“It’s good to have the Detroit Symphony Orchestra back in the recording game,” writes Mark Stryker in Sunday’s (8/9) Detroit Free Press . “ ‘Fire and Blood’ (**** out of four stars, Naxos) is the first CD by the DSO in a decade to be released on a widely distributed label with an international reputation. The album, taken from Orchestra Hall concerts conducted by former music director Neeme Järvi in 2001 and 2003, documents three works written for the DSO by Michael Daugherty, composer-in-residence from 1999 through 2003. The official release is Aug. 25, but iTunes will offer the music digitally beginning Tuesday. … The CD also marks the beginning of the DSO’s relationship with Naxos … The three works here dig deep into Detroit’s cultural soil. ‘Fire and Blood’ (2003) is a violin concerto inspired by Diego Rivera’s incomparable ‘Detroit Industry’ murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts. ‘MotorCity Triptych’ (2000) proposes a travelogue with movements that channel Motown concerts at the Roostertail nightclub in 1966, a high-speed drive along Michigan Avenue and an homage to civil rights hero Rosa Parks. ‘Raise the Roof’ (2003), a de facto timpani concerto, was commissioned for the opening of the Max M. Fisher Music Center.”
Posted August 10, 2009
