August 2, 2023
Amaryn records Carlos Simon’s “Between Worlds” with DG for Songs for our Times CD

Violinist Amaryn Olmeda shines in Carlos Simon’s Between Worlds, a character study of self-taught artist Bill Traylor with music at the intersection of “mythical folklore, race, and religion.” Olmeda’s dynamic expression and phrasing in the opening is nuanced, and her technical virtuosity is on full display in the jagged, rhythmic frenzy of the blues licks and chromatic modernism. A string orchestra arrangement of the “Andante Cantabile” from Florence Price’s String Quartet No. 2, with her signature blues-infused late Romanticism, pairs well with Simon’s work. But while both pieces share harmonic similarities, the character is vastly different in each. Price builds her “Andante” around a simple two-note ostinato, which starts sunny and bright, before darkening into the more dramatic and cold middle section.
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