racz samogray duo
Dorotea Racz, cello
Dmitry Samogray, piano
August 29 2017
Our Muczynski CD for Brilliant Classics was just presented on Italian National Radio, at Primo Movimento Radio 3 this morning!
Listen to the podcast at this link, starting at 23:05!
August 24
"...Uno sguardo ora sui quattro esecutori, tutti molto giovani, Ginevra Petrucci (flauto), Gleb Kanasevich (clarinetto), Dorotea Racz (violoncello), Dmitry Samogray (pianoforte) che, pur provenendo da scuole diverse, evidenziano un notevolissimo affiatamento ed affrontano i brani a loro affidati con estrema bravura, dimostrandosi interpreti di caratura internazionale.
In conclusione un cd molto interessante, sia per il valore degli interpreti, sia per il repertorio proposto, che offre la possibilità di conoscere un ottimo compositore del Novecento, meritevole di ulteriori approfondimenti."
CD REVIEW : Music Web International - Muczynski: Chamber Music
July 2017
Racz Samogray Duo releases a new CD for Brilliant Classics label
May 2017
LEEUWARDEN, THE NETHERLANDS -- Croatian cellist, Dorotea Racz and American pianist Dmitry Samogray in collaboration with flutist Ginevra Petrucci, and clarinetist Gleb Kanasevich, have released an album of chamber music by Pulitzer-nominated American composer, Robert Muczynski, on the Dutch music label, Brilliant Classics. This release marks the first time an album solely devoted to the music of Robert Muczynski has been recorded for and published by any European music label. The CD is available for purchase worldwide on Amazon. Digital streaming providers include iTunes, Spotify, and Naxos Music Library.
ABOUT THIS RELEASE: Often cited as the most distinguished neoclassical composer of post-war America, Robert Muczynski (1929-2010) was born in Chicago to Polish parents. This album of chamber music surveys an output that is always restless and unpredictable thanks to the embrace of both Bartokian harmonies and structures as well as the more lyrical yet open-ended language of Samuel Barber.
The Cello Sonata of 1968 is often considered to be Muczynski’s chamber music masterpiece, in which the problems of balance and register inherent to the genre are not only solved but also transcended with mastery especially evident in the central Scherzo. From a year later, the Fantasy Trio Op.26 is a welcome addition to the clarinet-cello- piano trio genre established by Beethoven. Energy and punchy rhythmic interplay are hallmarks of Muczynski’s music, as the earlier Flute Sonata engagingly demonstrates: in its whimsical, abrupt, headstrong progress through a compact four-movement form, it may even be considered the most important such work by an American composer.
Muczynski took technical agility and devil-may-care confidence for granted in his interpreters; in this case, an international quartet of musicians based in the US. There is an extended booklet essay by the pianist Dmitry Samogray that places both composer and works in invaluable context. Any listeners curious to fill out their appreciation of American music beyond Copland and Bernstein will want to hear this release.
For more information, please visit: www.brilliantclassics.com
