The perfect composer-virtuoso pianist” Daniel Pesca announces the upcoming release of his second album, Walk with me, My Joy, appearing June 6th on New Focus Recordings. Steeped in nostalgia… togetherness… and wonderment…, the album features five of his solo and chamber works composed since 2020.
“The album is bookended by two major multi-movement works: the large duo for flute and piano, Gestures of Grace, and Walk with me, My Joy, a rhapsodic quartet for flute, cello, piano and percussion. The latter unfolds as an expansive series of reflections on a lullaby which Pesca’s mother sang to him from his earliest childhood. “The piece lives in a world of memory, specifically the blurry mental images of childhood that we carry with us forever,” Pesca writes. “There is a paradox in their strength: despite the fact that we cannot clearly recreate them in our imagination, they shape us so fundamentally.”
Between these outer pillars are three colorful, expressive solo pieces for cello, guitar, and piano. Brought to life by an astonishing cast of musicians — flutist Sarah Frisof, cellist Christine Lamprea, guitarist Dieter Hennings, percussionist Ian Rosenbaum, and Pesca himself at the piano — Walk with me, my joy is a journey into a sensitive, unique musical mind, full of whimsy, poetry, and lyricism.
“Equally talented as pianist, composer and advocate of his peers’ works”
“The perfect composer-virtuoso pianist”
Daniel Pesca is a composer and pianist whose music is characterized by its color and imagination, and whose interpretations stand out for their creativity and dynamism. The common theme in Daniel’s myriad activities is his passion for collaboration. His partnerships with a variety of ensembles, individual musicians, and fellow composers has cultivated a prolific body of work.
Among Daniel’s most recent compositions are Walk with me, my joy for Constellations Chamber Concerts in Washington, DC and New Examples of Confusion for the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition at University of Chicago. Other recent works have been commissioned with support from national granting organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts and New Music USA, for ensembles such as the American Wild Ensemble and the Oberlin Contemporary Ensemble, and for artists such as guitarist Dieter Hennings, tenor Zach Finkelstein and flutist Sarah Frisof. His music has been heard at festivals and venues across the United States and in Europe.
As pianist, Daniel has premiered over 150 works, is a founding member of the Grossman Ensemble and co-director of the Zohn Collective, appears on a dozen commercial recordings (including a solo album, Promontory), and has performed as soloist with orchestras in works by Messiaen, Bernstein, Berg, Carter, and others.
Daniel is currently assistant professor of composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He was on faculty at University of Maryland, Baltimore County from 2019 to 2023, and prior to that taught at University of Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University, Ithaca College, and Syracuse University. He holds degrees in composition and piano from Eastman and University of Michigan.
Promontory
Daniel Pesca, piano
Premiere recordings of works by:
Augusta Read Thomas, Aaron Travers, Alison Yun-Fei Jiang, Daniel Pesca
The desolate shores of Nova Scotia.
The bustle and energy of Chicago.
A neighborhood park in Indiana.
The peal of bells in a town square.
The crags and inclines of the Rockies.
TRACK LIST
1. Aaron Travers, Olcott Park (2020)
Alison Yun-Fei Jiang, Isles (2017)
2. As Birds Bring Forth the Sun
3. Salt
4. Undercurrent
Daniel Pesca, Watercolors (2018/2020)
5. A Pair of Cats
6. In the Mountains
7. Augusta Read Thomas, Bell Illuminations (2020)
Daniel Pesca, Hyde Park Boulevard (2020)
8. Prelude
9. Lakeshore Drive (Capriccio)
10. The Lagoon at Dusk
11. Interlude: At Night
12. Bobolink Meadow (Little Scherzo)
13. The Wooded Isle
14. Promontory Point
My fascination with the piano arises from its ability to layer sound, creating illusions of depth, distance, perspective. The works on this album evoke such environments and spaces.
This program came together in early 2020 during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when restrictions on movement severely limited our access to the world. Making this music allowed me to travel in sound and to reflect on the beauty of our planet at a time when it is changing rapidly, perhaps irreversibly.
RECORDING INFORMATION
Engineer: Alan Wonneberger
Producer: Tim Weiss
Recording location: Linehan Concert Hall, Performing Arts and Humanities Building, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Recording dates: October 9–11, 2020
Design: Philip Blackburn
Photographs: Daniel Pesca & André J. Washington
Program notes: Daniel Pesca