The Chicago Symphony Orchestra celebrates Jim Matheson and Baird Dodge and the release of their new Yarlung CD
Click logo for Chicago Symphony Orchestra article, “Old friends, new music: Matheson’s Violin Concerto now out on CD”
The odds were slim that Baird Dodge, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s principal second violin, and James Matheson, a New York-based composer, would have met some 25 years ago while attending Swarthmore College. Though Dodge studied violin at The Juilliard School in its pre-college division, his undergraduate major at Swarthmore was chemistry. Matheson, born in the Midwest, was a philosophy and music major, yet his preferred instrument was electric guitar, which he played in a rock band.
But strike up a friendship they did, and Dodge is the featured soloist with the CSO in a new CD release from Yarlung Records that features Matheson’s Violin Concerto, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. A co-commission with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the piece was written for Dodge and recorded during its world premiere performances in December 2011 at Symphony Center.
…Reviewing the Dec. 15, 2011, performance at Symphony Center, the Chicago Tribune called Matheson’s concerto “a supercharged showpiece for virtuoso violinist and orchestra that connects with the listener on a visceral as well as intellectual level.”
—Wynne Delacoma for the CSO, October 10th, 2016
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