New Seasons: Glass, Kancheli, Part & Umebayashi
Gidon Kremer & Kremerata Baltica
New Seasons: Glass, Kancheli, Part & Umebayashi
Gidon Kremer & Kremerata Baltica
Gidon Kremer returns to the Yellow label after more than a decade with the brand new reference recording of Philip Glass’ Second Violin Concerto - “The American Seasons”, hs first solo concerto album in many years.The first Glass Violin Concerto, performed by Kremer and released by DG in 1993, has achieved cult status and shipped close to 90k units (in Germany alone over 25k copies) - and has become a staple of DG’s contemporary music catalogue.
Now, this extraordinary follow-up Concerto is at the heart of the repertoire of the Kremerata Baltica. Performed for the first time in San José, Costa Rica with Gidon Kremer as soloist in August 2013, it will be toured later in the year - info to follow shortly.
The album is completed by works of Arvo Pärt and Giya Kancheli - two composers both closely associated with Gidon Kremer, and who are both set to celebrate milestone 80th birthdays this year. Gidon has also added the short piece by the well-known Japanese film composer Shigeru Umebayashi as a tribute to his Japanese friends.
Four highly regarded visual artists and film maker have created four different films for each of the American Seasons that are projected to screens during concert performances.
Track listing:
Glass, P: Violin Concerto No. 2 ‘The American Four Seasons’
Gidon Kremer (violin)
Kancheli: Ex contrario
Pärt: Estonian Lullaby for female choir and string orchestra
Umebayashi: Yumeji’s Theme
Review
Kate Rockstrom
‘We often look at the scores of contemporary music with some scepticism. Many people (including musicians) are already turned off by the word “contemporary”. They associate it with something purely “intellectual” regarding it as music to be “understood” because of the excessive sophistication and demands of the scores and sounds. Other people (snobs?) consider most of the tonal scores created in the 20th and 21st centuries to be a betrayal of New Music.’ So says Gidon Kremer, the brains and genius behind this recording, New Seasons. Which means, as musicians, we can’t win! So what Kremer did was choose music that had meaning to him, it didn’t matter what, it just had to evoke an emotional response in him and wow, did he choose some fabulous pieces.
Mostly minimalist in style, every single note has thought behind it. There’s not a dud to be heard. Kremer has aimed for music that will resonate with everyone, and I think he’s done a marvellous job. This recording will push, without insulting, the more traditional listeners and entrance those with an ear to the more modern sound: it’s there in the harmonies, the rhythm and even the orchestration itself, at times. Soulful without being soppy, this is a true celebration of the modern art of classical music.
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