Chant des Rochers

On this CD:

1. Chant des rochers, for ensemble
Composed by Gerald Levinson
Performed by Orchestra 2001
Conducted by James Freeman

2. Concerto for violin, oboe & chamber orchestra "Double"
Composed by Steven Stucky
Performed by Dorothy Freeman, Igor Szwec, Orchestra 2001
Conducted by James Freeman

3. Fromm Septet
Composed by David Finko
Performed by Orchestra 2001
Conducted by James Freeman

4. Variations for cello & chamber ensemble
Composed by David Crumb
Performed by Ulrich Boeckheler, Orchestra 2001
Conducted by James Freeman

Tracks:

Chant Des Rochers - Orch 2001/James Freeman
Double Con: I. Lamento. Andante Serioso - Igor Szwec/Dorothy Freeman
Double Con: Cadenza I - Igor Szwec/Dorothy Freeman
Double Con: II. Scherzo. Vivo - Igor Szwec/Dorothy Freeman
Double Con: Cadenza II - Igor Szwec/Dorothy Freeman
Double Con: III. Notturno. Largo - Igor Szwec/Dorothy Freeman
Fromm Septet - Orch 2001/James Freeman
Vars: Theme
Vars: Var I
Vars: Var II
Vars: Var III
Vars: Var IV
Vars: Var V
Vars: Var VI
Vars: Var VII
Vars: Var VIII
Vars: Var IX

Customer Reviews:

Great music you haven't heard yet.......2000-12-13

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.

Tracks:

Time and the Bell
Chant des rochers
For the Morning of the World

Album Description

The conductor James Freeman writes: "When a young composer named Gerald Levinson applied for a position in Swarthmore College's Music Department (of which I was then acting chair) more than 20 years ago, I was struck by an extraordinarily luminous, beautifully written piece called in dark which he had included in his portfolio. That piece and several others in the same folder showed so much imagination, feeling for color, and downright compositional skill that I had no doubt this was the composer we were looking for. A heartfelt and passionate letter from Olivier Messiaen only added to my departmental colleagues' and my own conviction that Levinson must be "the real thing." We were counting on the new person to teach the major part of our theory cycle, and young Levinson had absolutely no teaching experience of any kind. Nonetheless, we took a chance and hired him. Anyone who wrote such wonderful music had to be a great teacher and he was. When Orchestra 2001 was founded in 1988, it was the music of George Crumb (which is currently being recorded for Bridge) and Gerald Levinson that I especially wanted to bring to new audiences." The critic Paul Griffiths has written: "What must thrill anyone who comes in contact with Gerald Levinson's music is its sheer joy in sound, and the decisiveness with which it sings or dances its way through time….In sympathy with sound, in sympathy with time, Levinson's music is close to the natural phenomena on which all music depends. Two things spring from this. One is that his music can easily evoke other natural phenomena: the sea, the stars, rugged landscapes. The other is that this music is in tune with other kinds of music from around the world. Levinson's resources are classical western: he writes for the symphony orchestra, for the piano, and for chamber groupings of conventional instruments. His disciplines, too, are those of the western tradition. But the east was present in his music even before his first trip there. His works, right through his career so far, exist on companionable terms with Mahler's music and with Bali's, with Ravel's and with Japan's, with Messiaen's and with India's, with Stravinsky's and with China's, with America's symphonic tradition and with Tibet's slow melody. Out of all this he is creating, piece by piece, a world of his own."

Olivier Messiaen (Collected Works & an Interview with Claude Samuel)

Average customer rating:

Olivier Messiaen (Collected Works & an Interview with Claude Samuel)
Olivier Messiaen , Pierre Boulez , Marius Constant , Yvonne Loriod , Georges Barboteu , Alain Jacquet , Katia Labeque , Marielle Labeque , Michel Garcin , Guy Deplus , Huguette Fernandez , Jacques Neilz , Marie-Madeleine Petit , Solistes des Choeurs & Orchestre Philharmonique de L'O.R.T.F. , Rachel Yakar , Maria Oran , Marie-Claire Alain , and Groupe Instrumental a Percussion de Strasbourg/Ensemble ARS NOVA
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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