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Score(s):	50481211	Score(s):	GS81211

Reviews

• [Concerto for Orchestra] is a score of major length and scope, demanding of both conductor and the orchestra the highest virtuosity...the work is a concentrated and impressive artistic statement, containing music of great intensity of emotion. This is music of the utmost difficulty and complexity [and it] contains some of Husa's most original and unusual music, opening up a new expressive quality in this work.
  Bryon Adams, Ithaca Times
• Czech-born American composer Karel Husa wrote his CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA for the New York Philharmonic in 1986. But in its Cleveland Orchestra premiere, the apocalyptic piece sounded as if it were intended to usher in the close of the century, if not the end of the world.
  
  Dark and dramatic, the large-scale work swept the listeners along from the opening violin solo to the shattering final notes. The strings opened "Cadence," a linear introduction that piled up layers of contrapuntal lines into a busy texture of scales and cadential figures. The first interlude led to "Fantasy," a mysterious tone poem that crawled out of the earth. "In Memoriam," the work's mournful heart, poured out expressions of grief and quiet string sighs and sobs that developed into a tragic outcry for the full orchestra.
  
  The second interlude, an introspective song for solo cello, created the illusion of contemplative music sounding from a distant Asian monastery. "Game," the intense finale, was not a contemporary scherzo but a serious conflict between superpowers of sound. The emotional impact was stunning, and the 78-year-old composer got plenty of applause when he came onstage to take a bow.
  Wilma Salisbury, Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Husa's Concerto is a masterly work that exploits all sections of the orchestra in astonishingly innovative ways...with [its] stunning virtuosity....it is the work of a composer magnificently in control of his material... above all, it is a colorful, sonorous and beautifully wrought score.
  William Mootz, The Courier-Journal
• Concerto for Orchestra proved to be a most imposing large-scale work that holds the listener's attention and interest throughout...Husa has strong musical ideas and isn't afraid of using the grand gesture to express and develop them.
  Bill Zakariasen, The Daily News
• [Concerto for Orchestra] is an exciting, substantial work....The sound is passionate and rich, dissonant but not abrasive — an exuberant stew of music...this concerto is an important piece, inviting, open and substantial. I hope to hear it again.
  Peter Goodman, New York Newsday