| Program Notes | A “Pocket Concerto" Miller Theater Commission; Columbia University, for Jennifer Koh and the International Contemporary Ensemble; George Steel, Director TROY1390 *** -Reviewed in the New York Times by Allan Kozinn, 3/29/08 *** "Ms. Schwendinger's works lives in at least two worlds. The violin line, played with equal measures of energy and velvety richnes by Jennifer Koh, is sometimes assertive and sometimes rhythmically sharp edged, but those moments almost always resolve into a sweetly singing line. The grittier orchestral writing offsets that sweetness without overwhelming it. This seems a work likely to blossom with repeated listening" *** -Reviewed in Civic Center Blog of 2010 performance at SF Conservatory New Music Ensemble, Nicole Paiement-Director and Wei He-soloist “Some concerts are excitingly revelatory, others are excruciatingly boring, while most are somewhere in between. The happy news is that Saturday's concert was on the exciting and revelatory side of the spectrum. This was due primarily to a hugely ambitious, 40-minute violin concerto called Chiaroscuro Azzurro by Laura Schwendinger above which is the work of a brilliant composer coming into her own. It's also very difficult music, densely packed with ideas going in all directions, but the lyricism of the solo violin writing keeps one focused. The fiddling by Wei He above by the way, was beautiful and heroic.” *** -Review in Records International *** "The cello concerto is a work of great drama, with a bold and intense, frequently ostinato-propelled first movement, a rhapsodic slow movement pitting the passionate solo line against highly original color- textures in the orchestra, a scherzo in which scraps of material seem to be thrown around the orchestra, and an active, propulsive finale, incorporating a virtuosic bell-accompanied cadenza. The vocabulary is a highly chromatic take on tonality, harmonically lush and richly textured.” *** -From Lynn René Bayley’s Fanfare review *** “Schwendinger manages to sustain the drama even in the quietest passages, even when the *** orchestra drops to a near-whisper. It is tremendously effective writing.” |
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