Finnish composer Kalevi Aho is best known for his large-scale works. This release has two excellent examples: the Tympani Concerto, and the Piano Concerto No. 1. The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned the Tympani Concerto for its timpanist, Ari-Pekka Mäenpää. Speaking as a percussionist, I think it’s a masterwork. Aho worked with Mäenpää to create a […]
Contemporary classical
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Unconquered – Michael Torke Expresses Positive Patriotism
In my opinion, Michael Torke is something of a national treasure. He has the rare ability to take elements of American culture and develop them with all the tools of a contemporary classical composer. The end result is music that sounds distinctly American. It’s always connected to the traditions of the past, but with a […]
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Gregory and Sinchuk excel with Rachmaninoff
Rachmaninoff wrote very little for violin and piano, but that didn’t stop others from transcribing his music for those instruments. This recording collects Rachmaninoff’s three violin and piano works, plus 17 transcriptions. The earliest transcriptions by Konstantin Mostras and Mikhail Press are fairly straight-forward. Fritz Kreisler’s transcriptions provide plenty of opportunity for expressive phrasing and […]
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Peter Lieuwen Concertos – Buoyant and animated
This is a release I’d like to keep on hand for all those curmudgeons who complain that contemporary classical music is ugly and unlistenable. Peter Lieuwen’s compositions are anything but. There’s a certain exuberance in his music that I find appealing. My impression is that Lieuwen isn’t concerned with discovering new sounds never heard before […]
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Florent Schmitt – Sonate libre
Florent Schmitt was a near-contemporary of Claude Debussy, though he lived much longer. Debussy died before the end of the First World War, while Schmitt lived on through the Second World War as well as the start of the Cold War (he died in 1958). . While their contemporaneous music has some similarites, Schmitt’s music […]
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Barbara Westphal – Convergences
Barbara Westphal’s latest release is an interesting blend of old and new, original music with arrangements. Johannes Brahms didn’t write any solo music for the viola, but that hasn’t stopped violists from making arrangements of some of his music for their instrument. In this case, Westphal plays arrangements of Brahms’ Sonata in E minor, Op. […]
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Alexandre Tansman – Music for Violin and Piano
I have to admit I was not familiar with the music of Alexandre Tansman before receiving this disc to review. But after listening to it, and reading about him, I definitely want to hear more. Alexandre Tansman was born in Poland and always maintained he was a Polish composer, though he spent virtually all of his life in […]
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Martin Fröst – Nordic Concertos
Tags: Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Anders Hillborg, Arie van Beek, Bernhard Crusell, BIS, CD Review, Concerto, Contemporary classical, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Karin Rehnquist, Martin Fröst, Östgöta Symphony Wind Ensemble, Owain Arwel Hughes, Petter Sundkvist, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vagn HolmboeMartin Fröst presents an interesting program of Nordic clarinet concertos that covers a lot of ground with just four works. The two contemporary works were composed for Fröst and differ greatly in style. The two older works call out important Nordic composers, and also differ in style. Anders Hillborg’s 1998 Clarinet Concerto (Peacock Tales) is a […]
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Edward Burlingame Hill – the Gershwin of Harvard?
Edward Burlingame Hill forms a link in the development of American classical music. He studied under one of the preeminent American composers of the late 19th century, John Knowles Pain at Harvard, In turn, as a Harvard professor himself, taught the next two generations of American composers, including Leonard Bernstein, Walter Piston, Virgil Thomson, Roger […]