Harmony on Land and Sea:
Finding Music in an Exalted Maine Landscape
J.S. Bach, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Per Nørgård, and Dawn Avery,
paired with Maine’s most scenic vistas.
Upcoming Release
Per Nørgård
Paul Ruders
WORKS FOR SOLO CELLO
Release in January 2021
Latest CD
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Kaija Saariaho
WORKS FOR SOLO CELLO
This solo album by cellist Wilhelmina Smith features works for solo cello by Esa-Pekka Salonen and Kaija Saariaho. Both composers belong to a generation of modernist Finnish composers whose work has gained broad acceptance in musical culture throughout the world. While each composer has a clear individual artistic persona, as a group they are known for pushing sonic boundaries. In writing for strings and, in particular on this recording, the cello, Salonen and Saariaho exploit the outer reaches of the technical possibilities for both the instrument and the performer.
Listen
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love the Cello
We asked Yo-Yo Ma, John Williams, Andrew Lloyd Webber and others to pick the music that moves them. Listen to their choices.
[...]
Joshua Barone, Times music critic
It’s often said that the cello resembles the human voice — in range and in timbre. But its sonic possibilities are so much vaster. For example, Kaija Saariaho’s “Sept Papillons,” a 2000 set of solo miniatures played here by Wilhelmina Smith, treats cello technique as metaphor: Harmonics and “sul ponticello” bow movements evoke the butterflies of the title, soft-spoken and fluttering.
[...]
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Latest Reviews
"American cellist Wilhelmina Smith has studied every centimetre of the score and unleashes its drama in a brilliantly characterised rendition... Once again Smith delivers another mesmerising performance and emerges as a consummate communicator of the new virtuosity.”
The STRAD (June 2019)
"Smith exudes seemingly effortless control through its virtuoso demands...”
BBC Music (June 2019)
"Smith plays everything here with captivating expression; her sound has both bold lustre and gossamer delicacy."
Gramophone