“The cellist….plays exceptionally beautiful.”
We are honoured that our PENTATONE OXINGALE series release of Orbit – Music for Solo Cello”(1945 – 2014) with Matt Haimovitz received a kind review on Luister! The album documents Matt Haimovitz’s musical journey since the turn of the millennium, together with his partner in life and music, composer Luna Pearl Woolf. More than twenty composers are represented in this set, fifteen of them still living, and ten works are recorded for the very first time. Read more of the kind review below.
A wild collection of compositions for solo cello. A journey through the world with music from 1945 to now and often by the greatest composers (but also lesser masters and mistresses). ‘Classic’ (whatever that may be) and ‘pop’ (whatever that may be) side by side. Of the more than 20 composers from all over the world, 15 are still alive and ten works are even experiencing their world premiere on CD.
Several works were commissioned by the cellist. It is indeed something for everyone: minimalist-maximalist, fol-abstract, narrative-absolute, tonal-atonal and sometimes it’s not what you expect at all. ‘Orbit’ by Glass, for example, resembles Bach. Beautiful, yes. ‘Sequenza XIV’ by Berio is a subtle, intellectual high mountain next to the very concrete ‘Gordun’ (folk-pop) by Adrian Pop). Ligeti is also present, but with his early, tonal ‘Sonata’ (1948-1953). Dallapiccola’s ‘Ciaccona, Intermezzo e Adagio’ (1945) is also relatively easy to listen to. But then suddenly Jimi Hendrix’s cutting parody of the American national anthem… You have to be in the mood for that. In short, don’t run everything one after the other, but take it little by little.
Jurjen Vis
