DISCOGRAPHY

U P C O M I N G  R E C O R D I N G  P R O J E C T S :

Music of Ian Krouse is regularly being rehearsed and recorded by various ensembles around the world. For additional information on these upcoming recording projects, proceed to its designated page.

N E W  R E L E A S E S :

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Album: New Renaissance Artist: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Contains: Music in Four Sharps (On Dowland's 'Frog Galliard') Label: LAGQ 0135 Released: March 2015
_______
“Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, “New Renaissance” (LAGQ). More connections between Renaissance and contemporary music. In this case the LAGQ plays contemporary arrangements of “Music from the time of Cervantes” and…two contemporary works with variations on Renaissance music, Dusan Bogdanovich’s “Six Ricercars on a Theme of F. da Milano” and Ian Krouse’s “Music In Four Sharps” (On Dowland’s Frog Galliard.)” Jeff Simon, THE BUFFALO NEWS, April 5, 2015 “The rest of the music on this disc is less intriguing but scarcely uninteresting. Second longest and second only to the Cervantes in its attractiveness is Ian Krouse’s Music In Four Sharps (On Dowland’s “Frog Galliard”). Based on a popular piece by Dowland, Shakespeare’s nearly exact contemporary (1513-1616), Krouse’s work builds up to the full galliard and then marches away from it, eventually ending with wisps of sound. Its exploration of a full range of guitar effects makes it particularly interesting to hear.” INFODAD, April 9, 2015 “There is also a lengthy work by Ian Krouse based o a lute piece by Dowland, The Frog Galliard.” John Sunier, CLASSICAL CD REVIEWS, April 24, 2015 “Then, there's Music in Four Sharps (on Dowland's "Frog Galliard") by the modern composer Ian Krouse. Again, LAGQ mix new with old, while maintaining the Renaissance style. I enjoyed the Krouse piece with its enchanting, almost mystical variations.” John J. Puccio, CLASSICAL CANDOR, August 2, 2015 “The pair of new pieces by Dusan Bogdanovic and Ian Krouse each take a single Renaissance work, an unnamed theme by lutenist Francesco Canova da Milano and Dowland's Frog Galliard, respectively, as material for a new composition. Each has variation-like aspects, but is not a set of variations. Composers have done this with Renaissance music before, but an effort on this scale, tailored to specific performers and making up such a major part of the program, is something new and exciting.” James Manheim, ALL MUSIC REVIEW, March 17, 2015 “Ian Krouse, in his 14-minute “Music in Four Sharps” (on Dowland’s ‘Frog Galliard), Deconstructs Dowland’s popular work bit by bit. Beginning with the bass line passed around the quartet antiphonally, the work slowly opens up, gaining momentum, adding rhythmic activity between the bass line, accompaniment voices, and high register melodic snippets. Three-plus minutes in, we hear Dowland’s familiar running 16th note melodies Over jaunty strummed chords and later, minimalist arpeggio figures. Rasgueado chords morph into quietly brushed chords before the meditative ambiance of the opening returns and all fades to silence.” Mark Small, CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE, September 16, 2015 “The second half started with what for me was the high point of the evening, a composition by Ian Krouse after John Dowland’s (c 1600) Frog Galliard entitled Music in Four Sharps. Tennant played the original lute piece beautifully on the guitar in order to show us what was to be the subject; then the quartet played the Krouse piece which consisted of a confluence of sounds flowing together and pertaining to the Galliard, sometimes like birdsong, sometimes like Messaien and through echoed rasgueados evoking the slight melancholy of late Elizabethan music. This composition was a masterpiece, beautifully rendered. John Dowland himself would have thoroughly enjoyed it.”

~ Mike Jones, ROYAL GAZETTE, February 9, 2015
“Ian Krouse's "Music in Four Sharps" was a set of variations in search of a theme, which proved to be John Dowland's "Frog Galliard"…by nature somewhat conservative in [its] harmonic language but extremely modern in [its] rhetoric, and the subtle polytonality that arose from the intricate counterpoint wove[n] for the four players.”
~ Mark Satola, CLEVELAND.COM, March 23, 2015 “Ian Krouse had set himself the task of writing a piece based on Dowland’s Frog Galliard that never ventured out of the twelve pitches available in the key of E Major. That’s more difficult than it sounds, for most pieces that last fourteen minutes or more, as Music in Four Sharps does, depend on venturing away from the home key and finding a convincing way to return at the end. Krouse developed a clever passacaglia-like format of variations over a recurring pattern borrowed from Dowland. When that idea ran out of steam, he turned to Philip Glass-like repetition, which kept things fresh — and safely in E Major — to the end. LAGQ helped hold everyone’s attention with their rapt, concentrated playing.” ~CLEVELAND CLASSICAL.COM, March 24, 2015



