Various Artists - Augusta Read Thomas: The Auditions (2020)

This release is dominated by three major scores with four shorter works filling out this 80-minute sonic portrait of an inexhaustibly inventive and individual composer. The ballet score The Auditions was written for the Martha Graham Dance Company, and with it, Thomas joins a distinguished company of composers who wrote scores for this seminal figure in modern dance (Copland, Menotti, Barber, Schuman and Hindemith amongst many others). It is structured in 7 sections, with the even numbered auditions of the title being the action-packed sections (all titled 'The Room'), and the odd-numbered ones (all titled 'The Landscape') acting as slower, more otherworldly frames. Premiered in New York in November 2019 this work is now programmed by five dance companies and Martha Graham will be touring the work in 2020 using this recording. The Auditions is published by Nimbus NMP1102 Conductors score and hire parts available. The Auditions can be performed with a synchronisation licence with this recording.