{"id":1575,"date":"2015-06-21T00:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-06-21T04:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2022-01-29T02:08:36","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T07:08:36","slug":"kernis-three-flavors-epoch-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/kernis-three-flavors-epoch-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Lovers of jazz and classical should find something to savor in Kernis’s Three Flavors disc"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aaron Jay Kernis\u2019s Tasty \u2018Three Flavors\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Barry Bassis\u00a0| June 21, 2015<\/p>\n

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(Naxos Classical)<\/p>\n

American composer Aaron Jay Kernis has received many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. The latest release of his music, the beguiling \u201cThree Flavors\u201d (on Naxos) is further evidence of his talent. Those who think they don\u2019t like contemporary music should give this a try. Kernis\u2019s work, usually labeled neo-romantic, is both eclectic and imaginative, suggesting his influences without descending into mimicry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree Flavors\u201d is a work for piano and orchestra. The soloist on the recording is Andrew Russo, who has long been a champion of Kernis\u2019s music, and he is accompanied by the Albany Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Alan Miller.<\/p>\n

The work was conceived as an aural tasting of different cuisines. Originally \u201cThree Flavors\u201d was written in 2002 as a concerto for an amplified toy piano, played by Margaret Leng Tan and the Singapore Symphony. Kernis later adapted the piece to feature a grand piano, which provides a better balance with a full orchestra.<\/p>\n

The composer\u2019s notes that accompany the album point out that the work was conceived as an aural tasting of different cuisines. The first movement, \u201cOstinato,\u201d was inspired by Indonesian gamelan music. There is prominent use of metal percussion instruments in addition to the piano.<\/p>\n

The \u201cLullaby\u2013Barcarolle\u201d movement is gentler. Written in anticipation of the birth of his twins, the composer\u2019s aim is to suggest the smooth journey to life. The work shifts into high energy with the jazzy \u201cBlue Whirl\u201d (the third and final movement). It\u2019s somewhat reminiscent of some of Leonard Bernstein\u2019s orchestral works.<\/p>\n

The album also contains two shorter works without orchestral accompaniment. The first is \u201cTwo Movements (with Bells)\u201d written for violin and piano. Russo again plays the piano part and the violinist is James Ehnes.<\/p>\n

The composer dedicated the piece to the memory of his father, Frank Kernis, who passed away in 2004. Frank was a jazz and blues fan and that is reflected\u00a0in the work, albeit through the prism of Kernis\u2019s sensibilities. It begins with the spiky \u201cPoco Adagio\u201d and the concluding section is \u201cSong for My Father.\u201d (Although this is the title of a famous jazz piece by Horace Silver, the music is entirely Kernis\u2019s own.)<\/p>\n

The second part is more introspective with sudden shifts of mood, a characteristic of Kernis\u2019s music. Ehnes had performed \u201cTwo Movements (with Bells)\u201d at its premiere in 2007 and he is excellent. Incidentally, despite the title,\u00a0no bells are used in the work.<\/p>\n

The last piece is a piano solo, \u201cBallad(e) out of the Blue(s)\u2014Superstar Etude No. 3.\u201d The three superstars referred to in the title are the early rocker Jerry Lee Lewis in the first part; in the second part, Thelonious Monk and the bebop movement; and in the last, George Gershwin and the blues.<\/p>\n

The composer also cites Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Erroll Garner as jazz pianists he admires and wanted to suggest. He doesn\u2019t actually quote from their work but there are passages that are definitely bluesy or jazzy.<\/p>\n

Lovers of jazz and classical music should find something to savor here. Again, Russo is an outstanding interpreter of Kernis\u2019s music.<\/p>\n

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Aaron Jay Kernis\u2019s Tasty \u2018Three Flavors\u2019 By Barry Bassis\u00a0| June 21, 2015           (Naxos Classical) American composer Aaron Jay Kernis has received many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. The latest release of his music, the beguiling \u201cThree Flavors\u201d (on Naxos) is further evidence of his talent. Those who think they don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"related-artist":[16],"class_list":{"0":"post-1575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-press","8":"related-artist-aaron-jay-kernis","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1575"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1580,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions\/1580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"related-artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/related-artist?post=1575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}