Verdant World Records is proud to present Leon Kirchner Revelations, including never before published or recorded, and rarely recorded works of Leon Kirchner (1919-2009), eminent American composer. The program includes the choral, piano-vocal and solo piano works: Little Suite, Dawn, Three Songs, Words from Wordsworth, A Moment For Roger, The Twilight Stood, and The Forbidden.
World class artists Joel Fan: Piano, Diana Hoagland: Soprano, Beverly Hoch: Soprano. Leon Kirchner: Piano, Scott Dunn: Conductor, and The Choir, including New York's freelance choral lions. All have gathered together to perform works of Leon Kirchner, spanning the years from his first compositions in 1943 to his last in 2006.
On his birthday, January 24, comes the birth of new music, new additions to the catalog of works for singer, choir, conductor, and pianist, Joel Fan's new recording of The Forbidden, and a new album of Revelations by Leon Kirchner.
Reviews and Press
Charleston For YouWHLI Artist of the Week-August 2012, Vocal Pick of the Month- The Voice- September 2012, WDPS, WERU and CUH Top Ten
"intriguing potpourri...Pre-Katrina New Orleans is visited twice, with Dr. John's spooky tale of voodoo queen "Marie Laveau" and Kirchner and MacDermot's easy-flowing "Blue By the River (Port of New Orleans)." Kirchner's lovely, introspective "Riverside" wistfully travels between Manhattan and San Francisco, while the edgy "Lights of L.A." paints an urgently sinister portrait of Tinseltown. ?an awful lot to absorb in one sitting, but well worth the far-flung trip. - Christopher Loudon/Jazz Times
"the female jazz vocal pack is a tightly knit group of talent with about the artistic differences between each as thin as a sheet of paper. Till now...Take old school vocal jazz, a touch of cabaret and a dash of Broadway and you have a nice recipe for a very entertaining release from Lisa Kirchner entitled Charleston For You. Kirchner's style may be part of the reason she has quietly slipped past a few critics and undeservingly so...great chops, spot on phrasing and a nice somewhat eclectic set list here make Charleston For You an incredibly entertaining tour de force. There are several Kirchner originals here that are as solid as they come including "Red Wine and White Lies" along with "Lights of L.A." Kirchner has the talent and ability to work folk, jazz, and even French and Brazilian songs. An elegant vocal talent that could as a former co-worker from American Idol would say about certain talent - "She could sing the phone book." Brent Black/CriticalJazz.com
"charleston for you" is a winning album by lisa kirchner. with glowing strings, supple horns, and understated guitar licks, working at a low register, lisa pushes her voice, here getting hot, there teasing love. As bruce once sang: "she's all that heaven will allow." - john shelton ivany/ jsitop21.com
"I knew I wanted to hear her treatment of "The Man I Love." I was not disappointed. Her only accompaniment came from pianist James Weidman ... she finds her own phrasing to shape the words, occasionally enhanced by slight portamento pulls on the pitch. The same can be said of her take on Caetano Veloso's "Cora??o Vagabundo." She performs with that same low-key Brazilian style that many associate with Astrud Gilberto; but she then segues into the more upbeat "Berimbau" by Baden Powell (the Brazilian guitarist...There is a precision in her sense of rhythm that plays nicely against the solo riffs of drummer Adam Cruz, with guitarist Ron Jackson and bassist Lonnie Plaxico providing a solid rhythmic foundation.the part of the tour that most appealed to me was "Blue By The River," which is Kirchner's words set to the music of Galt Macdermot (as in Hair). This has a mildly funky quality that never compromises her sure sense of pitch but gives the song an edge" Stephen Smoliar/San Francisco Examiner
"Style, elegance, impeccable musicality, chanteuse extraordinaire - they all apply to the amazing Lisa Kirchner".more variation, more variety of accompaniment, more pizzazz, more tenderness. "Not only does Lisa Kirchner have a voice of great beauty and a sense of poetry in the way she delivers lyrics, but she also happens to be a rather fine composer - a trait she shares with five of the twelve songs she sings here. Probably a bit of her artistry in performing and composing is in her genetic nature; her father was the late brilliant classical composer Leon Kirchner This combination of musical styles and sung in English, French and Portuguese is as exciting as any new recording by a female vocalist to be release this year." Grady Harp/Amazon.com