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AMERICAN FLUTE CONCERTOS

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REVIEWS

Classics Today
 “This thoroughly satisfying disc offers some of the best flute music this country has to offer. ----These concertos are all immensely difficult for the flute, rivaling some of the technically challenging staples by Nielsen and Ibert.

The common thread through these individual works is the creative melodic lines that make the most of the flute's strengths. You hear this especially in the wistful Andante section of Grier's Renascence, ….By the same token, quintessentially American jazz elements and punchy syncopation infiltrate the pieces (listen to the last movements of the Grier and Siegmeister). ….

Chicago Tribune
“…Beyond the quality of the performances, Mary’s Stolper’s collection of concertante pieces for flute by American composers is interesting for containing the first recording of any music by Chicagoan Lita Grier – her compact, piquant, neo-classical “Renascence” Concertino for Flute and Orchestra…The readings are as attractive and accessible as the music itself”.

Chicago Daily Herald
“Another winning album from Cedille, with Chicagoans figuring prominently…Of special interest is Lita Grier’s “Renascence”…the most recent work on the program (completed in 1996)…This is Grier’s first piece following a 30-year hiatus and I hope we’ll hear more from this talented composer.” One of 10 Best Classical Albums of 1999.

Fanfare Magazine
“ _ Lita Grier was a prizewinning composer at age 16, who later studied with Lukas Foss and Roy Harris; she gave up composition in 1964 because ‘there was little encouragement for women composers, especially those working independently and in a more tonal harmonic language’. Now that the musicopolitical boot is on the other foot, she has orchestrated her 1956 Sonata for Flute and Piano.  A flashing solo line is countered by a warm, gentle accompaniment; it is a charming concertino…
Highly Recommended”.

American Record Guide
“Flutist Julius Baker has referred to Lita Grier’s 1996 Renascence (Concertino for Flute and Orchestra) as ‘a new classic in the flute repertory’.  In this premiere recording by flutist Mary Stolper we hear soaring flute-lines set against a shifting, rhythmically-compelling backdrop of orchestral colors and textures.”

Red Magazine
“This is a fabulous record which should be on the shelf of anyone who loves the flute.  The scene stealer here is a new concerto by Chicagoan Lita Grier…This is both a  brilliant virtuoso vehicle for the flute and at the same time a work of enormous emotional range and depth…It is colorfully scored…and shows the hand of a master craftsman in all its myriad details…perhaps the best work for flute and orchestra to enter the repertory in the last 30 years.”

Northwest Leader
“….an exciting and beautiful work.”

 

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