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MICHAEL TORKE: Three Manhattan Bridges; Winter’s Tale for cello and orchestra – Joyce Yang, p./Julie Albers, cello/Albany Sym. Orch./David Alan Miller – Albany

by Audiophile Audition | Sep 10, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

A wonderful look at this composer’s more recent style. MICHAEL TORKE: Three Manhattan Bridges; Winter’s Tale for cello and orchestra – Joyce Yang, p./Julie Albers, cello/Albany Sym. Orch./David Alan Miller – Albany TROY 1643, 57:24 (9/01/16) ****: I have appreciated Michael Torke’s music for many years now, going all the way to back to his idiomatic ‘color’ pieces (like Ecstatic Orange, et al) which were created in a sort of bouncy and ‘optimistic’ minimalism with shades of jazz. However, if that it is the only iteration of Michael’s music that one is familiar with then we are missing the growth of his very unique and captivating style. These two pieces are about as far from that much earlier ‘para-minimalist’ brand as one could get. Both Three Manhattan Bridges as well as Winter’s Tale are essentially concertos for piano and orchestra and cello and orchestra, respectively. Three Manhattan Bridges is structured in three movements that create almost a musical painting of the feel of three neighborhoods and moods landmarked by three of the most famous – and most often traversed – bridges that lead in and out of Manhattan; the George Washington Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. This […]