The performances by the superb soloists and hair-trigger orchestra are stunning. Grab this and enjoy.
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The performances by the superb soloists and hair-trigger orchestra are stunning. Grab this and enjoy.
It’s a big year for Israeli composer Avner Dorman and his just announced Grammy nomination for “Mandolin Concerto” only makes it sweeter.
On the second Naxos CD devoted to the music of Avner Dorman, concerti take center stage. At first blush, the composer seems to display a palpable streak of traditionalism. Triadic language abounds in his works and he makes many tips of the hat to Baroque music and neoclassicism. But there’s much more beneath this attractive, if familiar, surface. Dorman is also interested in uncovering some of the undiscovered potential of the concerto, exploring its capacity for different narrative arcs and recasting the genre with some unusual protagonists.
Indeed, it was for a work with an unlikely soloist, the Mandolin Concerto, written in 2006 for Avi Avital, that the disc has received the most attention. Avital’s incisive and nuanced performance has garnered a Grammy nomination. The Mandolin Concerto itself is one of the most adventurous works Dorman has yet composed. Its explorations of many timbres, orchestral effects, and myriad shifts of tempo & demeanor make it a dazzlingly mercurial and potent essay.
There’s more on the CD to recommend as well. The Metropolis Ensemble, with a passel of soloists in concertino tow, sparkle in the Concerto Grosso (2003).The work features virtuosic string writing and cinematic sweep. Indeed, here Dorman displays a fluency of orchestration that in places reminds one of John Corigliano, his teacher during doctoral studies at Juilliard.
One would be forgiven if they assumed going in that a Piccolo Concerto would be a piercing prospect and too limited a palette to work satisfactorily. I’m still not convinced that this is a genre that requires a plethora of options, but soloist Mindy Kaufman’s rendering of the Dorman concerto for the instrument reveals striking versatility. The piece itself combines jazzy rhythms, neo-Baroque signatures, and resonances of the pipes and whistles found in a variety of folk music traditions.
Written when he was just 20 years of age, Dorman’s Piano Concerto in A Major is a splashy technicolor work that embraces virtuosic showmanship, combining a prevailingly Neo-romantic aesthetic with occasional post-minimal ostinati. Pianist Eliran Avni captures the concerto’s spirit, performing its often dizzyingly paced passagework and cadenzas with pizzazz. While no one will mistake it for the mature voice found in the Mandolin Concerto, the youthful exuberance of the Piano Concerto is frequently charming.
“Schumann was 27 when he wrote Kreisleriana; Timo’s 25 now. As far as I can tell, Timo’s right on track.”
-Peter Matthews, Feast of Music
From Bob Keyes on Sunday, Dec 12, 2010 in the Portland Press Herald:
Andrew Cyr, a product of the music program of Fort Kent public schools and founder and artistic director of the Manhattan-based Metropolis Ensemble, has a Grammy Award nomination to his credit. Metropolis Ensemble received a classical nomination for Avi Avital (soloist) and Cyr (conductor) for Avner Dorman’s Mandolin concerto, part of their first studio album, “Avner Dorman’s Concertos.” David Frost, who produced the disc, also received a Grammy nomination for his work on five albums, including the Dorman concertos. “It’s amazing. I am pretty thrilled at everything that is happening,” Cyr said by phone from New York. Cyr grew up in Fort Kent and received his degree from Bates College in 1996. He’s turned the Metropolis Ensemble into an important contemporary classical music enterprise in New York, and has found ways to encourage the creation of new work while recruiting new, younger fans to the genre. With the success of the Metropolis Ensemble and now a Grammy nomination, Cyr stands at the apex of the classical music scene in New York. “We made this recording back in 2007, and it came out in 2010. We never expected it to get this far,” he said. “We certainly dreamed about it, but we’re really surprised. “I was not even aware when they were making the Grammy announcement. I was working on a grant, working late into the night. The composer sent me an e-mail that said, ‘Congratulations,’ and a link.” Cyr clicked on the link, which took him to the official Grammy nomination page. He wasn’t sure what he would see when he got there, but one thing he was sure he would not: “I didn’t expect us to be there.” But there they were. A Grammy win would be a bonanza. A nomination goes a long way toward more recognition and credibility, for sure. Already, there’s a greater awareness of the Metropolis Ensemble and its effort to champion the work of emerging composers. “It’s just such an honor and a thrill,” Cyr said. “I guess what you could say it means is this: the academy listened and acknowledged that this is special music and a special recording.”
From Anne Midgette’s article The Grammy nobody knowson 12/7/10:
In the wake of the announcements of the Grammy nominations last week, two Los Angeles Times bloggers ran a post observing that “the Recording Academy is so much more eager to reward commercial hits than the motion picture academy.” The statement can be debated, but one thing is certain: the authors weren’t looking at this year’s classical music nominations when they wrote it.
