Albany Records: Harlequin's Rainbow

Quantity in Basket: None ROBERT XAVIER RODRÍGUEZ Harlequin's Rainbow TROY1920 - Price: $16.99
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Rodríguez's sixth recording for Albany Records is a song cycle and a work for double bass, piano, and narrator.

Robert Xavier Rodríguez's (b. 1946) music has been described as "romantically dramatic" and glowing with a physical animation and delicate balance of moods that combine seductively with his all-encompassing sense of humor." He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among many other prizes. He has served as composer-in-residence with the San Antonio Symphony and the Dallas Symphony. His music appears on more than 20 recordings. The music on this recording includes a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and string quartet based on poems from Albert Giraud's Pierrot Lunaire. The second work, a Romance With a Double Bass is for narrator, double bass, and piano and is based on a comic short story by Anton Chekhov. Performers include the Amernet String Quartet, mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, bassist Daniel Nix, pianist Mikhail Berestnev, and narrator Mary-Margaret Pyeatt.

Review:

An artist whose music embraces humor, heavy attention to mood and might be described as ‘romantically dramatic’, Robert Xavier Rodríguez pens a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and string quartet based on poems from Albert Giraud's Pierrot Lunaire, as well as “Romance With A Double Bass”, which is for narrator, double bass, and piano and is based on a comic short story by Anton Chekhov. The title track opens the listen with 12 chapters, where Rachel Calloway’s stunning mezzo-soprano soars with an expressive presence, as Misha Vitenson and Avi Hagin’s skilled violins, Michael Klotz’s well timed viola and Jason Calloway’s moody cello help cultivate a shifting landscape of exploratory, orchestral dynamics. “Romance With A Double Bass” exits the listen, and places Michael Nix on double bass, Mikhail Berestnev on piano and Mary-Margaret Pyeatt on narration for the engaging storytelling that’s eloquent and complements the unpredictable and mature musicianship superbly. A listen that continues Rodriguez’s position as an animated and creative composer with a sense of humor, the instrumentation provided by the Amernet Quartet and wordplay from Pyeatt only adds to the appeal of his inimitable vision. (Take Effect Reviews)

Rodríguez's sixth recording for Albany Records is a song cycle and a work for double bass, piano, and narrator.

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