Kenneth Fuchs: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 Adam Walker, Sinfonia of London & John Wilson

• Kenneth Fuchs (b. 1956): Cloud Slant:
• 1Fuchs: Cloud Slant: I. Blue Fall06:33
• 2Fuchs: Cloud Slant: II. Flood07:01
• 3Fuchs: Cloud Slant: III. Cloud Slant05:28
• Solitary the Thrush:
• 4Fuchs: Solitary the Thrush16:23
• Pacific Visions:
• 5Fuchs: Pacific Visions08:24
• Quiet in the Land:
• 6Fuchs: Quiet in the Land15:25
• Total Runtime59:14

Info for Kenneth Fuchs: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1

Grammy-Award-winning Kenneth Fuchs (born 1956) is without doubt one of American music’s leading orchestral composers. His orchestral output has grown and developed to encompass a wide range of genres, from overtures and tone poems to suites and concertos (ten to date, including ones for string quartet, electric guitar, and piano, the last entitled Spiritualist), inspired by a diverse range of subjects, testimony to his wide sympathies and fields of knowledge. His output includes chamber music (including five string quartets), solos and duos, vocal and choral music, and four chamber musicals. Cloud Slant is a virtuoso orchestral concerto based on three of Helen Frankenthaler’s canvasses: Blue Fall (1966), Flood (1967), and Cloud Slant (1968) –not just musical depictions of them but also the composer’s reactions to their artistic sweep and power.

The flute was Fuchs’ first instrument, so it was inevitable that he would compose a flute concerto. However, it was not until 2019 that he set about the task – for the flautist Peg Luke, to whom the concerto is dedicated. As is customary of compositions by this composer, the concerto carries a descriptive title, Solitary the Thrush, a reference to lines from Whitman’s elegy for Abraham Lincoln, 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d'. Commissioned by the Californian Musique Sur La Mer Orchestras, Pacific Visions is scored for string orchestra, and is a single, dynamic movement sub-divided into five sections. Quiet in the Land, a Poem for Orchestra is a revision of a chamber work Fuchs composed in 2003, inspired by the rolling prairie of the Midwestern United States and the ‘immense arching sky’ under which it sits, cast against the impact of the Second Gulf War which had then recently broken out. The orchestral version heard here was composed in 2017 for the Phoenix Symphony.

Adam Walker, flute
Sinfonia of London
John Wilson, conductor

Adam Walker
At the forefront of a new generation of wind soloists, Adam Walker was appointed principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra at the age of 21. In 2009 he received the Outstanding Young Artist Award at MIDEM Classique and the following year won a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award.

Adam’s repertoire interests range from exploring Baroque repertoire through to newly commissioned works. He has given world premieres of Brett Dean’s The Siduri Dances with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (2011), Kevin Puts’ Flute Concerto at the invitation of Marin Alsop at the Cabrillo Festival (2013) and Huw Watkins’ Flute Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding, commissioned jointly by the LSO and BBT (2014).

As a soloist Adam regularly performs with the major UK orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, London Symphony, Hallé, Ulster, Scottish Chamber and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Further afield he has performed with the Baltimore Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Grant Park Festival, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico, Seoul Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Malaysian Philharmonic, Malmö Symphony, Tampere Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber, Solistes Européens, Luxembourg and the RTE National Symphony Orchestras.

A committed chamber musician with a curious and creative approach to repertoire and programming, 2018 saw the launch of Adam’s wind group, the Orsino Ensemble, at the Aldeburgh Festival. The ensemble focuses on five outstanding wind players including Nicholas Daniel, Amy Harman, Matthew Hunt and Alec Frank – Gemmill, with a mission to showcase the depth and versatility of the wind chamber repertoire. Recital highlights over recent seasons have included LSO St Luke’s, De Singel Antwerp, Musée du Louvre, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Frankfurt Alte Oper and the Utrecht, West Cork, Delft and Moritzburg Chamber Music Festivals. Adam appears regularly at the Wigmore Hall where he has recently collaborated with Brett Dean, Tabea Zimmermann, Cédric Tiberghien, Angela Hewitt, Mahan Esfahani, Ailish Tynan and Sean Shibe. 2018 saw Adam take up his place on the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Bowers Program, which involves performing and touring with the ensemble both at Lincoln Center and across the United States for three seasons.

Current engagements include performances with the Bergen Philharmonic under Edward Gardner, Gävle Symphony Orchestra / Jessica Cottis and Tampere Philharmonic / Carlos Kalmar. Recital and chamber music projects see Adam return to the Frankfurt Alte Oper and Wigmore Hall as well as the Weesp Chamber Music Festival and the Australian Chamber Music Festival, collaborating with artists including Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Sean Shibe, Tom Poster and the Navarra Quartet.

Adam Walker’s first recital disc with Chandos will be released in spring 2021, featuring the Franck Sonata alongside works by Saint-Saëns, Duruflé and Widor with pianist James Baillieu and violist Timothy Ridout whilst Orsino releases its first CD centred around music of the French Belle Époque (Roussel, Debussy, Chaminade, Caplet, Saint Saens). Earlier recordings include “Vocalise” taking inspiration from song in works by Poulenc, Messiaen, Bartók and Schubert (Opus Arte), the Kevin Puts Flute Concerto with Marin Alsop and the Peabody Institute (Naxos) and the Huw Watkins Concerto with the Hallé and Ryan Wigglesworth (NMC).

A passionate and devoted teacher, Adam is professor of flute at the Royal College of Music, London, and Talent Music Masters, Brescia. He gives masterclasses regularly throughout the world.

Born in 1987, Adam Walker studied at Chetham’s School of Music with Gitte Sorensen and at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Cox graduating with distinction in 2009 and winning the HRH Princess Alice Prize for exemplary studentship. He was appointed professor at the Royal College of Music in 2017.

John Wilson
made his opera debut in 2016 conducting Puccini Madama Butterfly at Glyndebourne Festival Opera on their autumn tour and has since conducted Gershwin Porgy and Bess at English National Opera and returned to Glyndebourne Summer Festival to conduct Massenet Cendrillon.

Wilson has a large and varied discography. In 2018, his recording of the Korngold Symphony marked his first release with the revived Sinfonia of London and received exceptional critical acclaim and won a BBC Music Magazine Award. Together with the Sinfonia of London and Chandos he has since recorded three releases, French Orchestral Works, English Music for Strings and Respighi: Roman Trilogy, which reached No. 1 in the UK Classical Charts in August 2020 and won the Orchestral category in the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2021

Critical praise for Wilson’s recordings with the Sinfonia of London have included The Sunday Times selecting French Orchestral Works as Album of the Week: “The meticulous Wilson is compelling … he makes the music of all three scores sing with an Italiante accent while encouraging his players to heights of virtuosity. and a rich spectrum of dynamics and colour." Gramophone selected as Editor’s Choice the most recently released English Music for Strings, writing how “Once again John Wilson draws the most glorious sound from his hand-picked orchestra, lavishing care and devotion on repertoire that could have been written for him.”

Born in Gateshead, Wilson studied composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music, where in 2011 he was made a Fellow. In March 2019, John Wilson was awarded the prestigious ISM Distinguished Musician Award for his services to music and in 2021 was appointed Henry Wood Chair of Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music.

Booklet for Kenneth Fuchs: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1