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 |  |  | | | | Track Listings | | | Bassoon Concerto (Lomon) | | | 1 Espressivo | 7:00 | | 2 Rhapsodic | 5:16 | | 3 Scherzo | 4:51 | | 4 Concerto for Autumn Mood (Whipple) | 8:28 | | 5 Night Music (McKinley) | 11:54 | | Enchantments: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Suber) | | | 6 Fandango | 6:40 | | 7 The Enchanted Canyon | 11:28 | | 8 Homecoming | 6:02 | | Total time: | 62:06 |
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| | | | | | MMC New Century - Volume XII | | | Our Price: $9.95  | | | | Item Number: MMC2072 | | Audio Format: DDD | | Genres: Concerto\Orchestral | | | | Description | | Excerpts from the Liner Notes (by Scott Warfield)
Bassoon Concerto
Lomon’s Bassoon Concerto was composed in 1978-79 during breaks from her work as a teacher of piano, theory and solfege. The first movement was composed in August 1978 during a residency at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico, while the second movement was completed in November of that same year at Ossabaw Island Project, an arts colony off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. The third was composed in November-December of 1979, while Lomon was living in Paris.
Concerto for Autumn Mood
James Whipple’s Concerto for Autumn Mood was initially sketched for a college classmate as a piece for bassoon and string quartet. Over time, however, the material expanded into a work for string orchestra with a solo bassoon, and even in its final form, the “Concerto” exists in two distinct versions. In addition to the version for full orchestra heard in this recording, the work also exists in a slightly different configuration for bassoon and piano, in which the keyboard part is not merely a reduction of the orchestral lines. Concerto for Autumn Mood was first performed in 1977 by the Carnegie-Mellon Contemporary Music Ensemble, with Philipp Koval as bassoon soloist and the composer conducting, and the work has been heard frequently since then.
Night Music
This work owes its existence in no small part to the legendary jazz tenor saxophonist Stan Getz. It was Getz who, after having heard some of McKinley’s music in the mid- to late 1980s, approached the composer with an invitation to write a new piece for tenor saxophone and orchestra, which McKinley quickly accepted. Almost immediately it became clear to McKinley that the work would be a dramatic, rhapsodic composition of significant proportions. After consulting with Getz, it was further agreed that the solo part would be fully notated, even as it evoked Getz’s improvisational style. The Tenor Rhapsody for Solo Tenor Sax and Orchestra was completed in April of 1988, and its premiere followed less than two months later on 10 June 1988 in Palo Alto, CA. Getz was the soloist with the Stanford University Symphony Orchestra, with Andor Toth conducting. There is no record that Getz ever played McKinley’s Rhapsody again in public, and less than three years later, on June 6, 1991, the jazz giant lost his battle with cancer.
Enchantments: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Stephen Suber describes his concerto as “a musical response to feelings I associate with the land of my birth, New Mexico, and other important things in my life.” He goes on to say that “With the exception of the second movement, none of the music refers to any particular incident or story, and while I personally associate certain feelings with the music, I have no expectations of how others might perceive the piece or that it will evoke similar emotions.” |
| | | | | | | Reviews | | “This is Volume 12 of MMC’s indispensable anthology of world-premiere recordings of 20th-century North American music. At the core of this new release is a work by the founder of MMC, William Thomas McKinley, one of the few composers who have successfully brought jazz and classical music together, and to such an extent that you can no longer find where on ends and the other begins. ‘Night Music’ is a reworking of the 1988 score ‘Rhapsody for Solo Tenor Sax and Orchestra’ originally intended for legendary saxophonist Stan Getz. The work came late in Getz’s all-too-short life, and McKinley subsequently decided to rewrite the score to take into account the exceptional skills of Michael Rossi, the remarkable soloist in this highly enjoyable performance.”
-Fanfare: David Denton |
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