updated- 12/10/19

Recordings:



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Folk People



Folk People is a cycle of songs for tenor and just intonation resonator guitar.
The PR says this:

-Taking the conventions of courtship songs, prisoner laments, lullabies, and
-adventures-at-sea to a new level, the set closes with an extraordinary ballad taken
-from the autobiography of the Irish immigrant who became The Most Dangerous Woman in
-America, labor leader Mother Jones. Eister accompanies himself on a most unusual
-instrument, too, a metal resonator guitar refretted to pure intervals of Just
-Intonation that produces melodies & harmonies not possible on the standard version.
-Futuristic folk music? Only time will

Folk People is available for purchase as a digital download at Microfest Records.


Stuck In Your Head



Stuck in Your Head, the new album by ensembleFRET,
includes the premiere recording of GE's "Sleep Another Night." Buy it at CDBaby.com.





Glassified



Glassified, the new CD by Anna and Arek Szafraniec, THE GLASS DUO,
includes the premier recording of GE's "Dance for Anna and Arek."
to order THE GLASS DUO's Glassified
click here
release date- March 2015





choPINcode





choPINcode by Anna and Arek Szafraniec, THE GLASS DUO,
includes the premier recording of GE's "Fantasia on a Song by Chopin: Sorrow."
to order THE GLASS DUO's choPINcode
click here






Chasing Light

The new CD by the San Francisco Guitar Quartet includes GE's guitar quartet- "Chasing Light."

to order THE SAN FRANCISCO GUITAR QUARTET's CHASING LIGHT
click here








Traveling in Rain




Here's the press release:

TRAVELING IN RAIN incorporates a variety of guitars played with other instruments including violin, steel drum, accordion, percussion and the verrophone, Sascha Reckert's modern version of the glass armonica. Eister is joined on this album by violinist Brynn Albanese, steel drummer Patty Dee, and verrophonist Philipp-Alexander Marguerre. Eister's guitars on this album include standard classical guitar, requinto, terserola, electric guitar, electric bass, baroque guitar, resonator guitar in just intonation, lap steel guitar and standard acoustic guitar. The album includes the guitar ensemble music from Eister's music theater piece, SLEEP. While the ensemble is made of instruments more often found in popular music ensembles, Eister's compositional method is thoroughly classical, using percussion decoratively and having the pitched instruments carry the rhythms of the music. Eister's melodic and harmonic world is a blend of both classical and world music traditions.

Listen to the title track at MySpace

release date: March 25th,'09
on the eister music label

available as a digital download from www.cdbaby.com and iTunes



Galloping from Versailles

Here's the press release:

Galloping from Versailles is composer/guitarist Garry Eister's first album of solo guitar music. Eister's music is accessible, modern classical music, strongly influenced by world music traditions. The album incorporates a variety of guitars including a standard classical guitar, a Baroque guitar, a requinto, a mariachi-style vihuela, an electric guitar and two resonator guitars, one in just intonation.



  • Listen to some sound samples from the album:

     Morning Music for requinto (excerpt)

    Toccata for electric guitar (excerpt)

    Arirang and Refrain for resonator guitar in just intonation (excerpt)

    Galloping from Versailles for Baroque guitar (complete)

    From a Small Room in Fading Sunlight for requinto (excerpt)



    available as a digital download from www.cdbaby.com and iTunes


    Lily Afshar's new CD, HEMISPHERES, includes GE's "Fantasia on a Persian Song"

    Here's the press release:

    Internationally renowned classical guitarist, Lily Afshar is set to release Hemispheres, her fourth and most ambitious recording to date. In her search for new music, Afshar discovered a wonderful array of composers, some of whom have written compositions especially for her. The result is Hemispheres, an intriguing collection of pieces performed by Afshar and written or arranged by international composers including Reza Vali, Ricardo Moyano, Gerard Drozd, Carlo Domeniconi, John Schneider, Leo Brouwer, Garry Eister and Morteza Neydawood. Lily Afshar's Hemispheres presents a truly original sound (including the incorporation of quarter tones) that promises to be an important addition to the contemporary classical guitar repertory.

    Visit HEMISPHERES at Amazon.com
    to listen to sound files or to purchase CD


    -or-

    Click here to visit Lily Afshar's website.

    GE's "Fantasia on a Traditional Persian Song" can also be purchased individually on iTunes.
    Go the iTunes store and put Lily's last name "Afshar" into the search engine there.

    Here are some reviews:

  • "For his guitar Fantasia, Eister not only listened to many recordings of the song Morgh-eh-Sahar (Bird of Dawn) and the extraordinary improvisiations of setar master Hossein Alizadeh, but also met with a local performer. The resulting piece beautifully captures the spirit of the Persian setar, the drones, ornaments and even the characteristic korons that Eister achieves by retuning several strings in two sections to accomodate the tune in its original Persian mode. He has created not only a fine new work of world music for guitar, which joins his recent tribute to Korea, Arirang and Sanjo for National Steel Guitar, and Iraq, I'll never Play like Munir Bashir, a monody for mariachi-style vihuela, but also has given another option to those guitarists that already play Koyunbaba."

