“The ambitions and hard work of the National Orchestral Institute, the training program for young musicians at the University of Maryland, continue to pay dividends,” writes Charles T. Downey in the Washington Post on Sunday (6/14). The concert by NOI’s National Festival Orchestra “was the first to be recorded in a new series for the Naxos Label…. Guest conductor David Alan Miller, who has long championed the music of Michael Torke, opened with that composer’s ‘Bright Blue Music,’ an overture-length work of bold, ecstatic energy that showcased his ensemble’s vast sound…Miller and the musicians shaped the work effectively around several thrilling climax points.” Following this with Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite, the musicians “made it brim with optimism, although the exposed woodwind solos and multimetric dance rhythms in the fourth and fifth movements are hardly child’s play.” The orchestra delivered an “intense, polished rendition” of John Corigliano’s first symphony, “Of Rage and Remembrance. “The third movement was somber and ardent, led by beautiful cello solos and the unforgettable rumble of the contrabass clarinet at one point.”
Posted June 17, 2015
