New music from Lee Hyla and BMOP

Four out of five stars

This is modern music and sounds it. For the listener it is an undertaking. Containing themes of religion, diverse cultures, historic events, life’s passage and Lee Hyla’s personal understanding and weaving of these themes.

Not like his previous collection of pieces in the Trans CD. This is a little less accessible than Trans going back to a more modern musical vision he had with earlier works.

Media Date 
May 26, 2008
Media Source 
Amazon
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Media Quote 

Recording quality is very high and well balanced given the variety of sounds appearing on this recording.

Media Contact Name 
BobH

Six deserving to be heard in 2009 and beyond

The best-of compilations that mark the end of each year can have the unfortunate side effect of relegating their contents to the past, treating them as relics that go into a shoebox in your closet marked “2008.” But if these are the best of what a year had to offer, they should be coming with us, getting played, heard, and talked about after the calendar flips. So here are some “bests” from the past year to take with you into 2009 and beyond.

Lee Hyla: Lives of the Saints/ At Suma Beach
Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose - BMOP/sound

Media Date 
January 2, 2009
Media Source 
The Boston Globe
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Media Quote 

Here are some "bests" from the past year to take with you into 2009 and beyond.

Media Contact Name 
David Weininger
Media Contact Title 
Globe Correspondent

Gramophone reviews Michael Gandolfi: Y2K Compliant

Exuberant performances of irrepressibly melodic, profoundly delightful music

Media Date 
May 1, 2009
Media Source 
Gramophone
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Media Quote 

These exuberant and expressive performances provide yet another instance of Rose's technical command and superb musicianship. Strongly recommended.

Media Contact Name 
Andrew Farach-Colton

CLOFO reviews Michael Gandolfi: Y2K Compliant

RECOMMENDED

The music of American composer Michael Gandolfi (b. 1956) is the subject of another winning release from BMOP/sound (see the newsletter of 15 April 2008). Many will remember this composer for his large, extended orchestral work The Garden of Cosmic Speculation released last year, but here we have three of his smaller-scale pieces. If anything, they show he can do even more with less, and is a master colorist in the best sense of the term.

Media Date 
May 30, 2008
Media Source 
Classical Lost and Found
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Media Quote 

All of the performers must be in top form to bring it off successfully. Not only that, but scores as involved and complicated as these require a circumspect conductor to hold things together.

Media Contact Name 
Bob McQuiston

Michael Gandolfi: Y2K Compliant CD review

[5/5 stars]

This is a wonderful collection of pieces. Although all 3 pieces are unique, they compliment each other well musically and thematically. A set of music that provides a welcome hour of enjoyment. Overall the CD has a variety of styles that each work for the individual pieces.

Media Date 
May 30, 2008
Media Source 
Amazon
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Media Quote 

Kudos to Gil Rose and BMOP/sound for recording and producing this CD. With this CD, they continue to fulfill their mission of presenting and capturing contemporary music.

Media Contact Name 
BobH

CD picks of the week: Y2K Compliant

Classical compositions about technology can often be dry, rather charm-less affairs. But the Boston composer Michael Gandolfi has written a piece about computers that’s full of bright, quirky sonorities and bustling rhythms. It’s called Y2K Compliant, and, as the title implies, it’s a satirical response to all the doomsday predictions of the Y2K bug back in 1999. The piece was premiered in 2000 and it’s now just out on a CD by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

Media Date 
May 5, 2008
Media Source 
WNYC
Media 
Media Quote 

The piece was premiered in 2000 and it’s now just out on a CD by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

Media Contact Name 
Brian Wise

MUSO reviews Michael Gandolfi: Y2K Compliant

The Y2K doomsday scenario and all its associated satire had grown tiresome long before 1999 was up. Neverthless, this hasn’t stopped composer Michael Gandolfi revisiting the topic with his latest release Y2K Compliant.

Media Date 
June 1, 2008
Media Source 
MUSO
Media 
Media Quote 

Performed by BMOP and conducted by Gil Rose, the eponymous piece is a surprisingly upbeat fusion of paired woodwinds, horns, and strings.

Media Contact Name 
Attila Keller

Fanfare reviews Michael Gandolfi: Y2K Compliant

Michael Gandolfi (b. 1956) is based in Boston, and has close ties, as both a former student and current faculty member, with the New England Conservatory and Tanglewood. This disc is a good introduction to his work, not only because it’s of high quality, but also because it shows the distinct development of his voice.

Media Date 
November 1, 2008
Media Source 
Fanfare
Media 
Media Quote 

This disc is a good introduction to Gandolfi's work, not only because it's of high quality, but also because it shows the distinct development of his voice.

Media Contact Name 
Robert Carl

La Folia reviews John Harbison: Ulysses

As a grand ballet, Harbison’s immense Ulysses is something of an enigma and an anachronism: The composer fills 80 minutes absent a hope for choreography with a lissome program and vocabulary that recall music of a less dissonant era. There’s even an ondes Martenot—for Circe of course. We detect throughout sly touches and eloquence the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) handles with aplomb. BMOP appears to have assumed the mantle once held by the Louisville Orchestra, shepherding and recording a swath of modern, if not quite modernist, music.

Media Date 
January 1, 2009
Media Source 
La Folia
Media 
Media Quote 

BMOP appears to have assumed the mantle once held by the Louisville Orchestra, shepherding and recording a swath of modern, if not quite modernist, music.

ClassicalCDReview reviews John Harbison: Ulysses

A Neo-Romantic smash. John Harbison has always commanded the respect of his fellow composers, although the public at large, I think, has yet to tumble to him. He has written music in every genre, including a few operas, concerti, sonatas, religious choral works, oratorio, and string quartets. He studied with Piston, Sessions, Kim, Blacher, and Dallapiccola, among others, and ended up going his own way. He has received the MacArthur “genius” award.

Media Date 
July 1, 2008
Media Source 
ClassicalCDReview
Media 
Media Quote 

Gil Rose and BMOP do a fabulous job, with first-rate playing and a wonderful pace. The ballet runs close to an hour-and-a-half, and yet it never bores you, due not only to Harbison but to Rose.

Media Contact Name 
S.G.S.

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