David Leisner

The Cavatina Duo’s exquisite new CD, Sephardic Journey, contains five commissions of music inspired by Sephardic folk songs.  The composers are Carlos Rafael Rivera, Clarice Assad, Alan Thomas, Joseph Williams and David Leisner.  Leisner’s work, Love Dreams of the Exile, is scored for flute, guitar and string quartet, played by the Cavatina Duo (Eugenia Moliner and Denis Azabagic) and the Avalon String Quartet.  For further info, click here

John Marks of The Tannhäuser Gate wrote: “Anyone who loves beauty and wants more of it in his or her life should buy this recording. Phil’s Classical Reviews reported: “Utter perfection…The present recording [of Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata] is the 121st in the current catalog, and may be the most satisfying yet.”  For further info, click here

David will be the special guest teacher this summer at the Ben Verdery Maui Master Class July 5-14 on the island of Maui in Hawaii.  See the website for further details.

Arpeggione, the new much-anticipated CD by cellist Zuill Bailey and David Leisner is on the Azica label, and is ready for pre-order at Amazon.   The repertoire includes Schubert Arpeggione Sonata, the World Premiere recording of Leisner’s Twilight Streams, Falla Siete Canciones Populares Españolas, Gluck Dance of the Blessed Spirits, Saint-Saëns The Swan, Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 “Aria” and Paganini Variations on One String, on “Moses” by Rossini.  Official…

David Leisner’s guitar arrangement of the piano part of the Franz Schubert Arpeggione Sonata, along with Zuill Bailey’s cello adaptation of the arpeggione part, is now published by the Theodore Presser Co.  It is available at all the usual sheet music sources, and through the Theodore Presser website.  This arrangement will also be available on recording on Feb. 26, 2016, when Zuill Bailey’s and David Leisner’s cello/guitar CD, Arpeggione, is…

After years of trying to get permission for publishing, David Leisner has succeeded in getting Chester Music to release his arrangement of Solo Violin Music (formerly the Fourth Knee Play) from Einstein on the Beach.  This note-for-note transcription was recorded by Leisner on his Music of the Human Spirit album for Azica.   It is available at: http://www.musicroom.com/se/id_no/01118777/details.html The Editor’s Note was omitted from the publication.  Here it is: “In…

Reporting on Leisner’s new Facts of Life CD, Paul Fowles of Classical Guitar magazine wrote:  “This is a significant and substantial release..As for the Bach, this extended slick of premium baroque demands copious reserves of skill, stamina, and style, and Leisner shows all three in abundance.”

Mary Kunz Goldman of the Buffalo News raved about David Leisner’s new Azica CD, Facts of Life: “This piece [David Del Tredici’s Facts of Life] should be able to claim a permanent place in the solo guitar repertoire. The memorably melody of the first movement harks back to earlier eras while still retaining an individual sound. The second movement is a fugue inspired by Bach, and Leisner directs the listener through…

David Leisner’s Facts of Life CD on the Azica label has just been released! Many years in the making, the album includes the World premiere recordings of two Leisner commissions – David Del Tredici’s 35-minute solo masterwork, Facts of Life, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Fish Tale for flute and guitar, with Tara O’Connor – as well as the Bach Lute Suite, BWV 997.  Available on Amazon.com and all the usual CD outlets.

Stereophile magazine critic John Marks has chosen David Leisner’s Azica solo CD, Favorites, as one of his choices for “Records to Die For”, 2015 (equivalent of best of the year). http://www.stereophile.com/content/2015-records-die-page-5.  He called it “a weighty and entirely musical CD. Miss it at your peril.”