Search - Joseph Schwantner, Leonard Slatkin, National Symphony Orchestra :: The Music Of Joseph Schwantner / Slatkin, Glennie, National SO, et al

My heart went out of rhythm because of this piece!

Cory | Virginia | 06/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is heavy music. Let me warn you right off the bat. The Percussion Concerto (which I had the opportunity to see spring 1999 with the NSO) is very 'heavy' music. The first movement sets the mood right away with it's loudness and heavyness on the drums. Tides shift when the second movement comes on. Glennie is a master at the suspense and weight of this slow but powerful movement. The third starts out with a variety of percussion instruments and resembles the climax of any modern day movie. It goes right into a marimba 'exercise' and then into some more drumming. The Martin Luther King piece, done in the style of Copland's Lincoln Portrait, is very powerful. Jordan's daring risk of a stressful monotone voice worked well. This is more of a dramatic opinion opposed to a musical one. Marimbas will be marimbas on that first piece. It's neat but nothing exciting."

Queen of Percussion

Laurie | Japan | 12/06/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great CD. I saw her perform the Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra in the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. Amazing. She plays with such strength, conviction, and feeling. I had a conversation with her after the concert and she was very encouraging and kind. Evelyn Glennie is in a class of her own."

Terrible editing

J. Lambert | 09/22/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I saw Evelyn Glennie play the Schwantner percussion concerto with the CSO and it was one of the most moving and memorable performances I have seen. The reason I am rating this CD low is because of the horrendous editing job on "Velocities." But that's also a good reason to listen to it! If you do a lot of recording and editing, this is a great example of how not to edit. If you listen with headphones, you can hear a lot of jumpy cuts (maybe all of them). Since the piece is very repetitive in spots, you can even hear where they looped passages several times. Now I'm not against editing, just make sure you do a good job so no one notices! Shame on either the producer or editor, or engineer or Evelyn. I'm not sure who is responsible for this hack job. Especially since this recording was all digital and it is not too old (1997) there is just no excuse."