Margaret Brouwer is well represented in the
Naxos label's "American Composers" series, and those curious about her music are advised to check this 2024 recording out. Wikipedia defines a rhapsody in music as "a one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, color, and tonality." It is true that the one work here that
Brouwer calls a rhapsody,
Rhapsody, Concerto for Orchestra, has three movements, but the definition generally fits well.
Brouwer's music combines an intense pictorialism with textural and structural complexity; the music is accessible, yet it gives one plenty to sink the teeth into. Even the
Symphony No. 1 ("Lake Voices") of 1997,
Brouwer indicates, "is flavored by my own background growing up in the Dutch-American environment of the Great Lakes and the strange mix in the Dutch people [she is from Holland, Michigan] of the almost mystical bond with the lake and love of its beauty, juxtaposed against their somewhat reserved, practical, and somewhat rigid side." That may sound like a tall musical order, but have a listen, and one may find most of the description, at least. Perhaps the strongest pieces here are the shorter ones,
The Art of Sailing at Dawn and
Path at Sunrise, Masses of Flowers, which are direct and richly layered. Mileage may vary, but few will disagree that
Marin Alsop, leading the
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, is an ideal conductor for this music, rhythmically vital and in command of its details. Superior 21st century American orchestral music. ~ James Manheim
![The Best of Ladysmith Black Mambazo [Shanachie]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0016351439826_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "The Best of Ladysmith Black Mambazo [Shanachie]")
