Wagnerian leitmotifs meet Stravinskyian ostinati in Ulysses

It’s hard to believe that Pulitzer prizewinning composer John Harbison, who turns seventy this year, composed a full length ballet nearly a quarter of a century ago and it has yet to be staged. Ulysses (1984/rev, 2003), has been played piecemeal by various orchestras over the years; Andre Previn and the Pittsburgh Symphony recorded its second act, “Ulysses’ Bow,” for Nonesuch; but it wasn’t until 2003 that an orchestra performed the work in its entirety.

Media Date 
June 11, 2008
Media Source 
Sequenza21
Media 
Media Quote 

While this recording whets ones appetite for a staging of the full work, Harbison couldn't wish for better advocates or interpreters of Ulysses than Rose and the BMOP; an excellent recording.

Media Contact Name 
Christian Carey

John Harbison: Ulysses CD review

Four out of five stars

John Harbison’s Ulysses has been a long delayed release, but, anxiously awaited, it was composed in 1983 and is also the inaugural release from the new music recording label BMOP/sound. Indeed it is a wonderful first CD by the new label.

Media Date 
June 2, 2008
Media Source 
Amazon
Media 
Media Quote 

A complete and well developed package, a topnotch product by BMOP/sound and Gil Rose. I am happy to own and recommend this CD.

Media Contact Name 
BobH

CLOFO reviews John Harbison: Ulysses

Many of us remember a 1986 Nonesuch recording of an exciting orchestral piece by American composer John Harbison (b. 1938) called Ulysses Bow (later released on First Edition, but no longer available). However, upon reading the album notes, we discovered much to our chagrin that it was only the last half of a full-length ballet. With this enterprising release from BMOP/sound, we now have the complete score.

Media Date 
April 15, 2008
Media Source 
Classical Lost and Found
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Media Quote 

The music couldn't possibly have better advocates than BMOP and its conductor Gil Rose. The detail, emotional sweep and carefully judged dynamics that Maestro Rose brings to this score are exceptional.

Media Contact Name 
Bob McQuiston

George Rochberg: Black Sounds; Cantio Sacra; Phaedra

Black Sounds, written for a ballet depicting the act of murder, is an unrelentingly intense work that packs a good deal of violence into its 17 minutes. George Rochberg thought of the piece as an “homage” to Varèse, and indeed with its stark, near-atonal language, repetitive phrases, and broad, colorful percussion array, it sounds a good deal like the French/American composer’s music, including its scoring for wind ensemble.

Media Date 
January 30, 2003
Media Source 
ClassicsToday
Media 
Media Quote 

BMOP delivers stirring and virtuosic performances under Gil Rose.

Media Contact Name 
Victor Carr Jr

BMOP's recording of Foss's Griffelkin receives perfect score

Artistic Quality: 10 Sound Quality: 10

Lukas Foss composed Griffelkin for the NBC television network, which broadcast the opera on November 6, 1955. Although Griffelkin is based on a children’s fable, Foss wanted it to appeal to listeners ages “8 to 80,” so he wrote in a very accessible though not simplistic musical style—and the story has enough of a mature subtext to interest adults as well as children (as all good “children’s” music must).

Media Date 
August 9, 2003
Media Source 
ClassicsToday
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Media Quote 

There's much to enjoy in this lively and engaging opera—no matter what your age.

Media Contact Name 
Victor Carr Jr.

Tod Machover: The Hyperstring Trilogy

Tod Machover’s Hyperstring Trilogy, on the Oxingale label and by some distance the most exhilarating disc release of these otherwise drab summer months, sets off memories of the not-too-distant past and stirs up all kinds of hopes for a not-too-hopeless future.

Media Date 
August 12, 2003
Media Source 
LA Weekly
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Media Quote 

The technical mastery on this disc is breathtaking, and so is the music.

Media Contact Name 
Alan Rich

Tod Machover: The Hyperstring Trilogy

The music on this disc is so good, you’d be tempted to proclaim it one of the best new-music discs of the decade were the pieces not 10 or more years old.

The M.I.T-based Machover spent the late 80’s and early 90’s developing hybrid electronic instruments, though this disc shows his greatest talent is that of a composer. More than Pierre Boulez, Machover composes for electronically generated sound as if it were his first language.

Media Date 
August 12, 2003
Media Source 
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Media 
Media Quote 

The music on this disc is so good, you'd be tempted to proclaim it one of the best new-music discs of the decade were the pieces not 10 or more years old.

Media Contact Name 
David Patrick Stearns

Lee Hyla: Trans

Lee Hyla writes in a tremendously compressed style in which shape and gesture stand in for conventional melody despite an often clear tonal orientation. Rhythm also plays an important role in activating his musical textures and maintaining linear transparency, and it’s clear from a cursory listen to any of these three works that Hyla writes with a great deal of talent and confidence.

Media Date 
March 8, 2004
Media Source 
ClassicsToday.com
Media 
Media Quote 

Hyla writes in a tremendously compressed style in which shape and gesture stand in for conventional melody despite an often clear tonal orientation.

Media Contact Name 
David Hurwitz

Reza Vali: Flute Concerto; Deylaman; Folk Songs (Set No. 10)

Reza Vali, who was born in Iran, will probably be a new name to most readers. Vali is now based in the USA and has been the recipient of several prestigious awards and commissions.

Media Date 
March 30, 2004
Media Source 
Classical Music Web
Media 
Media Quote 

I cannot give too much commendation to the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Gil Rose for their exceptional endeavors.

Media Contact Name 
Michael Cookson

Bernard Rands: Canti Trilogy

About a year ago, Arsis put a big advertising push behind a CD called Songs of Love that featured the music of Bernard Rands (b. 1934) and that of his wife, Augusta Read Thomas. I kind of blew hot and cold over that disc, but not this time. This is the real deal, a three-part work made up of what amounts to three independent song cycles, one for each of the vocalists, accompanied by either orchestra or, as here, a large chamber ensemble that is one of the most striking works I can recall hearing and one that only grows in my estimation each time I listen to it.

Media Date 
May 2, 2005
Media Source 
Fanfare
Media 
Media Quote 

Gil Rose and BMOP do the composer proud, realizing the vast range of expression inherent in the music.

Media Contact Name 
John Story

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