In Tuesday’s (1/8) San Francisco Classical Voice, Allan Kozinn writes about “several new releases offering works by composers born in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s…. River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) … has devoted its debut recording, Visions Take Flight … to six recent neo-Romantic scores. They are all steeped in tonality…. Anthony DiLorenzo … has two works in this set, Jabberwocky (2014) and Anthem of Hope: Houston Strong (2017), the latter a paean to ROCO’s hometown, commissioned by the group in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey…. Derek Bermel … contributed one of the set’s strongest works, Murmurations (2015) … inspired by a similarity Bermel sees between the kind of interplay typical in string orchestra pieces, and flocks of birds swirling in the sky…. Rivaling the Bermel as the set’s most striking work is Teen Murti (2013) by Reena Esmail.” Also on the ROCO recording are works by Marcus Maroney and Karim Al-Zand. The article also discusses recordings of works by Dmitri Tymoczko, performed by a variety of artists, and by Lansing McLoskey, performed by the new-music choir The Crossing.
Posted January 10, 2019
