Noah Bendix-Balgley; Canterbury Voices; Oklahoma City Philharmonic; Alexander Mickelthwate - Jonathan Leshnoff: Elegy; Violin Concerto No. 2; Of Thee I Sing

This recording is Oklahoma City Philharmonic's first full-length album since its establishment in 1988 and this year marks the 35th anniversary of their formation and Naxos's fifth album devoted to the music of leading American composer, Jonathan Leshnoff. He was GRAMMY-nominated for his album Violins of Hope (Naxos 8.559809) and is among the most frequently performed of living composers. The themes of these recent works are remembrance, memorialization, and hopefulness. Elegy addresses ideas of harmony and discord through contrasting thematic ideas. The Violin Concerto No. 2 follows the 'symphony-concerto' model with a resonant and lyrical slow movement inspired by Jewish mysticism at its core. Pulsating harmonies eventually subside into serene and hopeful writing in Of Thee I Sing, written in an act of creative transcendence to commemorate the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.