Into the sacred circle

Tan Dun: Fire Ritual, violin concertos

Tan Dun's Fire Ritual is a violin concerto which evokes the many victims of wars. Both as composer and conductor Tan Dun is acting as a shaman, making those spirits come to us in a life-like way, and providing at the end some sort of peace for both the spirits and for us as spectators. He wrote the work for violinist Eldbjorg Hemsing, and in this work she herself becomes a shaman, bringing the audience into the sacred circle of the orchestra.



Tan Dun's music has such a vitality; it seems to leap out at us, but in a very organic way. His intensity paired with a gift for prodigal, lush melodies make him a natural for the cinema, and I consider his music to be in the highest tier of music that crosses over between the movies and the concert hall. His 2018 Violin Concerto: Rhapsody and Fantasia shows this as well as Fire Ritual this dual character. Hemsing is a superb interpreter of this music, fearless in the face of its virtuoso requirements, and a full participant in Tan Dun's sacred mysteries.

This project makes:

• a fine introduction to the music of Tan Dun;
• an update for those who remember his music from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; or
• an exciting way to get up to speed on the latest and greatest music for violin and orchestra

This album will be released on February 1, 2019.

Fresh and vital concerto recording

From May 19, 2014:

As the complete Shostakovich symphony series on Naxos proceeded, the release of each of Vasily Petrenko’s CDs with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic impressed me even more. The critical response to the series has been almost universally positive. Now that the series is coming to an end, it’s time for this talented conductor to look to other music by the great Soviet composer. In this new Ondine release of the cello concertos, Petrenko has an equally talented instrumentalist in cellist Truls Mork, and a fine orchestra as well: the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Though nothing could completely overshadow the classic recordings by the original cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, these performances provide a fresh and vital look at two of the 20th century’s finest concertos.