“Ludovic Morlot is, as they say, having a moment. A former assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Morlot, 40, is now in his third season as music director of the Seattle Symphony. Two recent events show an affiliation that’s firing on all cylinders,” writes David Weininger in Friday’s (5/30) Boston Globe. “Earlier this month, he brought the Seattle to Carnegie Hall for the final iteration of Spring for Music, a crusading series that showcased inventive orchestral programming. Leading off the concert was ‘Become Ocean’ by the Alaska-based composer John Luther Adams … [which] won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for music; predictably, a large audience turned up at Carnegie for its New York premiere. … One can also sample the fruits of the Morlot-Seattle partnership in three inaugural releases from the orchestra’s newly launched record label, Seattle Symphony Media. The batch is smartly curated…. Most rewarding is an all-Dutilleux release…. The performances are all fantastic … but hits paydirt with the world-premiere recording of Elliott Carter’s ‘Instances,’ one of the late composer’s final works. Carter dedicated the 2012 score to Morlot.… Even by the standard of Carter’s late works, the eight-minute ‘Instances’ achieves new levels of austere, transparent beauty.” The Seattle Symphony hosts the League of American Orchestras’ National Conference starting next week.
Posted May 30, 2014
