Bruno Philippe, Tanguy de Williencourt, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra & Christoph Eschenbach – Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 – Franck, Fauré & Poulenc (Bonus Track Version) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:24:40 minutes | 1,37 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
From the overt Romanticism of Saint-Saëns to the nostalgia-laden modernity of Poulenc, Bruno Philippe takes us on a journey through (almost) a century of French cello music.Alongside Tanguy de Williencourt, he also performs the cello version of Franck’s famous Violin Sonata, one of the absolute peaks of nineteenth century chamber music.
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Laura Mikkola, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi – Tüür: Seventh Symphony; Piano Concerto (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:02:32 minutes | 596 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM New Series
The sixth ECM New Series album by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür presents two major works, commissioned by the Hessische Rundfunk and given their premieres by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Both works are powered by what Tüür calls his “vectorial writing method”, a means of developing pieces from “a source code – a gene which, as it mutates and grows, connects the dots in the fabric of the whole composition”.
Tüür’s Seventh Symphony (2009), dedicated to the Dalai Lama “and his lifelong endeavours”, is a choral symphony like no other. It is a potent work in which the orchestra only intermittently frames and supports the voices. The texts that the NDR Choir sings include words of the Buddha from the Dhammapada but also utterances of more contemporary visionaries, from Gandhi to Mother Theresa.
The earlier Piano Concerto was premiered at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, where this album was recorded. As Paul Griffiths notes, “The concerto is also music on two planes, now orchestra and piano, though this time both are continuous and continually in the process of meeting.” Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola gives an exceptional performance, responding to the surging waves of the orchestra and the inspired direction of Paavo Järvi.
The “vectorial” process, already reflected in works including Oxymoron, Strata and Noesis (all recorded on previous ECM albums), has led to a body of work quite distinct from Tüür’s earlier, discursive ‘metalinguistic’ music in which diverse idioms – from serialism to minimalism – were contrasted, interwoven, reconciled. Tüür’s 21st century music foregoes “unnecessary eclecticism”, and manifests instead an organic coherence. These are pieces of determined, individual temperament.
Lars Vogt, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi – Lars Vogt – W.A. Mozart Piano Concertos No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 & No. 27 in B-Flat Major, K. 595 (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 57:52 minutes | 513 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CAvi-music
Vienna 1785: „Wolfgang Amadeus would compose in his workroom and music seemed to flow from his pen. Soon he would write the opera Le Nozze di Figaro in these same quarters. He had just put the finishing touches on a new piano concerto: festive C Major, luxurious scoring including trumpets and timpani (K467). It was premièred on 12 March 1785 during one of the so-called “academy” concerts. Leopold, the father, was present and could hardly curb his enthusiasm: “The concerto was sensational, the orchestra first-rate”, he wrote to his daughter. He was also impressed by the music’s sheer technical difficulty: “Here, the pianist truly has something to keep his hands moving: one has to concede that this new concerto is surprisingly difficult”. However, this is not a work where Mozart lay particular emphasis on virtuoso aplomb; rather, the C-Major-Concerto draws its energy from “cheerful, open-hearted joy”, as Lars Vogt puts it, “at least in the outer movements. The middle movement, the well-known Andante, seems to contain a vision of paradise – this is an absolutely moving piece of music, provided one manages to create the illusion that it emerges out of nothingness”. Here, once more, we have the ingenious “Mozart Effect”: a beauty plain and simple, without ever descending into vulgarity. … When he was working on the first movement cadenza, his daughter – then four years old – was attempting to conquer the piano keys. A short little melody emerged from her first attempts, “and I incorporated it into my cadenza, concealing it at one point in the left-hand part”.
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Carolin Widmann, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra & Emilio Pomarico – Morton Feldman: Violin And Orchestra (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 50:39 minutes | 443 MB | Genre: Classical, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM New Series
Carolin Widmann’s widely acclaimed ECM recordings have traversed a broad arc of music – from Schubert to Xenakis. Here she turns her attention to one of the pivotal compositions of Morton Feldman. Violin And Orchestra, composed in 1979, marked a new direction, with an almost painterly attention to detail in slowly unfolding music. It is not a concerto in the strict sense of the term, not soloist with orchestral support. The violinist must move inside the glowing colour-field of sound. In this landmark Feldman recording, Widmann does so with great delicacy and feeling, exploring the subtle orchestral texture, crafted together with conductor Emilio Pomarico and the players of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
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Paavo Järvi & Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra – Bruckner: Symphony No 9 (2009)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 65:43 minutes | Scans NOT included | 3,81 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/48 kHz | Front, Scans NOT included | 654 MB
Features Stereo and Multichannel Surround Sound
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra boasts long tradition of Bruckner performances. Recorded live in Alte Oper in Frankfurt and edited from multiple performances, this new recording presents new insight into this neglected masterpiece by Bruckner. This is a magnificently recorded performance of a remarkable piece of music. The SACD surround has a sense of space in the mix that allows the beauty of the composition to unfold before your ears. This is music making of the highest quality.
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Paavo Jarvi & Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra – Bruckner: Symphony No 7 (2008)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 67:28 minutes | Scans NOT included | 3,3 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/48 kHz | Front, Scans NOT included | 648 MB
Features Stereo and Multichannel Surround Sound
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra boasts long tradition of Bruckner performances. Recorded live in Alte Oper in Frankfurt and edited from multiple performances, this new recording presents new insight into this neglected masterpiece by Bruckner. This is a magnificently recorded performance of a remarkable piece of music. The SACD surround has a sense of space in the mix that allows the beauty of the composition to unfold before your ears. This is music making of the highest quality.
Read more