The Aurora Orchestra is a chamber group known for its dramatic live performances: the members memorize the music, play standing up, and generally enter into the innovative thematic programs they devise. The orchestra has found quite a bit of success and has been signed to the Deutsche Grammophon label; Music of the Spheres is its debut there. The concept is not quite strong enough to hold the highly diverse program together, especially inasmuch as the Mozart Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551, was not given the name "Jupiter" by the composer but there are lots of enjoyable stops along the way. The Mozart is a good example of the group's style in general. One wonders whether the unusually strong attacks are going to drown out the details, but the musicians make the mighty finale work through sheer energy. The other large work, the Violin Concerto "Concentric Paths" of Thomas Adès, is a vivid, compact work that receives a fine, lyrical performance from soloist Pekka Kuusisto. Elsewhere, the Aurora Orchestra offers the crossover music of Max Richter and an intriguing, just slightly displaced arrangement of the John Dowland song Time Stands Still by composer Nico Muhly. The album ends with a David Bowie song performed by singer/pianist Sam Swallow: like the rest of the program, it goes just a bit too far but appeals through its ambition all the same.
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