Christopher Rouse - Concertos (Various Artists)

Information

Composer: Christopher Rouse

• Heimdall's Trumpet
• Oboe Concerto
• Bassoon Concerto

Eric Berlin, trumpet

Katherine Needleman, oboe

Peter Kolkay, bassoon

Albany Symphony Orchestra

David Alan Miller, conductor

Date: 2024

Label: Albany Records

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Description

Christopher Rouse was one of America’s most prominent composers. Winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in Music, he created a body of work perhaps unequalled in its emotional intensity. Three of his concertos — for trumpet, oboe, and bassoon — are included in this recording. Eric Berlin is principal trumpet of the Albany Symphony and assistant principal trumpet of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra. He has commissioned, premiered, and recorded numerous new works for trumpet. Katherine Needleman is principal oboist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras around the U.S. Peter Kolkay is the only bassoonist to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant. In demand as a chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist with orchestras, he is on the faculty at Vanderbilt. The Albany Symphony, led by conductor David Alan Miller, has received four Grammy nominations and is both a 2014 and 2021 Grammy award winner.

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Christopher Rouse (15 February 1949 – 21 September 2019) was an American composer. Educated at Oberlin Conservatory and Cornell University, he studied with George Crumb and Karel Husa and later taught at the Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School. His works were performed by major orchestras worldwide, and he gained particular acclaim for his concertos written for leading soloists. Rouse received numerous honors, including a Grammy Award and the Pulitzer Prize. His final composition, Symphony No. 6, premiered posthumously in 2019, marking the culmination of an influential career.

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