Music of Ursula Mamlok, Vol. 5

This fifth CD of compositions by Ursula Mamlok contains works dating from the end of her early studies in New York through to very recent times, with the focus being on music from the beginning and end of that seven-decade span. The composer has always maintained that she found her style and her form of expression in the early 1960s, particularly through her study with Ralph Shapey, and that she viewed everything prior to that as a long, inexorable search on the path that led her there. On the other hand, she recently mentioned the name of Johannes Brahms in response to the question of who represents her aesthetic role model. The compilation of works on this CD suggests how these contrasting, seemingly incompatible statements complement one another and how the tension between them serves as a creative spark.