Azul
Azul (2006)
Osvaldo Golijov has an incredibly magnetic personality and a vaulting imagination, and he writes music that really is of our era. Osvaldo composes in such a way that he allows for the introduction of new instruments and sounds – he can create a different piece of music from what is given to him in every situation.
– Yo-Yo Ma
Azul, the evocative Spanish word for ‘blue’, is the title of the contemplative cello concerto by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. It forms the centrepiece of this album by Brooklyn-based orchestral collective The Knights, which takes the skies as its theme. Today’s most celebrated cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, joins The Knights for the concerto and for a transcription of Dvořák’s poignant ‘Song to the Moon’. The diverse and fascinating programme is completed with music by the contemporary Iranian composer Siamak Aghae, visionary avant-gardist Karlheinz Stockhausen and eclectic singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens.
Duration
27'00
Premiered
Tanglewood, Lenox, MA
August 4, 2006
Premier Performance
by Yo-Yo Ma, cello, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Donald Runnicles, conductor
Commissioned
for Yo-Yo Ma by the Boston Symphony Orchestra