Choctaw Places features 2 of Shadle's finest chamber works - Oklahoma Choctaw Cycle and Chahta Aiasha

Charles Shadle's Oklahoma Choctaw Cycle owes its existence to a long and fruitful relationship between the composer and Lontano's Music Director, Odaline de la Martinez. All three identically scored movements were commissioned by Lontano, and the first two, Limestone Gap (2010) and Red Cedar (2014) were premiered by the group separately at the time of their composition. Although, as the composer states, 'each piece is absolutely intended to stand on its own,' the completion of The Old Place (2016) has allowed this tightly connected group of pieces to be heard for the first time on this recording as the triptych it was intended to be. The three compositions have musical connections and all, as Shadle writes, 'have a Choctaw aesthetic, in that they are focused on the natural world and the relationship of human beings to that world.'

Chahta Aiasha (2022), an oboe (English horn) quartet commissioned by the Bostonbased Radius Ensemble, eschews the specificity of the Oklahoma Choctaw Cycle tone paintings, reflecting instead a varied tapestry of 'prosperous small towns, isolated
farms and ranches, forests of oak and pine, mountains, creeks, and the occasional
nearly forgotten graveyard.' Despite their differences, however, these Choctaw works
are linked in their use of developmental structures and contrapuntal interplay to
depict a people remaining 'strong, vital, and deeply at home in the land.'

Shadle is a Senior Lecturer at MIT where he teaches composition, music theory, and
music history. His six film scores for the National Film Preservation Foundation are
commercially available. With MIT colleague Michael Ouellette as librettist, he has
composed three operas and the cantata 'A New England Seasonal'. Major works of
the last few years include 'Five Songs of the American West', 'Missa Brevis Sanctii Oswaldi' and 'Fourth Symphony' for the MIT Symphony Orchestra.

Track Listing

• Limestone Gap
• Red Cedar
• The Old Place
• Chahta Aiasha Andante Comodo
• Chahta Aiasha Flessibile e espressivo
• Chahta Aiasha Scherzo: Allegro Giocoso
• Chahta Aiasha Lento Espressivo, poco malinconico
• Chahta Aiasha Luminoso

Additional Details

Label: Lorelt

Genre: Classical

Language: English

Run Time: 68 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 10/10/25

UPC: 781064014928