Eclectic but distinctively original, John Harbison's Concerto for Viola and Orchestra reflects an artist of deep sensibility and training. Harbison (b 1938) is a recipient of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize and has received commissions from numerous ensembles and foundations. The brittleness sometimes found in Harbison's harmonic language bears the imprint of Roger Sessions, with whom he studied at Princeton; yet the lyricism of Harbison's melodic line is very much his own, a quality strikingly apparent in this concerto.

Ezra Laderman (b 1924) studied with Stefan Wolpe, Otto Luening, and Douglas Moore. Laderman's musical style combines technical virtuosity with a unifying sense of color and drama. His Concerto for Double Orchestra is the creation of a prolific composer, and is "double" in more ways than one. It is actually two works joined together for two different ensembles: The three inner movements are for chamber orchestra and may be performed separately; the outer movements are scored for large orchestra.

This method of composition by accretion, which has precedents in the works of composers ranging from Handel to Pierre Boulez has here produced an epic work in which the richly scored outer movements echo and parallel each other while the “chamber concerto within offers a more intimate discourse.