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DEBUT CD BY ORGANIST, MUSIC PROGRAM DIRECTOR GAIL ARCHER
 Gail Archer, director of the music program at Barnard College, next fall will release her first CD, selections from 17th century Dutch and German music titled "Orpheus of Amsterdam: Sweelinck and His Circle."
The disc will be distributed in September by Cala Records, a well-respected international label that seeks to promote solo artists of world stature.
The CD was recorded last January 11 at the Wellesley College Fisk Organ, a replica of a 17th century organ built by Charles Fisk, among the leading American organ builders. Archer's performance was supported by a Barnard faculty grant.
The repertoire is 17th century Dutch and German music from Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) and his two disciples, Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654) and Heinrich Scheidemann (1595-1654). Part of what drew Archer to the music of Sweelinck is her Dutch heritage on her maternal side. She said some of the world's most well-known music and well-respected composers have roots that can be directly linked to Sweelinck and his teachings.
"Sweelinck taught people from the British Isles and Germany and then they went back to their respective churches," said Archer. "You can literally trace teachers to students, teachers to students, from these Dutch composers. Sweelink's students were the greatest players who passed it on to their students who passed it on and so forth. It went all the way to Bach and beyond.
"Sweelinck is the bedrock of all this great organ music for two centuries," said Archer.
"I'm really more than excited about the release of the CD," said Archer. "People don't really know the music of the 17th century. This music is just as thrilling but is much less well known in general than some other classical music. It's just full of wonderful sounds from another era."
She also praised the Wellesley organ for replicating the sound of the era. "It's really a rich vocabulary of sound." The CD was produced by Andreas K. Meyer, a top recording engineer at Sony International in New York City.
The concert organist has a busy summer ahead with recitals in June in Charleston, Reno, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. From July 4-9, Archer will appear in Los Angeles as part of the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists where she will conduct an historical performance practice workshop. Later in the month, on July 18, she will perform a recital at The National Convention of the Organ Historical Society in Buffalo.
All this before heading to Europe to perform on historic organs in Hungary, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands. (For a complete list of Gail Archer's upcoming performances and lectures, please visit www.gailarcher.com
Archer is conductor of the Barnard-Columbia chorus, and a member of the music history faculty at the Manhattan School of Music. She was chosen by the Barnard faculty as a recipient of the Bank of New York Teaching Excellence Award for academic year 1999-2000.
—Glenn Slavin
For more information, please contact: Suzanne Trimel in the Barnard Office of Public Affairs, 212-854-2037, strimel@barnard.edu |
