Allison Loggins-Hull: Patchwork

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER RELEASE DATE MAY 1ST Join us at Severance Music Center for a special CD signing! Title: Allison Loggins-Hull: Patchwork Composer: Allison Loggins-Hull Artists: Laquita Mitchell, soprano Allison Loggins-Hull, flute & conductor with members of The Cleveland Orchestra Composer, flautist and producer Allison Loggins-Hull is a musical “powerhouse” (The Washington Post). Her genre-defying style is characterised by unique sonic effects that echo contemporary music production techniques, creating a vibrant and kaleidoscopic aural palette. Allison enjoyed three seasons as a Composing Fellow with the Cleveland Orchestra. Patchwork, an album of new chamber works, celebrates a culmination of Allison’s inspirational collaboration with the ensemble’s extraordinary musicians. The six pieces on Patchwork are powerful and candid reflections on human relationships, patriotism, nature, homeland, justice, racism, community and resilience, expressed through a rich and evocative musical narrative. The title track reflects the evolution of long-term relationships – how they shift, stretch, and occasionally fray. Aptly scored for a duo of viola and cello, the instruments imagine how two individuals continuously grow in different directions yet stay connected. “Can You See?” – the title taken from the first line of The Star-Spangled Banner – is a probing chamber work, conducted by Allison, that confronts the contradictions of the idealism of America’s national anthem alongside the country’s history and present day. Fragmented and stretched melodic material from the anthem is rendered in a mournful, reflective tone. A blurred, unsettled string texture mirrors uncertainty, whilst beneath percussion underscores a quiet insistence. “Homeland” for solo flute was inspired by the aftermath of the 2017 Hurricane Maria that lashed Puerto Rico. It questions what “home” means in moments of collective crisis, displacement, and upheaval, in the midst of concurrent global and political unrest. The music traces a journey from turbulence and anxiety toward brief moments of hope and remembrance, shaped by the idea that resilience often emerges alongside loss. “The Pattern”, scored for Pierrot sextet, examines the recurring cycle of racial violence, obstruction, and dispossession that has shaped the African American experience. Musically, the piece moves from conflict, rage, desperation and fragile liberation toward moments of hope and collective momentum, even as the threat of reversal remains ever-present. “Kalief”, for clarinet and piano, responds to the life and death of Kalief Browder, a black teenage resident of the Bronx whose prolonged detention and solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit exposed the racial imbalance and brutality within the U.S. criminal justice system which ultimately led to his suicide. The album ends with the uplifting “Shine”, set to poetry by Zimbabwean-American U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo. Featuring the radiant soprano Laquita Mitchell accompanied by viola, piano and Allison herself on flute, its radiant sound worlds reflect how joy, resilience, and care can exist alongside struggle rather than in spite of it.