VIOLIN CONCERTO
Gian Carlo Menotti
Jennifer Koh, violin
Spoleto Festival Orchestra/Hickox
Chandos CHAN 9979
Gian Carlo Menotti's lyrical VIOLIN CONCERTO
[is] one of his most popular instrumental
works…Hickox draws from the Festival
Orchestra [a] warmly persuasive reading...[in
a] powerfully convincing committed
performance....The vigorous finale features a
jaunty main theme and ends with virtuoso
fireworks rounding off a piece that deserves
resurrecting not just on disc but in the
concert-hall too.
The young composer writes with a sure
hand…The brilliance of the work seldom
diminishes and its texture, though cast in a
modern mold, is soft and warm.
- Alice Eversman, News of Music,
Washington Post
FALL AND RESURRECTION
John Tavener
Patricia Rozario, soprano;
Michael Chance, countertenor
Martyn Hill, tenor; Stephen Richardson, bass
BBC Singers
St. Paul's Cathedral Choir
City of London Sinfonia/Hickox
Etcetera DVD KTCD 109
This could be called Tavener's Creation, an
oratorio-like account of the Biblical tale
beginning with the representation of
primordial Chaos. It takes the story much
further than Haydn....But, like Haydn's, this
is a warmly mature work, epitomizing its
composer's style and personality....Tavener's
richly exotic textures are beautifully evoked
by Hickox and his forces....If you like
Tavener, you need not hesitate.
These excerpts are just a small taste of the
new 2006 Gramophone Classical Good CD & DVD
Guide. Edited by contemporary music scholar
David Roberts and distributed by the Music
Sales Group, this 19th edition of the Guide
(initially published in 1923) remains an
essential listening reference for music
lovers. Compiled from "Gramophone Magazine,"
the Guide features over 3500 up-to-date
reviews of CDs and DVDs (along with alternate
recommendations), as well as a host of extras
that appeal to the new listener as well as
the seasoned audiophile. New this year is a
step-by-step guide to downloading MP3 files,
which joins the Guide's critically praised
Suggested Basic Library listing; music
history review; composer biographies (drawn
from Grove's Concise Dictionary of Music),
and a ratings system for recommended
repertoire and performances of exceptional
distinction.
