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BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 6 in A major, WAB 106 / BACH: Prelude
SWR Jun 2002
CD
$20.99

Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1-4

Coviello

$32.99 Mar 25, 2014

• Karl-Heinz Steffens conducts the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in the complete symphonies of Robert Schumann. Mr. Steffens, until 2007 Principal Clarinetist of the Berlin Philharmonic, has been Music Director of the Rheinland-Pfalz Staatsphilharmonie since the 2009/10 concert season. Complete on 2 SACD's.

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Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1-4
Coviello Mar 2014
CD
$32.99

Thomas Jensen Legacy, Vol. 4 / Jensen, Danish National Symphony Orchestra

Danacord

$18.99 Nov 19, 2021

Both in his native Denmark and around the world, Thomas Jensen became known for his uniquely authoritative interpretations of Carl Nielsen’s music. His postwar Decca and HMV studio recordings of the first two symphonies are inflected with unrivalled sweep and passion. They are coupled here with previously unpublished broadcasts of music by four Danish composers from the generation after Nielsen, including the brooding Largo which set the scene for Carl Th. Dreyer’s cinematic masterpiece, Ordet (The Word). Thomas Jensen studied at the Danish Conservatory of Music. Jensen led several Danish ensembles, including the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (from 1957) and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra (then known as the Aarhus Civic Orchestra). In Aarhus he built the small orchestra up through broadcasts and tours within Denmark and later to Germany and the Netherlands. He also conducted the Tivoli Concert Hall Orchestra.

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Thomas Jensen Legacy, Vol. 4 / Jensen, Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Danacord Nov 2021
CD
$18.99

Schreker, F.: Kammersymphonie / Vorspiel Zu Einer Grossen Op
Antes Edition Jul 1995
CD
$24.99

Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 3 & 4 / Mustonen, Lintu, Finnish Radio Symphony

Ondine

$18.99 Sep 09, 2016

This awaited release is the first disc in a series of Olli Mustonen and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu performing the Piano Concertos by Sergei Prokofiev. Without a doubt some of the most substantial twentieth century masterworks, Prokofiev’s piano concertos prove the composer’s brilliant piano skills. The composer premiered his First Piano Concerto in 1914. The Third Piano Concerto is the most popular of Prokofiev’s concertos. The piece took several years to complete, and premiered in Chicago in 1921. Prokofiev’s Fourth Piano Concerto (for the left hand) is the most rarely heard of the three concertos featured on this recording. He wrote the piece in 1931 for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, but the work wasn’t performed until 1956. Olli Mustonen is sought after by orchestras all over the world, and he has performed and recorded with such groups as the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, and The Royal Concertgebouw. His recent collaborations with the Finnish Radio Symphony have garnered excellent reviews.

REVIEW:

How many times have I regretted a shortage of fantasy, flair, and fairy-tale imagination in recordings of the Prokofiev piano concertos? Well, here is a disc that takes all those qualities to the top, gleefully goes over it, and ends up halfway down the other side. The super-light, transparent textures Hannu Lintu conjures from the orchestra are an excellent foil for the soloist. If there is room in your collection for several sets of the Prokofiev concertos, this one at least comes with a provocative distinctiveness.

– Gramophone

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Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 3 & 4 / Mustonen, Lintu, Finnish Radio Symphony
Ondine Sep 2016
CD
$18.99

Bruckner: Symphonie No. 1

Fra Bernardo

$20.99 Jan 28, 2014

BRUCKNER Symphony No. 1 (1866 vers) • Philipp von Steinaecker, cond; Musica Saeculorum • FRA BERNARDO 1310322 (47:57) Live: Musik Meran

The program notes to this recording state that the 60-person Musica Saeculorum opted to record Bruckner’s Symphony No. 1 in its original 1866 edition on period instruments in an effort “to identify any possible connection to Schubert and the early Romantics.” Harmonically, of course, Bruckner is worlds removed from Schubert and his contemporaries. But the use of period instruments does offer Bruckner a slightly more subdued timbral palette than most listeners are accustomed to in his music. The strings are somewhat darker, the brass a bit more veiled. Whether because of instrumentation, recording engineering, or conducting choices, though, I find that the strings have a tendency to overbalance the other instruments in tutti sections, occasionally making melodic material difficult to discern. This is my primary criticism of this disc. Bruckner at his most forceful can and should be overwhelming, but the counterpoint should always be clear; his tuttis mark the apotheoses of thematic material. In this recording, these passages tend to be rather murky and undifferentiated.

