The String Orchestra of Brooklyn releases "Afterimage," an album featuring two works written for the ensemble by Christopher Cerrone and Jacob Cooper that respond to older works by Paganini and Pergolesi respectively. Featuring the Argus Quartet and vocal soloists Mellissa Hughes and Kate Maroney, "Afterimage" refracts older repertoire through a modern lens using a familiar and time-honored format, the string orchestra. The String Orchestra of Brooklyn (SOB) is a unique community of musicians who come together in a supportive environment to enrich the life of our communities through music. Embracing an inclusive approach to music-making, the SOB seeks to democratize both the production and reception of concert music. Founded in 2007 by artistic director Eli Spindel, the String Orchestra of Brooklyn is “quickly solidifying its role as a major orchestral figure in the borough” (I Care if You Listen), providing an enriching creative outlet to hundreds of musicians, and accessible, adventurous programming to thousands of concertgoers and community members.
"This second recording, atmospherically recorded at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of Holy Trinity New York, boasts marvellously committed fervent singing from the Clarion Choir under Steven Fox and deserves the widest possible dissemination." - BBC Music Magazine
"...the success of this recording has to be attributed to this excellent chorus, 30-plus voices who collectively project a serious love for this music with a vibrant, shimmering tone, perfectly judged dynamics, and consistently fine balance and intonation. We can appreciate the care that went into this production–not only in bringing this beautiful unknown work to the world’s attention–but also in the excellent engineering and notes, which happily include full texts and translations. Strongly recommended." - ClassicsToday.com
Passion Week is a long-lost choral masterpiece composed by Rimsky-Korsakov's favorite student, heir apparent and son-in-law, Maximilian Steinberg. A product of his interest in the sacred and mystical, it is a tour de force of the systematic use of medieval Church Slavonic chant melodies and shares with Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil the colorful use of choral textures. Steinberg's settings are complex and rich, with a diverse and sometimes daring harmonic pallette, offering eleven movements of distinctive and expressive content that reveal an artist's search for at a time of increasing hostility to religion.
