In 2020, clarinetist, curator and “musical detective” (New York Classical Review) Graeme Steele Johnson discovered the manuscript to an Octet by the seminal American composer Charles Martin Loeffler that had been left unpublished, unrecorded and unheard since 1897. Johnson spent a year reconstructing the Octet's score from the 75-page manuscript, creating the first critical edition of the music and revealing a kaleidoscopic piece scored for the colorful mixture of clarinets, strings and harp. The project was profiled in a full-page spread by The Washington Post, and Johnson’s world-premiere recording of the work on his album Forgotten Sounds (Delos/Outhere Music) released to widespread critical acclaim; the recording was named one of The New York Times’ Best Classical Music Albums of 2024, nominated for a Gramophone Classical Music Award, and awarded BBC Music Magazine’s Chamber Choice.
Over the past three seasons, the Loeffler Octet touring ensemble has presented the work’s first performances in over 125 years on distinguished series throughout the country, including the Library of Congress, Morgan Library, Chamber Music Northwest, Emerald City Music, Harvard Musical Association, Phoenix Chamber Music Festival, Utsey Chamber Music Series, Cooperstown Summer Music Festival and The Stissing Center, with upcoming outings at the La Jolla Music Society and Chamber Music Charleston. In concert, creative programmatic pairings and the Octet’s polyglot compositional vernacular put a new spin on American music, investigating the limits of the musical canon and ultimately suggesting an alternative model of American musical identity that embodies the cultural complexities of Loeffler’s adopted country.
