Schwantner’s percussion concerto has an anniversary and a memorial context. The New York Philharmonic commissioned the work in celebration of its 150th anniversary. At the time he was profoundly saddened by the death of fellow composer Stephen Albert, who had a strong connection with the National Symphony Orchestra, who appears on this recording. The soloist is required to command 20 different instruments across three movements. Velocities, meanwhile, which Schwantner describes as a moto perpetuo for solo marimba, focusses the performer’s efforts on one instrument. The result is no less kaleidoscopic!
Repertoire
Schwantner: Velocities
Schwantner: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra
Schwantner: New Morning for the World: “Daybreak of Freedom”
Performers
Solo Percussion: Evelyn Glennie
Conductor: Leonard Slatkin
National Symphony Orchestra
