisco Symphony
6 Part 1 - Instrumental Intro
7 Part 1 - “I hope I shall be able to confide...”
8 Part 1 - “It’s an odd idea...”
9 Part 1 - “There is a saying...”
10 Part 2 - “Dear Kitty. So much has happened...”
11 Part 2 - “Daddy began to tell us...”
12 Part 2 - “I feel wicked sleeping in a warm bed...”
13 Part 2 - Instrumental
14 Part 3 - “Dear Kitty!!!...”
15 Part 3 - “I believe that it’s spring...”
16 Part 3 - “Do you gather a bit of what I mean...”
17 Part 4 - “I want to go on living...”

Disc 2

1 Sentimental Again
with Audra McDonald and the San Francisco Symphony

Whitman Songs
with Thomas Hampson and the New World Symphony
2 I. Who Goes There?
3 II. At Ship’s Helm
4 III. We Two Boys Together Clinging

Poems of Emily Dickinson
with Renée Fleming and the San Francisco Symphony
5 I. Down Time’s Quaint Stream
6 II. The Bible
7 III. Of God We Ask One Favor
8 IV. Fame
9 V. The Earth Has Many Keys
10 VI. Nature Studies
11 VII. Take All Away From Me
12 I’m Nobody! Who are you?
with Measha Brueggergosman-Lee, Carrie VanSlyke and Jeremy VanSlyke
13 Urban Legend
with Pat Posey, Edwin Outwater and members of the San Francisco musical community
14 Symphony Cowgirl
with Lisa Vroman and members of the San Francisco Symphony

Disc 3

1 Notturno
with Paula Robison and the New World Symphony

Island Music
with Nancy Zeltsman, Jack Van Geem and members of the San Francisco Symphony Percussion Section
2 Introduction: Long Familiar Refrains
3 Part One: Thoughts on the Dance Floor
4 Part Two: In the Clearing
5 Part Three: Ride Outs
6 Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind
with Measha Brueggergosman-Lee, Kara Dugan, Kristen Toedtman and the New World Symphony

Disc 4

Meditations on Rilke
with Ryan McKinny, Sasha Cooke and the San Francisco Symphony
1 Herbtsttag
2 Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen
3 Das Lied des Trinkers
4 Immer wieder
5 Imaginärer Lebenslauf
6 Herbst
7 Snappy Patter
with Ian Bousfield

Upon Further Reflection
with John Wilson
8 Bygone Beguine
9 Soliloquy
10 You Come Here Often?
11 Lope
with the New World Symphony
12 Grace
with Sasha Cooke and Jean-Yves Thibaudet

ABOUT MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS
Michael Tilson Thomas is Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra, and Co-Founder and Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony. Born in Los Angeles, he is the third generation of his family to pursue an artistic career. His grandparents, Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, were founding members of the Yiddish Theater in America; his father, Ted Thomas, was a producer at the Mercury Theater Company in New York before moving to Los Angeles where he worked in film and television; and his mother, Roberta Thomas, was the head of research for Columbia Pictures.

Mr. Tilson Thomas began his formal studies at the University of Southern California, where he studied piano with John Crown and conducting and composition with Ingolf Dahl. At age nineteen he was named Music Director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra. During this same period, he was the pianist and conductor in master classes of Gregor Piatigorsky and Jascha Heifetz and worked with Stravinsky, Boulez, Stockhausen, and Copland on premieres of their compositions at Los Angeles’ Monday Evening Concerts.

In 1969, after winning the Koussevitzky Prize at Tanglewood, Mr. Tilson Thomas was appointed Assistant Conductor and pianist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. That year he also made his New York debut with the BSO and gained international recognition after replacing Music Director William Steinberg mid-concert. He was later appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 1974. He was Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic from 1971 to 1979 and a Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1981 to 1985. In 1987, he co- founded and became Artistic Director of the New World Symphony. That same year, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and served in that role until 1995, when he became Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. He is now Conductor Laureate of the LSO; became Music Director Laureate of the SFS in June 2020 when he concluded his 25-year directorship of the orchestra; and was named New World Symphony’s Artistic Director Laureate in March 2022. As a guest conductor, he has appeared with orchestras worldwide, including the major orchestras of Europe and the United States.

A winner of twelve GRAMMY Awards, Mr. Tilson Thomas appears on more than 120 recordings. His discography includes The Mahler Project, a collection of the composer’s complete symphonies and works for voice and orchestra performed with the San Francisco Symphony, as well as pioneering recordings of music by Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Steve Reich, John Cage, Ingolf Dahl, Morton Feldman, George Gershwin, John McLaughlin, and Elvis Costello. His recordings span repertoire from Bach and Beethoven to Debussy and Stravinsky, and include collaborations with artists ranging from Sarah Vaughan to Metallica.

His television work includes a series with the London Symphony Orchestra for BBC Television, broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts from 1971 to 1977, and numerous productions on PBS’s Great Performances. With the San Francisco Symphony, he created a multi-tiered media project, Keeping Score, which includes a television series, web sites, and radio programs. He received a Peabody Award for his SFS Media radio series The MTT Files.

Mr. Tilson Thomas’s compositions are administered by G. Schirmer Inc/Wise Music. In 1991, he and the New World Symphony were presented in a series of benefit concerts for UNICEF in the United States, featuring Audrey Hepburn as narrator in performances of Mr. Tilson Thomas’s work From the Diary of Anne Frank, which was commissioned by UNICEF. This piece has since been translated and performed in many languages worldwide. In August 1995, he led the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in the premiere of his composition Shówa/Shoáh, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. His vocal music includes settings of poetry by Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, which were premiered by Thomas Hampson and Renée Fleming, respectively. In 2016, Yuja Wang premiered his piano piece You Come Here Often?.

His song cycle Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind, a setting of Carl Sandburg’s poem, was premiered in 2016 by the New World Symphony, with Measha Brueggergosman as soloist. In 2019, the piece was recorded for Medici.tv at the New World Center and given its New York premiere as part of Mr. Tilson Thomas’s second Carnegie Hall Perspectives series. His first Perspectives series also featured performances of his own compositions, including Island Music for four marimbas and percussion; Notturno for solo flute and strings, featuring soloist Paula Robison; and new settings of poems by Rainer Maria Rilke. In 2020, he led the San Francisco Symphony in the world premiere of his six-part song cycle Meditations on Rilke, and he subsequently conducted the work at the Cleveland Orchestra. He conducted the New York premiere of this work with the New York Philharmonic in March 2023. Additional compositions include Street Song for brass instruments; Agnegram, an overture for orchestra; and Urban Legend, a concerto for contrabassoon that was premiered by the San Francisco Symphony. In June 2020, SFS Media released an album of works composed by Mr. Tilson Thomas, featuring live concert recordings of From the Diary of Anne Frank, narrated by mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, and Meditations on Rilke, sung by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny. This recording won the 2021 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Compendium. In September 2022, Avie Records released an album of solo piano works performed by John Wilson featuring the world premiere recording of Mr. Tilson Thomas’s Upon Further Reflection for which the album is named.

Mr. Tilson Thomas co-founded the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, a postgraduate orchestral academy dedicated to preparing young musicians of diverse backgrounds for leadership roles in classical music. The New World Symphony has long been at the forefront of developments in the arts and in education. As Artistic Director Laureate he works with NWS Fellows to further their performance abilities and to expand their understanding of professional responsibilities in our ever-changing musical environment. Since 2011, the campus of the New World Symphony has been the technologically advanced, Frank Gehry-designed New World Center.

Mr. Tilson Thomas’s tenure as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony was a period of significant growth and heightened international recognition for the orchestra. In addition to his continued exploration of the standard repertoire with the SFS, he led the orchestra in championing and cultivating relationships with today’s leading composers, generating awareness and appreciation of American Maverick composers of the 20th century and enriching the concert experience through semi-staged performances. He also led the orchestra in numerous summer festivals and tours of Europe, the United States and Asia.
As Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Tilson Thomas led the orchestra on regular tours in Europe, the United States and Japan, as well as to the Salzburg Festival. In London, he and the orchestra have mounted major festivals focusing on the music of Steve Reich, George Gershwin, Johannes Brahms, Toru Takemitsu, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and the School of St. Petersburg, Claude Debussy and Gustav Mahler. As Conductor Laureate of the LSO, he continues to lead the orchestra in concerts in London and on tour. His 70th birthday was celebrated by the orchestra with a concert he conducted at Buckingham Palace before the Queen of England.

