[ Warner Classics / CD ]
Release Date: Wednesday 9 August 2017
Azul, the evocative Spanish word for 'blue', is the title of the contemplative cello concerto by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. It forms the centrepiece of this album by Brooklyn-based orchestral collective The Knights, which takes the skies as its theme. Today's most celebrated cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, joins The Knights for the concerto and for a transcription of DvoĆák's poignant 'Song to the Moon'. The diverse and fascinating programme is completed with music by the contemporary Iranian composer Siamak Aghae, visionary avant-gardist Karlheinz Stockhausen and eclectic singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens.
"[The Knights] has evolved into one of the most intriguing and dynamic advocates for music of our time, particularly devoted to what is emerging as a new formal style: sonic landscapes that are generally lush, lyrical, eclectic in instrumentation and melodic forms, and given to the expansive and hypnotic vistas of minimalism without the strict dependence on repetition" Gramophone
Siamak Aghaei (1974- ) & Colin Jacobsen (1978- ):
Ascending Bird
Dvorak:
Mesícku na nebi hlubokém 'Song to the Moon' (from Rusalka)
arr. Jesse Diener-Bennett
Yo-Yo Ma (cello)
Golijov:
Cello Concerto 'Azul'
Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Michael Ward-Bergeman (hyper-accordian), Jamey Haddad (percussion) & Cyro Baptista (percussion)
Stevens, S-J:
Suite from Run Rabbit Run
arr. Michael P. Atkinson
Yo-Yo Ma (cello)
The Knights, Eric Jacobsen
Stockhausen:
Tierkreis, Op. 41: Leo
arr. Caroline Shaw