Avner Dorman: Concertos

I'll just point out my favorite things about this album. This album is definitely unique. One thing that stands out is the use of the mandolin with the orchestra. (Something you don't hear everyday) The beginning of the first composition begins with a haunting, and slowly rising and falling series of chord progressions. Followed by the introduction of the orchestra. That, at first, provides a full and ambient texture to the composition. Turns into sharp bursts of energy with the orchestra. Which, soon, leads into a soulful interplay of (timing in particular) between the bass section of the orchestra and the mandolin, with beautiful, harmonically rich, and almost atmospheric sounding high notes within the orchestra. The songs fades into the second movement of the composition. At this point the composition raises it's tempo, with what I would describe as distressing awareness, it grabs your attention. Quickly though, it becomes somewhat majestic sounding in nature. With some Middle-Eastern influenced approach, this piece has the ability to take you on a journey into your imagination, and tell a story. The third movement becomes somewhat meditative and restful to finish out the composition. Overall, I absolutely LOVE the Mandolin Concerto. Definitely a highlight of this album. The Piccolo Concerto is fairly upbeat and uplifting for the First and Third Movements. With the Second Movement being less dynamic and much more soothing than the other two. Acting as kind of a complimentary interlude between the two more upbeat movements. The Concerto Grosso features brief points where it seems to be heading into a fast paced and joyful Movement, but denies your expectations, and instead turns into a series of tension building, and almost dismal structures that become short and maniacal crescendo's that quickly fade. This Concerto also has great examples of very smoothly transitioned sections of the orchestra. I also really liked Piano Concerto in A on track 11. It's sounds very reminiscent of the 19th century Romantic style approach to the Piano. In summary this is a Really Awesome album, with plenty of variety!

This debut album by Metropolis Ensemble is a welcome addition to the ouvre of modern classical recordings. Avner Dorman's music, steeped in traditional concerto form and instrumentation, is fresh and invigorating. Under the direction of Maestro Cyr, soloists and ensemble members give rich and energetic performances for each concerto. This album should be owned by anyone who is a lover of modern artistic expression, whatever medium, as a shining example of how modern music can be not only cutting edge & relevant but exciting and familiar as well. I look forward to more and more recordings by this marvelous group of musicians.