This criticism aside, Philipp von Steinaecker demonstrates a keen understanding of Bruckner’s aesthetic. The dotted rhythms of the first movement’s main theme are crisp and energetic, as are the horn’s responses. Von Steinaecker lingers appropriately on Bruckner’s extended passages of dominant harmony, building harmonic tension through strategic ritards in preparation for majestic statements in the brass. Even within string passages, though, figuration occasionally overshadows melody, as in the contrapuntal development of the first theme in the violins against sextuplet scales in the lower strings or the recapitulation of the second theme in the basses against eighth-note figuration in the upper strings. The modulatory passages that follow, however, are forceful and stern, and the rush to the final bars is quite exciting, though I would have liked the thematic material in the winds to be clearer.

Von Steinaecker’s is one of the more expansive readings of the symphony’s second movement, over a minute longer than Jochum’s. I find the expansiveness effective; the chromatic introduction becomes nebulous enough to make the eventual arrival of stable tonality a genuine relief. In the soaring passages that follow, though, minimal differentiation is made between melody and accompaniment. Von Steinaecker is sensitive to the ebb and flow of harmonic tension, but the melodic contours are lost throughout much of the movement.

The third movement is perhaps the most successful, with strong, almost violent accents and sharp contrasts in dynamics. At nearly a minute shorter than Jochum’s performance and 90 seconds briefer than Barenboim’s, it is among the more energetic recordings of this movement. I only wish that the brass dissonances toward the end received more weight. And the trio has the same problems with balance as the previous two movements: the motivic fourths in the horn are quite difficult to hear.

The fourth movement has almost no balance issues, although Bruckner’s orchestration is not particularly different in this movement than in the others. The opening pages are powerful and imposing, though I would have liked von Steinaecker to take an even greater ritard over the extended dominant harmonies that precede the second statement of the first theme. The second theme, stated in the violins with offbeat accents in the basses, is appropriately rustic. Likewise, von Steinaecker builds tension admirably before Bruckner’s characteristic pauses. The development maintains a consistent sense of direction. Von Steinaecker is particularly effective in his treatment of Bruckner’s obsessively-repeated scale fragments in the strings, which he leads gradually from background to foreground against the melodic material in the horns. The ending is triumphant and grand, though a broader ritard before the final cadence would have made it more so.

Because of the balance issues mentioned above, I cannot give this recording a wholehearted recommendation, but von Steinaecker’s conception of the piece is intelligent and appealing. The sound is generally crisp and live, with very slight tape hiss apparent at the beginnings and ends of tracks.

FANFARE: Myron Silberstein

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Bruckner: Symphonie No. 1
Fra Bernardo Jan 2014
CD
$20.99

BORIS TCHAIKOVSKY: CHAMBER SYMPHONY 4 PRELUDES
NORTHERN FLOWERS Sep 2016
CD
$16.36

Schmidt: Complete Symphonies / Sinaisky, Malmö Symphony

Naxos

$30.99 ~~$42.99~~ Save 25% Oct 25, 2024

Vassily Sinaisky's widely acclaimed cycle of Schmidt symphonies with the Malmo Symphony Orchestra is now available as a 4-CD box set. Also included are the popular orchestral excerpts from the opera Notre Dame, Variations on a Hussar's Song, the Fuga Solemnis for organ, brass and percussion, as well as the monumental Chaconne. From 8.570828, 8.570589, 8.572118, 8.572119

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Schmidt: Complete Symphonies / Sinaisky, Malmö Symphony
Naxos Oct 2024
CD
~~$42.99~~ $30.99

SYMPHONY NO. 8 IN C MINOR, OP.
Artek Sep 2008
CD
$18.99

BRAHMS, J.: Violin Concerto / TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I.: Symphony No
Profil Jan 2008
CD
$18.99

Bruckner: 11 Symphonies / Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic

Sony Masterworks

$79.98 Oct 13, 2023

Sony Classical releases the full cycle of Bruckner’s symphonies recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann on 11 CDs. The box set, featuring the composer’s nine numbered symphonies, his ‘Study Symphony’, his ‘Nullified’ symphony, and a 172-page booklet. This release constitutes the first complete recording of the Austrian composer’s symphonies from the orchestra under a single conductor. Christian Thielemann enjoys a strong rapport with the Vienna Philharmonic and has established himself as one of his generation’s most esteemed interpreters of the Romantic Austro-German repertoire.

