Recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Pulitzer Prize, and a Grammy Award, William Bolcom is one of America’s most senior and internationally acclaimed composers. Commissioned to expand upon the under-represented horn trio repertoire, Bolcom has written a modern counterpart to Brahms’s Trio for horn, violin and Piano, op.40, in which he incorporates multiple styles into a substantial composition. The Suite no.2 for solo violin is by turns frenzied, melancholic and light-hearted. Bolcom states, “Both works are performed beautifully and well recorded. Bravi tutti!”

William Bolcom’s large-scale work Songs of Innocence and of Experience, conducted by Leonard Slatkin and released on Naxos 855921618, received three Grammy Awards – Best Classical Album, Best Choral Performance, and Best Classical Contemporary Composition – the very first Grammys for the Naxos label.

His piano music is available on Naxos 855983234, which also features pianist Constantine Finehouse. The WholeNote commented: ‘It’s a credit to the four performers that their interpretive approaches are so similar, allowing Bolcom to appear consistently as a composer whose language is bold and clear … Bolcom emerges from this recording project as a rich creative spirit capable of both profound iteration and light-hearted humour.’