Detroit Symphony Orchestra - Neeme Jarvi / Ida Kavafian: violin
Michael Daugherty: Fire and Blood / MotorCity Triptych / Raise the Roof
Wholenote Discoveries - October 2009
Michael Daugherty is an American composer, born in 1954, who writes fetching symphonic works that bear such names as Metropolis Symphony and Bizzaro, both once available on an Argo CD. Daugherty is not a towering figure in the pantheon of composers but his compositions are meticulously constructed, brilliantly scored and instantly pleasing, inviting repeated hearings. Daugherty was the Detroit Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence for four years and Naxos has issued three works recorded during public performances given under the direction of Neeme Järvi. The opening work, a violin concerto, “Fire and Blood” (2003), is a cross between Leroy Anderson and John Williams. This attractive, light classical opus was inspired by the murals of Diego Rivera in the Detroit Institute for the Arts. The soloist in this premier performance is Ida Kavafian. Next comes MotorCity Triptych (2000) followed by Raise the Roof (2003) scored for tympani and orchestra. All three works are vibrantly orchestrated and in these performances, dating from 2001 and 2003. Everyone involved seems to be having a good time. Bruce Surtees
This recording celebrates three exciting works commissioned and premiered by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra during Michael Daugherty’s four years as Composer-in-Residence. Inspired by Diego Rivera’s monumental fresco and Frida Kahlo’s paintings created in Detroit, Michigan, Fire and Blood “rivets the ear with a bold palette of colors and the skillful elaboration of vibrant themes” (Detroit News). MotorCity Triptych, “striking both in its brilliance and in its technical rigor,” is a road trip through the sounds of Detroit: the 1960s pulse of Motown, the motor rhythms of Michigan Avenue, and the legend of civil rights icon Rosa Parks. Raise the Roof, composed for the opening of Detroit’s Max M. Fisher Music Center, is a grand acoustic construction featuring the timpani in a tour de force of urban polyrhythms.
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Price: $19.98