Contemporary Works For Orchestra
Navona, 2020
8/10
Listen to Contemporary Works For Orchestra
In this installment of the Prisma series, 7 conductors are highlighted as their unique contemporary orchestral sounds are presented in a symphonic display of unparalleled skill and timeless delivery.
“Ascension”, by Ahmed Alabaca, starts the album with expressive clarinet from Karel Dohnal as the strings highlight the elegant mood with a cinematic quality, and Sarah Wallin Huff’s “The Dark Glass Sinfonia” follows with a moving and mysterious delivery that builds into soaring highs of cascading beauty while also retreating to low ebbs of calm.
Deeper into the listen, “Spring Fantasy” (Raisa Orshansky) plucks and flows with an emotive aspect to its sublime beauty, while “Songs Of The Seasons” brings us a chapter for each season, where the mood shifts from contemplative to hopeful and then shining bright in the Craig Morris masterpiece.
At the end, Scott Brickman’s “Restoration” emits a majestic atmosphere that’s both playful and cautious, and “Prelude & Fugue” exits the listen with a manipulation of space and tension in the unpredictable closer where Audun G. Vassdal shows us impressive song craft.
Quite possibly the best offering yet among the Prisma albums, the artistic and powerful pieces here truly think in original ways of what a symphony orchestra is capable of, and we’re all better off for it.
Travels well with: Anne Neikirk- Spring Shadows; Pete Greve- The Palace Of The Dreamking And Other Works