Jeffrey Mumford: The Focus of Blue Light
Liner Notes   Cat. No. NWCR650     Release Date: 2007-01-01

Aspen Wind Quintet: Bärli Nugent, flute; Robert Ingliss, oboe; Todd Levy, clarinet; Susan Heineman, bassoon; Chris Komer, horn; Kurt Nikkanen, violin; Bruce Anderson, piano; Joshua Gordon, cello

Da Capo Chamber Players: (Patricia Spencer, alto flute; Laura Flax, clarinet; Eric Wyrick, violin; André Emelianoff, cello; Sarah Rothenberg, piano; Peter Brown, flute; Karen Johnson, flute

“My work is inspired by cloud imagery,” Jeffrey Mumford has written. “I see the mage of clouds as suspended structures that continually split off and recombine as analogous to the formation of layers of simultaneous musical development. This idea also translates itself into behavioral characteristics which are assigned to specific instruments. As in life, that instrumental voices are constantly vying for prominence, setting up varying kinds of oppositional relationships in much the same way people often do.”

Vivid imagery runs not only through Mumford’s music but also through the names he gives his compositions as well. Consider some of the words he uses in the six titles on the disc—“light,” “dusk,” “focus,” “billowing,” “radiance,” “diffuse,” “filaments.” And yet those who are expecting the sort of wafting, pretty-pretty “space” music that is often associated with such descriptive language will be in for a surprise. For Mumford is a rigorous and painstaking composer: his “clouds” and musical “relationships” do not simply happen—he creates them, controls them, with assurance and exactitude.


This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.

Various Artists

Jeffrey Mumford: The Focus of Blue Light

MP3/320 $16.00
FLAC $16.00
WAV $16.00
CD-R $16.00
CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print material or jewel case included.
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
   Liner Notes



Track Listing

her eastern light amid a cavernous dusk
Jeffrey Mumford
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focus of blue light
Jeffrey Mumford
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amid fleeting pockets of billowing radiance
Jeffrey Mumford
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diffuse light that knows no particular hour
Jeffrey Mumford
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linear cycles VII (cambiamenti II)
Jeffrey Mumford
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filaments
Jeffrey Mumford
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