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Good fortune allowed me to be one of those present in Philadelphia's Academy of Music on Saturday 6 January 1996. The program consisted of three new works performed by Yo-Yo Ma, David Zinman, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The hall was packed-even though the repertory was unfamiliar to the audience, getting to the hall required a trek through sleet and bitter winds, and broadcasts had warned of the blizzard about to bury the city under record amounts of snow. Inside the hall we were warm.

Sony Classical, in a release engineered by Richard King and recorded in Giandomenico Studios in New Jersey, makes the musical experience of that occasion available to all. The recording does remarkable justice to the rich tone of Yo-Yo Ma and to the depth and power of the Philadelphia Orchestra. In the liner notes, as in the programs for that evening's concert, Paul J. Horsley provides exceptionally informative commentary.

Composers and weather demanded extraordinary efforts from the Philadelphia players and the musicians delivered. The percussion section in particular gets a far more demanding workout than what a run-of-the-mill cello concerto requires; Rouse even asks them to wield the big hammer they use for Mahler's Sixth. The players clearly relished this chance to show what they can do. Fortunately for the rest of us, the Sony engineers knew exactly how to mike and mix all this. The result is one of the finest recorded performances this orchestra has ever produced.

The Danielpour and Rouse concertos are Romantic in idiom with a sure sense of the dramatic. Those familiar with the works of Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, Strauss, Shostakovich, and Barber will at once feel at home. Kirchner's piece is of more classical proportions even as its idiom stretches tonality further. All three works require an orchestra of huge proportions to present a kaleidoscopic range of textures, colors, and effects.

Richard Danielpour's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra is performed as four connected sections. The sections, entitled "Invocation (Arioso)" "Profanation (Dance)" "Soliloquy (Cadenza)" and "Prayer and Lamentation (Hymn)", follow a sequence of events in a dream image. First, an oracle appears to a crowd and delivers bad news. Next, the listeners, infuriated, hurl accusations and pronounce a death sentence upon the oracle. A reflection on the tragedy follows and leads to the offering of a final hymn. In the music this hymn, sounded by four cellos, attempts to rise above the angry outbursts that continue in the orchestra. Danielpour's music throughout gives dramatic voice to conflicts that flare into the open and the opposing forces that contend with one another in turbulent episodes. The melodies possess a haunting vocal quality one does not soon forget. The main theme, for example, is an inflected descending line that simultaneously evokes a grace coming down, a tragic fall, and melancholy acceptance.

Leon Kirchner's Music for Cello and Orchestra consists of a single movement lasting a little over fifteen minutes. Here the cello plays lyrical figures suggestive more of a serenade than an opera or symphony. The orchestra shifts through multi-hued harmonies and timbres in gestures of fluid, kaleidoscopic variety supported by solid structural logic.

Christopher Rouse's Violoncello Concerto takes as its theme the human consciousness of mortality. This work is cast in two large movements. Each pits the songfulness and passion of soloist and orchestra against one other, and both against the chilling rattle of the percussion. Musical quotes of Claudio Monteverdi and William Schuman offer a poignant subtext. The piece ends as it must, with a phase that grabs you by the throat. Rouse, a native of Baltimore, quotes Edgar Allan Poe in the pages of his score: "Out--out are the lights--out all! / And over each quivering form, / The curtain, a funeral pall, / Comes down with the rush of a storm, / And the angels, all pallid and wan, / Uprising, unveiling, affirm / That the play is the tragedy 'Man,' / And its hero the Conqueror Worm."

A long silence preceded the ovation in Philadelphia.

This disk is a gem. If you love the cello, the orchestra, American music--for that metter, if you love life and your own place in history--don't hesitate. This experience belongs to you.

Ma plays with his usual passion and virtuosity and is matched by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Zinman's direction. These are dark, beautiful meditations on life and loss. Rouse's Violincello in particular builds to a shattering climax. Not pleasant background music, these pieces demand the listener's full attention. I had the good fortune to hear Ma perform Danielpour's piece at its premiere performances with the San Francisco Symphony. The recording captures all the energy and emotion of that thrilling experience.

I bought this CD because the advertising on the shrink wrap said that it had won three Grammys, including best classical album. I'm very picky about new music and don't often like "far out" stuff. However, this was amazing music. The Danielpour is very traditional and melodic; I can't see anyone having problems with this one. The Kirchner was more dissonant but still seemed very romantic to me. The Rouse was the most harrowing but will perhaps stay with me the longest - very dark but ultimately very moving. Yo-Yo Ma plays these three concertos he commissioned brilliantly. This is a wonderful recording of new music that is both good and accessible.

