{"title":"Derrick Gardner","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"britten-piano-concerto-violin-concerto-095115176429","title":"Britten: Piano Concerto - Violin Concerto","description":"\u003cp\u003eTying in with the 100-year anniversary in 2013 of the composer’s birth, we here present two such works, performed by the BBC Philharmonic under Edward Gardner with Chandos stars Tasmin Little and Howard Shelley. The Violin Concerto, here performed dazzlingly by Little, is essentially tragic and weighty in tone, perhaps reflecting his growing concern with the escalation of war-related hostilities. Under Shelley’s fingers the Piano Concerto – in a rare recording with the original third movement, “Recitative and Aria” – is generally lighter and brighter, more transparent and simpler in style.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012883599594,"sku":"095115176429","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2225604.jpg?v=1778305602"},{"product_id":"bartok-concerto-for-orchestra-dance-suite-rhapsodies-185701","title":"Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra, Dance Suite \u0026 Rhapsodies \/ Ehnes, Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eFour years after a highly successful Bartok recording with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner here returns to the composer on SACD, with James Ehnes as solo violinist, and his Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. The central piece in this recording is the Concerto for Orchestra, the largest work that Bartok completed during the last five years of his life and described by the composer, in the program notes for its 1944 premiere, as ‘a gradual transition from the sternness of the first movement and the lugubrious death-song of the third, to the life-assertion of the last one.’ It is joined by the Dance Suite, the immediate predecessor, among Bartok’s few works for full orchestra without a soloist, of the Concerto for Orchestra, though by more than two decades; and by the violin Rhapsodies, the colorful folk influences of which are revealed by James Ehnes, a specialist in the repertoire, who already has recorded the complete sonatas as well as the concertos for violin and for viola to critical acclaim.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46012965355754,"sku":"095115518922","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3895892_00e1d3a2-7050-48a1-a9c5-6dc596bcd9af.jpg?v=1778253216"},{"product_id":"lutoslawski-vocal-works-095115168820","title":"Lutoslawski: Vocal works","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012975120618,"sku":"095115168820","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1890425.jpg?v=1778289047"},{"product_id":"susan-gritton-sings-finzi-britten-and-delius-095115159026","title":"Susan Gritton sings Finzi, Britten and Delius","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013005529322,"sku":"095115159026","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1639404.jpg?v=1778321755"},{"product_id":"donizetti-lelisir-damore-don-pasquale-le-convenienze-198277","title":"Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore, Don Pasquale, Le Convenienze ed Inconvenienze Teatrali","description":"Three Donizetti masterpieces in a limited edition box set of internationally acclaimed productions. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e L’ELISIR D’AMORE: Heidi Grant Murphy, Paul Groves, Ambrogio Maestri, Laurent Naouri, Orchestre et Chœurs de l’Opéra national de Paris \/ Conductor Edward Gardner Stage production Laurent Pelly - HD recording: Opéra national de Paris (2006)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e • 133 MINS | SUBTITLES: ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN. SPANISH | AUDIO: 2.0 PCM, 5.1 DOLBY DIGITAL, 5.1 DTS | 1 DVD9 16:9\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"well worth catching for Kurzak and Gavanelli alone. And there's plenty in the production to impress visually and much to enjoy as a series of stylishly assembled tableaux.\" Hugo Shirley\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e DON PASQUALE: Patrizia Ciofi, Simone Alaimo, Norman Shankle, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Chœur du Grand Théâtre de Genève \/ Conductor Evelino Pidò Stage production Daniel Slater - HD recording: Grand Théâtre de Genève (2007)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e • 127 MINS | SUBTITLES: ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH | AUDIO: 2.0 PCM, 5.1 DOLBY DIGITAL, 5.1 DTS | 1 DVD9 16:9\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"Donizetti’s final comic masterpiece demands velocity, pathos and above all wit. This Don Pasquale from Geneva has them all, and with Evelino Pidò conducting in the pit it bubbles with excitement...Patrizia Ciofi’s Norina is a joy. Looking like the Hollywood comic actress Aline McMahon (Ginger Rogers’s gold-digging friend in Top Hat), this is a benchmark performance\" DVD CHOICE, BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE [BAC033]\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e LE CONVENIENZE ED INCONVENIENZE TEATRALI (VIVA LA MAMMA): Jessica Pratt, Vincenzo Taormina, Simon Bailey, Christian Senn, Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia del Teatro alla Scala \/ Conductor Marco Guidarini Stage production Antonio Albanese - HD recording: Teatro alla Scala (2009)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e • 114 MINS | SUBTITLES: ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH | AUDIO: 2.0 PCM, 5.1 DOLBY DIGITAL | 1 DVD9 16:9\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e 'Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali' was inspired by two comedies written by Antonio Simone Sografi between 1794 and 1816. It follows the theatrical tradition of Goldoni, Gozzi and Metastasio, and subjects the bad habits of the operatic world to biting and sardonic criticism.