Rosner / Burchett - Orchestral Music - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Critically acclaimed pianist Eric Huebner releases his performance of György Ligeti's famous etudes alongside his iconic Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano with colleagues Yuki Numata Resnick and Adam Unsworth. Ligeti's attraction to stylistic influences from across the spectrum, including non-Western music cultures, while preserving a Hungarian core to his aesthetic, is apparent in Huebner's dynamic performances of these remarkable works. Pianist Eric Huebner has drawn worldwide acclaim for his performances of new and traditional music since making his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 17. In January 2012, he was appointed pianist of the New York Philharmonic and currently holds the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Piano Chair. He has been featured in orchestral works by Lindberg, Stravinsky, Ives, Milhaud, Carter and R. Strauss among others and regularly appears in chamber music performances with musicians from the Philharmonic at New York City's Merkin Hall and elsewhere.

Stefania Argentieri is a young Italian pianist of consummate skill, necessary to give full expression to the piano music of Tchaikovsky, which remains strangely under-appreciated. She has won many awards and has performed at prestigious events in Europe and the USA. She teaches at the Giordano Conservatory in Foggia and is also working as a music editor. Stefania has made recordings with her chamber ensemble. This is her second solo album for Divine Art, following her well-received recording of Prokofiev released in 2020 Inchoutstanding (MusicWeb International); InchTrue command of this daunting repertoireInch (The Whole Note). This album showcases the spectrum of Tchaikovsky's art from the pastoral and gentle (extracts from 18 Pieces and The Seasons) to the noble and high-Romantic (the 'Grand Sonata') and at a time when modern Russia is blighted by it's leaders' warmongering and aggression, a reminder that the Russian musical art of the past is still as instructive and valuable as ever.

The musical language of the New York-based Arnold Rosner (1945-2013) had it's roots in the modal harmony and rhythm of pre-Baroque polyphony and evolved in an array of unusual directions, producing a style that is instantly recognizable and immediately appealing - as can be heard in the three works on this recording. Rosner's Nocturne suggests the immensity - and the implacable violence - of outer space, whereas his overture Tempus Perfectum has it's starting point in Renaissance dance. The monumental Sixth Symphony opens with music of volcanic ferocity and vehemence; the central Adagio then provides an island of troubled calm before the dignified opening of the finale presages a symphonic Allegro of wild, freewheeling energy; only when it's immense force is spent does this powerful masterpiece sink to an uneasy close.