Orchestra 2001

RAVE REVIEWS for "To The Point"!

Philadelphia has been one of the great cultural centers in the country for over two hundred years with many great composers, conductors and performers claiming it as their base. This disc by Orchestra 2001 under the dedication and vision of James Freeman shows that there are many, many important people and wonderful works to be found that deserve to be heard. I applaud Mr. Freeman and his terrific ensemble for this commitment. Innova continues to provide intriguing lesser known music in wonderful performances met with superb audio engineering. This disc makes me want to find out more about all these composers but especially those, like Reise and Cascarino, whose music was a revelation for me.

 --- Daniel Coombs 
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All of these performances are premiere accounts on disc (the Cascarino excepted...) and all have been captured with impeccable attention to atmosphere and pristine detail in various venues in Philadelphia...by a faultless orchestra-and-conductor team playing at the top of their game. As an example of how intelligent, approachable, digestible and rewarding new American classical music can be, this new release has much to recommend it. 

--- Michael Quinn
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Orchestra 2001 is to be commended for the daring of their programming for this disc.  Each of the works here is well-composed and highlights different styles quite well.  The sense of dramatic writing in Rudin and Reise’s concertos is quite different but both works are quite good.  Their separation by a more cerebral atonal work and a more mid-century elegiac semi-Americana style give them enough distance so that they can be appreciated well.  Higdon’s piece opens the disc innocuously enough so that it draws the listener in preparing their ears for what is to come.  The Cascarino is programmed in time to give the ears a rest from the “contemporary” sounds that can be off putting to newer listeners of contemporary music.  And Reise’s piece serves to provide a fitting conclusion.  If the disc is any indication of the group’s concerts, it should make many converts.

--- MaestroSteve 
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REVIEWS

“Orchestra 2001, under the very able leadership of its founder and conductor, James Freeman, has done as much as any ensemble I know of to promote, perform, and record new works by American composers.” 
– Fanfare Magazine, September/October 2011

“[Orchestra 2001] occupies a place of such importance that a classical music community without it seems unimaginable.”
–  Peter Dobrin, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Jim [Freeman] has a profound understanding of my musical intentions and the ability to realize these in beautiful sound. I am delighted to be associated with him and the wonderful musicians of Orchestra 2001 in this new recording of my music.”
– George Crumb
 
“…The orchestra laid out the concerto with so much clarity and drama…in what was also one of James Freeman’s best assembled programs…the performance was magical!
– David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“There is the Philadelphia Orchestra, and there is Orchestra 2001.  Both are cultural treasures in this city, and both need our support.”
– Wolfgang Sawallisch
 
“I hope only that you can infer something of my great gratitude for all that you did, for your high professionalism, your extraordinary sensitivity to every aspect of the performances.”
– Milton Babbit, Composer, “Transfigured Notes”
 
“At a time when a performance of a new orchestral work has become a rare event, and when we are less and less surprised to hear such music performed poorly by one of the giants in the industry, there are fewer and fewer orchestras truly dedicated exclusively to this music.  Fortunately, among those few there is Orchestra 2001… this ensemble is showing those giants how it’s done.  Its dedication to the performance of new music is not only admirable, but also vital to the defining and preserving of the music of our time.”
– Laurie Hudicek, New Music Connoisseur
 
“…the Ligeti concerto’s five movements created an exciting, completely satisfying finish to one of O2001’s best concerts.”
– Tom Purdom, Broad Street Review
 
“George Crumb happens to have one of the most distinctive musical signatures of any living composer…  It can almost go without saying that the performance by Orchestra 2001 was superb, but it shouldn’t.  These musicians, under James Freeman’s devoted leadership, are the Crumb ensemble of our time.”
–  Peter Burwasser, City Paper 

“…Freeman revived two genuine masterworks… Between those two pillars, Freeman illustrated the energy, iconoclasm and excitement of music written by new stars Osvaldo Golijov, Luis Prado and Roberto Sierra.  Classic and new, this music is authentic.  It reveres the grand European musical tradition, but each composer invigorates it with local rhythms and cultural echoes to make it unique, arresting and passionate.”

– Daniel Webster, The Philadelphia Inquirer