Peter Boyer - Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue (Jeffrey Biegel)

Information

Composer: Peter Boyer

• Rhapsody in Red, White and Blue

Jeffrey Biegel, piano

London Symphony Orchestra

Peter Boyer, conductor

Date: 2024

Label: Naxos

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Review

Boyer has composed a new 17-minute work for piano and orchestra entitled Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue, in which Biegel is the soloist. Biegel conceived the project and title of the new work and selected Boyer as the composer.

The commission of Boyer’s Rhapsody was funded entirely by a consortium of foundations and private donors.

The project has received performance commitments from 54 orchestras in all 50 American states. Boyer’s approximately 18-minute Rhapsody was premiered on June 30, 2023 with Biegel and the Utah Symphony Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Manis at the opening of the Deer Valley Music Festival in Park City, Utah.

Boyer and Biegel have also recorded the new Rhapsody with the London Symphony Orchestra for Naxos.

Unlike other compositions that tend to be paraphrases of Gershwin’s work, Rhapsody in Red, White and Blue is a completely original work in which Boyer has mixed Cuban rhythms and plenty of Americana to create a luminous work with plenty of verve and joie de vivre: « I think the new work reflects my optimism for our country, even in such difficult times, » says Boyer. The London Symphony Orchestra performs the new work brilliantly under the composer’s baton.

— Remy Franck

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Peter Boyer (born 10 February 1970) is an American composer and conductor. Educated at Rhode Island College, The Hartt School, USC Thornton School of Music, and through private study with John Corigliano, Boyer is among the most frequently performed American orchestral composers of his generation. His works have received hundreds of performances worldwide, including the GRAMMY-nominated Ellis Island: The Dream of America. Boyer has received major commissions from leading U.S. institutions, contributed to numerous film scores, and holds a professorship at Claremont Graduate University.

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Jeffrey Biegel is an American pianist and educator. A Juilliard-trained artist, he studied with Adele Marcus and serves on the faculty of the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. Biegel is renowned for premiering and commissioning more than 30 works by prominent contemporary composers, including Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, William Bolcom, Peter Boyer and Adolphus Hailstork. His career includes performances with major orchestras, Grammy-winning and nominated recordings, and contributions to expanding the piano concerto repertoire. He is also active as a composer, arranger and cultural innovator.

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