Internationally renowned Hong Kong-born, Berlin-based cellist Trey Lee is set to release his upcoming album, "Seasons Interrupted," a collection of "odes" to our current climate crisis through the lens of three composers' works that embody the past, present, and future.
The record is set to be available on May 17 via the British label Signum Records and marks Lee's first collaboration with London's English Chamber Orchestra (ECO), an ensemble that boasts the most amount of recordings in the world, today.
"Seasons Interrupted" will also feature Finnish conductor Emilia Hoving and German pianist Georgy Tchaidze.
Trey Lee's Sobering 'Musical Account' of Our Current Climate Crisis
In the record's program notes, Lee writes: "With the cello as a platform, I seek a sober yet trenchant means to tell the story of our seasons, and, concurrently, create a musical narrative to account for how this crisis unfolds."
"These works are expressions of human emotions that are open to interpretation and were not conceived to decry the climate crisis;" he continued, "however, I harness their emotive power to illustrate this story and to amplify this narrative when words alone do not suffice."
Lee primarily channels the message of his new album through the works of three composers representing three virtually different eras in a narrative arc that examines the past, present, and future of our current situation with climate change.
"Seasons Interrupted" begins with Lee's arrangement of Franz Schubert's four lieders or German art songs.
For Lee, Schubert's work facilitates a glimpse into the past, particularly through his Frühling, D. 882 ("In Spring"), Die Sommernacht, D. 289 ("The Summernight"), Herbst, D. 945 ("Autumn"), and Gefrorne Tränen (from Die Winterreise, D. 911) ("Frozen Tears").
Writing of Schubert's portion in his new album, Lee said: "By highlighting man's emotional intrusion into nature's tranquility, is Schubert already alluding to humanity's role in altering the course of nature?"
In terms of representing the present, Lee looks to none other than Astor Piazzolla's "Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires)."
Through Lee's solo cello and chamber orchestra derivative of Piazzolla's arrangement, he is able to draw parallels between the perilous effects of the Industrial Revolution during the 20th century that Piazzolla depicted to our current climate predicament.
"Today's world is powered by unrelenting progress and inventions, and, simultaneously, by unbridled depletion of the world's resources," Lee writes. "Instead of allowing the natural retreat of autumn to transpire, machines speed up the process to squeeze even more resources out of the land."
Finally, Lee calls upon Finnish contemporary composer Kirmo Lintinen's Cello Concerto as his "herald" of the future, highlighting the many possibilities that await us.
Lintinen dedicated the Cello Concerto to Lee as he aimed to depict a society deprived of seasons as we know them today due to the irreparability of climate change, a sonic landscape that the ECO and the cellist himself traverses skillfully and grippingly.
"This is an imaginary journey through four movements depicting a future arising from the effects of the environmental crisis," writes Lee. "Still, we are not condemned to this future just yet; it is simply one that many fear may come to pass if the world continues down its current trajectory."
To commemorate the record's release, Lee will be joining the ECO in performances on May 17 and 19 in Hong Kong, before linking up with the ensemble once more in a season-opening show at London's Cadogan Hall on Sept. 30.
The latter program will also feature "Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas."
For more information about Trey Lee's new album and his upcoming performances, click here.