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"BelAir Classiques","offers":[{"title":"DVD","offer_id":46013056942314,"sku":"3760115306073","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2580244_c0f11654-8aad-42f0-b882-e071b939824f.jpg?v=1778321220"},{"product_id":"britten-canteloube-eriksmoen-gardner-bergen-philharmonic-orchestra","title":"Britten, Canteloube: Vocal Works \/ Eriksmoen, Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eNorwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen is undoubtedly a rising star at the moment, following successful appearances at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Oper Frankfurt, Komische Oper Berlin, and Teatro alla Scala in Milan. On the concert stage she has made recent important appearances with the Orchestre de Paris, Berliner Philharmoniker, Oslo Philharmonic, and Münchner Philharmoniker among others. Here she joins the Bergen Philharmonic and Edward Gardner for a powerful album of orchestral songs, coupling Britten’s Les Illuminations and Four French Songs with a selection of Cantaloube’s inimitable Songs of the Auvergne. Eriksmoen spent a year studying in Paris, and proves an effective and natural singer of the French language. As she mentions in her program note: ‘It is highly demanding to sing in French when it is not one’s native tongue, but I have always felt at home when singing in French and nurture an emotional attachment to the French language.’\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003e One cannot can’t praise Eriksmoen enough for the accuracy of her singing, its tonal beauty, and her absorption in the text. There are running passages, exposed intervals, and those chromatic steps to contend with. She faces every challenge with ease.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003e-- Fanfare\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003eIn Britten’s Les illuminations, the generally belllike accuracy of Norwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen’s singing is more than matched by the expressive truth of her interpretations. She is most beguiling when floating her voice weightlessly and with a serene joie de vivre in ‘Antique’, perfectly partnered by the lovely violin playing of the Bergen Philharmonic leader Melina Mandozzi.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003e-- BBC Music Magazine\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46013119856874,"sku":"095115528921","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4012989-2767984.jpg?v=1778229956"},{"product_id":"verklarte-nacht-schoenberg-fried-lehar-korngold-gardner-397459","title":"Verklarte Nacht - Schoenberg, Fried, Lehar \u0026 Korngold \/ Gardner, BBC Symphony","description":"\u003cp\u003eHot on the heels of their acclaimed recording of Britten’s Peter Grimes, Stuart Skelton and Edward Gardner join forces with Christine Rice and the BBC Symphony Orchestra for this fascinating programme of early twentieth-century works. Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht needs no introduction, but far rarer is Oscar Fried’s contemporaneous setting of the same poem. Composed in 1901 for soloists and orchestra, Fried’s version is a true setting of (as opposed to Schoenberg’s reflection on) the text by Richard Dehmel. Lehár wrote Fieber in 1915 as the closing part of his song cycle Aus eiserner Zeit – he then made the orchestral setting a year later. Korngold’s Lieder des Abschieds (Songs of Farewell) date from the early 1920s, whilst he was still in Vienna, and shortly after he had completed the opera Die tote Stadt. Setting poetry by Christina Rossetti, Edith Ronsperger, and Ernst Lothar, the cycle is a poignant reflection on the Great War.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46013212721386,"sku":"095115524329","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3886801-2650660.jpg?v=1778250770"},{"product_id":"szymanowski-symphonies-no-1-3-gardner-bbc-210507","title":"Szymanowski: Symphonies No 1 \u0026 3 \/ Gardner, BBC SO","description":"Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony return to the intoxicating orchestral music of Karol Szymanowski in their third disc devoted to the composer. Ben Johnson, a tenor whose star is rapidly rising, joins Gardner and the BBC SO here as a soloist in two works. Symphony no 1 (1907) belongs to his early period, heavily influenced by German late-Romanticism. The exquisite Love Songs of Hafiz (1911), marked by fascination with oriental themes, and the ‘Song of the Night’, scored for huge orchestra with choir and tenor soloist, both feature Persian poetry set to sensuous and emotionally-charged music.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  Reviews:\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  The performances are particularly cosmopolitan. And why not? The works here reflect influences from many nationalities. Johnson, whose relatively lean voice (in contrast with the Eastern European sopranos sometimes heard in this piece) is very much responsive to the text's meaning.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  – Gramophone\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  “The BBC Symphony Chorus sings with languid exaltation, yet it is the orchestral detail that impresses most here, right from the still, mystery-laden opening. Gardner conducts with such conviction that it is impossible not to find beauty in [Love Songs'] potentially dense Reger-meets-Scriabin soundworld.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  – BBC Music Magazine","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46013224222954,"sku":"095115514320","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2804670.jpg?v=1778288980"},{"product_id":"schubert-symphonies-vol-2-095115524527","title":"Schubert: Symphonies, Vol. 2","description":"\u003cp\u003eEdward Gardner leads the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Schubert’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 6 in this second volume in the acclaimed series. Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra since October 2015, Edward Gardner has led the musicians on multiple international tours, which have included performances in Berlin, Munich, and Amsterdam, and at the BBC Proms and Edinburgh International Festival. He was recently appointed Principal Conductor Designate of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, his tenure commencing in September 2021. In demand as a guest conductor, during the previous two seasons he made his debut with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and Wiener Symphoniker, as well as at The Royal Opera, Covent Garden in a new production of Káťa Kabanová, praised by The Guardianas a ‘magnificent interpretation’. He returned to the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philharmonia Orchestra, and Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano. In April 2019, he conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Lincoln Center in New York. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46013281829098,"sku":"095115524527","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3770558-2534821.jpg?v=1778272187"},{"product_id":"sibelius-orchestral-works-davidsen-gardner-bergen-philharmonic-orchestra","title":"Sibelius:  Orchestral Works \/ Davidsen, Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eFollowing their acclaimed recordings of Schoenberg with Sara Jakubiak and Britten’s Peter Grimes with Stuart Skelton, Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic turn their attention to the music of Sibelius. Written in 1913 for the diva Aino Ackté, the tone poem Luonnotar draws on text from the Finnish national epic poem, the Kalevala. Its virtuosic demands are ably met here by award-wining soprano Lise Davidsen, who also feature in the Suite from Pelléas and Mélisande, music re-worked by Sibelius from his incidental music written for the first performances of Maeterlinck’s play in Helsinki, in 1905, in Swedish. The tone poem Tapiola, from 1926, is Sibelius’ last great masterpiece and evokes the forests of his native Finland. The programme is completed by a pair of much earlier works, Rakastava (the Lover) and Vårsång (Spring Song).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere’s a mostly excellent disc, smartly programmed to offer an appealing mix of familiar and less-known music. Soprano Lise Davidsen seems to be all over the place these days. She’s the real deal, an intelligent and affecting singer with the vocal heft and secure technique to do justice to just about anything she tries. Let’s hope her current popularity doesn’t result in a premature vocal blowout. Her Luonnotar is beautiful, but just a hair too fast. This of course makes it easier to sing, but there’s more mystery and atmosphere in the music than Gardner and Davidsen realize here. It’s my only quibble about this otherwise wholly desirable program.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs for the rest: this Tapiola has all of the eerie strangeness missing in Luonnotar–and let’s face it: Is there a more alien and spooky sounding work out there, by anyone? Gardner is so adept at easing the music from one section to another that you have to wonder why he was in such a rush in Luonnotar? The Pelleas and Melisande music goes splendidly, each of its numbers played to the hilt, with Melisande at the Spinning Wheel and the following Entr’acte especially memorable. Rakastava (The Lover) is an odd arrangement for strings (with triangle and timpani) of an original vocal work. Seldom performed and melodically elusive, it’s good to hear a fresh new version. Spring Song is another rarity. It’s hymn-like opulence sounds strangely un-Sibelian, although it represents perhaps the most extended example of a very characteristic aspect of his musical personality. It’s splendidly done, its successive climaxes especially well-judged by Gardner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs you might have guessed, the Bergen Philharmonic sounds terrific, as do the sonics. Never mind the unfortunately zippy Luonnotar. This is great stuff.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46013340057834,"sku":"095115521724","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3972972-2713524.jpg?v=1778229966"},{"product_id":"szymanowski-symphonies-no-2-4-gardner-87157","title":"Szymanowski: Symphonies No 2 \u0026 4 \/ Gardner","description":"This recording of orchestral works by Karol Szymanowski form part of the Polish Music series on Chandos, and is performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Edward Gardner. These performers have impressed in their Lutoslawski survey, which is part of the same series; in a review of volume 1, Gramophone described them as a veritable ‘dream team’.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Symphony No. 2 by Szymanowski is a work of great power and ingenuity, with many passionate and varied contrasts in its use of solo instruments. Composed in 1909 – 10, it is widely considered the greatest orchestral work of the composer’s early period, not to mention one of the most important Polish symphonic compositions to date. Szymanowski himself thought very highly of it, and in August 1911 wrote in a letter to his fellow Polish composer Zdzis?aw Jachimecki: ‘How happy I am that this Symphony impressed you as I had wanted. I will frankly admit that I feel somewhat proud about its value. In some miraculous way I have managed during my work on it to resist all those garish phantoms which seduce “young and inexperienced” artists and to produce pure and uncompromising beauty in the way I personally understand it.’\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  The internationally acclaimed pianist Louis Lortie joins the orchestra and conductor in Symphony No. 4 of 1932, which the composer subtitled ‘Symphonie concertante’ in recognition of the near-soloistic role played by the pianist. Whereas Szymanowski’s early and middle works clearly reflect Wagner, Strauss, and Scriabin, this work is strongly influenced by Prokofiev, particularly in the finale, an agitated and daring movement reminiscent of the Russian composer’s Piano Concerto No. 3, composed about a decade earlier.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Written in 1904 – 05 in a style recalling Wagner and Strauss, the Concert Overture is characterised by enormous expressiveness and gusto in the way it handles the expanding themes. Szymanowski inscribed the original score with part of the poem Wite? W?ast by his friend Tadeusz Mici?ski: ‘I will not play you sad songs, O Shades! but will give you a triumph proud and fierce…’. This vivid imagery is perfectly in keeping with the music’s exuberant and vivacious character.