Past praise for previously released CDs included in this set:

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 / Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic

This new Bruckner Fourth deserves a strong recommendation. It is a reading of undeniable power and presence.

-- Fanfare

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 / Thielemann, Vienna Ohilharmonic

Overall, there’s an aliveness to the music, inspired by the concert setting, which adds another reason this Bruckner Eighth is so satisfying. If you want to hear Thielemann at his best, conducting a stupendous orchestra, that’s precisely what we have here.

-- Fanfare

Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 . Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic

Thielemann's interpretation has intimacies hard to find in other versions, and a vulnerability movingly communicated in the Vienna Philharmonic’s super-empathetic playing.

-- BBC Magazine

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Bruckner: 11 Symphonies / Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic
Sony Masterworks Oct 2023
CD
$79.98

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Mozart, W.A.: Symphonies (Essential), Vol. 4 - Nos. 22, 33,
SWR Mar 2008
CD
~~$20.99~~ $10.49

WEINBERG CHAMBER SYMPHONIES 1 & 4

ALTO

$11.01 Jan 27, 2023

The Chamber symphonies come from the last decade of his life, the First for string orchestra, from the same year as the 18th symphony... it is pastoral in character, closer in feeling to a divertimento or sinfonietta... The Fourth... unremitting as late Shostakovich, and strongly valedictory in feeling. A haunting piece, music of real substance. (Penguin Guide 3 stars)

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WEINBERG CHAMBER SYMPHONIES 1 & 4
ALTO Jan 2023
CD
$11.01

Nystroem: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 6 / Andersson, Malmö Symphony

BIS

$21.99 Oct 01, 2004

This is BIS's third installment of orchestral music by Gösta Nystroem, and I have to confess that it got lost in the shuffle when it first arrived for review. That was my mistake. Nystroem was a splendid composer, and the previous two releases both were excellent, as is this one. These two symphonies have much in common musically, including Nystroem's habit of beginning a movement in silence, with a slowly building threnody scored principally for high strings, followed by quicker episodes. If this sounds formulaic, it's not. First of all, Nystroem was extremely good at this sort of thing, and second, the two works are quite different in terms of structure. The Fourth Symphony has three movements and is based on incidental music to Shakespeare's The Tempest, while the Sixth and last symphony follows an original two-movement plan, each of its parts containing highly contrasting material in varying tempos.

Nystroem's orchestration also is very colorful and effective. His evocative use of high strings to open many of his individual movements should not blind us to the fact that he was very much a composer for the whole orchestra. This means full sonorities, plentiful use of winds, brass, and percussion, and beautifully judged, fluid textures. Although there are plenty of good tunes, Nystroem was not a melodist in the conventional sense. But his basic sonorities always fall gratefully on the ear, and his driving rhythms in quicker music produce a great deal of physical excitement. In short, this is really good, solid, characterful symphonic writing, and the performances give the full measure of each work. The only possible missing ingredient might be a bit more assertiveness from the brass at the big climaxes, but I can't imagine anyone being dissatisfied with either the interpretations or the vivid sound.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This premiere release of the two remaining unrecorded symphonies of the half-dozen by the singular Swede Gösta Nyström (1890–1966) represents for this writer the fulfillment of a long-cherished wish list.

Together with Hilding Rosenberg (1892–1985) and Allan Pettersson (1911–1980), Nystroem stands at the pinnacle of Swedish music during the 20th century. His sui generis expressionistic voice (which sounds like no other) seems to embody the brooding but aloof Swedish soul in sound. Spiritually speaking, his only significant parallel, perhaps because of his dozen years of study and experience in Paris, could be that of the Swiss Arthur Honegger. Although Nystroem was an occasional painter—as well as a music critic—and thus quite concerned with questions of orchestral color, there is nothing especially pictorial about his music.