Michael Tilson Thomas is an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, was Musical America’s Musician of the Year and Conductor of the Year, was Gramophone magazine’s Artist of the Year and has been profiled on CBS’s 60 Minutes, ABC’s Nightline and PBS’s American Masters. He has been awarded the National Medal of Arts, was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, is a member of the California Hall of Fame, and was a 2019 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2022 he gave the Commencement address at Juilliard.

ABOUT PENTATONE

One of the leading classical music labels in the world, PENTATONE presents a diverse range of world-class artists, and is dedicated to premium quality productions captured in exceptional sound. The label works together with today and tomorrow’s leading artists to provide timeless recordings of core, fringe, and lesser-known repertoire, with PENTATONE’s uncompromising attention to the best possible quality in artistry, design and recording technology.

The label was founded in the Netherlands in 2001 by three former Philips Classics executives, with the ambition to offer classical music in the highest quality including surround sound. In its first years, PENTATONE engaged Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton and Sophia Loren in a GRAMMY Award-winning recording of Prokofiev’s Peter & the Wolf (released in Spanish with Antonio Banderas), with Kent Nagano conducting the Russian National Orchestra. Another early success was a recording of the official music performed during the wedding ceremony of the then Dutch crown prince (now king) Willem-Alexander to Máxima Zorreguieta. The Music from the Royal Wedding sold more than 75,000 copies, thereby attaining the unique “triple platinum” status in the Netherlands.

During its first decade, the label released several award-winning recordings with violinist Julia Fischer and several complete cycles: Beethoven’s symphonies conducted by Philippe Herreweghe, Beethoven’s piano sonatas performed by Mari Kodama, and Bruckner’s symphonies under the baton of Marek Janowski. Violinist Arabella Steinbacher left her mark on these years and continues with several acclaimed recordings. Later, PENTATONE recorded Wagner’s ten mature operas, the only such label to take on this task in the 21st century.

From 2013, with a new management team, the label focused on embracing the digital era and expanding its repertoire. New artists and ensembles defined the label’s second decade, including conductors Vladimir Jurowski, René Jacobs and Esa-Pekka Salonen, singers Piotr Beczala, Lisette Oropesa, Javier Camarena, Ian Bostridge and Magdalena Kožená, pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Francesco Piemontesi, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, as well as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Czech Philharmonic.

In recent years, PENTATONE has won multiple awards. In 2017, John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles won Best Opera Recording and Best Engineered Album at the 59th GRAMMY Awards. Two years later, the premiere recording of the Mason Bates opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs won a GRAMMY for Best Opera Recording. PENTATONE was awarded ‘Label of the Year’ in 2019 by Gramophone Magazine and in 2020 by the International Classical Music Awards. PENTATONE’s third decade promises to be even more exciting and innovative as we expand our growing and diverse roster of artists, producing the most thrilling recordings in the world.

GRACE: The Music of Michael Tilson Thomas
Ian Bousfield | Measha Brueggergosman-Lee | Sasha Cooke | Renée Fleming Thomas Hampson | Isabel Leonard | Audra McDonald | Ryan McKinny | Edwin Outwater
Pat Posey | Paula Robison | Jean-Yves Thibaudet | Lisa Vroman | John Wilson Bay Brass | New World Symphony | San Francisco Symphony

on pentatonemusic.com

DIGITAL RELEASE DATE
4 October 2024
Released as a deluxe 4-CD boxset and in digital formats for streaming and high-resolution downloads
AUDIO RESOLUTION FOR DIGITAL FILES
192k/24 PCM Stereo
44.1k/16 PCM Stereo
B2B PRESS KIT: MTT GRACE (log in here)
MP3 DOWNLOAD LINK: MTT GRACE
PTC5187355