JoAnn Falletta's fifth Naxos album introducing the music of American composer Kenneth Fuchs consists of three concertos and a song cycle, showing aspects of his work in contrast with the previous orchestral releases. Where Fuchs has capitalized on vernacular style in his American Rhapsody, Discover the Wild, An American Place, and Quiet in the Land, this program is somewhat more abstract in concept and mostly focused on virtuosity in its own right, instead of evoking mid-20th century Americana. To be sure, the rural ...
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JoAnn Falletta's fifth Naxos album introducing the music of American composer Kenneth Fuchs consists of three concertos and a song cycle, showing aspects of his work in contrast with the previous orchestral releases. Where Fuchs has capitalized on vernacular style in his American Rhapsody, Discover the Wild, An American Place, and Quiet in the Land, this program is somewhat more abstract in concept and mostly focused on virtuosity in its own right, instead of evoking mid-20th century Americana. To be sure, the rural lyricism and rugged rhythms of Copland are never far from Fuchs' imagination, but the focus is on abstract art in the Piano Concerto, "Spiritualist" (after three paintings by Helen Frankenthaler), or more general imagery, such as Glacier (concerto for electric guitar and orchestra), and Rush (concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra), all of which explore the technical possibilities of their solo instruments, set against colorful orchestral accompaniment. Even the Poems of Life (twelve...
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