Page 200 - Alison Balsom Quiet City FULL BOOK

Copland’s sublime Quiet City sees Balsom teamed with Nicholas Daniel on cor anglais, this
unshowy but technically tricky work played with finesse and heart. Ives’s The Unanswered
Question features one of the most unshowy but fiendish trumpet solos in the repertoire. This
immaculately balanced performance is incredibly affecting, every note of Balsom’s gently
dissonant question pregnant with meaning. If you’ve ever doubted Ives’s genius, try this, and
marvel as the strings’ G major chord fades into silence. A small, perfectly-formed masterpiece,
and worth the disc price alone.

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