Hermann Max - Christmas Cantatas - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Winner of the coveted 2002 Grawemeyer Award and one of the youngest composers ever to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Aaron Jay Kernis is among the most distinguished musical figures of his generation. Conceived as a concerto for toy piano and orchestra, and with touches of Indonesian gamelan, French lyricism and jazz, Three Flavors appears here in it's final version, adapted by soloist and long- term collaborator Andrew Russo. Commissioned for renowned violinist James Ehnes, the introspective Two Movements (with Bells) is a memorial to the composer's father with echoes of blues singing and improvisatory impetuousness, while the virtuoso Superstar Etude No. 3 is his homage to Gershwin and the blues. The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960) studied composition with American heavyweights John Adams, Jacob Druckman, Morton Subotnik and Charles Wuorinen. He has developed a truly eclectic musical language over time, initially rigorous but evolving toward a new transparency and emotional eloquence. He incorporates influences of Latin rhythms, jazz and rap into his work as willingly as the harmonic worlds of the Romantic masters, the Renaissance and Hildegard von Bingen.

Gottorf Castle is not only one of Schleswig-Holstein's most important architectural edifices; it also plays a significant role in German cultural history. Vol. 3 in the Manfred Cordes-led Weser-Renaissance ensemble's new cpo series 'Music for Gottorf Castle' is dedicated to the psalms and cantatas of Georg Österreich (1664-1735). Today approximately seventy skillfully wrought church or sacred cantatas from his compositional oeuvre continue to be extant. Österreich famously bequeathed to posterity a music library without which we would hardly know anything at all about the pre-Bach period.

Die Himlische Cantorey - Cantatas for Inaugurations [COMPACT DISCS] date 05/16/2006