I suppose some people can't stand music that doesn't use a profusion of triads (see the reviewer below), but for those who care about the music of our time, I could say that this is quite a wonderful CD. Whether these works will survive the next 100 years is almost irrelevant -- they are eloquent, well crafted, and beautiful works for cello and orchestra. Danielpour's concerto is brilliant, gutsy, perhaps a tad bit superficial and glitzy, but satisfying overall. Rouse's concerto is troubling and intense, with a very moving finale. Kirchner's wonderful work (my personal favorite) moves from angst to affirmation, sounding a bit like Berg and Mahler in some places (sometimes I wonder whether Kirchner was deliberately referring to Mahler in some motives), but still very convincing and powerful. Ma, Zinman, and the Philadelphia Orchestra are ideal interpreters of this music -- all are virtuosi with their souls and hearts in the right places. Bravo for their championing of modern music! I invite anyone with truly open ears to give the works on this CD a try.

Although hardly a "classical novice" (I just happened to like the sound), anything but, I am, myself, partial to 20th century music; however, I cannot agree more with Mr. Sobel, below, in his estimation of these pieces, e.g. grating, unmusical and pretentious. I give Ma credit for attempting to establish them musically, but there's not much success that I can hear.

As well, I hardly think it necessary for reviewer, S. Molman, also below, to resort to cheap musical backstabbing.

I would take Korngold's music over this tripe ANYDAY of the week, and twice on Sunday. (Maybe not Goldmark, though.) Maybe S. Molman should follow his own directive and give Korngold a listen.

Opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. No need to get personal.

Yo-Yo Ma's performances of these three cello concerti are extraordinary, filled with sizzling pyrotechnics on his cello. Yet they are also very graceful, warm performances. All three scores are meditations on death and dying. I don't know whether these works will become part of the classical music canon, but in Ma's hands they are treated with much reverence. Under David Zinman's baton, the Philadelphia Orchestra gives Ma ample support in exquisite performances of their own which never detract from Ma's brilliant playing. It's truly amazing that such wonderful music was played and recorded around the time of a raging snowstorm.

I will concentrate my review on the Danielpour, one of the most exciting, devastating and emotional music I have ever heard. It'll make you want to dance, sing, cry and air conduct in a total frenzy. The experience will leave you exhausted! To me, David Zinman is taking his place in the very top echelon of conductors, living or dead. He knows how to get to the emotion of the music, and isn't that what it's all about? The playing of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Zinman is simply stupendous.

Yo Yo Ma's contribution is an organic part of the piece; his playing never dominates the central stage, yet it is central and unifying. But this is really a piece written for orchestra, and as such must take its place among the great pieces of the repertoire.

The Kirchner and Rouse are played with the same level of excellence.

The recorded sound is as natural as I've heard from CD and is without digital harshness. In fact, it lets you forget that you're listening to a CD altogether. My highest recommendation!

The Danielpour work is very dramatic; at times it sounds like a film score by Bernard Herrmann. There is plenty of darkness and conflict and is a very powerful and dynamic piece. The Kirchner work is very energetic and regal - again, like a film score; when talking with Richard Danielpour in Atlanta he praised the Kirchner work. The Rouse work is more dissonant and haunting than the other works and evokes a sense of loss and mourning. The performances are exceptional. A great recording of three new contributions to the cello repetoire.

I bought this CD for the Rouse concerto, as he's one of the best composers working today. I wasn't disappointed - this is a powerful, harrowing piece about death and dying. But the other pieces are strong, too. The Danielpour is perhaps the most conservative, and it shouldn't cause ANYONE any listening problems. (I can't believe some of the bad reviews below. The three works on this disc couldn't be more different!) The Kirchner comes from the twelve-tone tradition but it ends up dissolving into a beautiful, Mahlerian ending. The performerances by Yo-Yo Ma are unbelieveable. This is a CD to be avoided only by dyed-in-the-wool twentieth century music haters. For the rest of us, it's an amazing recording.

It is always nice to see a major label offering contemporary music, even if the compositions on this disc are fairly weak. The Rouse is the weakest piece: loosely organized, with borrowings from just about any and all 20th Century composers, even Joaquin Rodrigo!! Mercy!! The Kirchner is not bad, but it is not one of his more inspired pieces and borrows a little too much from Bartok. The Danielpour is the strongest work on this disc. It is the most tautly organized, the best orchestrated, and the most moving. This is the first composition by Danielpour I have heard that is not totally synthetic and derivative. Any listener who appreciates 20th Century music should buy this intriguing disc. It will provide hours of stimulation and enjoyment.