I had not heard James Lee III’s music before I received this release. And shame on me. This gifted African-American composer has a rare talent for melody and orchestration. And he has a musical imagination that’s well-served by those talents. Lee writes, “I want to compose music to reach to the inner soul of the […]
Marin Alsop
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Hans Werner Henze: Nachtstücke und Arien worth exploring
Even when he was the darling of the Darmstadt avant-garde, Hans Werner Henze was his own man. In time he moved away from the aggressive modernism of that school — literally and musically. Werner settled on an island in the Gulf of Naples, where he became a neighbor of William Walton. At the same time, […]
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Alsop Start Prokofiev Cycle with Symphony No. 5
One of Prokofiev’s most popular symphonies kicks off this first installment of a new symphonic cycle. The Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and their new principal conductor Marin Alsop provide an interesting program by coupling the work with the symphonic suite “The Year 1941.” “The Year 1941” was written during World War II, and articulates Prokofiev’s […]