Description
Returning for their second GM co-release, Dick Peaslee and Bill Russo celebrate the evolving role of the soloist in contemporary, jazz-inflected concerto and chamber settings.
Russo’s The English Concerto was commissioned in the early 1960s by Yehudi Menuhin and is performed here by the great Stevyn Staryk and the London Jazz Orchestra, the group which gave its 1963 premiere.
Peaslee’s Chicago Concerto was commissioned in the late ’60s for Gerry Mulligan and the Chicago Jazz Ensemble. Here it is given glorious voice by the extraordinary Gary Smulyan and the Manhattan School of Music Ensemble.
Peaslee conceived both the Nightsongs and The Devil’s Herald with smaller forces in mind — the former for trumpet soloist with strings and harp, the latter for tuba soloist with horn quartet and percussion. These works are brilliantly rendered by the musicians for which they were crafted: Philip A Smith, principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic, and the venerable tuba virtuoso Harvey Phillips.
(Also see their first co-release on GM, William Russo: The Carousel Suite/Richard Peaslee: Stonehenge.)
PERFORMERS
PROGRAM
Richard Peaslee: Chicago Concerto 18:35
1. I. Opener 4:02
2. II. Ballad 4:51
3. III. Blues 5:23
4. IV. Dènoument 4:14
William Russo: The English Concerto 15:54
5. I. The Thames 7:02
6. II. Salisbury Plain 4:51
7. III. Leicester Square 3:55
8. Richard Peaslee: Nightsongs 10:35
9. Richard Peaslee: The Devil’s Herald 8:21
Recorded on (#1-4) April 28, 1989 and (#8) May 31, 1990 at Crossroads Recording Ltd in New York; (#5-7) August 16, 1964 at Landsdowne Studios in London; (#9) January 5, 1976 at Nola Studios in New York.
Executive Producer: Gunther Schuller
ALSO AVAILABLE
for downloads and streaming on Amazon as well as other digital sites.