We’ve heard a lot about how the record industry isn’t dying because there are so many new recordings – more than anybody can listen to. This year’s Grammy nominations in classical music appear to show the results of this embarrassment of riches: a sampling of recordings so wide-ranging as to appear nearly random. It’s often said that the Grammy voters go for names they recognize, but the nominations this year may curb that tendency by not offering much name recognition at all. Works by the composers Steven Mackey and Michael Daugherty were both nominated for Best Classical Album; the five nominated operas were not by Verdi or Wagner but by Berg, Hasse, Saariaho, Shchedrin, and Sir Arthur Sullivan; and Mitsuko Uchida was the lone big name in a category – Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with Orchestra) – that included a mandolin concerto by Avner Dorman played by Avi Avital, Eliesha Nelson playing a viola concerto by Quincy Porter, and Joseph Banowetz performing a piano concerto by Paul Kletzki. No MTT (or a Hilary Hahn) in sight.
In a decidedly humorless new-music climate, Dorman is a breath of fresh air. Outstanding performances, too.
While no one will mistake it for the mature voice found in the Mandolin Concerto, the youthful exuberance of the Piano Concerto is frequently charming.
Musician Andrew Cyr was burning the midnight oil Wednesday, when he received a cryptic e-mail from composer Avner Dorman.
“Congratulations,” read the message, which also included a link to an article in the L.A. Times.
Cyr clicked the link only to find that he and Dorman had been nominated for a Grammy Award.
“I was so thrilled,” Cyr said this afternoon.
In February, he will fly out to Los Angeles with his wife to attend the star-studded awards ceremony with the likes of Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand.
Cyr has served as music director and organist at Our Lady of Grace R.C. Church in Hoboken since 2003 and is also the founder and artistic director of the Metropolis Ensemble, a non-profit orchestra, where he also conducts, and consortium of young artists and composers based in New York City.
“As I started my career as a conductor, I was like how can I be of service to the music community? How can I create new audiences? How can I help the next generation of composers?” he said.
In the fall of 2007, one year into the organization’s existence, the Metropolis Ensemble recorded its first studio album with Grammy-winning producer David Frost. Released on the NAXOS American Classics label, the album features Cyr conducting four of Dorman’s concertos. The fourth, a Mandolin Concerto with solo mandolin player Avi Avital, won the hearts of the National Academy of the Arts and Sciences.
The group is up for the category of Best Instrumental Soloist with Orchestra with four other musical groups including the Nashville Symphony and the Russian Philharmonic.
“I think it’s possible and I’m very hopeful,” he said. “I mean why not? Why not us? … For the academy to recognize a new voice in Avner and in us as an orchestra is just kind of amazing for us. We’re so, so excited just to be there.”
And what’s next for the nominee? Cyr will soon be leaving his post in Hoboken to devote himself full-time to the growth of the Metropolis Ensemble which he says its on its way to becoming a “growing institution.”
Early Thursday morning, Dec. 2, David Ng of the Los Angeles Times reported on the nominees for the 53rd Grammy awards, including your very own Metropolis Ensemble: Excerpt:
“Dorman’s "Mandolin Concerto” was nominated for instrumental soloist performance with orchestra. The L.A. composer said that he wrote the 15-minute piece specifically for mandolin performer Avi Avital, who performed the concerto with the New York-based Metropolis Ensemble. “I wrote it using Middle Eastern sounds and a lot of North African scales and rhythms,” said Dorman in a phone interview.“
Pianist and composer Timo Andres discusses the story behind his new works, his first album release, his influences, and upcoming projects.
Metropolis Ensemble is delighted to announce a classical nomination in the 53rd Grammy Awards for Avner Dorman’s Mandolin Concerto.
Ilona Oltuski of Sequenza 21 interviewed Metropolis composer Avner Dorman ahead of the Israeli Philharmonic’s premiere of his new work.
“On an unusually warm day in September, I am sitting down with Israel-born composer, Avner Dorman, at New York’s Bryant Park Pain Quotidien café. Before long, I am privy to a sneak preview of his freshly finished score for his latest composition, Azerbaijani Dance. Based on a piano piece of the same name, Dorman’s latest composition will have its world premiere this October, with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv. This event will also ignite a season celebrating the legendary Maestro’s upcoming 50th Anniversary of his conducting debut.”
For all their eclecticism, these pieces reveal a strong common profile—with tragic ferocity lurking under the sparkling surfaces.
The music of Israeli composer Avner Dorman is so vivacious and so technically proficient that it’s hard to resist… most rewarding is the Mandolin Concerto, which fuses Baroque and Middle Eastern gestures in unusual ways, and which ends with a surprising flourish.
This wonderful program of three concertos and one concerto grosso, all beautifully performed and recorded, is nearly enough to restore the confidence of the most hardened pessimist in the future of classical music.
Many will respond to the joyousness of the writing and youthful enthusiasm of the performances on offer.
The playing of the Metropolis Ensemble led by Andrew Cyr is excellent: sensitive, supportive, very accurate and finely balanced, with a lot of spirit.
To celebrate our upcoming concert, Home Stretch, Metropolis Ensemble and composer Timothy Andres are delighted to offer the mp3 of his title work, having its New York premiere on May 20. You can download it here, absolutely free, for a limited time.
“Home Stretch” was recorded on December 16, 2008 in Sprague Hall at Yale University with Timothy Andres on piano and Julian Pellicano conducting the Yale Philharmonia.
(right-click to download the mp3s, ctrl-click on a mac)
Avner Dorman writes with an omnivorous eclecticism that makes his music on Concertos both accessible and impossible to pigeonhole.