Northern Sirens
Released: May 1998
Label: York Fine Arts
Order No: YFA 00999

Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano

Eleven short piano pieces written by Canadian female composers, including Alexina Louie, Diana McIntosh, Larysa Kuzmenko, Heather Schmidt and Ann Southam.

Titles

Ann Southam: Glass Houses (1981)
Alexina Louie: Music for Piano (1993)
Larysa Kuzmenko: Diabolic Dance (1997)
Ann Southam: Rivers (1981)
Larysa Kuzmenko: In Memoriam (1997)
Heather Schmidt: Solus (1996)
Diana McIntosh: Worlds Apart (1988)

Reviews for Northern Sirens

"Canadian pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico plays the music of her countrywomen with style, express, and understanding. She has a remarkably luminous tone that draws the listener to the music in a way that not many pianists can manage." - American Record Guide 2000

"La pianiste nage la-dedans avec un aisance supreme, en fait, est terriblement ardu a reussir. La qualite d'inspiration de la compostrice insuffle une precision et un amour a l' interprete que la prise de son rend tres bien … insistez pour vous le procurer." - Francois Tousignant,
Le Devoir

"… the music on this disc is both poetic and intriguing, and in the hands of such a lucid and sympathetic exponent as Christiana Petrowska (her performances are models of clarity), these scores become quite accessible." - Richard Perry, The Ottawa Citizen

"New Canadian music - with some bite to it! Like Sundogs, this recording features a variety of composers and styles. The unifying element here is that they are all short piano pieces written by Canadian women composers and all played with easy expertise by Christina Petrowska. There are two pieces by Ann Southam, "Glass Houses" and "Rivers", written in a hypnotic minimalist vein. Larysa Kuzmenko's pieces, "Diabolic Dance" and "In Memoriam", are full of ten-sion and virtuosity, dark and biting in overall tone. Also included are Diana Mcintosh's spacious "Worlds Apart" and Heather Schmidt's "Solus", which ranges from introspective to burst-ing with percussive immediacy - then trails away again to querying, coruscating upper notes. Alexina Louie's "Music for Piano", a five-piece suite, strikes a wonderful balance between an impressionistic, romantic quality and a muscular insistence in the melodies that does credit to Petrowska's command of touch. These are all pieces written by and for top-notch pianists, and take full advantage of the vast range of possibilities offered by the instrument."
- Naomi Lester, Monday Magazine

Northern Sirens is available through the Canadian Music Centre CD Boutique at www.musiccentre.ca. If you enjoyed Northern Sirens, you may enjoy Mystic Streams. Free classical music. Download an MP3 file from one of Christine Petrowska Quilico's CDs.