Zina Schiff, Royal Scottish National Orchestra & Avlana Eisenberg – Still: Orchestral Works (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:15 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
William Grant Still, the “Dean of Afro-American Composers,” was part of the Harlem Renaissance and wrote nearly 200 works including nine operas and five symphonies. Still’s many awards included three Guggenheim Fellowships and eight honorary doctorates. His work combines Classical forms with jazz and blues idioms and was inspired by the rich tradition of African American spirituals. Still hoped that his music would serve a larger purpose of interracial understanding, and this joyous, moving and hauntingly beautiful program – featuring all world premiere recordings – is infused with Still’s love of God, country, heritage, and even his mischievous dog Shep.
Read moreRoyal Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Järvi – A Festival of Fučík (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:19:51 minutes | 1,44 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chandos
Thirty years after having recorded Dvořák’s complete Symphonies on Chandos, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and its laureate conductor Neeme Järvi tackle another romantic Czech composer: Julius Fučík, famous for his more than 400 polkas, marches, and waltzes, some of the best of which are featured here.
Fučík studied violin in his early years, switching later to the bassoon, with a subsidiary in percussion and timpani. Playing in Austrian regiments, he gained invaluable experience of writing for military band and became a very prolific composer of marches. The most famous of these is of course Entry of the Gladiators, completed in 1899 and performed throughout the world ever since.
Full of energetic, effervescent Bohemian crossrhythms, tuneful brass melodies (often now associated with a circus atmosphere), but also more lyrical expressions, this album is a festival in itself.
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