Richard Pennycuick:

>I heard on the radio Ewazen's Violin Concerto, a most beautiful work
>apparently influenced by Vaughan Williams' Tallis Fantasia and Dives and
>Lazarus.  I tracked down the contents of the rest of the Albany CD, and
>there was information about Ewazen's career at his website.  There are
>a number of CDs of his music available but I hadn't heard of him before
>and Classical Net's search engine hadn't either.  I'm interested to know
>if the violin concerto is typical of his style or, if not, which other
>composers he might be compared to.

It IS typical of his style.  He writes unfailingly beautiful melodies,
and has both rhythmic and harmonic interest, well within a rather
conservative neo-classic vein.  But he has not primarily written for
orchestra and/or strings.  He has written tons for brass and winds.  I
first heard his music played by the American Brass Quintet out in Aspen;
they've played a lot of his stuff and have recorded some of it, too.
Like you, I was blown away by the Albany disc, which I reviewed (under
the title 'I Can't Stop Playing This Disc') here:

   http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008YJEF/classicalnetA/

Scott Morrison