Leading Female Composer Joan Tower Releases New Concertos Album

Approaching its landmark 100th release, the Grammy Award-winning BMOP/sound today added an astonishing debut album to its catalog: Joan Tower: Piano Concerto – Homage to Beethoven.

Joining conductor Gil Rose and his intrepid ensemble the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) are three virtuosos: pianist Marc-André Hamelin in Piano Concerto (Homage to Beethoven) (1986), bassoonist Adrian Morejon in Red Maple (2013) (co-commissioned by BMOP), and flutist Carol Wincenc in Rising (2010) and Flute Concerto (1989).

Regarded as one of the most important American composers of our era, 86-year-old Joan Tower has made lasting contributions to musical life in the United States winning the Grawemeyer Award for music (she was the first woman to receive it, in 1990), three Grammys, and several honorary doctorates. Her vehicle of choice for her rich musical imagination has long been the orchestra.

Tower has written 12 concertos so far, four of which can now be heard on this debut recording. For many years, Tower’s work has been greatly inspired by Beethoven. Three sonatas of Beethoven —The Tempest, Op. 31, Op. 111, and Op. 53 Waldstein—were particularly influential to her and are reflected in the album’s opening eponymous Piano Concerto.

Tower notes in the CD booklet: “Unlike composing for orchestra alone, the presence of a soloist creates a different focus that brings the soloist forward as an equal partner in the music. The soloist hopefully remains front and center within the music and is heard clearly and not overwhelmed by the orchestra—either in the power of the sound or in the amount of time it is given to ‘speak’.”

About BMOP           

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is the premier orchestra in the United States dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

A unique institution of crucial artistic importance to today’s musical world, BMOP exists to disseminate exceptional orchestral music of the present and recent past via performances and recordings of the highest caliber. Founded by Artistic Director Gil Rose in 1996, BMOP has championed composers whose careers span nine decades.

Each season, Rose brings BMOP’s award-winning orchestra, renowned soloists, and influential composers to the stage of New England Conservatory’s historic Jordan Hall in a series that offers orchestral programming of unrivaled eclecticism.

Musical America’s 2016 Ensemble of the Year, BMOP was awarded the 2021 Special Achievement Award from Gramophone Magazine as “an organization that has championed American music of the 20th and 21st century with passion and panache.” The musicians of BMOP are consistently lauded for the energy, imagination, and passion with which they infuse the music of the present era. BMOP.org

About BMOP/sound          

BMOP/sound, BMOP’s independent record label, was created in 2008 to provide a platform for BMOP’s extensive archive of music, as well as to provide widespread, top-quality, permanent access to both classics of the 20th century and the music of today’s most innovative composers. BMOP/sound has garnered praise from the national and international press.

It is the recipient of a 2020 Grammy Award for Tobias Picker: Fantastic Mr. Fox as well as eight Grammy Award nominations, and its releases have appeared on the year-end “Best of” lists of The New York Times, The Boston Globe, National Public Radio, Time Out New York, American Record Guide, DownBeat, WBUR, NewMusicBox, and others.

Admired, praised, and sought after by artists, presenters, critics, and audiophiles, BMOP and BMOP/sound are uniquely positioned to redefine the new music concert and recording experience. Launched in 2019, BMOP's digital radio station, BMOP/radio, streams BMOP/sound's entire catalog and airs special programming.