Customer Reviews

Dorman: Concertos for Mandolin, Piccolo, Piano and Concerto Grosso

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

 

 

I believe that Avner Dorman is the one of the most talented composers of our time; his "Concertos for Mandolin, Piccolo, Piano and Concerto Grosso" is yet another, very strong proof of it.

One can immediately tell that the composer is "a citizen of the world"; his unique approach to music shows a very deep understanding of the World's musical tradition. Dorman has his own way of merging and incorporating different themes into deeply sophisticated, never "generic" always lively structures. In my opinion he represents a new generation of young, unpretentious, highly educated composers, who are free of musical prejudice and have immense respect for a true virtuosity in music on every stage of its creation.

The concertos are composed to awe; they bring out the best of the soloists. Each concerto is vibrant, full of life but crafted with unprecedented intellectual precision. I highly recommend this record and can not wait for more of Avner Dorman in the future.

The "global village" is the new reality. Musicians of one land continually borrow and incorporate musics of another region...and sometimes of another era. The modern classical composer is no different. Jazz and nonindigenous ethnic idioms have found their way into the compositions of Lou Harrison, Nikolai Kapustin, Derek Bremel, and Osvaldo Golijov, for instance, and we recall Stravinky's neo-romanticism. Avner Dorman loves the classical structure of the Baroque, but he has a feeling for various ethnic sounds, particularly Mediterranean and Near Eastern. This recording of concerti is such an odd duck. The first, a mandolin concerto does not sound remotely like Vivaldi's; indeed, it is dark, quiet, brooding, more noir, with an ominous bass pulse in its last movement. The piccolo concerto, with piano, on the other hand, is lively, with birdlike thrills and is more suggestive of high Baroque. Dorman thinks that this music suggests the Middle East or Mediterranean, but I hear in the first movement Piazzolla's new tango in its rhythmic chords. The second movement is a shepherd's romance; the final movement is a bright, wild dance. The concerto grosso, featuring harpsichord, violin, viola, and cello, may have an underpinning of Handel and Vivaldi, but it sometimes seems East European in outlook and in its contemplative minimalism. The final work, a piano concerto is the earliest, written with Dorman was but 19 years old; it is romantic, jazzy, and solidly classical. In summary, this album of neo-baroque explorations and ethnic borrowings is interesting, unusual, and very accessible, but I feel that Avner Dorman is only in his early period of composing and may likely push beyond these fusions.

Dr. Bibel's 4-star review is spot-on, but I add the 5th star. This music is:

Contemporary, but firmly planted in the baroque era.

Challenging but not assaulting or confusing.

Crisply recorded and performed.

The piano concerto has the elegant, child-like sophistication of Ravel or Poulenc. It is the most fully melodic, though all the works have a melodic feel. (Most contemporary "melodic" music seems either simplistic or merely built on friendly intervals; but full and uniquely memorable melodies seem to have dried up after Barber and Shostakovich. Exceptions, of course.)

There is not one moment of boredom in these four concertos. They each have three movements and are 15 to 17 minutes long. They are all worthy of being heard more than once, and too interesting to be used as background music (as many baroque concertos can).

I will get Avner's Naxos CD of piano music soon, based on my enjoyment of these concertos.

A piece of music to be explored and rediscovered each time it's listen to.....Wow! Now, when is Spice, Perfumes, Toxins going to be recorded?

Not a huge fan of the genre, but so well done, I became one. Breath of fresh air that breaks up my usual fare.