This disc was nominated for the 1998 Grammy Award for "Best Orchestral Performance."
Igor Markevitch is that rare musician who left behind his years as a composer to pursue a conducting career. But with this first volume in a series devoted to his orchestral works, this inventive Russian composer will receive the audience that he has long deserved. 'La nouvel âge' begins with a plaintive line from the string section and then bursts into a frenzied whirlwind that barely lets up (apart from the dark and moody Adagio). This is an exciting and gripping work that, despite its occasional breaches of conventional tonality, ought to be a concert staple. The Sinfonietta calls to mind the grittiness and drive of Prokofiev but with a touch of Hindemith's classicism. It is a colorful work that so enraptured the great ballet impresario Diaghilev that the young composer was asked to play the finale at the piano three times in a row. The "Cinéma Overture" stems from an aborted film project in 1931. Although Markevitch was only nineteen when he wrote it, the overture is a mature work that not only recalls the seriousness of Stravinsky, but utilizes some humor as well--a nod to Satie--by employing all manners of bells, whistles and sirens.