The March 9 world premiere of Fazil Say’s Ana Tanrica (Mother Goddess) commissioned by Florida’s Naples Philharmonic, is “the kind of work that inspires people to commission new music,” writes Harriet Howard Heithaus in Sunday’s (3/11) Naples News (Florida). “It aggregates five … revelatory segments into a multi-course feast. The opening fairly barges in on brass and insistent timpani…. The work takes on a jazz feel…. The violins function as sort of an effects box … evoking a buzz of a flock or hive…. For Say, this weekend brought … the first American performance of his Piano Concerto No. 3 (‘The Silence of Anatolia’) [with] the composer as the guest artist…. [For] Saint-Saens’ Symphony No. 3 (‘Organ Symphony’) [Music Director Andrey] Boreyko and the Naples Philharmonic made the second half a ride that rose off the ground. Boreyko obviously loves this work … and the orchestra responded … with equal enthusiasm. Todd Wilson, curator of the massive E.M. Skinner organ in Cleveland’s Severance Hall … was at home on the Casavant Frères pipe organ at Hayes Hall…. The entire experience … prompted Boreyko say before the concert that he wants to incorporate more pipe organ into the philharmonic’s music. We’re ready for that.”
Posted March 14, 2018
