Released 10/6/09
Five years and a handful of (slightly) more popular albums later, in 2006 Sufjan's peer, friend and neighbor Bryce Dessner (Clogs, The National), introduced an unlikely notion: to re-arrange the entirety of Enjoy Your Rabbit for the string quartet Osso, a hard-working ensemble that had appeared on Sufjan's Illinois and My Brightest Diamond's Bring Me The Workhorse. Dessner commissioned horn player/conductor/composer Mike Atkinson to arrange the first four of these songs (Rabbit, Ox, Lord, and Boar) for a performance at the 2007 Music Now festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sufjan and Asthmatic Kitty were so entertained by the results they decided to explore the project further. They commissioned additional composers to write new arrangements of the remaining songs from the original album. Michael Atkinson contributed a fifth arrangement for Monkey. Osso violinists Rob Moose (Antony and the Johnsons, Beth Orton) and Olivier Manchon (Clare and the Reasons, Orchestre de Chambre Miniature) contributed arrangements for, respectively, the Tiger, Horse, Dog, and the Snake and Rat. Russian composer Maxim Moston (Antony and the Johnsons, Joan As Policewoman, Slow Six) arranged the Sheep, Nico Muhly (Bjork, The National, Philip Glass) arranged the Dragon, and Gabriel Kahane (who can be heard playing the piano cadenza on Sufjan's cover of "You Are The Blood" on the Dark Was the Night Compilation) arranged the Rooster. Each arrangement was work-shopped democratically, allowing for players, arrangers, and songwriter to modify charts (and mollify awkward moments) over time, resulting in a populist project.
Disc 1: YEAR OF THE OX (ARR. MICHAEL ATKINSON) ENJOY YOUR RABBIT (ARR. MICHAEL ATKINSON) YEAR OF THE MONKEY (ARR. MICHAEL ATKINSON) YEAR OF THE TIGER (ARR. ROB MOOSE) YEAR OF THE DRAGON (ARR. NICO MUHLY) YEAR OF THE SNAKE (ARR. OLIVIER MANCHON) YEAR OF THE HORSE (ARR. ROB MOOSE) YEAR OF THE SHEEP (ARR. MAXIM MOSTON) YEAR OF THE RAT (ARR. OLIVIER MANCHON) YEAR OF THE ROOSTER (ARR. GABRIEL KAHANE) YEAR OF THE DOG (ARR. ROB MOOSE) YEAR OF THE BOAR (ARR. MICHAEL ATKINSON) YEAR OF OUR LORD (ARR. MICHAEL ATKINSON)