Eric Schultz, assistant professor of clarinet and director of the Edwards Center for Inclusive Excellence, recently released his album “POLYGLOT,” on Oct. 4.
The album is an eclectic ensemble of 11 contemporary instrumental music tracks. Each song features different combinations of primary instruments: clarinet, piano and cello. Schultz plays the clarinet, joined by his close friends Clare Monfredo on cello and Han Chen on piano, playing both old and new contemporary music for the album.
“The idea of the album was to have a showcase of pieces by living composers from many different backgrounds, generations, times, places and a standard work,” Schultz said. “My whole view with music is we should be playing music by living composers since it is hard as a living composer to have your music played today.”
The University supported and commissioned the album featuring new pieces from composers such as Ivan Enrique Rodriguez, Johanny Navarro, Chia-Yu Hsa and Gabriel Bouche Caro. The coloristic works of Rodriguez’s “Sonata Santera” and Navarro’s “Danzón” give the album distinct Puerto Rican overtones. The album also features an old-fashioned contemporary work by famous composer Johannes Brahms, “Clarinet Trio,” one of his more beloved works written towards the end of his life.
The project took more than two years to complete, with the title “Polyglot” coming from the idea that contemporary musicians today can perform wildly unique styles in varying dialects, both old and new.
Several different people and organizations were involved with the project, including Antonio Oliart, a two-time Grammy Award-winning recording engineer who helped mix the album. Oliart meticulously orchestrated the entire recording, mixing and mastering process using eight to nine microphones at different angles to correctly capture the sound levels from each instrument.
Schultz collaborated with McKinley Devilbiss, a teaching associate with the Master of Arts in Music Technology at Coastal, to record the tracks in the Edwards Recital Hall. Schultz then sought a label with Navona Records through the open-access publishing program of the college library.
9 Schultz expressed extreme gratitude for everyone’s help and support.
“Music is the most powerful form of magic we have access to as humans,” Schultz said.
One of Eric Schultz’s students Cody Sachs, a junior majoring in clarinet performance, listened to the album and looked at the sheet music. He provided his analysis on the composition.
“It’s very technical, but it switches very well from being a super technical and finger-heavy piece to super lyrical and singing, specifically in the new pieces,” Sachs said. “It’s not something you can just, like, turn on in the background like pop music—it’s easier to sit and listen to it specifically as itself.”
Another student of Schultz’s, Nick Barrow, sophomore engineering science major with a minor in music, is one of many potential listeners who expressed interest in and admiration for the album.
“Music is the reason I get up in the morning; I am always thinking about playing music, making music or listening to music,” Barrow said. “Music is life, and seeing some stuff from Schultz would be pretty awesome.”