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  - Chandos","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013419946218,"sku":"095115511527","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2109113_d66e7d78-602b-4e56-a6e1-b2ccf1ddd149.jpg?v=1778312544"},{"product_id":"britten-peter-grimes-gardner-bergen-philharmonic-359610","title":"Britten: Peter Grimes \/ Skelton, Wall, Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the coveted Gramophone \u003cem\u003eRecord of the Year \u003c\/em\u003eaward!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘The burly Aussie tenor is now even more identified with this ill-fated protagonist than Peter Pears, the first Grimes. And everywhere Skelton has sung the part, whether at English National Opera, the Proms, the Edinburgh festival or now on this international tour of a concert staging mounted by the Bergen Philharmonic, the conductor has been Edward Gardner. Theirs is one of the great musical partnerships, and they continue to find compelling new depths in this tragic masterpiece.’ – Richard Morrison – The Times. This studio recording was made following the acclaimed production at Grieghallen, in Bergen, in 2019 (repeated in Oslo and London and reviewed above). Luxuriant playing from the Bergen Philharmonic and a stellar cast under the assured direction of Edward Gardner make this a recording to treasure.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe net joy of this new recording is that Skelton, now a Grimes of considerable experience and range, has found in his vocalisation of the role a well-judged mixture of obsessive professional (sometimes rough) fisherman and troubled, confused and persecuted outsider. All this is precisely framed by Gardner’s conducting and his choice of cast. An exciting, committed, necessary and brilliantly recorded version for our times.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e– Gramophone (\u003cstrong\u003eRecording of The Month\u003c\/strong\u003e, October 2020\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46013427450090,"sku":"095115525029","price":43.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3842070-2595193.jpg?v=1778261941"},{"product_id":"lutoslawski-orchestral-works-iii-095115510629","title":"Lutoslawski: Orchestral Works III","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is the fourth volume in Chandos’ series devoted to the music of the Polish composer Witold Lutosławski. Described by Gramophone as a ‘veritable dream team’, Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra perform Symphony No. 2 and the Little Suite, and are joined by Paul Watkins as the soloist in the Cello Concerto and Grave.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013448650986,"sku":"095115510629","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2067808.jpg?v=1778315284"},{"product_id":"schoenberg-erwartung-pelleas-und-melisande-jakubiak-gardner-292465","title":"Schoenberg: Erwartung \u0026 Pelleas und Melisande \/Jakubiak, Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic","description":"Written only six years apart, these two works share a common narrative of frustrated love, and the concept of the forest as a metaphor for the subconscious mind. Musically they are wildly different, however; Pelleas, which Schoenberg wrote in his late twenties, is the epitome of his late romantic style, indebted to Richard Strauss. Erwartung (his first work for the stage) was written after his conversion to atonality. Maurice Maeterlinck’s play Pelleas et Melisande fired the imaginations of several of the greatest composers of the time. Debussy began writing his opera almost immediately after its publication in 1892, and within a decade or so Faure and Sibelius had created elaborate incidental scores for different stage productions of the play. Schoenberg composed his tone poem in 1902 – 03, for a large-scale (Straussian) orchestra. Schoenberg seems to have put himself into a state of free association to write Erwartung, which he completed in just seventeen days in August 1909. ‘In Erwartung, the aim is to represent in slow motion everything that occurs during a single second of maximum spiritual excitement, stretching it out to half an hour’, he wrote. Not only the first solo opera, this is perhaps also the first cinematic one.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eREVIEW:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGardner keeps the music’s sumptuousness on a tight rein, favouring faster tempi than most other interpreters. But he makes sure the shape of the huge musical structure is never compromised, and there’s no lack of tonal weight when required from the Bergen Philharmonic. Jakubiak is a compelling soprano soloist too, far less histrionic and squally than some.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e– Guardian (UK)","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46013478895850,"sku":"095115519820","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3812199-2561379.jpg?v=1778250831"},{"product_id":"britten-phaedra-a-charm-of-lullabies-lachrymae-two-po-095115167120","title":"Britten: Phaedra - A Charm of Lullabies - Lachrymae - Two Po","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013480173802,"sku":"095115167120","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1844819.jpg?v=1778341137"},{"product_id":"musgrave-mary-queen-of-scots-mark-gardner-61656","title":"Musgrave: Mary, Queen of Scots \/ Mark, Gardner, Putnam, Virginia Opera","description":"\u003cp\u003eThea Musgrave writes of her work “Mary Queen of Scots”: Mary has been a fascinating subject to work with. It was interesting and challenging to find a path through all the well-known facts about her life, in order to be able to envision her with fresh eyes and gradually to shape my own portrait of her. My interest in her as a subject was first aroused by a basic idea of Amalia Elguera, (who had written the libretto for my previous opera The Voice of Ariadne) and on whose play Moray the opera is based. Here the emphasis lies, as the title implies, on Mary’s half brother James Stewart. I soon decided that in the opera, although the chief protagonist would be James, the central character must be Mary herself.” This recording is of a live performance on 2 April, 1978 in Norfolk, Virginia, at the gala performance for the Metropolitan Opera. Lyrita is proud to present this re-issue of Mary, Queen of Scots to coincide with Thea Musgrave’s 90th Birthday celebrations.