Product Description

DAUGHERTY, M.: Tales of Hemingway / American Gothic / Once Upon A Castle - GRAMMY® Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty creates colorful musical portraits in this recording, featuring larger-than-life personalities drawn from 20th-century American culture. Tales of Hemingway is a dramatic cello concerto, evoking the turbulent life, adventures, and literature of author Ernest Hemingway. American Gothic is a dynamic concerto for orchestra, reflecting on the creative world of Iowa artist Grant Wood. Once Upon a Castle is a virtuosic sinfonia concertante for organ and orchestra, inspired by the rich history of the Hearst Castle, built high upon the California Pacific coast by billionaire Randolph Hearst, the subject of Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane. Under the baton of Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero, the GRAMMY® Award-winning Nashville Symphony is joined by Zuill Bailey, one of the leading cellists of his generation, and GRAMMY® Award-winning organist Paul Jacobs. Zuill Bailey; Paul Jacobs; Nashville Symphony Orchestra; Giancarlo Guerrero

Review

*** GRAMMY WINNER, 59TH AWARDS: Best Classical Instrumental Solo, Best Classical Compendium & Best Contemporary Classical Composition ***

Classics Today 10/10: Artistic Qualit 10/ Sound Quality 10

"Tales of Hemingway does exactly what a good modern cello concerto is supposed to do: it exploits every facet the solo's expressive range, from soulful melody to virtuoso pyrotechnics, and it gives Zuill Bailey a rich opportunity to show off his impressive technique and seductive timbre amid the most wide-ranging and colorful accompaniments...

...Daugherty just might have saved the best for last. It's great to see composers writing appealing music for organ and orchestra given the recent and welcome trend to install new, expensive, technically marvelous concert hall organs in performing arts centers, and this piece is a whopper. Its nominal inspiration (by way of the film Citizen Kane) is Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California, as ostentatious and vulgar a building as anyone has yet attempted. Any large work for organ and orchestra simply must plumb the depths of bombast-hopefully in a good way-and Daugherty literally pulls out all of the stops in this one. The finale has all of the glitz and glamor of the gilded age (sound clip), and the piece surely deserves repertoire status-but then, all of these works do.

It only remains to be said that the performances, excellently recorded live before a very courteous audience, bring the music vividly to life. The Nashville Symphony really is a fine ensemble. Giancarlo Guerrero conducts with evident enthusiasm, and as already suggested the soloists, cellist Zuill Bailey and organist Paul Jacobs, couldn't be better. Give this one a shot; you'll be glad you did." --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.59 x 0.39 x 4.92 inches; 3.53 ounces
• Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Naxos
• Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 2016
• Date First Available ‏ : ‎ July 11, 2016
• Label ‏ : ‎ Naxos
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1