John Adams's new album featuring City Noir and his Saxophone Concerto performed by the St. Louis Symphony led by Music Director David Robertson with saxophonist Timothy McAllister, earns a perfect five stars from the BBC Music Magazine, for both performance and recording. "David Robertson and his St Louis orchestra do a sleek and beautifully layered job," says the magazine. New Music Box says: "These are vital, engaging performances by all involved."
John Adams's new album, City Noir, comprising the title piece and the debut recording of his Saxophone Concerto, both performed by the St. Louis Symphony led by Music Director David Robertson and featuring saxophonist Timothy McAllister, earns a perfect five out of five stars from the BBC Music Magazine, for both the performances and the recording.
"David Robertson and his St Louis orchestra do a sleek and beautifully layered job," writes BBC reviewer David Nice. "The Saxophone Concert has echoes of the jagged unisons in the superlative Gnarly Buttons, but also a sweetness in some of the melodies that’s fresh ... The trombone solo at the heart of the central nocturne [of City Noir], and the finale builds to a repeat-mania as memorable as the one at the end of Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs."
You can read the complete five-star review in the August issue of the BBC Music Magazine.
There's a new review of the album in New Music Box as well.
"Both of these works sport all of the characteristic Adams-isms that we know and love," writes reviewer Alexandra Gardner: "the frenetic, scurrying, tightly interwined lines, mountainous pile-ups of contrapuntal activity that are suddenly snatched away to reveal shimmering, gentler material, made even more dramatic for the contrast, and huge, yet still clear as a bell-sounding brass chords that bound across the musical terrain. The heavy-duty music geeks out there will find plenty of those 'How did he DO that?! Must see score now.' moments."
Gardner concludes: "These are vital, engaging performances by all involved."
Read the complete review at newmusicbox.org.
To pick up a copy of the City Noir album with Saxophone Concerto, head to iTunes or the Nonesuch Store, where CD orders include a free download of the complete album at checkout; it is also available to purchase there as MP3s and FLAC lossless files.
Timothy McAllister joins the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and Music Director Marin Alsop for the West Coast Premiere of Adams's Saxophone Concerto at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium on August 9. For tickets, visit cabrillomusic.org.
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