
Song
Night Ferry
Riccardo Muti
Released:
Label:
CSO Resound
Props to Chicago for hosting two composers-in-residence—and for giving the posts to young-uns (instead of emeritus figures who’ve been commissioned by everyone already). Anna Clyne’s single-movement “Night Ferry” is first up: largely consonant (and gorgeous), it stakes a lot on rhythmic thrust. The performance is grand; it’s fun to hear a Romantic like Riccardo Muti put the throttle down on a modern piece. Mason Bates’s “Alternative Energy” follows (Tracks 2-5), and its countrified tunefulness, cut with digital noise, also proves winning. It only suffers for having to follow Clyne.