Inspirations is a labour of love conceived in 2019 and completed toward the end of the pandemic in late 2021. All of these solo guitar compositions were composed by living humans in Canada who are dear to my heart, and many of them wrote the pieces here specifically for this album.
Named after John Gordon Armstrong's title track, Inspirations, this project consists of substantial contributions to the solo guitar repertoire, and deals broadly with themes related to mental health, spirituality, transcendence, resilience, and our symbiotic relationship with technology.
Each one of these compositions was composed relatively recently. Valse Vertigo, written in 1994, was written by Patrick Roux, a dear mentor of mine who I studied with at the University of Ottawa during my Master's Degree. Every other composition was written between 2012 and 2020.
There are three new commissions that will have their official premiere recordings on this album:
John Gordon Armstrong's Five Inspirations was written for me in 2018.
Stephanie Orlando's Soon, written in 2020
Luis Ramirez's Singularity, written for me in 2019.
This project was created out of love and respect for these incredible composers, and all of them have the potential to become standard guitar repertoire in the future!
Special thanks go out to everyone who takes the time to contribute to this project, to the Ontario Arts Council for funding this massive endeavour, to Drew Henderson for your peerless production skill, and to Naoko Tsujita, my wife, partner, and collaborator, who I never could have done this without!
credits
released December 3, 2021
All works performed by Daniel Ramjattan, 7-string guitar.
Composers:
Five Inspirations composed by John Gordon Armstrong, 2018
Gamelan Suite composed by Naoko Tsujita, 2019
Valse Vertigo composed by Patrick Roux, 1994
Soon composed by Stephanie Orlando, 2020
Singularity composed by Luis Ramirez, 2019
Catharsis composed by Raphael Weinroth-Browne, 2012
Guitar made by: Kolya Panhuyzen
Production, mixing, and mastering by: Drew Henderson
Recorded in: The Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Original album artwork by Svetlana Papouchina.
Special thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for the generous recording grant which helped fund this massive project.
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