Chandos Records has released the first of two volumes devoted to the orchestral music of Kenneth Fuchs. The first, Cloud Slant, includes world-premiere recordings of four new works: Cloud Slant (Concerto for Orchestra, After Three Paintings by Helen Frankenthaler), Pacific Visions (for String Orchestra), Quiet in the Land (Poem for Orchestra), and Solitary the Thrush (Concerto Flute and Orchestra) with soloist Adam Walker. Following its release, the album immediately hit the Top Ten of several UK and US classical charts and received a coveted “Critics’ Choice” for the December 2023 issue of Gramophone.
Reviewer Adrian Edwards wrote:
“If you haven’t before come across the name of Kenneth Fuchs, let me recommend him to you with all possible urgency, for here is a composer of contemporary music who brings to his compositions a winning combination of melody, dazzling orchestration, design and balance. Moreover, he could not receive greater advocacy than that accorded him by the Sinfonia of London and their conductor John Wilson. The recording by Chandos is something to live for!”
Chandos Records will release Light Year, Vol. 2 of the series, in June 2024.
Fuchs states, “I am thrilled to be the first living American composer whose music John Wilson has recorded with the Sinfonia of London. The conductor, orchestra, and soloist are extraordinary performers, and the recorded sound is superb.” The album was recorded in Surround Sound, and is available as a Hybrid SACD and in Spatial Audio. See also Gramophone magazine’s Classical Music Podcast, in which Kenneth Fuchs talks with Editor James Jolly about recording with the Sinfonia of London.
For more information, visit the album website at: https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%205296