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lyrita","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026445848810,"sku":"5020926236920","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3799373.jpg?v=1778258339"},{"product_id":"holst-planets-strauss-zarathustra-gardner-great-britain-201504","title":"Holst: Planets - Strauss: Zarathustra \/ Gardner, Great Britain National Youth Orchestra [Vinyl]","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is the eagerly awaited LP release of an already highly successful SACD, ''Album of the Week'' on Classic FM, praised by BBC Music for its ''zest and freshness'', by The Guardian for its ''warmth and intensity'', and by Gramophone for its ''combustible power, enormous physical impact and technical accomplishment''. For its very first album on Chandos, the National Youth Orchestra of Grea tBritain devotes its characteristic energy and musical mastery to an explosive programme that transcends daily life and eathly experience. It is helped by the enthusiastic, encouraging, and experienced baton of Edward Gardner as well as by teh sumptuous yet detailed acoustic of Symphony Hall, Birmingham, all fully revealed in this recording. Their performance of Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra and Holst's The planets is already a point of reference in the UK after the immensely successful Prom concert that preceded the recording. The concert's five-star review in The Daily Telegraph praised in particular the orchestra's ''great attack and complete absence of anything routine'', while The Guardian emphasized the great performance of the orchestra in this ''graceful and evocative programme'', especially the ''depth and richness of sound that belied their youth''.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"Vinyl","offer_id":46026658185450,"sku":"095115517956","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3676829.jpg?v=1778292818"},{"product_id":"mendelssohn-in-birmingham-vol-2-gardner-243554","title":"Mendelssohn in Birmingham Vol 2 \/ Gardner","description":"Edward Gardner and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra present Volume 2 in their series Mendelssohn in Birmingham; this time they perform Symphonies Nos 1 and 3 and the Overture to Ruy Blas. The impressive first volume was roundly praised, International Record Review commending the ‘powerfully engaging and alert performances’, while The Sunday Times made it their ‘Album of the Week’.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Among the fruits of his prodigiously gifted youth were thirteen string symphonies, which Mendelssohn composed privately as ‘practice’ pieces. At age fifteen he returned to the last of these, expanded the orchestration, and published it as the first of his mature numbered symphonies. As heard here, this energetic work, bursting with youthful high spirits, shows the influence of Mozart, Beethoven, and Weber, but that influence is always absorbed in a personal way.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Although numbered as the third of five, the ‘Scottish’ Symphony was actually the last which Mendelssohn composed. Inspiration for it had come while Mendelssohn was visiting Edinburgh in 1829. He was immediately moved to compose the brooding melody that begins and ends the work, but not until 1842 did he actually finish this masterpiece.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  No such time span was needed to complete the Overture to Victor Hugo’s tragedy Ruy Blas, which was commissioned only three days before the production’s opening night. Mendelssohn loathed Hugo’s drama and though the opening is suitably sombre, the rest of the overture disregards the play’s form and character, concluding in celebration where Hugo’s story culminates in murder and suicide.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  Review:\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  Gardner conducts these pieces with a highly satisfying blend of freedom and discipline. In some of Mendelssohn's more lyrical moments you need a metronome to judge his rhythmic flexibility, so naturally does he apply it, and throughout the disc the strings articulate with splendid vigor.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  – BBC Music Magazine","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46027377344746,"sku":"095115513927","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2777954.jpg?v=1778336787"},{"product_id":"elgar-symphony-no-2-serenade-for-strings-79403","title":"Elgar: Symphony No. 2 \u0026 Serenade for Strings \/ Gardner, BBC Symphony","description":"\u003cp\u003eFollowing a highly praised recording of Symphony No. 1 last year, Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony present here an electrifying interpretation of Elgar’s Symphony No. 2, with the addition of one of his most performed works: the Serenade for Strings. Having now become experts in British repertoire with highly lauded series of Walton and Britten, they reveal all the aspects of Elgar’s masterpiece in this surround sound recording. Symphony No. 2 is richly orchestrated and skillfully constructed, drawing on hugely varied resources of harmony, rhythm and melody, and making considerable use of thematic transformation as a unifying technique. While the Symphony No. 2 is one of the greatest products of Elgar’s maturity, the Serenade in E minor for Strings is perhaps the most charming product of his youth. In this three-movement piece dominated by a deeply passionate Larghetto, the strings of the BBC Symphony superbly encapsulate all the emotions offered by this graceful work: tender lyrical and intense.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46027520245994,"sku":"095115519721","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3793068.jpg?v=1778265061"},{"product_id":"berio-orchestral-realisations-schubert-mahler-brahms-gardner-184917","title":"Berio: Orchestral Realisations - Schubert, Mahler, Brahms \/ Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eBerio had an abiding fascination with reconciling the past and the present, which can be seen in his orchestral realisations of works by Mahler and Brahms, and most notably, in Rendering (1990), his typically creative completion of unfinished symphonic sketches by Schubert. In Rendering, Berio - in his own words - sets himself the target of 'following those modern restoration criteria that aim at reviving the old colours without, however, trying to disguise the damage that time has caused, often leaving inevitable empty patches in the composition'. In the 'restoration', Schubert's sketches have been beautifully orchestrated in period style, and the 'empty patches' have been filled with music composed by Berio himself, in his own voice - thereby successfully combining the musical worlds of the early nineteenth and late twentieth centuries into one convincing whole. The Clarinet Sonata by Brahms embodies the composer's taut and concentrated compositional style. In transcribing the work, Berio felt that, when experienced in the less intimate surroundings of today's concert halls, the extreme compression of Brahms's late chamber music style was in need of some additional support, and his version, recorded here, includes a fourteen-bar orchestral introduction to the first movement, leading into Brahms's own, much shorter opening phrase, as well as five additional bars at the beginning of the second movement. Berio completed his orchestration of six early songs by Gustav Mahler in 1987, and conducted the first performance with the Toscanini Orchestra on 7 December that year,with Thomas Hampson the baritone soloist. The six songs in this orchestrated set are 'Hans und Grete', 'Phantasie', 'Scheiden und Meiden', 'Erinnerung', 'Frühlingsmorgen', and 'Ich ging mit Lust durch einen grünen Wald'. The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Edward Gardner, with Roderick Williams the baritone soloist in the songs by Mahler and Michael Collins the soloist in Brahms's Clarinet Sonata.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027521851626,"sku":"095115510124","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1948700.jpg?v=1778311384"},{"product_id":"britten-cello-symphony-symphonic-suite-from-gloriana-87080","title":"Britten: Cello Symphony; Symphonic Suite From Gloriana; Four Sea Interludes From Peter Grimes","description":"\u003cimg src=\"\/graphics\/p10s10.gif\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  These are outstanding performances, as good or better than the composer's own. Edward Gardner tears into the Four Sea Interludes with uninhibited excitement. It's great to hear the high violins and flutes in \"Dawn\" swooping and soaring like the gulls that they're supposed to be evoking. \"Sunday Morning\" has an infectious bounce, while \"Moonlight\" casts a rapt stillness abruptly shattered by perhaps the most vicious storm on disc. It's one of those versions you will listen to and say, \"Finally, that's the way it should go!\" \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The suite from Gloriana is still a comparative rarity, which is a pity, as the music really is first-rate Britten. But then, so is the opera; why anyone cares that it flopped at its premiere is beyond me (the Queen allegedly was not amused, as if her opinion matters). The Lute Song is very nicely sung by Robert Murray, but the version for oboe rather than voice strikes me as more appropriate within the context of the symphonic suite as a whole. Granted, Britten used Peter Pears, but that was an opportunity for him to give his partner something to do while on tour.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Finally, there's the Cello Symphony: a tough, somewhat gnarly work that receives a performance every bit as fine as Britten\/Rostropovich, which still remains the benchmark version. Paul Watkins and Gardner somehow make music out of the low, grotty opening, pacing the movement as unerringly as did Britten himself. The finale works its way up to a wonderfully life-affirming conclusion, and Watkins does a wonderful job with the lengthy preceding cadenza. In short, this release is a major entry in the Britten discography, and the sonics are every bit the equal of the interpretations.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027685396714,"sku":"095115165829","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1813472_c9a62707-333d-472f-b274-9f9cf95f3e2c.jpg?v=1778316832"},{"product_id":"mendelssohn-in-birmingham-vol-5","title":"Mendelssohn in Birmingham, Vol. 5","description":"Edward Gardner's Mendelssohn in Birmingham series continues with a recording of Overtures. As with the previous volumes, a reduced size CBSO join Gardner in Birmingham Town's Hall, where Mendelssohn himself conducted many of the UK premieres of his own orchestral works. The majority of works in the programme were written as concert overtures, spanning the length of Mendelssohn's career from the early Midsummer Night's Dream composed when he was just 16 though to 'Ruy Blas' written towards the end of his lifetime. Two of these overtures were written as the opening movements of larger works: 'St Paul', his first great Oratorio from 1836, and his overture to 'Athalie', incidental music written for Racine's play. The Trumpet Overture is the earliest work here, written possibly to precede a performance of Handel's Israel in Egypt, and allegedly Mendelssohn's father's favourite piece!","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46027685888234,"sku":"095115523520","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3666424-2420311.jpg?v=1778245083"},{"product_id":"szymanowski-stabat-mater-harnasie-muzyka-polska-vol-7-095115512326","title":"Szymanowski: Stabat Mater \u0026 Harnasie (Muzyka Polska, Vol. 7)","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith this new release Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra continue their critically acclaimed series exploring Polish music for Chandos. It features two large scale works by Karol Szymanowski, the expressive Stabat Mater and the vigorous and colorful ballet Harnasie. The Stabat Mater, recorded here in its 1965 revised version, features a cast of internationally acclaimed soloists: Lucy Crowe, Pamela Helen Stephen, Robert Murray and Gabor Bretz.