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Album: New Renaissance Artist: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Contains: Music in Four Sharps (On Dowland's 'Frog Galliard') Label: LAGQ 0135 Released: March 2015
_______
“Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, “New Renaissance” (LAGQ). More connections between Renaissance and contemporary music. In this case the LAGQ plays contemporary arrangements of “Music from the time of Cervantes” and…two contemporary works with variations on Renaissance music, Dusan Bogdanovich’s “Six Ricercars on a Theme of F. da Milano” and Ian Krouse’s “Music In Four Sharps” (On Dowland’s Frog Galliard.)” Jeff Simon, THE BUFFALO NEWS, April 5, 2015 “The rest of the music on this disc is less intriguing but scarcely uninteresting. Second longest and second only to the Cervantes in its attractiveness is Ian Krouse’s Music In Four Sharps (On Dowland’s “Frog Galliard”). Based on a popular piece by Dowland, Shakespeare’s nearly exact contemporary (1513-1616), Krouse’s work builds up to the full galliard and then marches away from it, eventually ending with wisps of sound. Its exploration of a full range of guitar effects makes it particularly interesting to hear.” INFODAD, April 9, 2015 “There is also a lengthy work by Ian Krouse based o a lute piece by Dowland, The Frog Galliard.” John Sunier, CLASSICAL CD REVIEWS, April 24, 2015 “Then, there's Music in Four Sharps (on Dowland's "Frog Galliard") by the modern composer Ian Krouse. Again, LAGQ mix new with old, while maintaining the Renaissance style. I enjoyed the Krouse piece with its enchanting, almost mystical variations.” John J. Puccio, CLASSICAL CANDOR, August 2, 2015 “The pair of new pieces by Dusan Bogdanovic and Ian Krouse each take a single Renaissance work, an unnamed theme by lutenist Francesco Canova da Milano and Dowland's Frog Galliard, respectively, as material for a new composition. Each has variation-like aspects, but is not a set of variations. Composers have done this with Renaissance music before, but an effort on this scale, tailored to specific performers and making up such a major part of the program, is something new and exciting.” James Manheim, ALL MUSIC REVIEW, March 17, 2015 “Ian Krouse, in his 14-minute “Music in Four Sharps” (on Dowland’s ‘Frog Galliard), Deconstructs Dowland’s popular work bit by bit. Beginning with the bass line passed around the quartet antiphonally, the work slowly opens up, gaining momentum, adding rhythmic activity between the bass line, accompaniment voices, and high register melodic snippets. Three-plus minutes in, we hear Dowland’s familiar running 16th note melodies Over jaunty strummed chords and later, minimalist arpeggio figures. Rasgueado chords morph into quietly brushed chords before the meditative ambiance of the opening returns and all fades to silence.” Mark Small, CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE, September 16, 2015 “The second half started with what for me was the high point of the evening, a composition by Ian Krouse after John Dowland’s (c 1600) Frog Galliard entitled Music in Four Sharps. Tennant played the original lute piece beautifully on the guitar in order to show us what was to be the subject; then the quartet played the Krouse piece which consisted of a confluence of sounds flowing together and pertaining to the Galliard, sometimes like birdsong, sometimes like Messaien and through echoed rasgueados evoking the slight melancholy of late Elizabethan music. This composition was a masterpiece, beautifully rendered. John Dowland himself would have thoroughly enjoyed it.”

~ Mike Jones, ROYAL GAZETTE, February 9, 2015
“Ian Krouse's "Music in Four Sharps" was a set of variations in search of a theme, which proved to be John Dowland's "Frog Galliard"…by nature somewhat conservative in [its] harmonic language but extremely modern in [its] rhetoric, and the subtle polytonality that arose from the intricate counterpoint wove[n] for the four players.”
~ Mark Satola, CLEVELAND.COM, March 23, 2015 “Ian Krouse had set himself the task of writing a piece based on Dowland’s Frog Galliard that never ventured out of the twelve pitches available in the key of E Major. That’s more difficult than it sounds, for most pieces that last fourteen minutes or more, as Music in Four Sharps does, depend on venturing away from the home key and finding a convincing way to return at the end. Krouse developed a clever passacaglia-like format of variations over a recurring pattern borrowed from Dowland. When that idea ran out of steam, he turned to Philip Glass-like repetition, which kept things fresh — and safely in E Major — to the end. LAGQ helped hold everyone’s attention with their rapt, concentrated playing.” ~CLEVELAND CLASSICAL.COM, March 24, 2015



 

R E L E A S E D   A L B U M S:

