On March 7, Orchid Classics releases an album of world premiere recordings from composers Matthew Aucoin, Jonathan Dove, and Nico Muhly. Recorded by the BBC Scottish Symphony and conducted by Timothy Redmond, this disc presents opera-inspired orchestral music, capturing the theatrical essence of each composer's voice.
Matthew Aucoin's Heath is inspired by Shakespeare's King Lear and was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera for their orchestra's 2023 season. In Lear, the "heath" is a desolate, windswept landscape where the title character descends into madness after being betrayed by his daughters. More than a physical space, it represents the play’s bleak vision of human nature, where social norms barely contain primal instincts. Though the orchestral piece does not depict these scenes directly, the composer says that 'Heath felt like the only fitting title.'
Eurydice Suite is drawn from his opera Eurydice, based on Sarah Ruhl’s play of the same name. It opens with a frightening metallic “ping” of oblivion, signaling the passage of the dead. It then shifts between the world of the living and the underworld, mirroring the opera’s surreal and emotional journey.
Also featured on the album is LIAR by Nico Muhly, drawn from his opera Marnie. Based on Winston Graham’s 1961 novel of the same name, which was adapted into a film by Alfred Hitchock in 1964, Marnie tells the dark tale of a young woman with a compulsion for theft and deceit. Both Aucoin and Muhly's opera suites were commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, with Eurydice Suite receiving additional commission support from the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra and the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra.
Stargazer by Jonathan Dove is a trombone concerto commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, and here featuring Peter Moore as soloist. Conceived as an instrumental opera for the lyrical trombone, Stargazer portrays the image of a man observing the night sky through a telescope, with the orchestra representing the constellations he sees.
For more information, please contact your local Wise Music Promotion Team.
