In Thursday’s (9/24) Detroit Free Press, Mark Stryker writes, “Several fascinating threads come together in this week’s Detroit Symphony Orchestra concerts: new music by intriguing Russian-born composer Alla Borzova, a major symphony by Rachmaninoff that will morph into the first recording of the DSO and music director Leonard Slatkin for the Naxos label and an overdue DSO debut by guitarist Sharon Isbin. Slatkin introduced Borzova to local audiences last season, giving the first complete performances of the composer’s ‘Songs for Lada,’ a 40-minute cantata steeped in Belarusian folklore complete with folk instruments and costumed soloists.… This week, Slatkin and the DSO tackle Borzova’s ‘To the New World.’ She says the piece describes the journey of an imaginary ship bringing Irish, German, Italian, Jewish, African, Latin American and Chinese immigrants to the United States in the mid-19th Century. On another front, Slatkin and the DSO dig into Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, whose lush textures, aching melodies and monumental vistas ask a lot from both conductor and players. The performances will be recorded and released this winter as the start of a Slatkin-DSO Rachmaninoff series for Naxos. Incidentally, the orchestra will eventually release the Borzova works on a Naxos disc as well.”
Posted September 24, 2009