    John Schneider in CLASSICAL GUITAR magazine, March 2005

  • "The distinctive tones of the seh-tar (a native Persian instrument) ring in a world of bardic minstrelsy, deep and powerful in feeling, redolent of the epic history of an old civilization. Other pieces, Gozaar and Fantasia on a Traditional Persian Song, albeit recently composed, transmit the essence of a music refined over the centuries. Two technical innovations, the use of fretlets (small frets) and new techniques of retuning in the midst of a composition, facilitate the use of quarter tones, which enable the guitar to speak with an expressive voice outside the familiar."

    Robert Schulslaper in FANFARE magazine, Nov.-Dec., 2006

  • "Nothing prepared me, however, for the fantastic Fantasia on a Traditional Persian Song. Composed by Garry Eister, it is, in his words, a Westerner's travel tale of an enriching and exciting first visit to a new musical culture. Yes, he too wrote it for Afshar, and she does wonders with all the subtleties of his music- the sudden stops, the whispers, the joy of soaring to the light."

    Albert Simon in UHF MAGAZINE, September, 2006

  • "The heart of the record is the double serving of Fantasia on a Traditional Persian Song, written by Garry Eister for Afshar, followed by the song it was based on, Morg-eh-Sahar (Bird of Dawn) which she strums convincingly on the traditional Persian setar, a breath of fresh folk-like air that joyfully breaks the contemporary spell for a few minutes yet lends itself wonderfully to the rest of the program's exotic flavor."

    Ellis in AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, September/October 2007


    release date: July 25, '06
    on ARCHER RECORDS

    CRISTAL: Glass Music Through the Ages

    includes GE's "Quintet for Glass and Strings"
    performed by Dennis James and the Emerson String Quartet



    Visit CRISTAL at Amazon.com
    to listen to sound files or to purchase CD

    CRISTAL: GLASS MUSIC THROUGH THE AGES (Sony Classical- SK89047) features glass-meister extraordinaire, Dennis James, playing instruments made of glass, including the glass armonica, the Baschet Cristal and a beautiful new Seraphim (a set of tuned crystal glasses.) The project was produced for SONY Classical by Linda Ronstadt and John Boylan. The album includes such performing luminaries as The Emerson String Quartet, Soprano Ruth Ann Swenson and Ms. Ronstadt.

    Here are some reviews:

  • "The album's best moments occur when James and the Emerson String Quartet illuminate Garry Eister's Quintet For Glass and Strings, with some sparkling rhythms and expressive musical interplay."

    MassLive.com (online version of the Union News) 1/27/02


  • "Eister's piece is far and above my favorite work on the recording... The outer movements of the Quintet are rhythmical, pulsing sections that contrast the fuzzy, dreamy texture of the glass with the more fine-grained, down-to-earth string sound. The central movement is a slow, sweet quote of a Mozart aria, twisted just enough to float the listener into a 21st Century orbit."

    Marisa Waddell in the KCBX program guide, AIRTIMES, May/June, 2002.

  • "The album's high points include a traditional Irish Lullaby, and classical pieces by Eister, Mozart and Scarlatti. The Eister Quintet for Glass and Strings moves through various moods. Strings and the armonica weave elegant lines, in counterpoint, creating different movements and moods, showcasing the versatility of the instrument."

    Jerry Z. in THE MALAY MAIL, May, 7, 2002

  • "... the timbre of the armonica has an ethereal sheen to it, shimmering like resin from nowhere and everywhere all at once. ... The most attractive item is Quintet for Glass and Strings - the Emersons negotiate Garry Eister's jagged rhythms and eclectic harmonics with virtuosity and insight."

    Benjamin Chee, The Arts Magazine- Singapore, May-June 2002

    release date: 1/15/02
    on SONY Classical

    some Cristal session pics:

    Dennis James and the Emerson String Quartet


    On Tuesday, September 23, '99, Dennis James and the Emerson String Quartet recorded Eister's QUINTET FOR GLASS AND STRINGS and Mozart's ADAGIO AND RONDO K. 617. The recording was made in the recital hall of the campus of the State University of New York at Purchase.




    GE, Linda Ronstadt and Dennis James behind the Baschet Cristal


    On Thursday, January 27th, 2000, Dennis James and a number of LA's finest session players recorded a chamber version of Gabriel Faure's Pavane. The chamber version was made by Eister who also kept time on the session. The instrumentation is for Soprano, Baschet Cristal, flute, oboe, clarinet, string quintet and female chamber chorus. The session took place in Studio A at Capitol Records in Hollywood. The session was engineered by Shawn Murphy and produced by Linda Ronstadt and John Boylan.




    THE FATHER OF LIES

    GE's "autobiography" of the Devil




    THE FATHER OF LIES features soprano Kathy Barata and contains:


  • THE LANDSCAPE OF HELL, a music-theater rant: an audio "autobiography" of the Devil, with Garry Eister as the Devil.

  • ...AND UPON HER HEAD, A CROWN OF TWELVE STARS, four Marian songs for soprano and electronic instruments.

  • THE FATHER OF LIES, a one-act opera wherein the Devil attempts to seduce an angel. The Devil performs in the style of musical comedy; the Angel's presentation is operatic. This opera neither espouses nor disparages religious doctrine, although a philosophical discussion of the tenets of monotheism pervades the piece. Eister is the Devil; Barata is an Angel.



    Listen to "THE DEVIL" sing:     mp3

    -out of print
    original release date: October 31st, '01
    on the Eister Music label




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