THREE AMERICANS: HIGDON, BARBER, HARLIN

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

American Rapture, a new album by AZICA RECORDS features three works by American composers of three generations.

Jennifer Higdon’s Harp Concerto, commissioned by and written for the protean Yolanda Kondonassis affords the soloist innumerable opportunities to shine while holding her own against the massive sound of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra by the use of a sound-enhancing device that allows the harp to play not merely as a purveyor of delicate sounds but as a potent, rhythmically active member of the ensemble.

Crafted in four movements, compelling in its diversity of melodic and rhythmic uses of the harp, the work exemplifies Higdon’s gift for instrumental inventiveness and melodic lyricism. Kondonassis shines in this performance, once more establishing herself as the foremost harpist in the concert world of today.

Samuel Barber’s Symphony no. 1 dates back to 1939, when the 29-year old composer was making himself known as a gifted young man to be taken notice of. The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and its gifted maestro Ward Stare deliver an assured, committed reading of this remarkable work.

Patrick Harlin’s remarkably interesting short sonic poem Rapture was inspired by James Tabor’s book Blind Descent, an account of the 2007 descent by a team of speleologists and scientists into the deepest cave on earth in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

The composer depicts through moments of stasis followed by obstinately rhythmic passages and descending scales the impact on circadian rhythms that living for extended periods of time can bring about: a mixture of elation (rapture) and disorientation and depression. The work, authoritatively helmed by Ward Stare builds to a deafening climax that brings itself and the album to a felicitous ending.

Rafael de Acha
http://www.RafaelMusicNotes.com

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”