Resurrection

Unconducted string orchestra 12 Ensemble begin their debut album with a coruscating performance of Lutosławski’s requiem to Béla Bartók, 1958's devastating Musique funèbre. The Polish composer’s angular work emerges with clarity and dramatic depth, the climactic 12-note atonal chord adding almost overwhelming tragedy. Lutosławski’s masterpiece has inspired Bryce Dessner, of U.S. alt-rock band The National, to write Réponse Lutosławski—a calmer, less angry work, but one that nevertheless rails and mourns with equal passion. Resurrection also features Kate Whitley’s lively Autumn Songs, a fluttering, quivering miniature, and the beautiful, Monteverdian Ulysses Awakes by John Woolrich, a bittersweet ode to the Renaissance scored for solo viola and orchestra.