John Fleming's CD picks
By John Fleming, Times Performing Arts Critic
Published July 15, 2007
Joan Tower
Album: Made in America (Naxos)
In stores: Now
Why we care: Made in America, Tower's fantasy on America the Beautiful, was the most-performed orchestral work by a living American composer in 2006. Commissioned by Ford Motor Co. and a consortium of orchestras, it was heard in all 50 states. (In Florida, the Venice Symphony played it.)
Why we like it: Tower's 13-minute work receives a sumptuous performance by the Nashville Symphony under Leonard Slatkin. Made in America is not difficult, but she keeps things interesting with superbly crafted orchestration and unpredictable tone colors. The CD also includes Tower's propulsive concerto for percussion, Tambor (Spanish for "drum"), and her Concerto for Orchestra.
Reminds us of: Aaron Copland
Download these: Made in America, Tambor
Grade: A-
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Mikko Luoma
Album: Virtuoso Accordion (Bridge)
In stores: Now
Why we care: Luoma, a Finn, provides an entree to contemporary music through a most unlikely virtuoso instrument, the accordion, playing works by such avant-garde exemplars as Salvatore Sciarrino and Magnus Lindberg.
Why we like it: The accordion is amazing in Luoma's hands, wide-ranging, flexible and expressive, like a pipe organ but with a twist of weirdness. It's all a long way from polka music, though Vladimir Zubitsky's Carpathian Suite reflects the accordion's folk origins. Jukka Tiensuu proves to be a master of the instrument with Aufschwung and Zolo.
Reminds us of: The Godfather theme channeled by Alban Berg
Download these: Carpathian Suite, Zolo
Grade: A
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Christopher DeLaurenti
Album: Favorite Intermissions: Music Before and Between Beethoven, Stravinsky, Holst (GD Stereo)
In stores: Now (see www.delaurenti.net)
Why we care: DeLaurenti is a musical trickster who had an inspired, oddball idea. Wearing a leather vest over microphones and a minidisc recorder, he surreptitiously documented symphony and ballet orchestra intermissions. Musicians warming up, chairs scraping, snatches of conversation and other ambient noise combine to create surprisingly suggestive soundscapes.
Why we like it: For a chronic concertgoer, there is something primal about the aural tapestry of scales, trills and bits of melody that orchestra musicians noodle away at during intermission. DeLaurenti, a Seattle-based composer and "phonographer," demonstrates that the soundtrack of our lives includes not just The Planets and Petrushka but also the random sounds before and between them.
Reminds us of: John Cage
Download these: Before Petrushka, SF Variations
Grade: A-
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DVD OF THE WEEK
Benjamin Bagby
DVD: Beowulf (Koch Vision)
Why we care: The roots of storytelling are here. Bagby is a musician who revives the oral tradition by inhabiting the eighth century epic poem Beowulf, recounting it in the original Old English (with subtitles) against a blue backdrop, accompanying himself on six-string harp.
Why we like it: To experience Bagby's telling (and singing) of Beowulf's heroic feats to overcome the monster Grendel is engrossing, once you get into the rhythms of the narrative that he delivers with dramatic flair. Filmed in Sweden in 2006, his performance transports you back to an Anglo-Saxon mead hall in the company of a great bard.
Reminds us of: The Lord of the Rings
Grade: A
John Fleming can be reached at (727) 893-8716 or fleming@sptimes.com.