NED ROREM (b. 1923)

 

Piano Concerto No. 2 (1951)

I. Somber and Steady

II. Quiet and Sad

III. Real Fast!

 

Cello Concerto (2002)

I. Curtain Raise

II. There and Back

III. Three Queries, One Response

IV. Competitive Chaos

V. A Single Tone, A Dozen Implications

VI. One Coin, Two Sides; VII. Valse Rappelée

VIII. Adrift

 

World Première Recordings

 

Simon Mulligan – Piano

Wen-Sinn Yang - Cello

 

Royal Scottish National Orchestra / José Serebrier

 

In 1988 Ned Rorem was chosen as Composer of the Year by Musical America and is now recognized as one of the finest song composers in America.

 

When Leonard Bernstein gave the première of Rorem’s Third Symphony with the New York Philharmonic in 1959, it signaled a significant triumph for his orchestral music, written in a tonal idiom alien to the experimental practices of the day. Composed in Morocco in 1951, the Second Piano Concerto has a distinctly American character. The last movement, ‘Real Fast!’ is a tour de force for soloist and orchestra, with jazz-like rhythms and an exhilarating conclusion.

 

In his recent concertos such as the Cello Concerto of 2002, Rorem has abandoned the usual three-movement pattern. The composer has written: “Although I don’t believe that non-vocal music can be proven to ‘mean’ anything ... it’s still fun to give programmatic subtitles to various sections.”

 

Naxos 8559315