Jennifer Koh, Timothy Weiss, Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble - The American Concerto, Volume One (2026) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Trouble 1. Erasure
03. Trouble 3. For Vincent Chin
04. Trouble 4. Cozening
05. Trouble 5. Interlude: Accretion
06. Trouble 6. Assembly
07. Syzygy I. Alma Thomas: The Eclipse
08. Syzygy II. Frida Kahlo: Tree of Hope, Keep Firm
09. Syzygy III. Maya Ying Lin: Eclipsed Time

Grammy Award-winning violinist Jennifer Koh’s 16th album on Cedille Records, The American Concerto, Volume One, features Vijay Iyer’s Trouble and the world premiere recording of Courtney Bryan’s Syzygy, performed with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble conducted by Tim Weiss. The album launches a new recording series showcasing works commissioned through Koh’s The American Concerto project. A “tireless champion of new music” (The New York Times), Koh created The American Concerto, asking composers to reimagine the violin concerto for the 21st century to create works that reflect American experiences, stories, and identities.

Praised as “one of the best in the world at what he does” (Pitchfork), Iyer composed Trouble as a response to discrimination, social struggle, and the immigrant experience. Premiered at the 2017 Ojai Music Festival, the work takes its title from Congressman John Lewis’s reflection on the Montgomery Bus Boycott: “I got in trouble. It was good trouble. It was necessary trouble.” Hailed for its “energy and dazzle” (The Wall Street Journal), Trouble confronts racial violence and anti-Asian prejudice through a journey of birth, realization, collective resistance, and elegy. The concerto’s third movement is dedicated to Vincent Chin, the Chinese American man killed in a racially motivated assault in Detroit in 1982 — an event that deeply affected the Asian American community and resonated with Koh, who was five years old at the time.

“A pianist and composer of panoramic interests” (The New York Times), Courtney Bryan composed Syzygy for Koh, the Chicago Sinfonietta, and conductor Mei-Ann Chen. Following its 2019 premiere, the Chicago Tribune hailed the work as “a triumph for composer, soloist and the Sinfonietta.” Inspired by visual artists Alma Thomas, Frida Kahlo, and Maya Lin, Syzygy celebrates women through three interconnected movements. Its title refers to the alignment of celestial bodies during an eclipse, while the music draws on influences ranging from Prokofiev and jazz to Bryan’s upbringing in the Church. Since launching The American Concerto in 2017, Koh has commissioned additional works for the project from Nina Young, Missy Mazzoli, Tyshawn Sorey, Lisa Bielawa, and Christopher Cerrone.