Higdon: The Singing Rooms
Jennifer Koh, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Robert Spano
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Jennifer Koh, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Robert Spano
Description
The main feature of this CD is the world premiere recording of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon's new violin concerto with chorus entitled "The Singing Rooms". Also receiving its debut on disc is Alvin Singleton's "PraiseMaker" for chorus and orchestra, and the album concludes with Scriabin's exotic and powerful "Poem of Ecstasy". The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are conducted by Robert Spano.
American composer Jennifer Higdon was born in 1962, and since the 2002 premiere of her Concerto for Orchestra has been much in demand. The piece was recorded on Telarc, by Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. "The Singing Rooms", a violin concerto with an equally important part for chorus, was sparked by a request from violinist Jennifer Koh, for whom Higdon had previously composed a sonata with piano called String Poetic in 2006. The piece is part of a commissioning consortium with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra. For the poems Higdon turned to a colleague, Jeanne Minahan, who teaches creative writing and literature at the Curtis Institute.
American composer Alvin Singleton has resided in Atlanta since 1985, when at Robert Shaw's request he became Composer-in-Residence of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for three years [1985-88]. "PraiseMaker" was commissioned by the Cincinnati May Festival in celebration of its 125th anniversary. James Conlon conducted the first performance on May 22, 1998, with the Festival Chorus and Orchestra. Writing for this important choral festival, the composer requested an original text from Susan Kouguell, with whom he previously collaborated on The World Is Here with Me for Spelman College.
Alexander Scriabin's symphonic work "The Poem of Ecstasy" began about 1903 as a long prose poem that Scriabin felt would interpret his philosophy to a world hungry for enlightenment. The work is in one long movement, reflecting a succession of emotions from yearning, to striving, and finally fulfilment.
Personnel: Jennifer Koh (violin), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Robert Spano (conductor)
Tracklisting
Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra & Erich Kunzel
Yoel Levi & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Jacques Loussier Trio
Lang Lang
Andre Previn & Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra & Erich Kunzel
Shunske Sato & Shuann Chai
Irvine Arditti, Gianluca Pirisi, Roberta Pandolfi
Bruce Wolosoff
Charles Owen
Andre Previn/arturo Bendetti Michelangeli
ELISION Ensemble
The Royal Wind Music
Jonatan Alvarado; Ariel Abramovich