Kenneth Fuchs (1956) es un experimentado compositor norteamericano, discípulo de Persichetti y Babbitt, con un amplio catálogo a sus espaldas donde destacan sus musicales de cámara como Brontosaurius, y que actualmente enseña composición en la Universidad de Connecticut. Su música es fácil de escuchar, o sea, que no muerde. Su dominio de la orquestación es apabullante y tiene una vena lírica nada desdeñable. Este disco incluye un par de poemas sinfónicos, Atlantic Riband, homenaje a los emigrantes que cruzan el Atlántico, y Discover the Wild; y dos conciertos encubiertos en forma más o menos rapsódica, American Rhapsody para violín, y Divinum Mysterium, para viola, ambos en un movimiento. Completa el disco un breve Concerto Grosso para cuarteto de cuerda y orquesta de cuerda. La otra protagonista es la directora JoAnn Falletta, que con más de 500 obras de compositores norteamericanos interpretadas, de las que unas 100 son estrenos mundiales, es una abnegada difusora de la música de su tierra. La London Symphony Orchestra se comporta con creces, y el disco en sí es de escucha sumamente agradable. Otra cuestión es que se quede solamente en eso. Usted decide si esto es suficiente. © 2012 Ritmo

I must bring to your attention the new Naxos CD of Kenneth Fuchs’s orchestral works…brilliantly played by the London Symphony Orchestra, under American conductor JoAnn Falletta…Fuchs…has a way of capturing the stirrings of the human heart and the yearnings of the soul in highly spirited, soaring music. His works express an inimitably American sense of expectancy, of horizons glimpsed and striven for, and, finally, of boldly announced arrivals. He achieves all this within the conventional means of tonality. Orchestrally, he employs a sparkling kind of American Impressionism…American Rhapsody…has a Samuel Barber-like melodic appeal and orchestral lushness to it. This is unfailingly appealing and immediately accessible music. © 2012 The Claremont Institute Read complete review

…I must bring to your attention the new Naxos CD of Kenneth Fuchs’s orchestral works (8.559723), brilliantly played by the London Symphony Orchestra, under American conductor JoAnn Falletta. Like Aaron Copland, Fuchs (b. 1956) has a way of capturing the stirrings of the human heart and the yearnings of the soul in highly spirited, soaring music. His works carry within themselves an inimitably American sense of expectancy, of horizons glimpsed and striven for, and, finally, of boldly announced arrivals. He achieves all this within the conventional means of tonality. Orchestrally, he employs a sparkling kind of American Impressionism, though I heard a dash of Benjamin Britten’s Sea Interludes in Atlantic Riband. American Rhapsody is, according to Fuchs, a Romance for violin and orchestra. It has a Samuel Barber-like melodic appeal and orchestral lushness to it. Violinist Michael Ludwig plays with both elegance and exquisite feeling. So does violist Paul Silverthorne in the lovely Divinum Mysterium, a one movement concerto for viola and orchestra, inspired by a Protestant hymn tune. This is unfailingly appealing and immediately accessible music. © 2012 Crisis Magazine Read complete review

LSO play music tailor-made by American Fuchs

This is the third CD of Kenneth Fuchs’s orchestral music arising from the enthusiastic partnership of JoAnn Falletta and the LSO. United Artists on the second CD (3/08) was a tribute to that orchestra and now the viola concerto Divinum Mysterium has been written for the LSO’s lead viola, Paul Silverthorne.

A recent Naxos CD…in their excellent American Classics series features performances by the London Symphony Orchestra under JoAnn Falletta of five works by Kenneth Fuchs…This is actually the third Naxos album of Fuchs’ works by this team…and it shows a lyrical composer with great imagination and a fine ear for orchestral colour. Two orchestral works—Atlantic Riband and the overture Discover the Wild—open and close the disc. Falletta is joined by her Buffalo Philharmonic concertmaster, the outstanding Michael Ludwig, for American Rhapsody…and by the LSO’s Paul Silverthorne for Divinum Mysterium…Both soloists are in top form, with Ludwig’s beautiful tone…fully evident. © 2012 The WholeNote Read complete review

The energetic Concerto Grosso, for string quartet and string orchestra, is particularly interesting, using a Baroque form to play two violins (Carmine Lauri and David Alberman), a viola (Paul Silverthorne) and a cello (Timothy Hugh) against a larger string complement—much in the style of the concerto/ripieno design of Baroque concerti grossi. But Fuchs’ piece clearly pays homage to the old style rather than trying to copy it slavishly, creating an intriguing mixture of old and new. Two other works on this disc play single instruments against an ensemble, but in an integrated rather than concerto-like oppositional manner: American Rhapsody for violin and orchestra and Divinum Mysterium for viola and orchestra. Both pieces are lyrical and emotional, with Divinum Mysterium particularly heartfelt. The other two compositions here are colorful orchestral works: Atlantic Riband…and Discover the Wild, a short and effective concert overture. JoAnn Falletta, a fine conductor and strong proponent of modern American music, conducts all the works quite well, and the London Symphony Orchestra proves itself quite comfortable with Fuchs’ style. © 2012 Infodad.com Read complete review

Two works here, Atlantic Riband and American Rhapsody, are patriotic crowd-pleasers…Perhaps the album’s most effective work…is the Concerto Grosso, a sort of Mahlerian take on the Baroque form, setting a string quartet against a string orchestra in a pleasing variety of textures amplified by luscious harmonies. Conductor JoAnn Falletta, leading the London Symphony Orchestra, is an ideal ambassador…which anyone sitting at a free outdoor summer concert might enjoy, but which holds up to repeated hearings. Recommended, especially to symphonic programmers. © 2012 Allmusic.com Read complete review

Kenneth Fuchs—born 1956, professor of composition at the University of Connecticut—writes in a mainstream tonal idiom. He’s a master of orchestral writing: resonantly built-up chords, scurrying string textures, lucid woodwind exchanges, telling interjections from brass and percussion. In this selection of works from the last five years, Atlantic Riband portrays the movement of a majestic transatlantic liner; American Rhapsody for violin and orchestra is would round a quasi-improvisatory solo line; Divinum Mysterium for viola and orchestra resourcefully explores the possibilities of a hymn tune; the Concerto Grosso makes imaginative use of the combination of string quartet and string orchestra; and Discover the Wild is a short, breezy overture. On Naxos’s third Fuchs recording, everything gets five-star treatment: violinist Michael Ludwig and viola player Paul Silverthorne make the solo parts their own, and the LSO under JoAnn Falletta sounds brilliant in a spacious Abbey Road recording. © 2012 BBC Music Magazine