Notes and Editorial Reviews
Michael Daugherty is a wonderful composer, and these three pieces make splendid listening. Fire and Blood is a violin concerto, and a damn fine one. Violin concertos are exceptionally difficult to write, especially in balancing the soloist against a large modern orchestra. Daugherty handles the challenge with aplomb. In the first movement, for example, he keeps the accompaniment light but colorful. Sounds that come across as hackneyed in the hands of other composers, such as harp glissandos or little glockenspiel accents, here sound freshly imagined, while the solo writing offers much that is genuinely lyrical and beautiful. Ida Kavafian puts plenty of heart into her playing, really digging into the
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tunes while making light of the technical difficulties.
Raise the Roof, for timpani and orchestra, does exactly what the title promises, but once again the music never sounds gimmicky. MotorCity Triptych features the orchestra's fine brass section: trumpet in the second movement and three trombones in the third. Daugherty's style mixes popular music idioms with traditional classical forms with complete naturalness. You never feel that he's trying too hard, or merely being trendy. Neeme Järvi and the band make exactly the bold, glittering sounds that the music requires, and I can only wonder why a disc that was recorded between 2001 and 2003 is only being issued now. Great sonics too.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
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Works on This Recording
1.
Fire and Blood by Michael Daugherty
Performer:
Ida Kavafian (Violin)
Conductor:
Neeme Järvi
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
2.
MotorCity Triptych by Michael Daugherty
Performer:
Randall Hawes (Trombone),
Michael Becker (Trombone),
Kenneth Thompkins (Trombone)
Conductor:
Neeme Järvi
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
3.
Raise the Roof by Michael Daugherty
Conductor:
Neeme Järvi
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 2007
Sound Samples
Fire and Blood: I. Volcano
Fire and Blood: II. River Rouge
Fire and Blood: III. Assembly Line
MotorCity Triptych: I. Motown Mondays
MotorCity Triptych: II. Pedal-to-the-Metal
MotorCity Triptych: III. Rosa Parks Boulevard
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