Adele Anthony, Ulster Orchestra; Takuo Yuasa - Philip Glass: Violin Concerto; Prelude and Dance from Akhnaten; Company (2000)

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Adele Anthony, Ulster Orchestra; Takuo Yuasa - Philip Glass: Violin Concerto; Prelude and Dance from Akhnaten; Company (2000)

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Adele Anthony, Ulster Orchestra; Takuo Yuasa - Philip Glass: Violin Concerto; Prelude and Dance from Akhnaten; Company (2000)

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Naxos’ exciting and important American Classics series now includes music of the present day, in this case three recent works by Philip Glass. The Violin Concerto, a work that (surprisingly) adheres to classical conventions, lures us in with beautiful, seductive harmonies. Glass relies both on his trademark arpeggiated technique (sounding in the first movement somewhat like Vivaldi’s “Winter” concerto) and on his favorite harmonic progressions to suggest a sustained melodic line. In the first two movements Glass’ carefully timed harmonic and rhythmic shifts keep you in a happy daze. He breaks the mood in the finale, however, leaving the soloist to practice arpeggios at length until the quiet, serene coda steals in. Adele Anthony, who plays with the kind of skill and grace we would expect in a Mozart concerto, brings off Glass’ work with consummate, convincing musicianship. Company (music for Becket’s prose) for string orchestra is in four movements, characterized by stimulating changes in time signature and rhythm. The Prelude and Dance from Akhnaten, Glass’ third opera, sound exceedingly repetitious without the opera’s spoken dramatic narrative, but of course, this won’t bother committed Glass fans who will find much to cherish in this recording. Newcomers, too, will enjoy this tuneful if unchallenging music, which benefits from the characterful playing of the Ulster Orchestra under Takuo Yuasa’s keen leadership. The sound is excellent. Another home-run from Naxos.

Review by Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

This is a very useful CD. A super-budget coupling of Glass' popular Violin Concerto with two works of the earlier part of the 1980s admirably fills a gap in the catalogue. Indeed, despite being placed second in the running order, the Concerto gets star billing on the CD cover. It was premiered on April 5th, 1987 in New York, the soloist on that occasion being Paul Zukofsky. The young Australian violinist on the present recording, Adele Anthony, comes up against both Gidon Kremer and Robert McDuffie on rival labels (DG and Telarc respectively), and emerges none the worse for it. Her tone is sweet and she has a winning way with the many lyrical passages. Only occasionally in the typically minimalist arpeggiations does her tuning suffer, but her sense of rhythm is robust and the whole is characterised by a most captivating sense of determination. Aided and abetted superbly by the Ulster Orchestra under the Japanese conductor Takuo Yuasa, the sense of controlled inevitability in the powerful momentum of the first movement is gripping. Listen to (and enjoy) the intimate delicacy of the second movement, in which Anthony's phrasing is most touching. Throughout Glass explores the possibilities of what and orchestra can do for his strain of minimalism.

The programming of this CD is commendable. Whilst McDuffie offers the John Adams Violin Concerto and Kremer gives Schnittke's Fifth Concerto Grosso, Naxos stays with Glass. 'Company' is a set of movements from Glass' score to Fred Neumann's adaptation of Beckett's prose text mounted in New York in 1983, which makes it contemporary with 'Akhnaten'. In this string orchestra version (played by solo instruments it becomes the Second String Quartet), it sounds slightly cumbersome. The final items on the disc, the two excerpts from 'Akhnaten', are made of sterner stuff. At over twelve minutes long the Prelude has the space to exert its darkly hypnotic power, and the Dance from Act 2 Scene 3 is positively sensuous. I hope these two snippets are sufficient to send people scurrying for a complete set of the opera.

Tim Handley's engineering is exemplary throughout.

Review by Colin Clarke, MusicWeb-International.com

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Adele Anthony, Ulster Orchestra; Takuo Yuasa - Philip Glass: Violin Concerto; Prelude and Dance from Akhnaten; Company (2000)

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×

Adele Anthony, Ulster Orchestra; Takuo Yuasa - Philip Glass: Violin Concerto; Prelude and Dance from Akhnaten; Company (2000)

Close