Gravity and Air

(New Amsterdam Records) This debut album by composer and classical guitarist Andrew McKenna Lee — a doctoral student in composition at Princeton — features two large scale solo works for guitar that he recorded in the vestibule outside of Procter Hall in the Graduate College and a chamber piece for flute, viola, harp, and guitar, recorded with the New York-based trio Janus. Lee composed nine of the 10 tracks on the CD and performs guitar in all of them. Critic Jayson Greene of eMusic.com called Lee “an astoundingly virtuosic guitar player” and “a thoughtful and original composer … who is continually finding new ways to work the guitar's rougher, more sensual textures into classical frameworks.” Lee’s works have been performed by the Brentano String Quartet, the New Jersey Symphony, and American Composers Orchestra, and have been presented at festivals. To listen to tracks, go to https://www.newamsterdamrecords.com/#Album/iGravity_and_Air_i