Together (2009)

Italian-American violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg shows fresh thinking across the board in this excellent new release. It's unusual for a violinist of her stature to take the spotlight, at least ostensibly, off of herself and merge into a chamber group. The NSS label is her own new creation. And the program is entirely fresh. Salerno-Sonnenberg looks toward a future in which concert music neither ignores popular music nor aspires to be part of it. Each of the four works on the program draws on vernacular music in ... Read More

Italian-American violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg shows fresh thinking across the board in this excellent new release. It's unusual for a violinist of her stature to take the spotlight, at least ostensibly, off of herself and merge into a chamber group. The NSS label is her own new creation. And the program is entirely fresh. Salerno-Sonnenberg looks toward a future in which concert music neither ignores popular music nor aspires to be part of it. Each of the four works on the program draws on vernacular music in different ways. The opening Impressions, by Clarice Assad (a member of the endlessly creative Assad family of Brazil), is a sort of Brazilianized concerto for orchestra, composed with the explicit intent of showcasing the New Century Chamber Orchestra in various combinations. The Astor Piazzolla work here titled Four Seasons of Buenos Aires is actually a set of season-themed pieces that weren't originally intended as a set. They're played in a 1990s orchestration by Russian composer Leonid... Read Less