produced by Kyle Saulnier.

recorded by Nick Lloyd, assisted by Greg DiCrosta.
recorded at Firehouse 12 Studios, New Haven, CT, November 9-10, 2019
violin tracking by Dave Darlington at Bass Hit Recording, New York NY.
edited by Michael MacAllister at Creekside Sound, Brooklyn NY.
mixing and mastering by Dave Darlington / Bass Hit Recording, New York NY.
artwork by Angela Costanzo Paris

part i: the pessimist’s dilemma.

1. prelude & fanfare: the Patriot.

2. burn. (Trent Reznor, arr. Saulnier)
Nathan Hetherington, voice | Michael MacAllister, guitar

3. throughout. (Bill Frisell, arr. Saulnier)
Joshua Paris, bass | Michael Fahie, trombone | Seneca Black, trumpet

i can see my country from here. (Symphony no.2 for the Awakening Orchestra)

4. i. free labor, free land, free men.
Samuel Burtis, trombone | Michael Caterisano, vibraphone |
Andrew Gutauskas, baritone saxophone
5. ii. liberté, égalité, fraternité.
Aaron Kotler, piano | Vito Chiavuzzo, alto saxophone |
Samuel Ryder, tenor saxophone
6. iii. ethos, pathos, logos.
Joshua Paris, bass | Vito Chiavuzzo, alto flute |
Felipe Salles, soprano saxophone | Michael MacAllister, guitar |
Pablo Masis, trumpet
7. epilogue: i can see my country from here.
Nadje Noordhuis, trumpet | Samuel Burtis, trombone

part ii: the optimist’s folly.

8. i remember. (Molly Drake, arr. Saulnier)

to call her to a higher plain. (Concerto for Violin and Awakening Orchestra)

Brooke Quiggins Saulnier, violin

9. i. on the technicians of power.
Samuel Ryder, soprano saxophone
10. first cadenza
11. ii. on the acceptance of things that we can not change.
John Yao, trombone
12. second cadenza
13. iii. on the changing of things that we can not accept.
Pablo Masis, trumpet | Vito Chiavuzzo, alto saxophone

14. the (desc/diss)ent.
Nadje Noordhuis, trumpet
Remy Le Boeuf, soprano saxophone | Felipe Salles, tenor saxophone

15. lux aurumque. (Eric Whitacre, orch. Saulnier)

press release.

Almost immediately after the release of the Awakening Orchestra’s 2014 Innova debut (volume i: this is not the answer. – “a unique and masterful work,” Cadence), composer and bandleader Kyle Saulnier began writing what would become its ambitious follow-up, volume ii: to call her to a higher plain. The orchestra premiered new material in concert throughout 2016, as the fateful election season unfolded. The last of three premiere performances took place just three days after the November election, a moment of dread and foreboding, of fears that quickly proved entirely warranted.

Like volume i, volume ii was conceived as a protest epic, highly ambitious in scope, with two longform works as its centerpieces. The turbulent, insistent rhythms, advanced harmonic language and formal architecture, deep melodic sensibility and all-around brilliant execution on the part of the Awakening Orchestra’s sought-after members make volume ii: to call her to a higher plain a signal achievement and a testament to the beauty that is possible even in the most troubled times. The band’s collective amassed power, intricate sectional give-and-take and fiercely individualistic solo contributions speak with a clarion truth, making the case for the Awakening Orchestra as one of the current jazz scene’s most consequential large ensembles.

The album is plotted out in two sections, delineated by the headings “the pessimist’s dilemma” and “the optimist’s folly”: two emotional and analytical choices, both ultimately unsatisfying. What this speaks to, for Saulnier, is “the psychology of being an American right now, and the need for justice. I deeply and passionately want to be proud of my country. I want people to know unequivocally that we can be better than we are, but also that our time to right the ship is up. I really believe this is our last chance.”

Following the opening “prelude & fanfare,” a hair-raising arrangement of the Nine Inch Nails cri de coeur “Burn” and a haunting treatment of Bill Frisell’s “Throughout,” the orchestra embarks on the sprawling Symphony No. 2, with movement titles drawn from the Republican Party’s 1854 founding slogan (“free labor, free land, free men”), the French Revolution (“liberté, égalité, fraternité”), and Aristotle’s three modes of persuasion (“ethos, pathos, logos”) respectively. Amid the band’s full complement of reeds, brass, mallets and rhythm section, with bracing solo flights and endless instrumental shadings and combinations, we hear an evocation of “the contrast between the democratic ideals of the American and French Revolutions and our questionable democratic processes of today,” Saulnier writes.

Part two begins with the beguiling “I Remember” by Molly Drake (Nick Drake’s mother) — a vivid example of how Saulnier draws on rich and varied traditions of song without regard to genre. This serves as prelude to the Concerto for Violin and Awakening Orchestra, “to call her to a higher plain,” named for a quote from George McGovern: “The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one’s country deep enough to call her to a higher plain.” Through this piece, Saulnier reintroduces the theme of strained optimism and failed democratic promise, looking to Alvin Toffler’s influential 1980 book The Third Wave and its insights into the systematic undermining of representative democracy by managerial elites.

Technically and expressively, violinist Brooke Quiggins Saulnier spits sheer fire throughout this remarkable work, down to the demanding first and second cadenzas, which Saulnier in fact composed for his wife as a standalone “caprice for solo violin.” “There are things in this concerto that are inherently counterintuitive to the string soloist,” notes Saulnier. “In many ways it’s a markedly different solo vocabulary than anything Brooke or I have come across.”

With “the (desc/diss)ent,” starkly introduced with stomps, handclaps, drums and vibes, Saulnier revisits the album’s prevailing tension between pessimism and optimism. The sections in turn represent “anxiety and chaos, resolution and determination,” he writes. These opposing poles become curiously balanced, though not resolved, in Eric Whitacre’s “lux aurumque,” a shimmering, mysterious piece originally composed for mixed choir and rearranged here by Saulnier for the Awakening Orchestra’s brass section. “The piece carries a tremendous amount of gravity,” Saulnier writes, “without ever committing to positive or negative emotion: an aural mirror for the listener to reflect their own mind.”

volume ii: to call her to a higher plain will be released by Biophilia Records as a Biopholio™, a double-sided, 20-panel origami-inspired medium bursting with vibrant artwork (commissioned by Saulnier from Angela Costanzo Paris) and liner notes; each one made entirely out of FSC-certified, robust paper, hand-folded and printed using plant-based inks. In each Biopholio is a unique code to digitally download the music in the preferred format. This innovative design caters to the environmentally conscious listener, who is aware of the harmful effects of plastic yet feels that a digital download is just not enough. Biophilia’s artists are united by a common interest in having a positive impact on the environment and our communities. To that end, they collaborate with organizations that specialize in conservation, sustainability and outreach initiatives.