NEW CD! THREE MANHATTAN BRIDGES

September 1st, 2016
NEW CD! THREE MANHATTAN BRIDGES

Albany Records has just released the piano concerto I premiered and recorded last December with the Grammy Award-winning Albany Symphony: Michael Torke’s Three Manhattan Bridges for Piano and Orchestra. I’ve been collaborating with the Orchestra’s music director, David Alan Miller, since I was thirteen years old, and doing a piece together that was expressly written for me has been an unbelievable experience. Michael’s concerto feels like a classic on first hearing. It’s very colorful and celebratory, and it has great “champagne moments”!

Click here to watch our short video about the recording.

Here’s what the Albany Times-Union wrote after the premiere:

“TORKE’S PIANO CONCERTO SHINES WITH THE ASO, PIANIST JOYCE YANG”

“The real ride of the night was the sparkling new piano concerto, Three Manhattan Bridges by Michael Torke, which received its premiere with the excellent soloist Joyce Yang. …

“Traffic patterns are a quick and easy metaphor for the interaction of the writing in the opening, titled George Washington Bridge. Yet the pallet was quite the opposite of a drab roadway. There was a golden sheen to Yang's playing, and Torke's orchestration was like splintering reflections of light hitting the variegated sides of deco buildings.

Queensboro Bridge was more slow moving, organic and sensual with the piano lingering in the midrange. As the waves of sound crested ever higher, the movement climaxed with the metallic percussion of cymbals and gong. The influence of Gershwin was finally and explicitly acknowledged in the jaunty finale, Brooklyn Bridge, which included a bluesy riff in the brass.”

American Record Guide has said, “Torke is our Copland,” and I hope you’ll make Michael’s wonderful concerto part of your music collection. The recording also features his Cello Concerto, performed by Julie Albers. Find our new album at Amazon, ArkivMusic, and iTunes – or get an autographed copy by yours truly at one of my post-concert CD signings. Here’s my upcoming schedule – and I hope to see you on the road this fall!