The Winston-Salem Symphony embarked on a long summer holiday several weeks ago. Robert Moody won't conduct the ensemble again until Sept. 27; that's when Renee Fleming, an oft-recorded soprano noted for her performances at the Metropolitan Opera and other major houses, will be featured in the "Beautiful Voice of Renee Fleming," in Reynolds Auditorium.
There are several ways to keep the symphony in mind and ear over the next several weeks. These come in the form of recently issued CDs. Each features either a musician who has soloed with the symphony over the last five years and/or a recording of a work that Moody programmed during that period.
• Itzhak Perlman soloed in a 2006 symphony performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto. In Mendelssohn: Piano Trios, Opp. 49 & 66 (Sony Classical), he shows us a different side of his virtuosity, teaming up with pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma in glowing performances of some of the best music ever written for piano trio.
This recording is as good a way as any to draw attention to Mendelssohn's 200th birthday, which is being celebrated this year. And it ably reacquaints us with some of the composer's most stellar proponents. Perlman is certainly one of these. He prompts us to savor each of the trios' many memorable memories because he delivers them with unbelievably clean technique and a lusciously expressive sound. In liner notes, he calls himself a friend of Ax and Ma -- a characteristic that comes through in the obvious warmth and interpretive coherence.
• Back in 2007, the Winston-Salem Symphony premiered PHOENIX for orchestra, by Dan Locklair, the composer-in-residence at Wake Forest University. This piece began life as a fanfare and has blossomed into something quite triumphal in effect and character, something that can celebrate everything from the inauguration of college presidents to the beginnings of orchestra seasons.
You can hear virtuoso Marilyn Keiser perform the solo-organ version of Phoenix on The Music of Dan Locklair, a Loft Recordings CD of some of Locklair's best organ pieces. Keiser performs on the mighty Casavant Freres organ in St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Indianapolis.
If nothing else, this recording proves that Locklair has established himself not only as one of the leading composers of organ music of our time but also a composer whose music is likely to grace important occasions, from a funeral of United States president to an anniversary-year celebration of an organ or organist. The listener of his pieces comes away impressed with finely crafted music that is both accessible and challenging.
Fans of the David Tannenberg organ in Old Salem will be happy to know that Salem Sonata is included in the CD's offerings as well. This piece celebrated the completion of the organ's restoration in 2004.
Zuill Bailey soloed in Elgar's Cello Concerto on the symphony program that featured Locklair's PHOENIX. Bailey has made several recordings of late, including one of Bach's cello suites (Telarc), which I recommend for its richness of sound, its spontaneity and its utter lack of inhibition.
• For those interested in hearing some of the latest solo-guitar music by American and Latin American composers, Perennials: American Solos for Guitar (Orchard) provides a fine start. The able soloist is Joseph Pecoraro, who teaches at the UNC School of the Arts.
This past April, Pecoraro and three UNCSA guitar students made up the quartet that soloed in a well-received symphony performance of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto Andaluz, which was billed as a worthy alternative to Rodrigo's more popular Concierto de Aranjuez.
The famed Los Angeles Guitar Quartet has taken up the cause of Andaluz, having recorded that piece and Sergio Assad's new Interchange on Telarc. David Amado leads the Delaware Symphony Orchestra in a splendid performance.
kkeuffel@wsjournal.com
727-7337
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