Customer Reviews

Aaron Jay Kernis: Air; Double Concerto; Lament & Prayer

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wow. Kudos, as always, to Mr. Bell for his superb and heartrending recording of "Air" for violin and orchestra. Those eleven minutes of heaven alone are worth the price of the CD. It's hard to breathe after listening to such great music played by such a great violinist. Isbin and Lin are great together in their jazzy, finger-snapping double concerto. I was a little wary of it when I read the description of tracks 2-4, but it's a fun piece. Kudos also to Pamela Frank for a soulful and searing rendition of Lamentation and Prayer. Beautiful to hear the orchestra and soloist mourn and meditate in unison. This CD is a keeper.

I like "Lament and Prayer" best in this CD. It is a very serious, beautiful piece, which is dedicated "in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII and Holocaust". Pamela Frank, whom this piece was commissioned for, is playing as if praying. The Minnesota Orchestra, especially strings, lead by David Zinman responded very well. In the final minutes, her violin and the orchestra finish in a calm, timeless melody. I was so moved when I actually listened to this piece, played by Pamela Frank, in a concert hall. Air for Violin is also beautiful and serene, but it is a simpler piece. Double Concerto for Violin and Guitar is an interesting piece. The jazz-like first and third movements contrast with the second movement, partly dissonant but richly melodious. Violin and guitar is a very intriguing combination. This Pulitzer prize-winning CD contains masterpieces by Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960).

The Kernis Double Concerto is an original. The style is not at all like that in Mr.Kernis' Colored Field (a concerto for English horn). Colored Field, at times, has a cartoonish quality reminiscent of the music of Carl Stalling, and at other times, has a crag-like, dignified quality of some of the music of Aaron Copland.

The Kernis Double Concerto has a busy, frantic quality. The Double Concerto appears grounded in tonality, but seems to have a bit of Alban Berg sprinkled in it, which adds sonic spice. Moreover, the Double Concerto has an continual alleatory quality to it, thick meandering sounds in the background, somewhat reminiscent of Ives. What is especially surprising in the Double Concerto are the occasional springy, spongey episodes sounding like a college marching band (or 1940s swing band). I had always liked the third movement of the Barber Violin Concerto, with its frantic, busy energy. The Kernis Double Concerto is somewhat similar to Barber Violin Concerto in that both pieces are fast and "happy," but Kernis takes it a few steps further, by adding the Alban Bergesque aleatory quality, and by adding the amusing springy college marching band episodes.

FIVE STARS to the Kernis Double Concerto. Also, FIVE STARS to Kernis' Colored Field with English horn, as recorded by the San Francisco Symphony.

Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960) seems to have a gift of writing music that sounds fresh and modern while at the same time retaining solid enough ties to tonality and tradition to make it accessible to a wide range of listeners. This new Argo release confirms that Kernis is indeed a contemporary composer to be reckoned with.

All three works on this disk are essentially concertos. Air for Violin starts off on a peaceful, pastoral note, but an edge becomes evident as the piece moves along, but things get resolved and the overall impression is one of beauty and contemplative contentment.

The Double Concerto for Violin and Guitar is more complex in structure and emotion, with more moments of tension, but none of the gratuitous noise-making that some folks have come to expect from contemporary music. If this work has a weakness, it is that the guitar has a hard time being heard, and it is hard to think of the violin and guitar as equal partners when the former has so much more a commanding presence than the latter. Still, this is an interesting work, well worth hearing.

Lament and Prayer brings us back to a more contemplative mood. After plenty of expressive playing by both the soloist and the orchestra, the piece ends quietly, as with a sigh.

The quality of the recording is quite good, allowing the music to work its spell. Those looking for contemporary orchestral music of taste and beauty need to audition this disk.

After searching for this CD, found several at Amazon. Amazon would not ship the new CD to Australia. Some of the second-hand ones were exorbitantly priced. The one that I ordered never arrived. At least my credit card was refunded. Eventually purchased the work elsewhere.

The air for violin is incredibly good but the rest I found rather dull to be honest.