Sean Hickey - Cello and Clarinet Concertos

Sean HICKEY (b.1970) 

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra

Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra

Dmitry Kouzov, cello

Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet 

St. Petersburg Orchestras

Vladimir Lande

Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1970, Sean Hickey’s earliest music education began at age 12 with an electric guitar, a Peavey amp, and a stack of Van Halen records, the early ones of course. He studied jazz guitar at Oakland University, later graduating with a degree in composition and theory from Wayne State University. His works include a symphony (‘Olympus Mons’), concertos for clarinet, cello, recorder and mandolin, two string trios, a string quartet, a flute sonata, a woodwind quintet, several chamber works, numerous pieces for solo instruments, choral, theater and orchestral music.

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“He writes tonal, highly rhythmic music that’s easily grasped. Clarity, immediacy of expression, precise craftsmanship and a tannic, neoclassic bite are virtues…”

Thus did The Detroit Free Press respond to Left at the Fork in the Road, Sean Hickey’s 2005 debut album on Naxos. Listeners can expect to have similar reactions to his first release for Delos, containing his engaging and beautifully crafted concertos.

In his Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, the composer seeks to “… fuse my interest in neo-classical clarity and design with what I feel is the songful, heroic nature of the greatest cello concerto literature.” The work’s heart lies in its highly effective central movement: a potent and chilling evocation of the “anguish of the innocent people in war’s crossfire” – the composer’s response to the recent conflict in Iraq.

New Music Connoisseur describes Hickey’s Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra as being “… packed (with) many ideas … without ever digressing from a solid thematic core. The second of the three movements was unique in effect, a restless, yet haunting recollection of life in the US heartland, while the frenzied finale was all metropolitan New York.”

Both works get expert, inspired, and well-recorded performances from Maestro Vladimir Lande, featuring renowned cellist Dmitry Kouzov and vaunted clarinet virtuoso Alexander Fiterstein with excellent St. Petersburg Orchestras.