Composer: Joan Tower, Blair McMillen
Performer: Evelyn Glennie
Orchestra: Albany Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: David Alan Miller
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8559902
Release: 2021
Size: 942 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Strike Zones
02. Small
Still / Rapids
03. I. Still
04. II. Rapids
05. Ivory and Ebony
Joan Tower is widely regarded as one of today’s most important American composers. The works heard here in their world premiere recordings are part of a growing legacy that one pundit has described as “The Power of Tower.” Strike Zones is tailor-made for percussionist Evelyn Glennie’s dazzling technique and impeccable musicianship. The work’s orchestration is crafted to enhance a stage filled with percussion instruments – while in Small they are contained on a single table, the soloist working like a brilliant chef. The piano concerto Still/Rapids was inspired by the glistening beauty and powerful force of water, and Ivory and Ebony, written as a test piece for an international piano competition, is infused with Tower’s “high-energy” signature.