Primavera II: The Rabbits is the second of six albums in a momentous series encompassing 81 world premieres for solo cello. This digital album presents 13 new commissions by The Primavera Project for groundbreaking, multi-Grammy nominated cellist Matt Haimovitz.

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Each composer responds to Sandro Botticelli’s enigmatic painting, Primavera, and the prophetic large-scale triptych, Primavera 2020, by world-renowned contemporary artist Charline von Heyl.

The album begins where Primavera I: The Wind left off, referencing the time of Botticelli. Haimovitz plays all four parts of his arrangement of Josquin des Prez’s Kyrie from Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae bridging to Missy Mazzoli’s deconstruction of Josquin in her haunting Beyond the Order of Things. Haimovitz also overlays the four cellos of Texu Kim’s Beseeching, entwining Native-American rain dance drumming and old Korean melodies in voices of desperation and hope.

The album takes its name from the rabbit trilogy motif in Charline von Heyl’s work. In Primavera II, the rabbits join the dancing graces, referencing centuries of symbolism: eternity, rebirth, fertility, and vitality. Niloufar Nourbakhsh depicts this communal ecstasy in her Cyclical Rabbits, incorporating Persian modes and oud-like strumming.

Matt Haimovitz, Cello