Born in 1949 and, therefore, active participant of the social and artistic changes during the sixties and the seventies, Christopher Rouse's music is infused of a certain eclectic halo, like it is showed in the three works included on this record; harmonically attached to a evident atonality, the use of more classical and conventional structures gave it a strange quality. Gorgon (1984), the first in time of the three scores here presented, uses the mythological excuse of the three Gorgons to offer a music specially virtuous and violent who demonstrate the excellent skills and balance who from the orchestral forces has his author; Rouse split the score in three movements without break in continuity, one for each Gorgon (Stheno, Euryale and Medusa), joined together for two brief percussion interludes (Perseus Spell). Completely different is the intense Iscariot (1989), a more meditated and relaxed work, based also more on the handling of the dead spaces and the timbre game. To conclude, the Trombone Concerto (1992), awarded with the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in Music, who used a slightly utilized soloist instrument in a work intensely loaded of religious tinges; structured in three classical movements, it is dedicated to the late Leonard Bernstein whose music serves almost as a guide to Rouse's, a composer whom we must follow with special attention and interest.

Trombone Concerto (1992) - 29:50
Gorgon (1984) - 17:16
Iscariot (1989) - 14:18
Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Joseph Alessi (Trombone) - Conductor: Marin Alsop
RCA VICTOR 09026-68410-2 / 62'

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