Juno Concerto

When writing compositions dedicated to a child, artists have to be careful not to cross the line into sentimentality. The world's best-known banjo player and serial collaborator Béla Fleck has written a concerto for banjo and symphony orchestra that could have, in the expansiveness of the chosen form, left that line well behind. Fortunately, Juno Concerto, written for Fleck's first-born, isn't his first work for orchestra, and the new piece is far from twee. The Colorado Symphony Orchestra performs Fleck's intricate, often fast-paced score effortlessly, the opening movement of which carries the sound of the American West redolent of Aaron Copland.

Beyond that, the concerto is a pleasant listen, though it is not easy to pin down musically; it neither consistently showcases the solo instrument, nor, despite some stirring moments and a fiery ending, fuses the banjo with the orchestral forces. The album's companion pieces feature Fleck with his regular partners, the alternative string quartet Brooklyn Rider. ‘Griff’ is Fleck in more comfortable territory, with Americana touches and plenty of sparring with the tightest of string units. An earlier, previously unrecorded foray into banjo and string quartet writing makes an elegiac ending.