Search - Joel Suben :: Night Skies - Orchestra Music of Katherine Hoover / Suben

A hint of Morton Feldman atmospherics, a taste of klezmer, a tone poem--it can all be found in the diverse output of American composer Katherine Hoover. And on Night Skies, the Slovak Radio Symphony under Joel Eric Suben performs a fascinating cross-section of her works. "Turnabout," one-half of Two Sketches, is a sonic palindrome in which the orchestra literally turns around and plays the short piece backward. Eleni: A Greek Tragedy is apparently where the klezmer comes in; its layerings of Greek melodies and spiky orchestrations create a moving lament. The title track is an orchestral tone poem where percussion and flute create a storm to remember. The flute is given prominence in many of Hoover's works (she's also a flutist), but the variety of her output on Night Skies is what's really astounding. These pieces brim with inventiveness and energy. --Jason Verlinde