American Journeys
Catalog Number: J109
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ARTISTS
Christine Michelle Smith, FLUTIST
Frederick Moyer, PIANIST
Gisèle Ben-Dor, CONDUCTOR
London Symphony Orchestra, ORCHESTRA
 
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REPERTOIRE
 
As befits a young country, Americans have traditionally been on the move - traveling to the frontier (and the future), to be sure, but also making occasional visits back to the places we came from. American composers share in such expeditions. David Ott and John Adams were born in the same year (1947), Ott in the midwest (Michigan), Adams in the east (Massachusetts). Both have enjoyed professional training at distinguished academic institutions and have reached their flourishing middle years with a substantial list of compositions to their credit. And both have found ways of 'traveling' that is reflected in the works contained in this recording. 
 
“Frederick Moyer, the pianist here and the concerto's dedicatee, is a superb soloist who certainly gives this performance his all; I doubt the concerto could be performed better.” AMAZON.COM REVIEW

“Written in 1994, for a commission by Frederick Moyer, the soloist in this performance, the work (Ott Piano Concerto #2) is a big, brilliantly splashy concerto ‘in the old style’ suggestive of some of the great showpieces of Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev and others without being purely derivative…Unlike other, lesser works in this post-modernist neo-Romantic style that languish in my library because they wore out their welcome on the very first listen, this work is eminently relistenable; a real gem, and, I'm sure, a real crowd-pleaser in the concert hall. Moyer plays this piece for all it's worth (which is quite a bit); his technique is nothing short of prodigious.” AMAZON.COM REVIEW

“Performances splendiferous, sonics excellent.” AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE