The BOOK of DAYSPRISM Quartet Uri Caine

The Book of Days by Uri Caine

PRISM QuartetZachary Shemon soprano saxophoneRobert Young* alto saxophoneMatthew Levy tenor saxophone Taimur Sullivan baritone saxophone

Uri Caine piano

*Appearing in place of PRISM Quartet member Timothy McAllister

AcknowledgementsThe Book of Days was commissioned by LiveConnections with support from a Presser Foundation 75th Anniversary Grant. This recording was made possible with generous support from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia.

Although I have played with and composed for saxophonists for years, The Book of Days is my first work for saxophone quartet. I jumped at the chance to collaborate with the flexible virtuosos of the PRISM Quartet. The Book of Days consists of seven movements, one for each day of the week. Each movement has its own musical character. Some of the music is loud and dissonant; some is quiet and still. Some movements are jazzy and frantic; others are more contemplative. There is a continuous dialogue between the piano, which is partly composed and partly improvised, and the saxophone quartet.—Uri Caine

NOTES

Uri Caine was born in Philadelphia and began studying piano with Bernard Peiffer and composition with George Rochberg when he was a teenager. He played in bands led by Philly Joe Jones, Hank Mobley, Johnny Coles, Mickey Roker, Odean Pope, Bootsie Barnes, Bobby Durham, and Grover Washington. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and studied music composition with George Rochberg and George Crumb. Since moving to New York in 1985, Caine has recorded 33 albums as a leader. Recent albums include Space Kiss (2017, 816 Music) with the Lutoslawski Quartet, Calibrated Thickness (2016, 816 Music) with his piano trio, and Callithump (2015, Winter and Winter) playing his solo piano compositions. He has recorded projects with his ensemble performing his own arrangements of music by Bach, Mahler, Wagner, Mozart, Verdi, and Schumann. He also leads an acoustic trio whose recordings include Live at the Village Vanguard (2004, Winter and Winter) as well as his electric Bedrock trio. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for The Othello Syndrome (Winter and Winter) in 2009. Recent compositions include Agent Orange (2017), written for the Brussels Philharmonic, and 4 Wunderhorn Songs (2017), written for the SWF Orchestra. Caine composed The Passion of Octavius Catto (2016) for the Philadelphia Orchestra and gospel choir celebrating the life of murdered Philadelphia civil rights leader Octavius Catto, and Hamsa for the Swedish Chamber Orchestra based on Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 by J. S. Bach. Caine has also received commissions to compose music for the American Composers Orchestra, Vienna Volksoper, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Arditti Quartet, and the Beaux Arts Trio.

Uri Caine

Photo: Bill Douthart

Intriguing programs of great beauty and breadth have distinguished the PRISM Quartet as one of America’s foremost chamber ensembles. “A bold ensemble that set the standard for contemporary-classical saxophone quartets” (The New York Times), PRISM has performed in Carnegie Hall on the Making Music Series, in Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and throughout Latin America, China, and Russia under the auspices of the United States Information Agency and USArtists International. PRISM has also been presented to critical acclaim as soloists with the Detroit Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra, and conducted residencies at the nation’s leading conservatories, including the Curtis Institute of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory. Two-time recipients of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, PRISM has commissioned nearly 300 works, many by internationally celebrated composers, including Pulitzer Prize-winners Julia Wolfe, William Bolcom, Jennifer Higdon, Zhou Long, and Bernard Rands, and MacArthur “Genius” Award recipients Bright Sheng, Tyshawn Sorey, and Miguel Zenón. PRISM’s discography includes releases on Albany, BMOP/Sound, ECM, innova, Koch, Naxos, New Dynamic, New Focus, and its own label, XAS Records. The Fifth Century, PRISM’s ECM recording with The Crossing under Donald Nally, was awarded a 2018 Grammy for Best Choral Performance. In 2016, PRISM was named by its alma mater, the University of Michigan, as the first recipient of the Christopher Kendall Award in recognition of its work in “collaboration, entrepreneurship, and community engagement.” The PRISM Quartet performs exclusively on Selmer saxophones.

PRISM Quartet

clockwise from top leftZachary Shemon by Scott FriedlanderRobert Young by Bryan CanonigoTaimur Sullivan by Jon RohrerMatthew Levy by Scott Friedlander

The Book of Days (2015) by Uri Caine (b. 1956)Sunday 11 am 5:24 Monday 8 am 3:20Tuesday dawn 6:02Wednesday afternoon 4:43Thursday 3 am 4:37Friday 5 pm 3:53Saturday midnight 3:56 Recorded April 18, 2015The Bunker StudioBrooklyn, New York Executive Producer: Matthew LevyProducers: Uri Caine, PRISM QuartetSession Engineer: Aaron NevezieEditing/Mixing: Matthew Levy, Uri CaineMastering: Matthew Levy, Katsu NaitoPhotography/Design: Jon Rohrer, Flux Labs XAS Records is the label of the PRISM Quartet©π PRISM Quartet, Inc. 2019All Rights Reservedwww.prismquartet.com

XAS 106