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027688739050,"sku":"095115512326","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2309578.jpg?v=1778298895"},{"product_id":"mendelssohn-in-birmingham-vol-4-pike-gardner-79413","title":"Mendelssohn in Birmingham, Vol. 4 \/ Pike, Gardner, City of Birmingham Symphony","description":"For this new recording of orchestral works by Mendelssohn, the CBSO and its principal guest conductor, Edward Gardner, join the violinist Jennifer Pike, who made a remarkable debut at Carnegie Hall this year. She here performs the Violin Concerto in E minor, the piece that launched her career thirteen years ago when she became the youngest-ever winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Award. This recording contains another of Mendelssohn's later works: the Incidental Music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1843), in which he managed to recapture and amplify the unique magic of his early years.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  Review:\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  Pike allies the luminous beauty of her tone to her innate musicality and mercurial technique to produce an exceptionally lyrical interpretation of the evergreen Violin Concerto in E minor.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  – Guardian (UK)","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46027689263338,"sku":"095115516126","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3077394.jpg?v=1778308237"},{"product_id":"holst-the-planets-strauss-also-sprach-zarathustra-79414","title":"Holst: The Planets - Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra \/ National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor its very first album on Chandos, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain devotes its characteristic energy and musical mastery to an explosive program that transcends daily life and earthly experience. It is helped by the enthusiastic, encouraging and experienced baton of Edward Gardner as well as by the sumptuous yet detailed acoustic of Symphony Hall, Birmingham, all fully revealed in this surround-sound recording. Their performance of Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra and Holst's The Planets is already a point of reference in the UK after the immensely successful Prom concert that preceded the recording. The concert's five-star review in The Daily Telegraph praised in particular the orchestra's \"great attack and complete absence of anything routine\", while The Guardian emphasized the great performance of the orchestra in this \"graceful and evocative programme\", especially the \"depth and richness of sound that belied their youth\". This unique album is a first milestone in what promises to be a superb discography for the NYO.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46027689984234,"sku":"095115517925","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3550154.jpg?v=1778292764"},{"product_id":"szymanowski-karlowicz-violin-concertos","title":"Szymanowski \u0026 Karlowicz: Violin Concertos","description":"This recording brings together some of Chandos’ greatest artists in a spellbinding programme. It follows performances that The Guardian described as ‘a thrilling show of ferocity and feistiness,’ given by the same forces in January at the Barbican. After widely acclaimed recordings of Walton’s and Lutoslawski’s violin concertos, Tasmin Little again joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner, in intensely expressive interpretations of the concertos by the Polish composers Karlowicz and Szymanowski. All were written within the space of a generation, and yet they belong to quite different worlds. One was composed at a time of national occupation, another in the throes of wartime, and yet another at a time of national renewal. The first inhabits the lyrical tradition developed by Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky, the second escapes towards Debussy and the exoticism of Mediterranean influences, while the third is imbued with the folk culture of the Tatra Mountains.","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46027694047466,"sku":"095115518526","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3729465_8bb1ff92-0d86-4aa8-8cad-cf2beeb44136.jpg?v=1778301862"},{"product_id":"great-operatic-arias-sung-in-english-vol-22-finley-ge","title":"GREAT OPERATIC ARIAS (Sung in English), VOL. 22 - Finley, Ge","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027694637290,"sku":"095115316726","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1612327.jpg?v=1778333460"},{"product_id":"bartok-bluebeards-castle-095115523728","title":"Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle \/ Relyea, DeYoung, Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eFollowing acclaimed performances around the globe, John Relyea’s interpretation of Duke Bluebeard now appears on record, with Michelle DeYoung as Judit and Edward Gardner leading his Bergen forces with aplomb. John Relyea continues to distinguish himself as one of today's finest basses. Mr. Relyea has appeared in many of the world’s most celebrated opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera (where he is an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program and a former Adler Fellow), Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna State Opera, Theater an der Wien, and the Mariinsky Theater.