His intensely direct and dramatic idiom—a very personal blend of post-Impressionism and post-Romantic elements—gave rise to some of the most emotionally raw and vulnerable-sounding music of the modern period. Beginning in 1931 with the Sinfonia breve, which was followed shortly by the Sinfonia espressiva for string orchestra, in the late 1940s Nystroem wrote the sublime Sinfonia del mare (“Sea Symphony”), probably his masterpiece in the form; then in 1952 this Fourth Symphony, subtitled “Sinfonia Shakespeariana” followed by the Sinfonia seria in 1963, and finally by the posthumously premiered sixth and last, “Sinfonia tramontana” in 1966. (There is also an unnumbered Sinfonia concertante for cello and orchestra from the 1940s.) All six vary in length from 20 to 30 minutes.

Even though he utilizes a very distinctive blend of modal-diatonic and intermittently very chromatized dissonance—in fact, some of his themes are close to atonal but still lyrically graspable—Nyström’s language is never convoluted or forbidding. He always addresses the listener very forthrightly on a level of almost painfully naked subjectivity. The guiding principal of his work is one of extreme contrast or energetic conflict: in just a single measure or two, he can veer from a threatening tone of violent relentlessness to a piercingly short-lived moment of tenderness, but his basic background is one of unrelieved lugubriousness. He often writes in large instrumental blocks, pitting strings as a group against winds or brasses, with the timpani always closely on call. Formally, the symphonies vary from the single-movement Sinfonia breve to the five interrelated sections of the Sinfonia del mare, but the thematic materials are often derived from a single generating motivic source.

The Fourth Symphony, though subtitled “Shakespeariana,” does not quote from any of the rather functional though appealing incidental scores he wrote for The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice. The Shakespeare reference is probably meant to evoke a sense of tragic humanity that pervades the three movements. As in most of the symphonies, the outer Allegro movement begins as a barely audible Lento before bursting out into full force; at the center, it suddenly drops into an unexpected, secluded oasis of sad serenity before plunging back into its initial turbulence. By the same token, the midpoints of many of his slow movements erupt into quick passages of savage agitation, even though the same or similar themes are present in both modalities.

The Sixth or “Tramontana” Symphony (the subtitle carries an implication of a visionary statement coming from beyond the range of everyday life) is a kind of transcendental diptych, with two panels of almost equal length following the same characteristic expressive arc of Lento–Allegro–Lento (or Andante). In the symphony’s concluding measures, Nystroem attempts a grand resolution, but to these ears the sorrowful reverberations win out.

B. Tommy Andersson offers splendidly charged and maintained readings of these almost schizoid works; he is always careful not to let Nyström’s multiple lines and towering climaxes get out of hand. Typically, the dynamic spectrum of BIS’s engineering is so unusually wide that only the best reproduction equipment will be able to do justice to its shattering power. In short, a major addition to the 20th century Scandinavian symphonic discography.

Paul A. Snook, FANFARE

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Nystroem: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 6 / Andersson, Malmö Symphony
BIS Oct 2004
CD
$21.99

40th Anniversary: Symphonic Highlights

Capriccio

$35.99 ~~$47.99~~ Save 25% May 06, 2022

When Capriccio started out in 1982, still producing LPs and tapes, it was the first digital Beethoven Symphony cycle with the Dresden Philharmonic and Herbert Kegel that first turned heads. Several other key projects were pivotal to the label quickly establishing a reputation as a source of quality music and performances. Foremost among them, never out of the catalogue and still loved today, are the recordings with Sandor Végh. Then, in the mid-nineties those of Sir Neville Marriner’s, who, after long being synonymous with the Philips label, recorded widely for Capriccio, both with his Academy Of St Martin in the Fields and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. Contemporaries of Mozart’s that have emerged on Capriccio include Joseph Martin Kraus, François-Joseph Gossec, and Jan Ladislav Dussek. They are performed by early music and classical period Capriccio-favorites such as Concerto Köln or the CPE Bach Chamber Orchestra. This box set features the label’s most important ensembles, orchestras, and conductors, from the classical period to the 20th century, when, in 2005, Capriccio released the first complete Shostakovich Cycle with the Gürzenich Orchestra and Dmitrji Kitajenko.

