St. Olaf Band and Timothy Mahr - Blue Beyond the Glass (2024) [Hi-Res]

Blue Beyond the Glass presents three bold composers writing for a world-class concert band and demonstrates the dynamism of the St. Olaf Band under the direction of longtime conductor Timothy Mahr, who retired in 2023. The album opens with Jodie Blackshaw’s Symphony No. 1 (“Leunig’s Prayer Book”), inspired by four prayers from Australian poet Michael Leunig; movement titles are derived from each prayer, celebrating the arrival of a new season. The album continues with To Gold in Broadest Blue, by St. Olaf alumna Jocelyn Hagen ’03, a dazzling tour de force inspired by the composer’s home state of North Dakota; Hagen’s music is grounded in possibility, tranquility, and peace. The album closes with the 2021 world premiere performance of Leanna Primiani’s Glass Ceiling, a captivating work that portrays a day in the life of the working woman and the continued fight for gender equality in the workplace.