Conductor Pekka Kuusisto indicates in a note to this PentaTone release that his musical education "did not include works by American composers"; it thus certainly did not touch on Philip Glass and Nico Muhly. It is debatable whether Kuusisto and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra deliver a Nordic-flavored performance here; neither Glass nor Muhly is really susceptible to national evocations. One can make a good case, though, that Kuusisto's approach to these works is unusually lively; this could be due to his recent ascent of ...
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Conductor Pekka Kuusisto indicates in a note to this PentaTone release that his musical education "did not include works by American composers"; it thus certainly did not touch on Philip Glass and Nico Muhly. It is debatable whether Kuusisto and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra deliver a Nordic-flavored performance here; neither Glass nor Muhly is really susceptible to national evocations. One can make a good case, though, that Kuusisto's approach to these works is unusually lively; this could be due to his recent ascent of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra podium or to his outsider status vis-à-vis the music, or both. The pairing of Muhly and Glass is fresh and intelligent. Despite the fact that the two composers are friends, Muhly is less often programmed with Glass than with contemporary composers of a more formal ilk, and the works on this album have a lot to say to one another. The opening Shrink, with its three movements titled "Ninths," "Sixths," and "Turns," repeats figures and intervals in a very...
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Add this copy of First Light to cart. $29.05, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Pentatone.
