The Strad: Violinist Rachel Lee Priday Performs Paul Wiancko's 'Waterworks'

Violinist Rachel Lee Priday performs Paul Wiancko’s ‘Waterworks’

9 AUGUST 2024

The new work will feature on Priday’s upcoming album, Fluid Dynamics, inspired by oceanography

Violinist Rachel Lee Priday performs Waterworks by cellist and composer Paul Wiancko.

The work will feature on Priday’s upcoming album with pianist David Kaplan Fluid Dynamics, out on Orchid Classics on 23 August. The album is inspired by oceanographer Georgy Manucharyan’s study of fluid dynamics and ocean currents, and combines music with stunning visuals.

Waterworks draws inspiration from the violence and energy of a whirling red vortex, it spins along in a ’joyfully mechanical’ circling figuration, often in double stops, sometimes in sudden and unexpected new directions.

Wiancko composed his piece as a freestanding entity, and the video was then cut to fit. ’Something about the rapid changes/alterations/additions to the constant energy of the vortex speaks to my music well,’ he observes. ’And the red dye brings in some interesting notes of drama/science/violence.’

The album features world-premiere recordings by Gabriella Smith, Cristina Spinei, Timo Andres, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Christopher Cerrone and Wiancko.