MP3 Robert Cox Passow - Sun Through The Clouds

New Age, Ambient and pop instrumentals take you on musical road trip: Butterflies, Bears, Sunrises, Cloud Pictures and Starscapes.
If you like Mannheim Steamroller, David Arkenstone or Andreas Vollenweider, you will enjoy this CD.

11 MP3 Songs
NEW AGE: New Age, CLASSICAL: New Age



Details:
Robert Cox Passow is a composer, organist, pianist, conductor, and vocalist, though there are no vocals on this album. If you enjoy the music of Paul Winter, David Arkenstone, Mannheim Steamroller, Andreas Vollenweider and other instrumental artists, please read on and listen to a few samples.


Rob currently works as a church organist and choir director, and many of his compositions are for church performance. This sensibility informs many of the tracks on this CD. However, the listener is encouraged to freely interpret these songs in any spiritual or non-spiritual way.

The first seeds of Sun Through the Clouds were sewn when Robert Cox Passow got stuck while writing a choral piece and started dabbling with percussion notation. Rob's formal training is in classical music; he holds a Bachelor of Music in composition and a Master of Music in church music, but his love of pop music, musical theatre and dance music flavor these compositions. Though pop in nature, most of Rob's songs are based on classical forms and compositional techniques - the title track is in modified sonata form; "Smoke and Mirrors" and "Do Bears..." are both rondos.

But don't listen for form and technique; Listen instead for colors and moods; for feelings and emotions. Some of the tunes have a dual meaning; "Sun through the clouds" can be a literal view, or could represent an awakening. It could also refer to a spiritual, emotional or intellectual enlightenment. "Morning Glory" could depict a sunrise, a vine, or it could refer to resurrection.

"Sun Through the Clouds" was the first song written for this CD. It started out as an experiment with midi sounds: flutes and strings primarily, with a bit of percussion. "Morning Glory" is a 'sequencer' song - perhaps a subtle tribute to producer and composer Giorgio Moroder?- "Butterfly Garden" is a gentle dance. "Road Trip" was inspired by a real road trip across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and started with the vibe, harp, piano groove. I had so much fun with this song that it needed to be remixed at least twice. "Gymnopedie No. 4" is a tribute not only to the eccentric French composer, Erik Satie, but also was a gift of calm to colleagues at an online composers forum. The roots of "Sunday Afternoon" lie in Bach and the Modern Jazz Quartet. It is a strict canon (round). "Do Bears Dance in the Woods?" is an imaginary Renaissance Faire inhabited by enthusiastic but slightly clumsy bears. They dance, but they stumble a bit (note the occasional extra beat here and there). "Road Trip Memories" is a bit of a transition to harder sound of "Smoke and Mirrors", which is simultaneously evocative of arena rock and perhaps a big Las Vegas magic show. "Road Trip Redux" carries the remix idea further and adds a bit of hip-hop smoke and mirrors. "StarGazing" brings us full circle with an ambient remix of the opening track.


Rob's classical compositions have been performed in the Washington, DC, Chicago, Central Pennsylvania and in Prague, Budapest and Vienna. Recent works performed include: Soundscape on Divinum Mysterium for organ; Videamus, and La Corona, both for a cappella chorus; and The Other Wise Man, a church opera. Currently Rob can be heard every Sunday morning at Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, DC, (www.churchofthepilgrims.org) playing the organ, singing and directing the choir, as well as in periodic choral perforances in the DC area.