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Artist: Auréole Trio Contains: Thamar y Amnón Label: Arkiv Music Records [AMR1050] Released: 2018 Available on ArkivMusic, Amazon, and iTunes
_______ Auréole is widely considered to be one of the world’s most revered flute, viola, and harp trios. The trio has commissioned and premiered more works and released more albums for their instrumentation than any other similar trio in the world. Embracing The Wind is Auréole’s fifteenth album, and their debut recording on the AMR label. _______ “The album concludes with what is described as a tone poem. It is based on one of Frederico Garcia Lorca’s (1898-1936) stories, “Thamar y Amnon”. The composer is Ian Krouse (1956- ). This rather harrowing romance is in a single movement with many moods which evoke the tale. In a nice touch the story is reproduced in its entirety in both Spanish and English.” Allan J. Cronin, NEW MUSIC BUFF, April 9, 2019 "The final work on the album, Thamar y Amnon by Ian Krouse, is a chamber tone poem based on one of Federico García Lorca’s Tres Romances Historicos (Three Historical Ballads) from Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Ballads). This work is embedded with deep, extra-musical meaning and has deep ties to Lorca’s paean to illicit eroticism. Krouse wrote, 'Not only the form and musical content are derived from the poem, but even the instrumentation itself. The nervous athleticism and complexity of the flute melodies embody Amnon’s tortured struggles with lust, while Tamar’s thinly veiled seductiveness is given a lyrical outlet through the potent vehicle of the viola. The role of the harp is significantly more complex…' "Embracing the Wind [AMR1050] was produced, recorded, and engineered by Grammy® winning producer Adam Abeshouse at The Concert Hall at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey." ~Aureole Trio Album Description



CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON THIS ALBUM

Artist: Auréole Trio Contains: Thamar y Amnón Label: Arkiv Music Records [AMR1050] Released: 2018 Available on ArkivMusic, Amazon, and iTunes
_______ Auréole is widely considered to be one of the world’s most revered flute, viola, and harp trios. The trio has commissioned and premiered more works and released more albums for their instrumentation than any other similar trio in the world. Embracing The Wind is Auréole’s fifteenth album, and their debut recording on the AMR label. _______ “The album concludes with what is described as a tone poem. It is based on one of Frederico Garcia Lorca’s (1898-1936) stories, “Thamar y Amnon”. The composer is Ian Krouse (1956- ). This rather harrowing romance is in a single movement with many moods which evoke the tale. In a nice touch the story is reproduced in its entirety in both Spanish and English.” Allan J. Cronin, NEW MUSIC BUFF, April 9, 2019 "The final work on the album, Thamar y Amnon by Ian Krouse, is a chamber tone poem based on one of Federico García Lorca’s Tres Romances Historicos (Three Historical Ballads) from Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Ballads). This work is embedded with deep, extra-musical meaning and has deep ties to Lorca’s paean to illicit eroticism. Krouse wrote, 'Not only the form and musical content are derived from the poem, but even the instrumentation itself. The nervous athleticism and complexity of the flute melodies embody Amnon’s tortured struggles with lust, while Tamar’s thinly veiled seductiveness is given a lyrical outlet through the potent vehicle of the viola. The role of the harp is significantly more complex…' "Embracing the Wind [AMR1050] was produced, recorded, and engineered by Grammy® winning producer Adam Abeshouse at The Concert Hall at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey." ~Aureole Trio Album Description



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Artist: Krystin O'Mara Release date: November 25, 2013 Genre: Classical Label: Bluepoint Studios Contains: Trois Tableaux d'Andersen _______ “On her debut solo album, Obsession (Blue Point Studios Label), young classical guitarist Krystin O’Mara firmly establishes herself as “someone to watch.” Her performances of works by Regino Sainz de la Maza, Ian Krouse, Viet Cuong, Fernando Sor and Augustin Barrios Mangore are truly impressive. The highlight of the recording is O’Mara’s interpretation of Los Angeles-based composer Ian Krouse’s Trois Tableaux D’Andersen. Using a combination of classical and flamenco guitar techniques, Krouse musically brings three of Hans Christensen Andersen’s fairytales to life. Given that many characters in Andersen’s tales experience the unpleasant sides of life, his work is a fitting choice for a recording dedicated to the darker side of the guitar repertoire. Le Rossignol (The Nightingale) is full of pentatonic chords and floating scale passages that capture Andersen’s sorrowful tale of the emperor and the songbird. O’Mara delivers a sensitive and well-paced performance. In La Petite Fille aux Allumettes (The Little Match Girl), one of Andersen’s most tragic tales, one cannot help but feel sorrow at the death of the poor girl. Ian Krouse’s music imaginatively tells the story in just over four minutes. O’Mara’s performance is alluring. Les Souliers Rouge (The Red Shoes) is a grim tale about a young girl named Karen, who became so obsessed with her red shoes that when she tried and failed to remove them, she was forced to have her feet cut off. Again, O’Mara’s innate ability to bring these dramatic tales — and more importantly Krouse’s music — to life is truly impressive.” Mike Telin, CLEVELAND CLASSICAL.COM, June 7, 2014 “ – the nostalgic soundscapes of Barrios cleanse the palate in preparation for more then 20 minutes of Ian Krouse (b. 1956), who’s probably best known to CG [CLASSICAL GUITAR] readers as a long-standing collaborator with the LAGQ [Los Angles Guitar Quartet]. Drawing his inspiration from The Nightingale, The Little Match Girl and The Red Shoes, Krouse displays all his customary assurance in exploiting the guitar’s resources.” Paul Fowles CLASSICAL GUITAR, April 7, 2015
"After cleansing the palate with an uneasy yet beautiful performance of “Julia Florida” by Barrios, O’Mara concludes with the shadowy and disquieting “Trois Tableaux d’Andersen” by Ian Krouse. Her recording (the first for this work) inspired this response from Krouse himself: “I have waited twenty-five years for the Trois Tableaux d’Andersen to find such a lovely and convincing advocate! Krystin’s breath-taking command of this early, epic proto-sonata is simply awe inspiring. How appropriate that my youthful effort, composed at the age of 26, should find its ideal match in a young virtuoso of just about the same age. She makes it sound as if it were written for her.” ~Tom Poore, AMAZON REVIEW, November 28, 2013



CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON THIS ALBUM

Artist: Auréole Trio Contains: Thamar y Amnón Label: Arkiv Music Records [AMR1050] Released: 2018 Available on ArkivMusic, Amazon, and iTunes
_______ Auréole is widely considered to be one of the world’s most revered flute, viola, and harp trios. The trio has commissioned and premiered more works and released more albums for their instrumentation than any other similar trio in the world. Embracing The Wind is Auréole’s fifteenth album, and their debut recording on the AMR label. _______ “The album concludes with what is described as a tone poem. It is based on one of Frederico Garcia Lorca’s (1898-1936) stories, “Thamar y Amnon”. The composer is Ian Krouse (1956- ). This rather harrowing romance is in a single movement with many moods which evoke the tale. In a nice touch the story is reproduced in its entirety in both Spanish and English.” Allan J. Cronin, NEW MUSIC BUFF, April 9, 2019 "The final work on the album, Thamar y Amnon by Ian Krouse, is a chamber tone poem based on one of Federico García Lorca’s Tres Romances Historicos (Three Historical Ballads) from Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Ballads). This work is embedded with deep, extra-musical meaning and has deep ties to Lorca’s paean to illicit eroticism. Krouse wrote, 'Not only the form and musical content are derived from the poem, but even the instrumentation itself. The nervous athleticism and complexity of the flute melodies embody Amnon’s tortured struggles with lust, while Tamar’s thinly veiled seductiveness is given a lyrical outlet through the potent vehicle of the viola. The role of the harp is significantly more complex…' "Embracing the Wind [AMR1050] was produced, recorded, and engineered by Grammy® winning producer Adam Abeshouse at The Concert Hall at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey." ~Aureole Trio Album Description



CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON THIS ALBUM

Artist: Krystin O'Mara Release date: November 25, 2013 Genre: Classical Label: Bluepoint Studios Contains: Trois Tableaux d'Andersen _______ “On her debut solo album, Obsession (Blue Point Studios Label), young classical guitarist Krystin O’Mara firmly establishes herself as “someone to watch.” Her performances of works by Regino Sainz de la Maza, Ian Krouse, Viet Cuong, Fernando Sor and Augustin Barrios Mangore are truly impressive. The highlight of the recording is O’Mara’s interpretation of Los Angeles-based composer Ian Krouse’s Trois Tableaux D’Andersen. Using a combination of classical and flamenco guitar techniques, Krouse musically brings three of Hans Christensen Andersen’s fairytales to life. Given that many characters in Andersen’s tales experience the unpleasant sides of life, his work is a fitting choice for a recording dedicated to the darker side of the guitar repertoire. Le Rossignol (The Nightingale) is full of pentatonic chords and floating scale passages that capture Andersen’s sorrowful tale of the emperor and the songbird. O’Mara delivers a sensitive and well-paced performance. In La Petite Fille aux Allumettes (The Little Match Girl), one of Andersen’s most tragic tales, one cannot help but feel sorrow at the death of the poor girl. Ian Krouse’s music imaginatively tells the story in just over four minutes. O’Mara’s performance is alluring. Les Souliers Rouge (The Red Shoes) is a grim tale about a young girl named Karen, who became so obsessed with her red shoes that when she tried and failed to remove them, she was forced to have her feet cut off. Again, O’Mara’s innate ability to bring these dramatic tales — and more importantly Krouse’s music — to life is truly impressive.” Mike Telin, CLEVELAND CLASSICAL.COM, June 7, 2014 “ – the nostalgic soundscapes of Barrios cleanse the palate in preparation for more then 20 minutes of Ian Krouse (b. 1956), who’s probably best known to CG [CLASSICAL GUITAR] readers as a long-standing collaborator with the LAGQ [Los Angles Guitar Quartet]. Drawing his inspiration from The Nightingale, The Little Match Girl and The Red Shoes, Krouse displays all his customary assurance in exploiting the guitar’s resources.” Paul Fowles CLASSICAL GUITAR, April 7, 2015
"After cleansing the palate with an uneasy yet beautiful performance of “Julia Florida” by Barrios, O’Mara concludes with the shadowy and disquieting “Trois Tableaux d’Andersen” by Ian Krouse. Her recording (the first for this work) inspired this response from Krouse himself: “I have waited twenty-five years for the Trois Tableaux d’Andersen to find such a lovely and convincing advocate! Krystin’s breath-taking command of this early, epic proto-sonata is simply awe inspiring. How appropriate that my youthful effort, composed at the age of 26, should find its ideal match in a young virtuoso of just about the same age. She makes it sound as if it were written for her.” ~Tom Poore, AMAZON REVIEW, November 28, 2013



CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON THIS ALBUM

Album: New Renaissance Artist: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Contains: Music in Four Sharps (On Dowland's 'Frog Galliard') Label: LAGQ 0135 Released: March 2015
_______
“Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, “New Renaissance” (LAGQ). More connections between Renaissance and contemporary music. In this case the LAGQ plays contemporary arrangements of “Music from the time of Cervantes” and…two contemporary works with variations on Renaissance music, Dusan Bogdanovich’s “Six Ricercars on a Theme of F. da Milano” and Ian Krouse’s “Music In Four Sharps” (On Dowland’s Frog Galliard.)” Jeff Simon, THE BUFFALO NEWS, April 5, 2015 “The rest of the music on this disc is less intriguing but scarcely uninteresting. Second longest and second only to the Cervantes in its attractiveness is Ian Krouse’s Music In Four Sharps (On Dowland’s “Frog Galliard”). Based on a popular piece by Dowland, Shakespeare’s nearly exact contemporary (1513-1616), Krouse’s work builds up to the full galliard and then marches away from it, eventually ending with wisps of sound. Its exploration of a full range of guitar effects makes it particularly interesting to hear.” INFODAD, April 9, 2015 “There is also a lengthy work by Ian Krouse based o a lute piece by Dowland, The Frog Galliard.” John Sunier, CLASSICAL CD REVIEWS, April 24, 2015 “Then, there's Music in Four Sharps (on Dowland's "Frog Galliard") by the modern composer Ian Krouse. Again, LAGQ mix new with old, while maintaining the Renaissance style. I enjoyed the Krouse piece with its enchanting, almost mystical variations.” John J. Puccio, CLASSICAL CANDOR, August 2, 2015 “The pair of new pieces by Dusan Bogdanovic and Ian Krouse each take a single Renaissance work, an unnamed theme by lutenist Francesco Canova da Milano and Dowland's Frog Galliard, respectively, as material for a new composition. Each has variation-like aspects, but is not a set of variations. Composers have done this with Renaissance music before, but an effort on this scale, tailored to specific performers and making up such a major part of the program, is something new and exciting.” James Manheim, ALL MUSIC REVIEW, March 17, 2015 “Ian Krouse, in his 14-minute “Music in Four Sharps” (on Dowland’s ‘Frog Galliard), Deconstructs Dowland’s popular work bit by bit. Beginning with the bass line passed around the quartet antiphonally, the work slowly opens up, gaining momentum, adding rhythmic activity between the bass line, accompaniment voices, and high register melodic snippets. Three-plus minutes in, we hear Dowland’s familiar running 16th note melodies Over jaunty strummed chords and later, minimalist arpeggio figures. Rasgueado chords morph into quietly brushed chords before the meditative ambiance of the opening returns and all fades to silence.” Mark Small, CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE, September 16, 2015 “The second half started with what for me was the high point of the evening, a composition by Ian Krouse after John Dowland’s (c 1600) Frog Galliard entitled Music in Four Sharps. Tennant played the original lute piece beautifully on the guitar in order to show us what was to be the subject; then the quartet played the Krouse piece which consisted of a confluence of sounds flowing together and pertaining to the Galliard, sometimes like birdsong, sometimes like Messaien and through echoed rasgueados evoking the slight melancholy of late Elizabethan music. This composition was a masterpiece, beautifully rendered. John Dowland himself would have thoroughly enjoyed it.”

