Shortlisted for the Gramophone Awards!

The OPL and Gustavo Gimeno continue their acclaimed PENTATONE series of composer portraits with a monograph of a living composer, Francisco Coll. In Coll’s music, the past and present converge in a single space, by realising a contemporary sound world while creatively employing traditional forms and influences, be it a classical genre (Violin Concerto and the “grotesque symphony” Mural) or his musical roots (Four Iberian Miniatures). With pieces composed between 2005 and 2019, the album traces Coll’s spectacular musical development, from his studies under Thomas Adès in London to his present bloom. The lush, sensuous nature of his orchestral writing fully comes to life in these performances. Besides the strong relationship between Coll and conductor Gimeno, this new release also showcases the exceptional violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, for whom he has written several works, including his violin concerto, first recorded here. The OPL and Gustavo Gimeno have released composer portraits of Shostakovich, Bruckner, Ravel, Mahler, Stravinsky, Debussy, Rossini and Franck on PENTATONE. Patricia Kopatchinskaja makes her PENTATONE debut.

REVIEWS:

His Violin Concerto’s three movements typifies his delight in bringing extremes of expression within often terrifyingly close proximity, and is thrillingly realised by Patricia Kopatchinskaja, who negotiates the work’s coruscating intricacies with ravishing purity and intensity. The Luxembourg Philharmonic and Gustavo Gimeno are equally dazzling in the other works.

– BBC Music Magazine

There is no mistaking the resourcefulness of his rhythmic patterning and his exhilarating capacity for bringing raw and refined materials into conjunction in orchestral writing, which come across strongly in these well-conceived and technically immaculate recordings.

– Gramophone