Description
GEMMA NEW conducts ALEXANDER GAVRYLYUK Piano AARON JAY KERNIS Musica Celestis RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2 PROKOFIEV Romeo and Juliet: Suite American composer and Pulitzer Prize winner Aaron Jay Kernis's note in the score of Musica Celestis (Music of the Heavens) states that the ethereal work "is inspired by the medieval conception of that phrase, which refers to the singing of the angels in heaven in praise of God without end…" Rachmaninoff's tempestuous Second Piano Concerto uses harmonic tension and contrasting dynamics to unite the solo piano passages with the orchestra's grand themes. Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet uses robust orchestration and complex rhythms that challenged even the best of Bolshoi dancers, yet has all the grandeur, passion and tragedy to do the Shakespearean classic justice.