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40th Anniversary: Symphonic Highlights
Capriccio May 2022
CD
~~$47.99~~ $35.99

Weinberg: Symphony No 12 "In Memoriam D. Shostakovich" / Lande

Naxos

$19.99 Jan 28, 2014

WEINBERG Symphony No. 12. The Golden Key: Ballet Suite No. 4 • Vladimir Lande, cond; St. Petersburg St SO • NAXOS 8.573085 (75: 40)

I have been at least mildly enthusiastic about Lande’s previous Weinberg discs for Naxos (Symphony No. 6 on 8.572779 and Symphony No. 19 on 8.572752) and this one is as good, if not better. This is not the first recording of Weinberg’s Symphony No. 12—Maxim Shostakovich had that privilege—but it appears to be the only one available on CD, and the coupling, which is very different in tone, and a nice complement to the symphony, is as enjoyable as it is generous.

Weinberg’s Symphony No. 12 “In Memoriam D. Shostakovich” was composed in 1976, a year after Shostakovich’s death. Many of Weinberg’s works are stylistically similar to Shostakovich’s. This is not surprising, as Shostakovich was a friend and mentor to Weinberg, almost from the time that the latter arrived in the Soviet Union after fleeing his native Poland. This symphony is particularly Shostakovich-like. Although it is “in memoriam,” it is not funereal in tone. In fact, like many of Shostakovich’s works, it displays an emotional ambiguity that encourages a number of interpretations from performers and from listeners alike. Shostakovich’s “Leningrad” Symphony appears to have been an especially strong source of inspiration, but the work’s structure—for example, the epic first movement—is more reminiscent of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. The D-S-C-H (D-E?-C-B) monogram even makes several subtle appearances. The symphony’s themes are distinctive, and Weinberg is a surefooted musical architect. Another similarity with Shostakovich is his ear for unusual scoring, and his always interesting and sometimes grotesque use of wind instruments at the extremes of their register. No one hearing this symphony for the first time will miss its connections with Shostakovich. Weinberg is not an imitator, however, any more than Telemann imitated Bach.

The Golden Key is a ballet from 1955 based on a story by Aleksey Tolstoy. The lead character, Burattino, is a puppet, and the eponymous golden key allows its bearer to enter the country of Happiness. In addition to puppets, there are various animal characters as well. On one level, this is an innocent ballet—even a children’s ballet—but its themes of rebellion and idealism also suggest a deeper and even socio-political interpretation. Shostakovich’s ballet scores have their moments of excellence as well as moments of more workmanlike writing. The Golden Key , from what I have heard of it, is at least on their level. The first three suites were recorded by Mark Ermler with the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra—Olympia OCD 473, if you can find it. That disc also included excerpts from the Fourth Suite. In other words, all four suites have been recorded. Taken together, they add up to about 85 minutes of music, so I am wondering if all of the ballet’s music was used in one of the four suites.

As on the previous CDs, Lande and the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra are very satisfactory. Certainly one can imagine more assertive conducting and a richer sounding orchestra, but I don’t think anyone will be unhappy with these performances. In fact, I would say that this is an improvement from the earlier recordings, particularly that of the Symphony No. 6, but that’s one Weinberg symphony in which there was more competition. If you’re interested in Shostakovich, or in music from the Soviet Union in general, there is absolutely no reason not to give this fine new CD a try.

FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle

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Weinberg: Symphony No 12 "In Memoriam D. Shostakovich" / Lande
Naxos Jan 2014
CD
$19.99

Martinu: Symphonies Nos 2 & 4 / Fagen, Nso Of Ukraine
Naxos Feb 2001
CD
$19.99

Brandl: Symphonie Concertante, Op. 20 & Symphony in C Major / Griffiths, Deutsche Philharmonic

