Simon Linn-Gerstein, cello | Los Angeles | Solo, chamber, orchestral, weddings

This album encompasses a wide variety of pieces that we’ve recorded over recent years, but we felt strongly about starting it with composer-activist Anthony R. Green’s wonderful “…and suddenly it appeared…”, an explicitly anti-fascist piece written in 2016 that unfortunately continues to increase in relevance today as ICE raids continue to target our neighbors while the US expands its imperial ambitions abroad. As Anthony writes, the piece “is a type of quiet resistance music. Its theme is bold, steadfast, and inviting, with rhythms inspired by Calypso music and the music of Ed Bland (a composer of self-professed Urban Classical Music). It melds into a dreamy lullaby, before settling down into a positive affirmation of the opening resistance music. The very end of the piece marks the sudden appearance of something – hope? change? sanity? renewal? peace? Hopefully something positive. In times of fascism, make art.”

Much as Anthony’s piece is a response to a changing and more violent world, Claude Debussy’s Cello Sonata was written at a crossroads, both historically, writing in France during the first World War, as well as in his own life, battling his own poor health and confronting his mortality. The sonata is an homage to a French tradition of composition, epitomized by Couperin and Rameau, which Debussy feared would not survive the war. Originally written for cello and piano, this piece represents an absolutely massive transcription project that Lily undertook, translating Debussy’s inventive harmonies and intricate interplay between the cello and piano parts into something that is not only playable on harp, but beautiful in its own right.

The music of Bernard Andrès is very much a continuation of the French music tradition epitomized in the works of Claude Debussy. As a harpist, Andrès also writes idiomatically for the harp, while incorporating interesting effects and techniques that give his works a distinctive flavor. These “Songs of the Late Season” allow the harp and cello to converse musically, but there is a haunting grief in these melodies as well – late season could simply refer to Autumn, but it could also be interpreted as a late season in this Anthropocene era as we continue to destroy our planet, along with ourselves.

This album concludes with John Cage’s “In a Landscape,” a meditative work inspired by the “musique d’ameublement” (“furniture music”) of Eric Satie. This music was intended to provide a contemplative, soothing accompaniment to choreography by Cage’s partner Merce Cunningham, danced by Louise Lipold. Interestingly, Cage and Cunningham composed and choreographed their portions of the work separately with the length of the piece being the only detail they both knew in advance. In honor of this collaboration and the restorative power of nature, Strange Interlude has provided a companion video (link available with album purchase) pairing our recording of this piece with footage taken in the redwood forests of Northern California.

Stay strong friends – happy listening!

released June 1, 2026

Performed by Strange Interlude
Lily Press, harp
Simon Linn-Gerstein, cello

Recorded in Los Angeles, CA
Recording Engineers, Producers, and Mix Engineers: Strange Interlude
Mastering Engineer: Greg Dixon
Album Artwork: Alex Allen

Released on Strange Moon Records

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