Customer Reviews

Steven R. Gerber: Cello Concerto; Violin Concerto; Serenade for String Orchestra

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

 

 

What a surprise! This is really moving music, poignant and beautifully sad at moments. If you like the Barber violin concerto, the Gerber violin concerto has put just a little more vinegar into the mix making it, I think, even a bit better. You also hear suggestions of other famous violin concertos, Brahms, Sibelius, Shostakovich, but no quotes and not in ironic "quotation marks" either, but really just as something you and the composer share as you listen to this new violin concerto. The soloist is terrific, playing what must be difficult passages with great flair and personality. The orchestra is perfectly good, though at one moment I wished it had more "Philadelphia smoothness." An unexpected treasure! I thought Classical Music was supposed to be going into decline, at least in the non-opera departments. It is wonderful to have a new violin concerto that is as emotionally involving as some of the great famous ones of the past.

This CD is masterful in its performance. A must have for any serious classical music buff.

These concertos are both run of the mill neo romantic concertos, with not much new to say. They are however good examples of neo-Romantic music if you like this style. They are not however inspired and contrary to the other reviewer's opinion, are certainly not better than Barber's essays in the genre, which remain two of the greatest string concertos of the last century. Both concertos lack basic inspiration, unlike the Barber concertos, which glitter with brilliance and lyricism.

This is not awful music, its just not exceptional. The pieces are well played and the soloists are both clearly comitted; the recordings are first class. If you can get it cheap in the used and new, and like neo-romantic music, go for it.