Oberlin Music Label Releases New Album Featuring David Bowlin

Music by a pair of daring composers is celebrated on a new release on Oberlin Music, the official record label of the Oberlin Conservatory. Luciano Berio—Huang Ruo, featuring performances by Assistant Professor of Violin David Bowlin ’00 and Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble under the direction of Timothy Weiss, is available now on Amazon and via digital download through iTunes.

Though they hail from separate eras, postwar Italian experimentalist Luciano Berio and contemporary composer Huang Ruo ’00 are united here in their exploration of identical pieces of violin music played solo and with ensemble accompaniment. In this groundbreaking release, Bowlin celebrates two such pieces from each composer, embarking on a journey that reveals how two seemingly identical paths can be marked by endless contrasts.

The CD includes Bowlin's performance of Berio’s Sequenza VIII for violin solo, written in 1976 as part of his 14-work series of solo pieces for instruments and voice. The subsequent expanded version, Corale (1981), incorporates the work of Oberlin's Contemporary Music Ensemble. CME also accompanies Bowlin in Huang's Violin Concerto No. 1, "Omnipresence," written in 2004. Bowlin pairs this with Huang's Four Fragments (2006), a reconsideration of the concerto for solo violin.

“The music of Luciano Berio and Huang Ruo has been part of my repertoire for over a decade, and the chance to highlight both of these composers on one album, with the unique and wonderful stylistic expanse between them, has been an exhilarating challenge,” says Bowlin, a founding member of the International Contemporary Ensemble.

“I would like to thank Tim Weiss and the wonderful musicians of the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble for taking this journey with me and making these recordings a reality,” adds Bowlin. “It was a joy from start to finish.”

Oberlin Music is the official record label of the Oberlin Conservatory. It celebrates the artistic vision and superlative talent of Oberlin’s faculty, students, and alumni—on campus and on tour. In 2010, the conservatory opened Clonick Hall, a superior recording facility dedicated to capturing studio sessions in the heart of the conservatory. Luciano Berio—Huang Ruo was recorded in Clonick Hall.