Violin Concerto No 2 'American Four Seasons' (2009)

Glass's Violin Concerto No 2 is subtitled The American Four Seasons. Written for Robert McDuffie as a Vivaldi companion piece, it links Glass's own minimalism to the classicism and neo-classicism of the 18th and 20th centuries respectively. Baroque in scale, and slyly using a synthesiser as continuo, it interweaves unaccompanied solos with formal movements of great melodic beauty...the standing ovation at the close was richly deserved.
[FOUR STARS]

[Philip Glass’s new violin concerto, The American Four Seasons] was dignified and contained, even when the soloist launched into passionate flights of virtuosity, which was quite often...Glass has a magical way of giving the merest twist to banality and ordinariness, which makes it interesting – the mark of classic art down the ages. As for the solo performance by Robert McDuffie, it was beyond praise, as cool, poised and heroically strong as a piece of Greek statuary.
[FOUR STARS]