Review Text
The latest album from cellist Laura Sewell, Threescore, is a dedication to family and place featuring chamber music from Minnesota composers commissioned by the Sewell family that span a vast range of musical expression. The culmination of decades of work and relationships, Threescore, highlights the cello in works that dive deep into the human experience. The first piece, Six British Folksongs, inspired by her time spent in London studying with - the legendary British cellist, Jacqueline duPré, and written by composer Paul Schoenfield, takes common old tunes and uses them as a foil to explore coming to terms with the diagnosis of a serious illness. Banchetto Musicale is just that, a neo-baroque musical feast set by composer Stephen Paulus, while From the Land of Song by David Evan Thomas takes the listener on a journey that both commemorates a family tragedy and goes back in time. Finally, Benediction, a work perfectly suited for poignant and touching moments, closes the album in peaceful acceptance. Minnesota native, Laura Sewell, was the founder and cellist of the award-winning Lark Quartet. During her tenure in the Lark, the quartet was a top prize winner in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and performed nearly 100 concerts a year in Europe, Asia, Canada, and throughout the United States. Later in her career, she was the cellist of the Artaria String Quartet from 2007-2016. As both a soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Sewell has premiered works by such distinguished composers as Libby Larsen, Stephen Paulus, Paul Schoenfield, Peter Schickele, Steve Heitzeg, Jon Deak, Andrew Waggoner, and Stanislaw Skrowacewski.
