"PORTLAND, Ore. — Virtuoso percussionist-composer Andy Akiho expanded his compositional palette with a newly minted cello concerto that showered sparks of rhythmic intensity and wit.
Excerpts from review by James Bash
For Classical Voice North America
Jeffrey Zeigler was soloist in Andy Akiho’s ‘Nisei: Concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra‘ with the Oregon Symphony under music David Danzmayr. (Photos courtesy of the Oregon Symphony)
"PORTLAND, Ore. — Virtuoso percussionist-composer Andy Akiho expanded his compositional palette with a newly minted cello concerto that showered sparks of rhythmic intensity and wit. His Nisei: Concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra received an incisive performance Oct. 5 by soloist Jeffrey Zeigler and the Oregon Symphony at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall."
"Akiho wrote Nisei for former Kronos Quartet member Zeigler, who has often collaborated with the composer over the past decade in programs for National Sawdust and other venues."
"Both Akiho and Zeigler are half-Japanese, and Nisei is a term for second-generation Japanese Americans. Set in three movements for strings, winds, and brass, Akiho’s cello concerto does not feature any percussion. It received its world premiere in August at the Sun Valley Music Festival, which co-commissioned the piece with the Oregon Symphony, Bozeman Symphony, ProMusica Columbus, and the South Carolina Philharmonic.
Nisei began with Zeigler repeatedly playing the same note, as if creating a Morse code that was interrupted by crisp sforzandos from the orchestra. Zeigler transitioned to quick, filigree-like phrases, which seemed to span a couple of octaves in the upper register, but the sound he generated was periodically overwhelmed by the orchestra. In the slower second movement, which had lighter orchestration, he explored the lower register and later the higher register with a cantabile style.
The third movement offered a delightful, Baroque-like sound with all strings playing pizzicato. Zeigler interjected faster passages and tricky, stutter-stepping phrases, which were joined by the orchestra. An extensive cadenza in which the cellist threaded a tapestry of lines reminded me of Bach. The orchestra reentered with peppy, snappy articulation for the last segment of the movement. In tutti fashion, everyone moved to a complex rhythm with accented notes popping up here and there, as if randomly. The counting must have been diabolical, but Zeigler and the orchestra made it look easy."
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