Autumn
Acoustic 12 string guitar with violin lead and cello accompaniment. Recorded August 2004. Originally recorded for Catharsis Infinity (Watson&Company - 2003). Darren Uses a 1973 Martin D Series in standard tuning.
This is my favorite pure song on this record. “Autumn” was originally intended as a vocal song. Both hope and melancholy permeate this epic. A passage from the chorus that sticks with me is: “Now my life turns to autumn. Summer’s gone and the leaves are on the ground” and “Can’t you save me, Father time. Now my hands are growing older and older. Can’t you save, Father time. My hands are growing colder and colder?” - Darren Curtis Skanson
Ryan Avery of Chance’s End plays the violin on this recording with Darren Curtis Skanson on 12 string guitar and Kevin Johnson on cello.
Ryan Avery is classically-trained San Francisco violinist. Violinists play concertos, not breakbeat electronic music. But Chance’s End is about to change that. Influenced by artists such as Hybrid, Crystal Method, and BT, Chance’s End is fusing solo violin with electronic music, bringing it into the 21st century.
Ryan formed his Chance’s End production alias in the summer of 2000 in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado. The Chance’s End breakbeat sound is built around acoustic and electric violin ensembles, infused with strong melodic hooks, and polished with a thick sonic texture that dance-floor breaks do not normally provide. Indeed, Chance’s End usually produces music oriented to living room listening, rather than peak-of-the-night anthems.
Darren Curtis Skanson is an American composer. Encouraged in music from a young age, Skanson began singing, playing instruments, and composing as early as he can remember. At 13 he took his first classical guitar lesson and began a partnership with the classical guitar that has produced a wide variety of music. After an outstanding collegiate career studying classical guitar, composition, and recording science, Darren spent the early part of the 1990’s touring and composing for both the progressive band Mata Hari and violinist Malcolm Watson. Embarking on his solo career in 1995, his composition output exploded with works for classical guitar, acoustic fingerstyle guitar, 12 string guitar, cello, and violin. Skanson is known mostly for his classical guitar compositions and arrangements of Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, and other classical composers. Skanson continues to record, compose and perform out of his Denver, Colorado base. His discography currently includes 10 compact discs of classical guitar arrangements and original work with over 200 pieces to his credit. As well as playing solo, he performs with his trio of classical guitar, violin, and cello aptly named The Skanson String Trio.
Kevin Johnson also has a classical music background. He has played with the Bach Festival, Boulder Philharmonic, and the Mahler Festival; the last festival just won a prestigious award from Vienna. Kevin then moved on to the Mont Alto 
Motion Picture Orchestra.This silent film orchestra recorded numerous films for Time Warner and Turner Classic Movies.