CPO

$18.99 Jun 05, 2020

When Johann Evangelist Brandl wrote his Symphonie concertante op. 20, he had more time to concentrate on composing free of court occasions and to exploit in full his own capabilities rather than focusing on the planning and performing of concerts. Therefore his Symphonie concertante, like the one by Mozart, can be viewed as a sort of visiting card, and with it Brandl wanted to put out his feelers in quest of new appointments. Like Mozart, in his work with two solo instruments Brandl has the dimensions of the first movement noticeably expand in view of the solo concerto and in this way gives both soloists space and time to present all the themes and motifs in succession as well as to elaborate them with great virtuosity. What our two soloists, the Castro-Balbi brothers, display in breathtaking virtuosity is simply sensational. Brandl had composed his four-movement Symphony in D major with a dazzling finale as a “Grande Simphonie à grand Orchestre” some ten years earlier. Already then Brandl anticipated a lot of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony op. 60, which first was completed in 1806. Something of the quest for new sound worlds that the Rhinelander Beethoven envisioned is also in evidence in Brandl, who was ten years his senior. Today musicologists are discovering in Brandl an artist whose musical language above all toward the end of his creative career surmounted the style of Classicism and instead favored a sharpened chromaticism and already exhibited Early Romantic characteristics.

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Brandl: Symphonie Concertante, Op. 20 & Symphony in C Major / Griffiths, Deutsche Philharmonic
CPO Jun 2020
CD
$18.99

Symph. Kv 73 & 132, Klavierkon
Orfeo Jul 1992
CD
$16.99

Bruckner: The Mature Symphonies - Symphonies Nos. 4,5,6,7,8,9 / Barenboim

Accentus Music

DVD

$112.99 Oct 30, 2015

Also available on Blu-ray

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Anton Bruckner expanded the concept of the symphonic form in ways that have never been witnessed before or since. Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin follow the harmonic development of Bruckner’s Symphonies Nos. 4-9, revealing the breathtaking musical panorama of these exceptional masterpieces. According to Der Tagesspiegel, this unforgettable Bruckner cycle sets new standards and guarantees the Staatskapelle Berlin and their principal conductor “a place in the Bruckner pantheon.”

Anton Bruckner
THE MATURE SYMPHONIES
(6-DVD Box Set)

Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major, WAB 104, “Romantic” (1881 version, ed. R. Haas)
Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, WAB 105 (1878 version, ed. L. Nowak)
Symphony No. 6 in A Major, WAB 106 (ed. L. Nowak)
Symphony No. 7 in E Major, WAB 107 (1885 version, ed. L. Nowak)
Symphony No. 8 in C Minor, WAB 108 (ed. R. Haas from 1887 and 1890 versions)
Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, WAB 109

Berlin Staatskapelle
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Recorded live at the Berlin Philharmonie, 20–27 June 2010

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 7 hrs 8 mins
No. of DVDs: 6 (DVD 9)

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Bruckner: The Mature Symphonies - Symphonies Nos. 4,5,6,7,8,9 / Barenboim
Accentus Music Oct 2015
DVD
$112.99

Beethoven: Symphony No 3, Quartet Op. 135 / Mozart Piano Quartet
MDG May 2007
CD
$23.99

Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2, Op. 26 / Woods, English Symphony Orchestra

Nimbus

$12.99 ~~$16.99~~ Save 25% Jul 06, 2018

Kenneth Woods writes of this release: “The idea for this orchestration of the Brahms Piano Quartet in A Major came to me spontaneously in a flash of inspiration while I was coaching chamber music at the Ischia Chamber Music Festival in 2008. … I listened to a group play through the first movement of the piece in its original form. As I began to work with them, I found myself speaking to the pianist, as I often do, in orchestral terms. “Can you try playing the opening phrase more like…. a quartet of hunting horns?” I asked…After the coaching I had a bit of free time, and found myself listening to an imaginary orchestral version of the entire first movement emerging from that horn quartet. I was fascinated by the ways in which I thought an orchestral realization could bring to the fore some the nature imagery and vernacular music that is present in the original. By the end of that morning, I’d decided to try to undertake a realization of the orchestration. It took several years from that morning on Ishcia to complete this orchestration. After my initial work on it in 2008, the piece was set to one side while I attended to other projects with firmer deadlines. The final version was premiered on 21 November, 2017 with the English Symphony Orchestra in Cheltenham Town Hall. The scores of Brahms’ Four Symphonies are like a sacred text for me. They are among the most studied, most loved, most performed works in my library. In trying to understand his use of the orchestra well enough to translate this Piano Quartet into a symphonic sound world, I’ve found my admiration for Brahms’ achievement continuing to grow.”

