Lake Effect’s second album, Cooler by the Lake is now available for pre-order! Click here!
YOU MEAN YOU’RE MAKING A SECOND ALBUM?
Why yes, yes we are. Since releasing our first album, Nielsen, Grainger, & Strauss, we’ve done a bunch of stuff: a big tour of the Midwest, live radio broadcasts, local concerts, YouTube videos (both serious and silly), and survived a global pandemic to boot! Throughout all of that we’ve been working on developing our concept for a second album, titled Cooler by the Lake. We’ve been through many iterations and finally settled on this diverse set of repertoire (all arranged by our own Erin Miesner, of course). We really like it and think you will too.
TELL ME WHAT IT IS ALREADY!
Well, basically, a lot of music. Here’s the good stuff (hint - that’s all of it), in no particular order:
Why yes, yes we are. Since releasing our first album, Nielsen, Grainger, & Strauss, we’ve done a bunch of stuff: a big tour of the Midwest, live radio broadcasts, local concerts, YouTube videos (both serious and silly), and survived a global pandemic to boot! Throughout all of that we’ve been working on developing our concept for a second album, titled Cooler by the Lake. We’ve been through many iterations and finally settled on this diverse set of repertoire (all arranged by our own Erin Miesner, of course). We really like it and think you will too.
TELL ME WHAT IT IS ALREADY!
Well, basically, a lot of music. Here’s the good stuff (hint - that’s all of it), in no particular order:
- George Gershwin’s Three Preludes. YES, it’s FINALLY in the public domain. This was one of the first pieces Erin arranged for us and has become a Lake Effect signature. We have been just itching to record it!
- Three Songs by Amy Beach. Are we putting this on the album just to immortalize Joe as the titular “Empress of Night?” I mean… we’re not *NOT* doing that. This set of three songs, Empress of Night, Within Thy Heart, and The Candy Lion are equal parts charming and lovely.
- Overture and Scherzo from Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Believe it or not, the very first piece Erin ever arranged for us was the Scherzo. Yeah. We’re that level of clarinerds. In 2022 she finished the Overture, creating a perfect set of faerie fancies ready to take flight!
- Intermezzo Op. 118, No.2 by Johannes Brahms. In June 2020 we met in Cally’s backyard for our first rehearsal since the world shut down because of the Covid-19 Pandemic. We sat in chairs on the grass far apart from each other in a loose diamond-shaped formation. After our group warm-up, this was the first piece we played together. It was the first time any of us had gotten to play with another musician in months, and it was with each other - our quartet family. It was one of those peak-pandemic, high-emotion experiences, and we can’t wait to share it with you here.
- Gustav Holst’s St. Paul’s Suite. Four clarinets playing a piece originally for string orchestra? Really?! Well… if Holst reimagined the final movement, “The Dargason,” in the Second Suite in F for Military Band, then a clarinet quartet can play it too! This is one of our arranger’s favorite works in the whole wide world and the rest of us happen to like it too!
- Two Rags by Scott Joplin. Want to hear a clarinet quartet sound like a giant player piano? Good news, everyone, here’s your chance. Spirited, silly, and chock full of excellent musical content, we think you’ll get a kick out of them too.
Nielsen, Grainger, & Strauss
We are excited to bring you this album, our first. We chose works by Nielsen, Grainger and Strauss because of their ability to create joyous music that translates so well to the clarinet’s voice. These pieces truly represent who Lake Effect is, and we are honored to be able to share them with you. Available in both CD and digital formats.
Click below to purchase the album in CD format:
Click below to purchase a digital copy on bandcamp:
