Violin Concerto/When Soft Voices Die/Rhapsody/Sext No. 3/Romance

Picker's VIOLIN CONCERTO dates from 1981, while the chamber works on this disk (WHEN SOFT VOICES DIE, RHAPSODY, SEXTET No. 3, and ROMANCE) are from the late seventies. In his early music, Picker began to give voice to an uninhibited Romantic streak, one that is eager to subvert any tendency toward over systematization so prevalent at the time. A tension between rigorous, disciplined structure and an impassioned, seemingly intuitive surface lends Picker's music its distinctive character.