Butterflies Remember a Mountain by Dr Arlene Sierra

Butterflies Remember a Mountain – Arlene Sierra, Vol. 3 has been released internationally.

The disc, released by Bridge Records, is the third in a series of portrait recordings focused on music by Dr Arlene Sierra. It presents chamber music composed over a sixteen-year period for ensembles including piano trio, and duos for two pianos, cello and piano, and violin and cello.

Recent reviews have celebrated the release, with Classical Ear describing it as ‘a disc that merits and rewards repeated listening,’ and Records International declaring it ‘a thrilling display of alacrity and acrobatics’. A review by American Record Guide describes it as ‘especially colourful and evocative,’ and Gramophone declares the disc ‘a wonderful chamber music issue that enthrals from first bar to last.’

The title composition was commissioned in 2013 by the Bremen Philharmonic Society for the trio of violinist Nicola Benedetti, pianist Alexei Grynyuk, and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich. In addition to recording the work for the new disc, they have performed it extensively on tour, in venues including Frankfurt Alte Oper, Cheltenham Town Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall, London.

Alongside her roles as Deputy Head of the School of Music and Reader in Music Composition, Dr Sierra is an internationally-recognised composer whose music is performed by major ensembles and orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, and Tokyo Philharmonic. Declared “a name to watch” by BBC Music Magazine, she is currently working on a series of new scores to silent films by Maya Deren for a planned DVD release in 2021.