David Leisner - Dedications (2026)

Tracklist

01. Going Home
02. Two Sides: I. Free, Lyrical
03. Two Sides: II. Propulsive, Driving
04. Facts of Life: III. Farewell, R.W.
05. Five Contemplations: I. Search Search
06. Five Contemplations: II. Seek Seek
07. Five Contemplations: III. Ennui
08. Five Contemplations: IV. Wutang in Light Rain
09. Five Contemplations: V. Let Go
10. MadrigAfro II: I. Curandeiro
11. MadrigAfro II: II. Movido, tempo de afoxe
12. Ruminations
13. Mariluna: I. Reflejo de la luna sobre la superficie de el agua
14. Mariluna: II. Y la mar se refleja en la luna
15. Rhapsody
16. Finding Beauty in Small Places
17. Oh, T.I.!: I. Island Song
18. Oh, T.I.!: II. Night Song
Guitarist, composer, and prolific recording artist David Leisner will release Dedications on Azica Records (Digital Only) - a collection centered almost entirely on works he has commissioned, celebrating the composers who have shaped his artistic life. Conceived in the quiet of the pandemic and expanded to honor decades of collaboration, the album brings together ten composers in a rich set of world premiere recordings. Dedications is a portrait of community, creativity, and long artistic friendships.

American Record Guide praises Leisner as among the finest guitarists currently performing and, given that the level of playing has never been higher, that means among the finest of all time. He has a probing intellect, finding insights in music that most others miss, and delivering them with a virtuoso technique. He is a musician first, a guitarist second, and that is a rare quality.

Dedications opens with Randall Woolf's going home (1997), a blues-inflected homage to the composer's Detroit childhood boogie-woogie roots. It is a musical homecoming, filtered through its blend of improvisational spontaneity and classical clarity.

Pierre Jalbert's Two Sides (2023) unfolds in sharply contrasting movements - one long-lined and introspective, the other taut and propulsive - revealing how shared musical DNA can express itself in entirely different emotional worlds.

David Del Tredici's Farewell, R.W. (2010), in Leisner's second recording of the work, is the slow movement and emotional center of the composer's four-movement symphony for solo guitar, Facts of Life, another commission by Leisner. Its tender, searching melody opens into a quiet, luminous intensity.

During the pandemic, Leisner encouraged composer Bun-Ching Lam to return to writing for guitar; the result is Five Contemplations (2022), a set of miniatures inspired by Lam's earlier setting of poems by Song Dynasty poet Li Chin-Zhao, Autumn Sound. The work is a meditation on color and stillness.

João Luiz's MadrigAfro II (2023) bridges 16th-century vocal polyphony and Afro-Brazilian rhythmic traditions. Part I. Curandeiro evokes the trance-like energy of Candomblé ceremonies, while Part II. Movido, tempo de Afoxé dances forward on the buoyant Ijexá rhythm.

Laura Kaminsky's Ruminations (2022) explores both calm introspection and restless mental motion. Leisner's performance traces the work's psychological journey - from searching meditation to fervent bursts of energy - bringing clarity to its inner conversations.

Carlo Carillo's Mariluna (2012), from his The Book of Lullabies, evokes two images: moonlight reflected on water and the moon's Sea of Tranquility. The work's gentle radiance hovers between dream and memory.

Marilyn Ziffrin's Rhapsody (1958) - the only work on the album not commissioned by Leisner - was originally written for Andrés Segovia but left unperformed until Leisner premiered it in 1979. Its lyrical, freely tonal writing unfolds with expressive breadth, revealing the guitar's full palette.

Chester Biscardi's Finding Beauty in Small Places (2021) follows the natural rhythm of breath, expanding and contracting in waves. Its title (inspired by a close friend of the composer) frames the piece's inward-looking charms, with its intimate warmth and spacious phrasing.

The album closes with Peter Sculthorpe's Oh, T.I.! for piano and guitar (2012), featuring pianist Alan Moverman. The first movement, Island Song, celebrates Thursday Island's cherished anthem T.I.!., while Night Song incorporates the Aboriginal chant Djilile (whistling-duck on a billabong). Leisner's opening solo radiates quiet resolve, reflecting the islander's desire to protect their beautiful home.

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