KERNIS Dreamsongs – Three Concertos
Honoured and widely performed in the US, Signum Classics ‘Dreamsongs’ follows on from the same label’s brilliantly quirky and imaginative 2011 release of Kernis’s ‘Goblin Market.’
In fact, there’s a strong European slant to Kernis’s music. Both concertos are highly virtuoso. The efficacy of the Viola Concerto is certainly aided by an excellent performance by longtime Kernis exponent Paul Neubauer. Joshua Roman’s outstanding performance of the cello concerto is the disc’s highlight, however. In the cadenza section, heard towards the end of the concerto, intricate passagework demands rapid alternation between arco and left-hand pizzicato, culminating (according to the composer’s directions in the score) in a Jimi Hendrix-style ‘freakout’. Roman’s extraordinary performance combines the expressive control of Casals with the creative individuality and virtuoso flair of Hendrix himself.
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