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46027737891050,"sku":"095115523728","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3707579-2418275.jpg?v=1778275289"},{"product_id":"schubert-symphonies-vol-1-nos-3-5-8","title":"Schubert: Symphonies, Vol. 1 – Nos. 3, 5 \u0026 8","description":"Following a highly successful series 'Mendelssohn in Birmingham', the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with their former Chief Conductor Edward Gardner here presents the first volume in a new surround-sound series: Schubert Symphonies. This first volume comprises of three symphonies spanning across Schubert's short productive composing life. His Symphony No. 3 (1815), with it's extensive and evolving slow introduction modelled on late Haydn is followed by the culminating distillation of Schubertian classicism that is his 'little' Symphony No. 5 (1816). Scored for chamber orchestra, it tells of much more of an influence of Mozart, for whom Schubert seemed to have felt a special affinity with around this time. Completing the album is Schubert's much more intense (with a turbulent first movement and serene second) Symphony No. 8 \"unfinished\" (1822), of which only the first two movements and a skeleton sketch of a third Scherzo movement were completed.","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46028054986986,"sku":"095115523421","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3855489.jpg?v=1778379502"},{"product_id":"janacek-orchestral-works-vol-1-bavouzet-gardner-199397","title":"Janacek: Orchestral Works Vol 1 \/ Bavouzet, Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic","description":"First some housekeeping. This version of the suite from The Cunning LIttle Vixen is allegedly the “final” edition prepared by Charles Mackerras, consisting largely of the Talich score (that is, most of Act 1) but with Janácek’s original orchestration restored. According to Janácek scholar John Tyrrell, who wrote the otherwise comprehensive notes, Mackerras planned to conduct the “final” version of his edition, but his death intervened and it was only premiered at his memorial concert in 2010. What Tyrrell does not make clear is that Mackerras played and recorded his “almost final” version of the suite with the Czech Philharmonic for Supraphon. It differs in no major way from that offered here. So if you think that this recording features something new, it doesn’t, for the most part. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e That said, this release represents an auspicious beginning to a new series of Janácek orchestral works. Gardner really is a good conductor. He plays the Sinfonietta swiftly and, happily, without an inappropriate effort to polish the music’s rough edges. There are a couple of quirky touches. The second movement starts quickly and then settles down to a marginally slower tempo for the rest. The fourth movement, too, after those two sudden eruptions towards the end, is taken very slowly for the last appearances of the main theme. I’m not sure that I like it because it sits oddly with the overall spunky tenor of the performance, but it’s not wrong, and it may improve on repetition.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Jean-Efflam Bavouzet plays a mean Capriccio, another swift performance, especially in the third movement, which the brass handle with aplomb. This is such a weird piece that you can do almost anything with it (or to it) and have it come out successfully, but Bavouzet’s fluidity in the spiky solo part, and the excellence of the ensemble generally, disarm criticism. Finally, Mackerras’ version of the Vixen suite is surely the way to play it, and Gardner doesn’t put a foot wrong. The SACD sonics are quite good–occasionally a touch low level, perhaps, but that’s easily remedied.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e -- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46039863525610,"sku":"095115514221","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2794548.jpg?v=1778818768"},{"product_id":"walton-viola-concerto-sonata-for-strings-partita-243561","title":"Walton: Viola Concerto, Sonata for Strings, Partita \/ Gardner, BBC Symphony","description":"\u003cimg src=\"\/graphics\/features\/gramophone_choice.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Also available from  \u003ci\u003eEdward Gardner\u003c\/i\u003e and the  \u003ci\u003eBBC Symphony Orchestra\u003c\/i\u003e on Chandos:  \u003ca href=\"album.jsp?album_id=1256466\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eWalton: Symphony 1, Violin Concerto \/ Little\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e and  \u003ca href=\"album.jsp?album_id=1735576\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eWalton: Symphony No 2, Cello Concerto \/ Watkins\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  In this third volume of Edward Gardner’s Walton series with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, James Ehnes leaves his violin to tackle the taxing soloist role in the Viola Concerto. In a recent Strad interview, Ehnes confesses: ‘This is a piece I have loved since I was a teenager, so it is wonderful that the opportunity has come my way to record it... With Walton’s Viola Concerto, none of the writing is impossible but a lot of it is close. And in a way that is exactly where you want it to be: on the edge of technical limitations. There’s a tremendous amount of excitement in that.’ This album in surround sound also features two much later works: the 1957 Partita for Orchestra and the Sonata for String Orchestra, adapted in 1971 from the String Quartet in A minor of 1945 – 47. There is a striking contrast between the uncomfortable modernism of the up-and-coming young composer’s Viola Concerto and the relaxed brilliance of the mature Partita. But the Sonata shows Walton late in his life re-engaging as an arranger with his earlier manner, and so with the characteristic vein of restless unease that runs through most of his output.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  -----\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  Ehnes and Gardner take us back to pre-Menuhin tempos, only a fraction slower than William Primrose’s pioneering 1946 recording. There’s a grand sweep to the performance which is wholly engaging in its refusal to wallow. Ehnes’s burnished viola tone is noble and warm. Gardner conducts a lithe performance of the Sonata for string orchestra, and a suitably boisterous Partita to fill out the disc.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  – Gramophone","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46039864049898,"sku":"095115521021","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3778078.jpg?v=1778819592"}],"url":"https:\/\/arkivmusic.com\/collections\/derrick-gardner.oembed","provider":"ArkivMusic","version":"1.0","type":"link"}