~ Mike Jones, ROYAL GAZETTE, February 9, 2015
“Ian Krouse's "Music in Four Sharps" was a set of variations in search of a theme, which proved to be John Dowland's "Frog Galliard"…by nature somewhat conservative in [its] harmonic language but extremely modern in [its] rhetoric, and the subtle polytonality that arose from the intricate counterpoint wove[n] for the four players.”
~ Mark Satola, CLEVELAND.COM, March 23, 2015 “Ian Krouse had set himself the task of writing a piece based on Dowland’s Frog Galliard that never ventured out of the twelve pitches available in the key of E Major. That’s more difficult than it sounds, for most pieces that last fourteen minutes or more, as Music in Four Sharps does, depend on venturing away from the home key and finding a convincing way to return at the end. Krouse developed a clever passacaglia-like format of variations over a recurring pattern borrowed from Dowland. When that idea ran out of steam, he turned to Philip Glass-like repetition, which kept things fresh — and safely in E Major — to the end. LAGQ helped hold everyone’s attention with their rapt, concentrated playing.” ~CLEVELAND CLASSICAL.COM, March 24, 2015



CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON THIS ALBUM

Album: New Renaissance Artist: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Contains: Music in Four Sharps (On Dowland's 'Frog Galliard') Label: LAGQ 0135 Released: March 2015
_______
“Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, “New Renaissance” (LAGQ). More connections between Renaissance and contemporary music. In this case the LAGQ plays contemporary arrangements of “Music from the time of Cervantes” and…two contemporary works with variations on Renaissance music, Dusan Bogdanovich’s “Six Ricercars on a Theme of F. da Milano” and Ian Krouse’s “Music In Four Sharps” (On Dowland’s Frog Galliard.)” Jeff Simon, THE BUFFALO NEWS, April 5, 2015 “The rest of the music on this disc is less intriguing but scarcely uninteresting. Second longest and second only to the Cervantes in its attractiveness is Ian Krouse’s Music In Four Sharps (On Dowland’s “Frog Galliard”). Based on a popular piece by Dowland, Shakespeare’s nearly exact contemporary (1513-1616), Krouse’s work builds up to the full galliard and then marches away from it, eventually ending with wisps of sound. Its exploration of a full range of guitar effects makes it particularly interesting to hear.” INFODAD, April 9, 2015 “There is also a lengthy work by Ian Krouse based o a lute piece by Dowland, The Frog Galliard.” John Sunier, CLASSICAL CD REVIEWS, April 24, 2015 “Then, there's Music in Four Sharps (on Dowland's "Frog Galliard") by the modern composer Ian Krouse. Again, LAGQ mix new with old, while maintaining the Renaissance style. I enjoyed the Krouse piece with its enchanting, almost mystical variations.” John J. Puccio, CLASSICAL CANDOR, August 2, 2015 “The pair of new pieces by Dusan Bogdanovic and Ian Krouse each take a single Renaissance work, an unnamed theme by lutenist Francesco Canova da Milano and Dowland's Frog Galliard, respectively, as material for a new composition. Each has variation-like aspects, but is not a set of variations. Composers have done this with Renaissance music before, but an effort on this scale, tailored to specific performers and making up such a major part of the program, is something new and exciting.” James Manheim, ALL MUSIC REVIEW, March 17, 2015 “Ian Krouse, in his 14-minute “Music in Four Sharps” (on Dowland’s ‘Frog Galliard), Deconstructs Dowland’s popular work bit by bit. Beginning with the bass line passed around the quartet antiphonally, the work slowly opens up, gaining momentum, adding rhythmic activity between the bass line, accompaniment voices, and high register melodic snippets. Three-plus minutes in, we hear Dowland’s familiar running 16th note melodies Over jaunty strummed chords and later, minimalist arpeggio figures. Rasgueado chords morph into quietly brushed chords before the meditative ambiance of the opening returns and all fades to silence.” Mark Small, CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE, September 16, 2015 “The second half started with what for me was the high point of the evening, a composition by Ian Krouse after John Dowland’s (c 1600) Frog Galliard entitled Music in Four Sharps. Tennant played the original lute piece beautifully on the guitar in order to show us what was to be the subject; then the quartet played the Krouse piece which consisted of a confluence of sounds flowing together and pertaining to the Galliard, sometimes like birdsong, sometimes like Messaien and through echoed rasgueados evoking the slight melancholy of late Elizabethan music. This composition was a masterpiece, beautifully rendered. John Dowland himself would have thoroughly enjoyed it.”

