Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" - Busoni: Turandot Suite

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The newest release from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Louis Langrée illustrates music transcending borders and composers drawing inspiration from the world around. The third CSO album with Langrée features the iconic American composer George Gershwin’s take on bustling Paris, the French composer Edgard Varèse’s take on New York’s soundscape, and Igor Stravinsky composing the same work across two continents. Recorded at Cincinnati Music Hall, the release marks the highly anticipated world premiere recording of the new critical edition of Gershwin’s An American in Paris, and also showcases the virtuosity and sound of the CSO through the original and rarely performed version of Edgard Varèse’s epic Amériques with 147 musicians, and Stravinsky’s Symphony in C.

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REVIEW:

His interpretation [of the Gershwin] is exceptionally clear (the crystalline recorded sound helps a great deal), and dances and shimmies without getting carried away. Some may find it a tad cool, but I rather like its air of Parisian elegance reading of the original 1922 version of Varèse’s Amériques may not be as joyously wild as Ludovic Morlot’s from Seattle (on that orchestra’s in-house label), but it still has gobs of character.

– Gramophone

Cincinnati Opera’s newest release is a live recording of the world premiere production of Blind Injustice, with music by Scott Davenport Richards and libretto by David Cote. Developed in collaboration with the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) and the Cincinnati-based ensemble Young Professionals Choral Collective, Blind Injustice explores the true stories of six individuals who were wrongfully imprisoned and ultimately freed by the OIP. The opera’s narrative was drawn from the book Blind Injustice written by OIP director and formal federal prosecutor Mark Godsey, as well as personal interviews with the six exonerees. The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra’s John Morris Russell conducts, with stage direction and dramaturgy by Robin Guarino. Hailed as “a powerful piece of music theater” by The Wall Street Journal and “a moving new work” by Opera News, Cincinnati Opera’s world premiere production of Blind Injustice explores the true stories of six individuals who were tried, convicted, imprisoned, and ultimately freed by the Ohio Innocence Project. With a “rich soundscape” (NPR’s All Things Considered) featuring elements of opera, pop, jazz, and blues, Blind Injustice interweaves the exonerees’ individual stories to create a moving portrait of perseverance, grace, and forgiveness.

Since its founding, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has maintained an unfaltering commitment to commissioning new music, resulting in substantial new works from a diverse array of composers including Aaron Copland and Philip Glass. For the 2015-16 season, three exciting international composers originating from three different continents, Sebastian Currier, Thierry Escaich and Zhou Tian, were each commissioned to write a new concerto for orchestra, showcasing the virtuosity, style, and sound of the CSO, thus furthering a genre championed by the likes of Bartók and Lutoslawski. The resulting three works featured on this live recording represent the culmination of this exciting project, and once again affirms the CSO’s core value of being a place of experimentation.

In conceiving his inaugural season as Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony, Louis Langtree wanted to celebrate the Orchestra’s rich tradition of excellence and its legacy of introducing the world to new works. Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait had its world premiere performance by the Cincinnati Symphony at Music Hall in 1942. November of 2013 marked the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Those powerful words were delivered here by legendary author, poet, activist and humanitarian Dr. Maya Angelou, a mere seven months before her recent passing at the age of 86; Hallowed Ground is dedicated in her memory. Hallowed Ground also features live recordings of two new works commissioned by the Orchestra for the MusicNOW Festival in March of 2014. Nico Muhly’s Pleasure Ground is a musical portrait of the iconic landscape architect and designer Frederick Law Olmsted and David Lang’s mountain is a musical portrait of composer Aaron Copland, who had a strong connection with the Cincinnati Symphony. Both these pieces and the Orchestra’s overall collaboration with the MusicNOW Festival represent a true spirit of innovation in Cincinnati, and affirm this as a place of experimentation.

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