New England is named after the collection of states in the northeast of the United States. Since the formation of the country, it has been a place of intellectual ferment such as Thoreau, Emerson, Dickinson and Charles Ives. The compositions are for solo vibraphone and are a meditation and continuance of this region’s transcendentalist roots. Stuart Saunders Smith writes: “The vibraphone is my home, my paper. You, the listener, are welcome here, to hear my soul, and in doing so, find your own soul.” Stuart Saunders Smith is an American composer, editor and poet. Earning a DMA in composition at the University of Illinois, he studied with Edward Miller, Edward Diemente, Slavatore Martirano, Herbert Braun, and Benjamin Johnston. Smith has come to create a diverse and unusual body of musical and literary compositions. His music is impressive in both the breadth of its scope and the richness of its diversification. As a reflection of the multiplicity, his scores themselves stand out as exciting and original examples of the variety of contemporary developments in musical notation.
