RHAPSODIES
An Album of Margaret Brouwer’s Orchestral Music
Critical Acclaim
“a composer unafraid to channel honest (and jarring) emotion through thoughtfully chosen instruments and textures.”
“Beautiful programmatic language comes through in The Art of Sailing at Dawn, which opens the album. Even within a highly atmospheric orchestral work, the composer can still derive intrigue through a combination of conventional and adventurous writing.”
“This is a wonderful collection of works from Brouwer…it is her bold and uncompromising voice that proves most exciting. Alsop and the ORF ensemble do these works absolute justice in these readings. Highly recommended.” - Azusa Ueno, The Classic Review
“ravishing orchestral imagination”
“’Rhapsody’ is…delicately ravishing…contemplative, lyrical, percussive and lively”
“’Symphony No. 1’…is emotionally acute, delicate, beautiful, dramatic, and violent”
“’Pluto’…is bold and dramatic”
- Guy Rickards, Gramophone
“…contemporary music that can be both sophisticated and accessible. Here’s proof that a composer’s emotional reactions to sights and sounds can be translated into music and shared with others in fresh and evocative ways.” - Daniel Hathaway, ClevelandClassical
“Much of the orchestral sound world is extremely evocative, redolent of natural landscapes, and certainly with a basis in an emotional response to the world.”
“The orchestral richness is assured and compelling…it has an intense creativity”
“Much of what I delighted in this release was the mosaic of orchestral textures, yet grounded in emotion that gives me the confidence and willingness to explore further. It is good to hear contemporary music that while pushing against the boundaries of style, does not lose the fundamental creative spark rooted in an intense sensitivity to human experience of the world and society around us.” - Ian Orbell, Classical Music Sentinel
"a very beautiful, colorful work that describes different moods, from sad to romantic to light-hearted...the music is downright exuberant and correspondingly virtuosic.”
“dramatically intense and sonorous”
“Marin Alsop and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra deliver outstanding interpretations of these compositions, all of which are well worth hearing." – ♪♪♪♪ - Remy Franck, pizzicato
“Margaret Brouwer is an excellent orchestrator; her palette is filled with a broad set of colours that she combines to good effect. Her sonic paintings are not brash and glaring, rather soft, discreet and faintly suggestive…A distinctly individual composer, a many-faceted and thrilling disc…This is Margaret Brouwer at her very best.” - Göran Forsling, Music Web International
"she's never looking at something from just one angle or vantage point musically or emotionally." - John Banther, WETA
WETA Classical Breakdown recommends Rhapsodies as one of the top 4 new albums to listen to this summer! Listen to the episode here (begin at 17:35 to hear the review of Rhapsodies)
“…she is known for her commitment to lyricism and vivid orchestral imagery. This programme, in the capable hands of Marin Alsop, makes strong cases for the pieces on offer, particularly the First Symphony which sports a Dutch hymn-like melody and confident, colourful orchestral writing.” - Barry Forshaw, Classical CD Choice