Rave Reviews for Christopher Rouse: Symphony No. 5 - Supplica * Concerto for Orchestra from Nashville Symphony and Giancarlo Guerrero
Press Highlights
Christopher Rouse - Symphony No. 5
Supplica * Concerto for Orchestra
Nashville Symphony and Giancarlo Guerrero
Naxos 2020
Washington Post: A critic’s suggestions for music to fill the dog days
“The late, great Christopher Rouse was a Pulitzer and Grammy-winning composer, a lifelong Baltimorean, a proud Zeppelin fan, and a direct product of Beethoven. His first childhood encounter with Ludwig’s fifth marked the beginning of his composing life; and his own fifth, composed in 2015, makes for a stirring homage (especially in the timpani department) as well as a miniature survey of his vast range."
BBC Music Magazine
“Christopher Rouse (1949-2019) composed in several genres, but his affinity with the orchestra was such that many Stateside regard him as the greatest American symphonist of our times. On the basis of his thrilling Symphony No. 5 (2015), performed with relish by the Nashville Symphony under conductor Giancarlo Guerrero, it’s hard to disagree…[The Concerto for Orchestra] is also brilliantly orchestrated and zestfully performed.”
Classic Review
“What an incredible orchestra Nashville has become. Under Kenneth Schermerhorn, Nashville’s previous conductor, the orchestra developed into a first-rate regional ensemble. But their current director, Giancarlo Guerrero, has brought them to a level that rivals the best American orchestras. If perhaps they lack the finesse and refinement found in Boston and Cleveland, their unbridled enthusiasm and intense energy are a joy to hear. Strings play with nimble virtuosity, dispatching Rouse’s difficult writing with disarming aplomb. Woodwinds have plenty of character in solos, with an organ-like sonority in ensemble playing. Brass are lyrical and raucous by turn, with especially impressive playing by trombones and tuba. Together, they create a fully compelling and emotionally involving reading of Rouse’s masterful symphony.”
Arts Fuse
“Rouse’s Fifth is a brilliant piece: bright, accessible, fresh, direct, crafty. There’s much of interest to be had here – thematically, instrumentally, and structurally – and it’s all played to the hilt by Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony Orchestra (NSO). The ensemble is similarly impressive in Rouse’s Concerto for Orchestra…the NSO tackles Rouse’s deft, sometimes quite inventive scoring, with aplomb…In between the big pieces, Guerrero leads the NSO in a nicely driven reading of Supplica, a brooding, Sibelius-like essay from 2014. A sober piece it is, but, in these hands not a grim one – just what the day (and this album) requires.”
New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/classical-music/christopher-rouse-symphony-no-5
“For the many admirers of Christopher Rouse, a well-loved American composer who died last September, a new recording of his Symphony No. 5, by the conductor Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony, will prove a welcome arrival. In the piece, which was introduced in 2017 by Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony, Rouse translates childhood memories of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony into his own muscular, fantastical idiom. Also included here are “Supplica,” a rapturous meditation from 2013, and Concerto for Orchestra, a kaleidoscopic showpiece from 2008. Abetted by robust performances, the album offers persuasive justification for Rouse’s enduring appeal.”
San Francisco Classical Voice: Rouse’s Symphony No. 5 Debuts in Eloquent Recording
https://www.sfcv.org/reviews/none/rouses-symphony-no-5-debuts-in-eloquent-recording
Rafael Music Notes
“This composer’s gift for finding unpredictable sounds from instruments often taken for granted thanks to his uncanny genius for orchestrating is more than ever before present in this remarkable performance of three works, including the impressive Symphony No. 5 by Christopher Rouse with the enormously gifted Giancarlo Guerrero leading the superb Nashville Symphony Orchestra issued by Naxos.”
Textura
https://www.textura.org/archives/r/rouse_symphonyno5.htm
“American composer Christopher Rouse passed away in September 2019, which means he wasn't alive to witness the formal release of this recording by the renowned Nashville Symphony conducted by music director Giancarlo Guerrero. But given that the three works were recorded in October 2017 and April 2019, it's very possible he heard the performances in their pre-released form. Regardless, one imagines he would have been delighted with the outcome: while no interpretation can ever be deemed definitive, these treatments collectively serve as both an excellent recorded addition to a distinguished body of work and a wonderful representative sampling of the Pulitzer-winning composer's music.”
“Not only is the release a wonderful presentation of Rouse material, it's also a fine addition to Naxos's 'American Classics' series, which recently featured a release containing works by Aaron Jay Kernis and will follow the Rouse set with one presenting two pieces by Tobias Picker. It goes without saying that all three are in the best of hands when their works are performed by Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony. The sensitivity with which they render Rouse's material attests to the orchestra's exceptional musicianship.”
Music City Review
http://www.musiccityreview.com/2020/08/05/the-second-summer-release-from-the-nashville-symphony/
“Overall, this recording is a great tribute to Christopher Rouse and another feather in the Nashville Symphony’s cap. It is my understanding that Rouse was at many of the rehearsals and concerts for these live recordings, and is the last recording made under his supervision. Although this recording is superb, it really is no match to hearing the Nashville Symphony live, and I look forward to when that option is available again.”
“Guerrero brings this score to life and showcases the Nashville Symphony’s full abilities”
Gramophone
“An orchestra with a notable past (and hopefully future), the Nashville Symphony rises admirably to these pieces’ not inconsiderable challenges. Sound has no lack of clarity or definition, and the booklet note rightly places emphasis on Rouse’s own pithy observations. All in all, an impressive release.”
Musical America
“…and in 2008’s Concerto for Orchestra, a bravura workout that gives each individual player his or her moment in the sun. The Nashville players take all this in their stride, and Guerrero shapes it all most sensitively, giving Supplica plenty of room to breathe and ensuring the Concerto’s dramatic tension never flags. Recorded in October 2017 in the Laura Turner Concert Hall of Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center, the sound is beautifully spacious, as it is for the other two works…”
For more information or to purchase click here.