Recordings Of The Year 2010 Nominee
Is it hyperbole to call this my favorite disc of music by a living composer? No, because I play it more often, and enjoy it more happily, than any other. Avner Dorman’s concertos are a winning combination of modern, “neo-baroque,” jazz, and folk idioms which never sounds forced or weird, and they are written with those rarest of compositional gifts: grace and wit. I particularly love the piccolo concerto and the homage-to-Ravel slow movement of the piano concerto. In a decidedly humorless new-music climate, Dorman is a breath of fresh air. Outstanding performances, too.