Search - Freeman, Orchestra 2001, Levinson :: Chant Des Roches: Music of Our Time 4

Great music you haven't heard yet

12/13/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Orchestra 2001 does us a great service by bringing to CD four terrific pieces, with fantastic recorded sound (watch out for the bass drum thwacks in the Stucky -- they'll knock you over!). Levinson's _Chant des rochers_ (for winds, harp, piano and percussion), written as a 70th-birthday tribute to his teacher Olivier Messiaen, begins stark and gruff, with growls in the low brass, and ends quietly and beautifully on a long sustained major chord. Stucky's _Double Concerto_ is by turns animated and darkly dramatic, and shows his skill at developing ideas as well as his talent as an orchestrator. _Fromm Septet_ of David Finko has both angular non-tonal lines and intense, memorable melodies. David Crumb's _Variations_ is another rich and lovely work, also beautifully orchestrated. Crumb (not to be confused with his father, George) doesn't employ virtuosic writing at the expense of musical substance; the piece *does* require a virtuoso cellist, but lyricism and ideas, rather than showiness, dominate.I think this is Orchestra 2001's best disc to date, and I congratulate them and thank them for their continued efforts as performers of high-quality contemporary music."