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All These Lighted Things / Elim Chan, Antwerp Symphony
Alpha

All These Lighted Things / Elim Chan, Antwerp Symphony

$20.99

Details

Composer
Elizabeth Ogonek, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel
Artist
Elim Chan
Format
CD
Label
Alpha
Released
Apr 26, 2024
Catalog #
ALPHA1038
UPC
3701624510384

About

Anyone who has seen the conductor Elim Chan on stage is familiar with the immense energy produced by her baton. With the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, of which she has been Principal Conductor since 2019, she celebrates a genre dear to her heart, ballet music, which places the emphasis on both physical movement and orchestral power. More than a century of ballet music is presented here, with excerpts from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet suites, oscillating between passionate love and fatal violence; Suite no.2 from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, the fruit of his first collaboration with Diaghilev in 1912, which he described as a ‘choreographic symphony’; and finally a work by Elizabeth Ogonek, All These Lighted Things, premiered in 2017. Although the title of these ‘three little dances for orchestra’ comes from a poem that evokes a soothing union with the earth at the dawn of a sunny day, the piece ends with a sort of folk dance that degenerates into an orchestral storm.

REVIEWS:

Conductor Elim Chan’s remarkable ear for detail is the star of All These Lighted Things, her new, dance-themed album with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.

Its title comes from a short set of pieces by Elizabeth Ogonek, who wrote them in 2017 for Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Highly abstracted though Ogonek’s approach to dance forms here may be, All These Lighted Things’ three movements are highlighted by a constant sense of invention and blazing colors. Particularly striking are the languid textures of the murky middle one.

The Suite No. 2 from Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé channels a similar sound world. Though Chan’s approach to the “Danse générale” reads a shade restrained, there’s no denying the clarity or warmth of the Antwerp ensemble’s performance. Indeed, “Lever du jour” is sumptuous and beautifully directed while the “Pantomime’s” flute solos sound fresh and improvisatory.

But it’s in Chan’s compilation of movements from the first two suites from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet that her virtuosity as a conductor shines the brightest. A host of subtleties emerge, from the quietly suspended woodwind tones in “The Montagues and Capulets” to the marshmallowy textures in the middle of “Friar Laurence,” the burbling accompaniments and pattering flute figures in the “Balcony Scene,” and the luminous play of light and shadow during “Romeo and Juliet Before Parting.”

Taken with their judicious tempos and strong feeling for the music’s narrative character, Chan and the Antwerp SO provide a performance of this favorite that is revelatory in all the right and needed ways. Keep an eye on this pairing: they’re worth watching.

-- The Arts Fuse

Tracklist 14 tracks

  1. 1 I. Montagues and Capulets 05:05
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Montagues and Capulets
    Duration
    05:05
    Composer
    Sergei Prokofiev
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  2. 2 II. The Young Juliet 04:12
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. The Young Juliet
    Duration
    04:12
    Composer
    Sergei Prokofiev
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  3. 3 III. Friar Laurence 02:39
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Friar Laurence
    Duration
    02:39
    Composer
    Sergei Prokofiev
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  4. 4 V. Masks 01:56
    Track
    4
    Title
    V. Masks
    Duration
    01:56
    Composer
    Sergei Prokofiev
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  5. 5 VI. Romeo and Juliet 07:15
    Track
    5
    Title
    VI. Romeo and Juliet
    Duration
    07:15
    Composer
    Sergei Prokofiev
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  6. 6 VII. Death of Tybalt 04:48
    Track
    6
    Title
    VII. Death of Tybalt
    Duration
    04:48
    Composer
    Sergei Prokofiev
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  7. 7 V. Romeo at Juliet's before Parting 07:54
    Track
    7
    Title
    V. Romeo at Juliet's before Parting
    Duration
    07:54
    Composer
    Sergei Prokofiev
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  8. 8 VII. Romeo at the Grave of Juliet 05:57
    Track
    8
    Title
    VII. Romeo at the Grave of Juliet
    Duration
    05:57
    Composer
    Sergei Prokofiev
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  9. 9 I. Exuberant, playful, bright 04:51
    Track
    9
    Title
    I. Exuberant, playful, bright
    Duration
    04:51
    Composer
    Elizabeth Ogonek
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  10. 10 II. Gently drifting, hazy 04:33
    Track
    10
    Title
    II. Gently drifting, hazy
    Duration
    04:33
    Composer
    Elizabeth Ogonek
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  11. 11 III. Buoyant 04:55
    Track
    11
    Title
    III. Buoyant
    Duration
    04:55
    Composer
    Elizabeth Ogonek
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  12. 12 I. Lever du jour 06:06
    Track
    12
    Title
    I. Lever du jour
    Duration
    06:06
    Composer
    Maurice Ravel
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  13. 13 II. Pantomime 06:02
    Track
    13
    Title
    II. Pantomime
    Duration
    06:02
    Composer
    Maurice Ravel
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan
  14. 14 III. Danse générale 04:40
    Track
    14
    Title
    III. Danse générale
    Duration
    04:40
    Composer
    Maurice Ravel
    Ensemble
    Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Elim Chan