Augusta Read Thomas reviews
Augusta Read Thomas: The Auditions
Maëlstrom: Contemporary American Piano Music
Read Thomas's Ritual Incantations and other works, conducted by Daniel Stowe
As this latest Nimbus anthology of her recent output confirms, the American composer Augusta Read Thomas (b1964) has a gift for immediate communication, enhanced by a flair for titles and background programmes that provide the listener with useful ways into the music. The oldest piece here is Ritual Incantations of 1999, a sequence of three declamatory monologues for cello supported by vivid orchestral writing: David Finckel is the compelling orator at the heart of events.
The Aurora Orchestra perform 'Of a Being is a Bird' by Augusta Read Thomas
This enjoyable anthology of recent music by the American composer Augusta Read Thomas comes right up to date with Of Being is a Bird, recorded at its premiere in London last July. It’s a setting for soprano and ensemble of two Emily Dickinson poems about birds: it begins with airy, luminous sonorities, but an instrumental interlude gives it an infusion of energy that lasts to the end.