Bucharest Symphony Orchestra & John Axelrod – Schumann 41/51 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 55:40 minutes | 552 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Orchid Classics
The Bucharest Symphony and Principal Conductor John Axelrod present a unique recording of both versions of Schumann’s 4th Symphony: the original version, composed and premiered in 1841 and published nearly 50 years later with the help of Johannes Brahms, and the revised 1851 version, completed three years before his untimely death, and defended and protected by his widow, Clara Schumann. The recording brings both side by side to show the different facets of Schumann’s character, as he himself put it: ‘Florestan the wild’ and ‘Eusebius the mild’. Principal Conductor of the Bucharest Symphony since 2022, John Axelrod explains that the focus of this project is to ‘delve deeply into Robert Schumann’s life, his love, and his long struggle with mental health. These two publications, one written during a manic creative year and the other in the depths of his emotional despair, provide for me the most telling representation of this radical romantic. I hope to share this musical discovery with my fellow musicians, our audience and listeners. Ultimately, we may learn something new about this extraordinary man.
Read more![John Axelrod, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi - Brahms Beloved: Symphonies 2 & 4; Clara Schumann Lieder (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/09/10/OwDuPWx.jpg)
John Axelrod, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi – Brahms Beloved: Symphonies 2 & 4; Clara Schumann Lieder (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:53:50 minutes | 1,04 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Telarc/Concord Music
John Axelrod has recorded unique Brahms symphonies + Clara Schumann Lieder cycle, exploring the symphonies as four sides of the woman with whom Brahms was obsessed. In a fascinating new concept, John Axelrod (2012 ICMA Award winner and winner of the ResMusica “Best Classical album of 2012”) is spearheading an exploration of the relationship between Brahms and the woman he loved, Clara Schumann, as depicted in their music. “If you listen to the Brahms symphonies,” says Axelrod, “each of them seems to inhabit a completely different, though connected, character. Then, if you listen to the songs of Clara Schumann, they also fall clearly into a very similar four moods. I believe that Clara’s own personality is in those songs, and so if that is true, it is also possible to think of the four Brahms symphonies as portraits of Clara – four different aspects of her.”
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![John Axelrod, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi - Brahms Beloved: Symphonies 1 & 3; Clara Schumann Lieder (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/09/10/h6MlD26.jpg)
John Axelrod, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi – Brahms Beloved: Symphonies 1 & 3; Clara Schumann Lieder (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:58:40 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Telarc/Concord Music
Once in his later years, Johannes Brahms wrote to the love of his life that all his works should be signed, “really by Clara Schumann.” It was a moving testament from an emotionally guarded old bachelor to the woman who had long been his muse. It was also a recognition that the composer whose work, then as now, has been regarded as the epitome of musical abstraction acknowledged that his music was grounded in his life and feelings. And Clara Schumann was always connected to Brahms’s deepest feelings. This recording is a testament to their lifelong connection.
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![Véronique Gens, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, John Axelrod - Hector Berlioz: Herminie - Nuits d'été / Maurice Ravel: Schéhérazade (2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/09/01/0761195120026_600.jpg)
Véronique Gens, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, John Axelrod – Hector Berlioz: Herminie – Nuits d’été / Maurice Ravel: Schéhérazade (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:05:29 minutes | 568 MB | Genre: Classiсal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Ondine
On this release famous soprano Véronique Gens performs Herminie and Les Nuits d’été by Hector Berlioz and Shéhérazade by Maurice Ravel with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire under the baton of its music director John Axelrod.
Véronique Gens is internationally recognised as one of the greatest sopranos. She has made a big career with baroque repertoire and Mozart, but French repertoire, especially Berlioz and Ravel, are “as natural to her as the air that she breathes”. Her French remains a model of immaculate diction, fluid and luminous.
Having a very special relationship to Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été and Herminie, Véronique Gens combines them on this release with Shéhérazade by Ravel, which conjures up a totally different world. On this CD Herminie is released the first time with Véronique Gens.
The charismatic conductor John Axelrod is music director of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire since 2009, following the philosophy of being “open to the world” by extraordinarily diverse repertoire choices and innovative programming. Also internationally he is a sought after conductor both for concerts and opera productions.
Founded in 1971, the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, a “national” orchestra since 1996, is based in two cities, in Angers and Nantes. Today about 200 concerts attract yearly about 200,000 listeners, among them more than 10,000 subscribers.
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