~ Mike Jones, ROYAL GAZETTE, February 9, 2015
“Ian Krouse's "Music in Four Sharps" was a set of variations in search of a theme, which proved to be John Dowland's "Frog Galliard"…by nature somewhat conservative in [its] harmonic language but extremely modern in [its] rhetoric, and the subtle polytonality that arose from the intricate counterpoint wove[n] for the four players.”
~ Mark Satola, CLEVELAND.COM, March 23, 2015 “Ian Krouse had set himself the task of writing a piece based on Dowland’s Frog Galliard that never ventured out of the twelve pitches available in the key of E Major. That’s more difficult than it sounds, for most pieces that last fourteen minutes or more, as Music in Four Sharps does, depend on venturing away from the home key and finding a convincing way to return at the end. Krouse developed a clever passacaglia-like format of variations over a recurring pattern borrowed from Dowland. When that idea ran out of steam, he turned to Philip Glass-like repetition, which kept things fresh — and safely in E Major — to the end. LAGQ helped hold everyone’s attention with their rapt, concentrated playing.” ~CLEVELAND CLASSICAL.COM, March 24, 2015



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Artist: Krystin O'Mara Release date: November 25, 2013 Genre: Classical Label: Bluepoint Studios Contains: Trois Tableaux d'Andersen _______ “On her debut solo album, Obsession (Blue Point Studios Label), young classical guitarist Krystin O’Mara firmly establishes herself as “someone to watch.” Her performances of works by Regino Sainz de la Maza, Ian Krouse, Viet Cuong, Fernando Sor and Augustin Barrios Mangore are truly impressive. The highlight of the recording is O’Mara’s interpretation of Los Angeles-based composer Ian Krouse’s Trois Tableaux D’Andersen. Using a combination of classical and flamenco guitar techniques, Krouse musically brings three of Hans Christensen Andersen’s fairytales to life. Given that many characters in Andersen’s tales experience the unpleasant sides of life, his work is a fitting choice for a recording dedicated to the darker side of the guitar repertoire. Le Rossignol (The Nightingale) is full of pentatonic chords and floating scale passages that capture Andersen’s sorrowful tale of the emperor and the songbird. O’Mara delivers a sensitive and well-paced performance. In La Petite Fille aux Allumettes (The Little Match Girl), one of Andersen’s most tragic tales, one cannot help but feel sorrow at the death of the poor girl. Ian Krouse’s music imaginatively tells the story in just over four minutes. O’Mara’s performance is alluring. Les Souliers Rouge (The Red Shoes) is a grim tale about a young girl named Karen, who became so obsessed with her red shoes that when she tried and failed to remove them, she was forced to have her feet cut off. Again, O’Mara’s innate ability to bring these dramatic tales — and more importantly Krouse’s music — to life is truly impressive.” Mike Telin, CLEVELAND CLASSICAL.COM, June 7, 2014 “ – the nostalgic soundscapes of Barrios cleanse the palate in preparation for more then 20 minutes of Ian Krouse (b. 1956), who’s probably best known to CG [CLASSICAL GUITAR] readers as a long-standing collaborator with the LAGQ [Los Angles Guitar Quartet]. Drawing his inspiration from The Nightingale, The Little Match Girl and The Red Shoes, Krouse displays all his customary assurance in exploiting the guitar’s resources.” Paul Fowles CLASSICAL GUITAR, April 7, 2015
"After cleansing the palate with an uneasy yet beautiful performance of “Julia Florida” by Barrios, O’Mara concludes with the shadowy and disquieting “Trois Tableaux d’Andersen” by Ian Krouse. Her recording (the first for this work) inspired this response from Krouse himself: “I have waited twenty-five years for the Trois Tableaux d’Andersen to find such a lovely and convincing advocate! Krystin’s breath-taking command of this early, epic proto-sonata is simply awe inspiring. How appropriate that my youthful effort, composed at the age of 26, should find its ideal match in a young virtuoso of just about the same age. She makes it sound as if it were written for her.” ~Tom Poore, AMAZON REVIEW, November 28, 2013



