LAURA ELISE SCHWENDINGER (b.1962): Esprimere for Cello and Orchestra (Matt Haimowitz [cello]), Chiaroscuro Azzurro for Violin and Chamber Orchestra Curtis Macomber [violin]), Waking Dream for Flute and Chamber Orchestra (Christina Jennings [flute], University of Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; James Smith).

Description: 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. The violin concerto explores the contrast between tough, bravura material, bold and extrovert and full of harsh, stabbing accents, and soaring lyricism in clear, translucent textures. As in the cello concerto, the soloist has a near-constant flow of expressively and technically demanding musical argument. Waking Dream is a single-movement 'poem' full of shimmering, iridescent impressionistic textures and a sensuously meandering, ornamented singing line for the solo flute. Madison Sinfonietta; Nicole Paiement.