International
Chamber Artists

Dream of the rich musical offerings and stylistic cross-references in musical rhapsodies. Paul Juon's Rhapsody for Piano Quartet is so eclectic that it has inspired comparisons to composers from Johannes Brahms to Alexander Scriabin. Similarly, York Bowen (Rhapsody Trio) sometimes appears in descriptions as the "English Rachmaninoff" as well as the "English Chopin," while Dmitri Shostakovich's Concertino for two Pianos shares thematic similarities with Ludwig van Beethoven's fourth piano concerto. Then there is Lori Laitman (Love Poems of Marichiko), an American often grouped with other female composers including Libby Larsen, Elizabeth Vercoe, and others. Of her Craftsbury Trio, composer Gwyneth Walker writes that she wants to capture the "open and stark landscape with a gentle pace of life" in Craftsbury, Vermont. Finally, the immediate popularity and exoticism of Georges Bizet's Carmen inspired Abram Chasins to compose his own fantasy on the work.