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Artist: Krystin O'Mara Release date: November 25, 2013 Genre: Classical Label: Bluepoint Studios Contains: Trois Tableaux d'Andersen _______ “On her debut solo album, Obsession (Blue Point Studios Label), young classical guitarist Krystin O’Mara firmly establishes herself as “someone to watch.” Her performances of works by Regino Sainz de la Maza, Ian Krouse, Viet Cuong, Fernando Sor and Augustin Barrios Mangore are truly impressive. The highlight of the recording is O’Mara’s interpretation of Los Angeles-based composer Ian Krouse’s Trois Tableaux D’Andersen. Using a combination of classical and flamenco guitar techniques, Krouse musically brings three of Hans Christensen Andersen’s fairytales to life. Given that many characters in Andersen’s tales experience the unpleasant sides of life, his work is a fitting choice for a recording dedicated to the darker side of the guitar repertoire. Le Rossignol (The Nightingale) is full of pentatonic chords and floating scale passages that capture Andersen’s sorrowful tale of the emperor and the songbird. O’Mara delivers a sensitive and well-paced performance. In La Petite Fille aux Allumettes (The Little Match Girl), one of Andersen’s most tragic tales, one cannot help but feel sorrow at the death of the poor girl. Ian Krouse’s music imaginatively tells the story in just over four minutes. O’Mara’s performance is alluring. Les Souliers Rouge (The Red Shoes) is a grim tale about a young girl named Karen, who became so obsessed with her red shoes that when she tried and failed to remove them, she was forced to have her feet cut off. Again, O’Mara’s innate ability to bring these dramatic tales — and more importantly Krouse’s music — to life is truly impressive.” Mike Telin, CLEVELAND CLASSICAL.COM, June 7, 2014 “ – the nostalgic soundscapes of Barrios cleanse the palate in preparation for more then 20 minutes of Ian Krouse (b. 1956), who’s probably best known to CG [CLASSICAL GUITAR] readers as a long-standing collaborator with the LAGQ [Los Angles Guitar Quartet]. Drawing his inspiration from The Nightingale, The Little Match Girl and The Red Shoes, Krouse displays all his customary assurance in exploiting the guitar’s resources.” Paul Fowles CLASSICAL GUITAR, April 7, 2015
"After cleansing the palate with an uneasy yet beautiful performance of “Julia Florida” by Barrios, O’Mara concludes with the shadowy and disquieting “Trois Tableaux d’Andersen” by Ian Krouse. Her recording (the first for this work) inspired this response from Krouse himself: “I have waited twenty-five years for the Trois Tableaux d’Andersen to find such a lovely and convincing advocate! Krystin’s breath-taking command of this early, epic proto-sonata is simply awe inspiring. How appropriate that my youthful effort, composed at the age of 26, should find its ideal match in a young virtuoso of just about the same age. She makes it sound as if it were written for her.” ~Tom Poore, AMAZON REVIEW, November 28, 2013



CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON THIS ALBUM

Artist: Krystin O'Mara Release date: November 25, 2013 Genre: Classical Label: Bluepoint Studios Contains: Trois Tableaux d'Andersen _______ “On her debut solo album, Obsession (Blue Point Studios Label), young classical guitarist Krystin O’Mara firmly establishes herself as “someone to watch.” Her performances of works by Regino Sainz de la Maza, Ian Krouse, Viet Cuong, Fernando Sor and Augustin Barrios Mangore are truly impressive. The highlight of the recording is O’Mara’s interpretation of Los Angeles-based composer Ian Krouse’s Trois Tableaux D’Andersen. Using a combination of classical and flamenco guitar techniques, Krouse musically brings three of Hans Christensen Andersen’s fairytales to life. Given that many characters in Andersen’s tales experience the unpleasant sides of life, his work is a fitting choice for a recording dedicated to the darker side of the guitar repertoire. Le Rossignol (The Nightingale) is full of pentatonic chords and floating scale passages that capture Andersen’s sorrowful tale of the emperor and the songbird. O’Mara delivers a sensitive and well-paced performance. In La Petite Fille aux Allumettes (The Little Match Girl), one of Andersen’s most tragic tales, one cannot help but feel sorrow at the death of the poor girl. Ian Krouse’s music imaginatively tells the story in just over four minutes. O’Mara’s performance is alluring. Les Souliers Rouge (The Red Shoes) is a grim tale about a young girl named Karen, who became so obsessed with her red shoes that when she tried and failed to remove them, she was forced to have her feet cut off. Again, O’Mara’s innate ability to bring these dramatic tales — and more importantly Krouse’s music — to life is truly impressive.” Mike Telin, CLEVELAND CLASSICAL.COM, June 7, 2014 “ – the nostalgic soundscapes of Barrios cleanse the palate in preparation for more then 20 minutes of Ian Krouse (b. 1956), who’s probably best known to CG [CLASSICAL GUITAR] readers as a long-standing collaborator with the LAGQ [Los Angles Guitar Quartet]. Drawing his inspiration from The Nightingale, The Little Match Girl and The Red Shoes, Krouse displays all his customary assurance in exploiting the guitar’s resources.” Paul Fowles CLASSICAL GUITAR, April 7, 2015
"After cleansing the palate with an uneasy yet beautiful performance of “Julia Florida” by Barrios, O’Mara concludes with the shadowy and disquieting “Trois Tableaux d’Andersen” by Ian Krouse. Her recording (the first for this work) inspired this response from Krouse himself: “I have waited twenty-five years for the Trois Tableaux d’Andersen to find such a lovely and convincing advocate! Krystin’s breath-taking command of this early, epic proto-sonata is simply awe inspiring. How appropriate that my youthful effort, composed at the age of 26, should find its ideal match in a young virtuoso of just about the same age. She makes it sound as if it were written for her.” ~Tom Poore, AMAZON REVIEW, November 28, 2013



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