The March/April 2023 issue of Fanfare Magazine features a rave review from Henry Fogel for Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Santa Rosa Symphony, Zuill Bailey, and Elizabeth Dorman’s recording of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Cello Concerto & Other Works:

“we should never take for granted a composer who writes music that is admired by professional musicians and at the same time appreciated by audiences, something Zwilich has been doing for more than a half century… She has not been afraid of making big, emotional statements or of writing soaring melodies. Her considerable skill as an orchestrator has always been in evidence.…

The newest work on this disc is the Cello Concerto, completed in 2020. It is a fabulous piece. I try to be cautious about making too enthusiastic a claim about a work that I am just getting to know, but I was very taken on first hearing and even more so on repeated ones… The concerto was composed for Zuill Bailey, who gives an impassioned performance…

Peanuts® Gallery for piano and orchestra… is so well constructed that its humor doesn’t wear out after one or two hearings. Pianist Elizabeth Dorman has a ball with it.…

Prologue and Variations for String Orchestra is a further example of Zwilich’s ability to extract a wide range of colors even from the relatively limited palette available from only the string section. The music, as so often with her, is both lovely and dramatic.…

This release is also a fine statement about the quality of music being made by America’s smaller orchestras. Francesco Lecce-Chong is the music director of both the Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra and the Eugene Symphony Orchestra. His energy and sensitivity are on full display here. Delos’s recorded sound strikes the right balance between clarity and warmth. I anticipate returning frequently to this disc.”

—Henry Fogel, Fanfare

See the full review in Fanfare Magazine’s March & April issue.