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Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2, Op. 26 / Woods, English Symphony Orchestra
Nimbus Jul 2018
CD
~~$16.99~~ $12.99

Gliere: Symphony No. 3 "Ilya Murometz" / Feltz, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra

Dreyer Gaido

$20.99 Jan 18, 2019

The premiere of the monumental Third Symphony Op.42 Ilya Murometz on 23rd March 1912 was a huge cultural and political event in Russia. A program symphony, the music depicts the life of Kievan Rus’ folk hero Ilya Muromets. The piece was dedicated to Alexander Glazunov, and won Reinhold Gliere his third Glinka Award. The work lasts between 70 and 80 minutes, and is divided into four sections, each of which depicts an episode from the epic. Gliere wrote a narrative in both Russian and French to accompany the score. On this recording Gabriel Feltz presents the remarkable work together with the orchestra Beogradska filharmonija and makes it clear that we should keep a closer eye on the works of this extremely interesting Russian late romantic.

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Gliere: Symphony No. 3 "Ilya Murometz" / Feltz, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra
Dreyer Gaido Jan 2019
CD
$20.99

Kernis: Color Wheel & Symphony No. 4 / Guerrero, Nashville Symphony

Naxos

$9.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 50% Jun 12, 2020

Note: World Premiere Recordings.

Pulitzer Prize recipient and GRAMMY award-winner Aaron Jay Kernis is one of America’s most performed composers. Both works on this album exemplify his creative approach to orchestral composition, sharing elements in common, such as virtuoso percussion writing and the use of variation form. Color Wheel is an exuberant miniature concerto for orchestra with a wide array of contrasts, while Symphony No. 4 ‘Chromelodeon’ explores the coexistence of opposing musical forces to powerful, pensive, and touching effect. Champions of new American music, the Nashville Symphony and its music director Giancarlo Guerrero had premiered numerous works, and received 13 GRAMMY Awards including two for Best Orchestral Performance. Among their award-winning recordings include works by Michael Daugherty, Stephen Paulus, and Jennifer Higdon.

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REVIEW:

Passing through many moods, Color Wheel often employs orchestral virtuosity that explores every department in depth, the strings providing the bed-rock around which the wheel revolves. It is a sizeable score of some twenty-two minutes, that gives a showpiece for the fine Nashville Symphony and their conductor, Giancarlo Guerrero, the final passage a climax of monumental proportions. The recordings come from 2016 and 2019 but match one another perfectly, the extent of detail in the densely scored passages of Color Wheel is an achievement for the sound team. Those collecting the ‘American Classics’ series will be delighted.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

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Kernis: Color Wheel & Symphony No. 4 / Guerrero, Nashville Symphony
Naxos Jun 2020
CD
~~$19.99~~ $9.99

AN ALPINE SYMPHONY / DANCE OF THE SEVEN VEILS

LPO

$17.99 Jun 01, 2018

This release marks the 29th on the LPO label conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, and is the first Jurowski-conducted Richard Strauss release to date. Vladimir Jurowski has a strong affinity with Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow), and chose to conduct a selection of orchestral highlights from the opera rather than the composer's own published Fantasie. He went on to conduct the complete opera at the Metropolitan Opera in 2013. "If the evening can boast a hero, the honor must go to Vladimir Jurowski, who conducts with abiding passion, sensitivity and propulsion." (The Financial Times) The performances of the three works on this release were also critically well received, with the soloists within the Orchestra noted for their 'poise' and 'exquisite handling' of Die Frau ohne Schatten and Jurowski's 'perfect blending of rich textures' in Eine Alpensinfonie. The Dance of the Seven Veils was performed as part of the opening concert of the London Philharmonic Orchestra's critically acclaimed The Rest is Noise festival of music which shaped the twentieth century. "Jurowski and the LPO set the scene with an outstandingly delicate performance of the Dance of the Seven Veils." (The Financial Times)

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AN ALPINE SYMPHONY / DANCE OF THE SEVEN VEILS
LPO Jun 2018
CD
$17.99