Cellist Paul York's 2008 album on the Centaur label, cleverly entitled Cello Vision, portrays the instrument in a variety of different settings, clearly demonstrating its vast versatility. Though all of the works heard here, six in total, were composed in the 21st century, each of them is entirely accessible to listeners and tend to favor lyricism and beauty of tone over pure virtuosity or extended techniques. York's diverse selection of repertoire finds the cello joined by piano (Freund's Toccata for Cello and Piano and ...
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Cellist Paul York's 2008 album on the Centaur label, cleverly entitled Cello Vision, portrays the instrument in a variety of different settings, clearly demonstrating its vast versatility. Though all of the works heard here, six in total, were composed in the 21st century, each of them is entirely accessible to listeners and tend to favor lyricism and beauty of tone over pure virtuosity or extended techniques. York's diverse selection of repertoire finds the cello joined by piano (Freund's Toccata for Cello and Piano and Rouse's Sonata for Cello and Piano), a chorus of seven cellos (Kernis' Ballad for Solo Cello and Seven Cellos), marimba (Speck's Night Moves for Cello and Marimba), wind ensemble (Brink's Open Four), and finally cello solo (Satterwhite's Witness of Time). York does a marvelous job of integrating his instrument's sound into these highly contrasting accompaniments. Perhaps the most intriguing combination of sounds is achieved in Night Moves with the dark, mysterious tone of the marimba...
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