SALLY BEAMISH (b.1956): Under the Wing of the Rock, HENNING KRAGGERUD (b.1973): Voyage Douloureux, Til Sara, OLAV ANTON THOMMESSEN (b.1946): Portrait en Chaconne, ARNE NORDHEIM (1931-2010): Brudd, BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976): Lachrymae.

Catalogue Number: 03R082
Label: 2L
Reference: 119
Format: SACD hybrid
Price: $22.98
Description: This is the original version of Beamish's atmospheric concertante tone poem, which has been somewhat eclipsed by the (admittedly effective) saxophone version made for Marsalis (10R075). Based on a Gaelic poem, it tells the story of a mother and child fleeing the 1682 Glencoe massacre, whose lives are spared by a soldier who was moved by the mother's lullaby. The piece divides into three sections, perfectly setting the scene of the mist-shrouded rugged Scottish landscape, and then depicting the human drama played out against it, with telling allusions to Celtic and Gaelic folksong and psalm. Kraggerud's duos exhibit the fluent melodiousness and echoes of earlier idioms so memorably demonstrated in his gorgeously tonal violin concerto (09R078), which these pieces resemble in style. Nordheim's 'Fracture' is abrupt and relatively dissonant, though not unapproachable; poetic nature music, but expressed in shards of ice rather than pastoral tranquility. Thommessen's Portrait - of the violist - is a thoughtful combination of formal rigor and flights of fanciful freedom. Soon-Mi Chung (violin), Oslo Camerata; Henning Kraggerud.