Ned Rorem

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Simon Mulligan is an outstanding piano soloist, combining precision with a beautiful pearly sound in the upper register. The cellist Weng-Sinn Yang isn't always as tight rhythmically, but makes... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2008, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 28th Aug 2007
Catalogue No: 8559315
Label: Naxos
Series: American Classics
Length: 59 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

December 2007

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Rorem: Piano Concerto No. 2 (1951)

Work length34:13

$8.00

$10.30

Simon Mulligan
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
José Serebrier

I. Somber and Steady

Track length15:58

$4.00

$5.15

II. Quiet and Sad

Track length12:32

$3.00

$3.85

III. Real Fast!

Track length5:43

$1.00

$1.30

Rorem: Cello Concerto

Work length24:59

$9.00

$11.70

Wen-Sinn Yang
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
José Serebrier

I. Curtain-rise

Track length1:31

$1.00

$1.30

II. There and Back

Track length4:00

$1.00

$1.30

III. Three Queries, One Response

Track length7:16

$2.00

$2.60

IV. Competative Chaos

Track length1:54

$1.00

$1.30

V. A Single Tone, a Dozen Implications

Track length1:25

$1.00

$1.30

VI. One Coin, Two Sides

Track length4:31

$1.00

$1.30

VII. Valse Rappelee

Track length1:25

$1.00

$1.30

VIII. Adrift

Track length2:57

$1.00

$1.30

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February 2008

Simon Mulligan is an outstanding piano soloist, combining precision with a beautiful pearly sound in the upper register. The cellist Weng-Sinn Yang isn't always as tight rhythmically, but makes the most of his many opportunities for lyricism. They're expertly supported by Serebrier, the RSNO, and Naxos's engineering.

2010

How remarkable that two such delectable concertos should be receiving their world premieres on disc. Unapologetically romantic and accessible, those qualities may well have mitigated against acceptance among the industry's fashion- mongers. The Second Piano Concerto (1951) was written for Julius Katchen and was given its first performance by that superb pianist in 1954. Since then it has lain dormant until its present revival by Simon Mulligan whose brilliance, ideally matched by José Serebrier, is worthy of Katchen himself. Here, the ghosts of Ravel, Françaix, Gershwin, Stravinsky and, most of all, Poulenc, jostle for attention. Yet Rorem's idiom is as personal as it is chic. The final pages of the central 'Quiet and Sad' movement, where the piano weaves intricate tracery round the orchestral theme, may owe much to the Adagioassai from Ravel's G major Concerto but it maintains its own character. The finale, 'Real Fast', is an irresistible tour de force played up to the hilt by Mulligan.
In the Cello Concerto Rorem happily eschews a conventional form, giving programmatic subtitles to each section. These range from 'Curtain Raise' to 'Adrift', offering Wen-Sinn Yang a rich opportunity, whether playing primus inter pares or revelling in Rorem's alternating nostalgia and effervescence. Finely recorded, it's a clear winner.

December 2007

The Second Piano Concerto (1951)… has lain dormant until its present revival by Simon Mulligan whose brilliance, ideally matched by José Serebrier, is worthy of Katchen himself. In the Cello Concerto Rorem happily eschews a conventional form… offering Wen-Sinn Yang a rich opportunity, whether playing primus inter pares or revelling in Rorem's alternating nostalgia and effervescence. Finely recorded, it's a clear winner for the Naxos American Classics series.

Ned Rorem

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