JOEL FEIGIN (b.1951): Aviv for Piano and Chamber Orchestra, Surging Seas for String Orchestra, 2 Songs from Twelfth Night for Baritone and Orchestra (Yael Weiss [piano], John Savournin [baritone], Slovak National Symphony Orchestra; Kirk Trevor), Mosaic in Two Panels (Chamber Orchestra Kremlin; Misha Rakhlevsky).

Description: It might seem that modern classical music rarely expresses happiness – but Aviv suggests the warmth and optimism of the coming of spring. The angular, even anguished, essay for strings Surging Seas, by contrast, was inspired by the devastation wrought by the tsunamis of 2004 and 2011. The Twelfth Night songs have their origins in the tradition of American orchestral song established by Samuel Barber. And in the diptych Mosaic, also for strings, a first ‘panel’ of heartfelt lyricism is succeeded by an outburst of buoyant energy.