Orchestra Next & Brian McWhorter - Kenji Bunch: The Snow Queen (2017)

Tracklist
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CD1
01. The Snow Queen, Act I: Prologue - Orchestra Next
02. The Snow Queen, Act I: The Snow Queen's Palace - Orchestra Next
03. The Snow Queen, Act I: The Snow Queen's Dance - Orchestra Next
04. The Snow Queen, Act I: The Mirror - Orchestra Next
05. The Snow Queen, Act I: Kay & Gerda - Orchestra Next
06. The Snow Queen, Act I: Arrival of the Snow Queen - Orchestra Next
07. The Snow Queen, Act I: Kay's Heart Turns to Ice - Orchestra Next
08. The Snow Queen, Act I: Gerda Mourns - Orchestra Next
09. The Snow Queen, Act I: The Conjure Woman - Orchestra Next
10. The Snow Queen, Act I: Dance of the Flowers - Orchestra Next
11. The Snow Queen, Act I: The Rose Briar Returns to Life - Orchestra Next

CD2
01. The Snow Queen, Act II: The Fields - Orchestra Next
02. The Snow Queen, Act II: Arrival of the Crows - Orchestra Next
03. The Snow Queen, Act II: Gerda Awakes - Orchestra Next
04. The Snow Queen, Act II: The Prince's Palace - Orchestra Next
05. The Snow Queen, Act II: The Palace Bedroom - Orchestra Next
06. The Snow Queen, Act II: Gerda Flies with the Crows - Orchestra Next
07. The Snow Queen, Act II: Gypsy Camp - Orchestra Next
08. The Snow Queen, Act II: The Robber Girl - Orchestra Next
09. The Snow Queen, Act II: Return to the Snow Queen's Palace - Orchestra Next
10. The Snow Queen, Act II: Song of the Ice Captives - Orchestra Next
11. The Snow Queen, Act II: Gerda Finds Kay - Orchestra Next
12. The Snow Queen, Act II: Gerda Thaws Kay's Heart - Orchestra Next


Oregon's Orchestra Next, in collaboration with the Eugene Ballet Company, has released its debut album featuring the world-premiere recording of Kenji Bunch's ''The Snow Queen''. This ballet score is a substantial addition to the repertoire. Unlike Disney's movie ''Frozen'', this retelling follows the Hans Christian Anderson tale somewhat closely. At its heart, ''The Snow Queen'' is the classic tale of a hero's quest. In this particular version, though, the hero is actually a heroine and she goes off on adventures to rescue a boy from the forces of evil. In the story, childhood friends Gerda, a girl, and Kay, a boy, are separated when Kay is blinded to the good of the world by shards of a frozen mirror made by Satan. Kay ends up being taken to the Ice Palace of teh Snow Queen; with help from various other characters, Gerda rescues him there. In was this reversal of the classic gender roles that drew Eugene choreographer Toni Pimble to the story. ''It's the heroine who saves the hero in this stoyr,'' she says. ''And, the two main characters are women. That's very different.'' The story works equally for children and adult audiences alike. As composer Kenji Bunch writes, ''Helping to tell this hauntingly beautiful but entirely wordless story for close to two hours was, simply put, the largest undertaking of my career to date, by a longshot.''

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