Samuel Adler – One Lives but Once: A 90th Birthday Celebration (2018) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

March 4th 2018 marks the 90th birthday of one of the twenty-first century’s most influential and prolific composers: Samuel Adler. This three-disc boxed set provides a cohesive overview of his output and includes many premiere recordings. A pupil of both Paul Hindemith and Aaron Copland, Adler is a phenomenal symphonic writer (who, quite literally, wrote the book on orchestration) whose style merges twenty-first century ebullience with an almost classical economy and balance. The first two discs feature the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt under conductor Emily Freeman Brown performing the First and Second Symphonies, a dance suite for orchestra, plus three concertos: the Concerto for violin and orchestra, featuring Siwoo Kim, the award-winning violinist who originally premiered the work; the Concerto for woodwind quintet and orchestra; and the first Piano Concerto, featuring the prize-winning young pianist Michael Brown. The third disc features the highly talented young players from the Eastman School of Music alongside guitarist and fellow Eastman professor Nicholas Goluses. This is especially fitting since Adler taught at Eastman for nearly thirty years and these students represent the continuation of his prodigious legacy.

Tracklist:
Samuel Adler (b.1928)
1. Symphony No. 1: I. Gently Moving
2. Symphony No. 1: II. Very Slowly
3. Symphony No. 1: III. Vigorous and Very Rhythmic
4. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1: I. Slowly and Very Free – Very Fast
5. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1: II. Very Slowly
6. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1: III. Hard Driving
7. Man Lebt Nur Einmal “One Lives but Once”: I. Rumble
8. Man Lebt Nur Einmal “One Lives but Once”: II. Schleier-Walzer “Veiled Waltz”
9. Man Lebt Nur Einmal “One Lives but Once”: III. Erratische Rumba “Erratic Rumba”
10. Man Lebt Nur Einmal “One Lives but Once”: IV. Pavane
11. Man Lebt Nur Einmal “One Lives but Once”: V. Tarantella
12. Symphony No. 2: I. Quite Slowly – Fast
13. Symphony No. 2: II. Slowly
14. Symphony No. 2: III. Fast and Triumphant
15. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: I. Vigorous
16. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: II. Slowly and Expressively
17. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: III. Cadenza – Fast and With a Happy Spirit
18. Concerto for Woodwind Quintet and Orchestra “Shir HaMa’alot”: I. Fast, Rhythmic, and Very Energetic
19. Concerto for Woodwind Quintet and Orchestra “Shir HaMa’alot”: II. Slowly and Very Expressively – Suddenly Faster – Slowly Again
20. Concerto for Woodwind Quintet and Orchestra “Shir HaMa’alot”: III. Fast and Jubilant
21. Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra: I. Very Fast and Rhythmic
22. Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra: II. Slowly and Expressively – Suddenly Faster – Slowly Tempo I Again
23. Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra: III. Fast and With Good Spirit
24. Into the Radiant Boundaries of Light: I. Delicate and Quite Fast
25. Into the Radiant Boundaries of Light: II. Slowly and Freely Moving
26. Into the Radiant Boundaries of Light: III. Fast and Rhythmic
27. Ports of Call “A Mediterranean Suite”: I. Marseille: With a Happy Spirit
28. Ports of Call “A Mediterranean Suite”: II. Alexandria: Slowly and Expressively
29. Ports of Call “A Mediterranean Suite”: III. Salonika: With Wild Abandon
30. Ports of Call “A Mediterranean Suite”: IV. Haifa: With a Slow Lilt
31. Ports of Call “A Mediterranean Suite”: V. Valencia: Fast and Exuberant
32. Five Choral Scherzi: I. V. B. Nimble, V. B. Quick
33. Five Choral Scherzi: II. Sucking Cider Through a Straw
34. Five Choral Scherzi: III. No!
35. Five Choral Scherzi: IV. The Choice
36. Five Choral Scherzi: V. Tarantella