Last Friday, May 17, internationally renowned and Berlin-based cellist Trey Lee finally released his much-anticipated new album: "Seasons Interrupted," now out via British label Signum Records.
The record comprises never-before-heard recordings of Lee's new arrangements, which he performed alongside the acclaimed English Chamber Orchestra in a first-ever collaboration with the ensemble. It also features conductor Emilia Hoving and pianist Georgy Tchaidze.
About Trey Lee's 'Seasons Uninterrupted'
A collection of converging musical narratives embodying different perspectives, the tracks explore the impacts of climate change in the past, present, and future through the music of Franz Schubert, Astor Piazzolla, and Kirmo Lintinen, respectively.
This new album sees the Hong Kong-born and Julliard School-trained cellist grapple with the ever-worsening flow of nature's four seasons. He looks through the prism of works by three composers from very different eras to examine the extent of the crisis and propose a hopeful future.
The record opens with Lee's arrangement of four lieder by Schubert as representative of the past, including the tracks "Im 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").
Lee's iteration of the Schubert pieces substitutes his solo cello for the original vocals while employing accompaniment from Tchaidze, responding to the Austrian composer's poetic melodies from a 21st-century perspective.
Piazzolla's "Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas" ("The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires"), on the other hand, represents our current plight with climate change in the present. It comprises the composer's take on "Otoño" ("Autumn"), "Invierno" ("Winter"), "Primavera" ("Spring"), and "Verano" (Summer).
Through his own arrangements of the four-part composition, Lee takes his listeners through the four seasons and draws parallels between the industrial rise and frantic urban development of Piazzolla's 20th century and the climate crisis it has led to.
Finally, Lintinen's Cello Concerto is the lens for our possibly hopeful future. In the concerto, dedicated to Lee, the Finnish composer paints a sonic landscape from the context of a climate-changed society bereft of the seasons as we know them.
It comprises the first movement: "Inizio - Dystopia," exploring the climate change-ravaged environment; the second: "Gavotta - Modulation/Mutation," a brief look-back to the Baroque period; the third: "Cadenza," a defiance against the environmental catastrophe; and the last movement: "Finale," representing allusions to salvation blended with the melancholic longing for such.
Explore the intricate narrative Lee has painted through the melodies of his cello and stream "Seasons Interrupted" now by clicking here. Alternatively, you can sample the tracks right below.
