In Thursday's (6/13)Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns reviews
the 6/12 premiere of Jennifer Higdon's Concerto for Orchestra by the
Philadelphia Orchestra at a special American Symphony Orchestra League
Conference concert.  "The last of nine composers commissioned to celebrate
the orchestra's centennial, the 39-year-old Higdon was, at least before
yesterday, the least known.  Yet her piece is the one most likely to be
something that audiences will be hearing regularly, and happily, in years
to come." The work "has shamelessly ecstatic climaxes, scintillating
interplay among instruments, and an orchestration that delivers wave after
heart-stopping wave of intoxicating color.  Musicians love playing scores
that make them sound this fabulous -- music director Wolfgang Sawallisch
was visibly delighted -- and audiences can take them to their hearts at
first blush." Stating that Higdon "represents a conservative turn in
composing styles," Stearns concludes that the Concerto for Orchestra "isn't
nearly radical enough to escape the devil's advocate question that will
face this piece: 'Could it have been written 50 years ago?

Another piece by her called Blue Cathedral has been championed by Robert
Spano, most recently with the Atlanta Symphony.  This is a composer worth
tracking down.

Chris Younghoon Kim
Artistic Director, Brave New Works
http://www.bravenewworks.org/