BMOP/sound Releases Carlos Surinach: Acrobat of Gods

Known as the nation's foremost label launched by an orchestra and devoted exclusively to new music, Grammy Award-winning BMOP/sound releases Carlos Surinach: Acrobat of Gods, the debut recording of three Martha Graham ballets by Spanish-American composer Carlos Surinach. Within a decade of arriving to the United States in the 1950s,

Surinach was commissioned by the illustrious Martha Graham, one of the most influential choreographers of her generation, to compose a total of three ballets for her-Embattled Garden (1957), Acrobats of God (1960), and The Owl and the Pussycat (1978). These colorfully scored and eminently danceable works became Surinach's calling card as a composer. Conductor Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project's latest offering on their in-house label, BMOP/sound, gives contemporary listeners a chance to hear these Surinach-Graham ballets for the first time together.

Barcelona-born Carlos Surinach (1915-1997) is regarded today as an American composer, having become a United States citizen in 1959 after emigrating to the States in 1951. Surinach was among the 20th century's premier composers for dance known chiefly for his vibrant ballet scores picked up by choreographers and dance companies including Martha Graham and the Joffrey Ballet, and his impressive catalog of orchestral, choral, and chamber music is performed regularly throughout the world. His works combine the traditional, expressive flamenco rhythms and melodies of his native Spain with the technical sophistication of his German musical education. He was conductor of the Barcelona Philharmonic and the orchestra of the Gran Teatro del Liceo.

Quoting the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, Surinach said, "'If you are born Italian, you sing; if German, you play; if Spanish, from the moment you are out of the womb, you want to dance.' It turns out that my music, even the most serious pieces, all suggest, in some way, dance."

The album opener, Acrobats of God, is a multi-section dance suite that employs several mandolin players, plucking and strumming, within the orchestra. Its key element is an ascending sweeping glissando gesture, repeated over and over by keyboard, percussion, piano, and harp. Also on the album are the first and final ballet collaborations between Graham and Surinach: Embattled Garden (1957) and The Owl and the Pusseycat (1978). The latter is based on the beloved poem by Edward Lear with narration by Cuban-American theater artist Aliana de la Guardia.

BMOP/sound, BMOP's independent record label, was created in 2008 to provide a platform for BMOP's extensive archive of music, as well as to provide widespread, top-quality, permanent access to both classics of the 20th century and the music of today's most innovative composers. BMOP/sound has garnered praise from the national and international press. It is the recipient of a 2020 Grammy Award for Tobias Picker: Fantastic Mr. Fox as well as eight Grammy Award nominations, and its releases have appeared on the year-end "Best of" lists of The New York Times, The Boston Globe, National Public Radio, Time Out New York, American Record Guide, DownBeat, WBUR, NewMusicBox, and others. Admired, praised, and sought after by artists, presenters, critics, and audiophiles, BMOP and BMOP/sound are uniquely positioned to redefine the new music concert and recording experience. Launched in 2019, BMOP's digital radio station, BMOP/radio, streams BMOP/sound's entire catalog and airs special programming. BMOP.org