Acis Productions

Quicksilver Review, Fanfare Magazine

admin — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 03:25:06 +0000

REVIEW, FANFARE MAGAZINE:“Modern Style” here of course refers to the relatively short, multimovement pieces developed in the early 17th century at the sumptuous courts and chapels of the northern Italian States. These great musicians were sought by rulers with an alacrity that the powerful of a later time put into acquiring artworks, or the saxophones of great jazz artists who died in poverty. Their sonatas—the term at that point having acquired none of the formal constraints it did later—were virtuosic display works framing great emotional contrasts. They aimed to please by both charming and surprising their noble audiences, with successive movements that featured fireworks, popular-inspired dance, dramatic recitative, and cantilena . Especially since the 1990s there’s been an escalation in interest among violinists specializing in early music, which is not surprising. Virtuosic performers enjoy strutting their stuff, and that’s true whether you’re a 450-year-old Venetian or a relatively young American.

Quicksilver is an ensemble made up of some of the best-known musicians traveling the early-music circuit, teaching, performing, and recording. All of them are members of numerous other groups, often emphasizing different instrumentation and works from the broad geographical and temporal span of early music. Featured here are violinists Robert Mealy (of Tragicomedia, the Boston Camerata, Sequentia, etc.) and Julie Andrijeski (of The King’s Noyse, Les Délices, Apollo’s Fire, etc.). Both are excellent performers, technically expert, flexible in phrasing, and stylish in ornamentation, fully aware of this music’s rich sense of theater. They have none of the stodginess and determination I’ve noted in a few other recordings, none of the need to treat the extrovert genius of these works as though it were cautious and bar-bound. The addition of the occasional other soloist (such as Dominic Teresi on dulcian in Castello’s Sonata Undecima, trombonist Greg Ingles in Bertali’s Sonata No. 3) and varied continuo keeps things aurally interesting.

Spacious sound, close, with good definition. So what are you waiting for? Buy this. Barry Brenesal, FANFARE

New Demers CD of Laurin

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:51:01 +0000

A native of Quebec province, Rachel Laurin is an organist, composer and pedagogue. She was principal organist at Ottawa’s Notre-Dame Cathedral and has made 11 recordings. She has composed more than 60 works for instruments, choirs and ensembles that have been performed and recorded in America, Europe, Asia and South Africa.

On this new CD [DDD 75:55], internationally acclaimed organist Isabelle Demers performs Laurin’s Introduction et Passacaille sur un Thème de Raymond Daveluy, Op. 44; Douze Courtes Pièces, Op. 43; Symphonie No. 1, Op. 36; Étude Héroïque, Op. 38 on Casavant Opus 869 (1921); Renovation 2001-6 at St. Anges de Lachine Church, Montreal

The CD is available through our distributors, Albany, and on-line through Amazon, iTunes and CDBaby.

Sites & Photography

admin — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:39:11 +0000

In addition to being a recording company, Acis provides marketing and design services to musicians. Our services include consultation, photography, video, print and internet work. Get in touch for a quote.

YouTube Postings

admin — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 13:59:53 +0000

Melissa Attebury

admin — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 13:30:14 +0000

Promotional video project for Melissa Attebury, mezzo-soprano.

Isabelle Demers and Aeolian-Skinner, Opus 1024

admin — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:26:39 +0000

Click on the play button below for three “live” excerpts from this week’s sessions in Amarillo, Texas.

For more about St. Andrew’s and its fabulous organ click here.

For news about Isabelle’s visit to Amarillo, click here.

Isabelle Demers’ website.

C&O 4 Stars

admin — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:06:37 +0000

Choir & Organ awards 4 stars
This CD’s title ‘The Old and the New’ reflects Isabelle Demers’s intention of making full use of the colouristic possibilities of modern organs such as the 1995 IV/67 Marcussen at Tonbridge School. In Bach’s D Major Prelude & Fugue BWV 532 there are enough stop changes to upset the purists, but Demers’s supreme musicianship makes her performance thoroughly convincing. She’s equally accomplished in her stunning arrangement of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and her virtuosic account of Reger’s op. 73 variations. Her imaginative and colourful use of the organ is well captured by the recording engineers.
Christopher Nickol

New artist website

admin — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 13:35:07 +0000

Organist Isabelle Demers has recently completed her second recording session with Acis, of works by Canadian composer Rachel Laurin. Release date: Spring 2011.

Acis is developing a new website for Isabelle Demers, “Isabelle Demers dot Organ” at www.isabelledemers.org

Facebook users can visit her fanpage here.

Pipedreams

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:01:37 +0000

Michael Barone, presenter of Pipedreams for American Public Media featured the Fugue from Reger’s Op. 73 (CD: the new and the old) on his September 6, 2010 program.

Barone identified organist Isabelle Demers as, “definitely a talent to watch, to hear…”

“a masterful score, here masterfully played…”

CMQ Recommends…

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 19:50:15 +0000

CMQ, the quarterly publication by the Royal School of Church Music, awards the new and the old its highest *** rating, and recommends it as CD of the month:

THE NEW AND THE OLD
Isabelle Demers plays the 1995 Marcussen organ of Tonbridge School · Acis (for availability see www.acisproductions.com)

‘Isabelle Demers at the organ is a force of nature – a diminutive dynamo . . .’ So proclaim the sleeve notes of this highly engaging disc. Recorded on the wonderfully clear-sounding Marcussen organ of Tonbridge School, the programme springs into action with an energetic – but not rushed – performance of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in D BWV 532. The articulation is smart and there are some cheeky changes of manual in the fugue that bring out the humour of this virtuosic piece. Isabelle Demer’s own arrangement of movements from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet are exciting, expressive and successful, exploiting the range of colours offered by the Tonbridge organ. Does the artist see something of herself in The Young Juliet with its contrasting impetuous and pensive moods? Reger’s Introduction, Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme Op. 73 are profound and searching, and demonstrate the depth and breadth of Isabelle Demers’ musicianship. I should like to hear more of her playing.
Christopher Maxim