M. Brouwer Aurolucent Circles. Mandala. Pulse. Remembrance. SIZZLE
Gerard Schwarz, cond; Royal Liverpool PO; Evelyn Glennie (perc)
NAXOS 8.559250
MICHAEL FINE, Staff writer Fanfare The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors
May - June 2006
Margaret Brouwer (born in 1940) is head of the composition department at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Based on this excellent new Naxos recording, she has an individual voice with a fine ear for orchestral colors. Her 2002 Concerto for Evelyn Glennie - Aurolucent Circels - is immediately arresting, with its powerfully phrased opening voiced in the lower strings...
... Mandala was inspired by a Tibetan sand painting and a Dutch psalm melody (Psalm XCI in Dutch Reformed hymnal.)... Adding to this interesting musical-cultural mix are musicians whispering barely audible bits of random text, always with the ever-present Psalm never far from the surface...
...Gerard Schwarz's performance of all these works is authoritative and convicing. He is ably abetted by his orchestra and the fine production and engineering.
Copyright 2006 Fanfare Magazine