Composer: Kati Ilona Agócs, Lou Harrison, Robert Xavier Rodríguez
Performer: Nicholas Kitchen, New England Conservatory Percussion Ensemble
Conductor: Frank Epstein
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8574212
Release: 2022
Size: 609 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Rodriguez: Xochiquetzal for Violin & Percussion Orchestra
01. I. Xochiquetzal and Her Retinue of Hummingbirds
02. II. Xochiquetzal’s Love Spell
03. III. Xochiquetzal’s Husband, Tlaloc, God of Thunder and Rain
04. IV. Xochiquetzal’s Tears of Yellow Marigolds
05. V. Xochiquetzal’s Gifts of Music and Dance
Harrison: Concerto for Violin & Percussion Orchestra
06. I. Allegro, maestoso
07. II. Largo, cantabile
08. III. Allegro, vigoroso, poco presto
Agócs: Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra
09. I. Incantata
10. II. Inquieto
11. III. Maestoso
12. IV. Brioso – Cantabile
The unique instrumentation of the three works in this album was pioneered by the innovative Lou Harrison, whose 1959 Violin Concerto encapsulates his culturally wide-ranging aesthetic. More conventional instruments work alongside calibrated extras such as wash tubs and flowerpots in a work of colour, languorous elegance and kinetic energy. The companion works were composed in its honour: Robert Xavier Rodríguez’s Xochiquetzal evokes the ancient Mayan world in imaginary folk music to form a synthesis of time periods and cultures, while the economical serenity of Kati Agócs’s Concerto also includes bitonal effects and zesty syncopation.