Vadim Repin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles – MacMillan: Violin Concerto & Symphony No. 4 (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Vadim Repin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles – MacMillan: Violin Concerto & Symphony No. 4 (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:05:26 minutes | 1,03 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Onyx Classics

Two major works from Sir James Macmillan make their CD debut! The Violin Concerto is performed on this disc by its dedicatee Vadim Repin.

Reviewing the world premiere, David Nice of The Arts Desk lauded, “As soloist Vadim Repin and conductor Valery Gergiev whirled us tumultuously through its hyperactive songs and dances, there was so much I wanted to savour, to hear again. That won’t be a problem. So long as there are violinists of Repin’s calibre able to play it, the work is here to stay.”

The 4th Symphony is dedicated to Donald Runnicles and was written to celebrate his 60th birthday. Sir James MacMillan is one of today’s most successful composers. His musical language is flooded with influences from his Scottish heritage, Catholic faith, social conscience and close connection with Celtic folk music, blended with influences from Far Eastern, Scandinavian and Eastern European music.

The 4th Symphony recording is from the 2015 BBC Proms and was the world premiere performance “Densely, at times exotically scored, it was grandly played. Runnicles conducted it with great affection and dignity”  – Tim Ashley, The Guardian

At least outside Britain, Sir James MacMillan is best known for his sacred pieces. But he has written a good deal of instrumental music as well, some of it large in scope and unafraid of swinging for the fences (if one may be permitted a baseball idiom in this context). The Violin Concerto, written for the performer here, Vadim Repin, bears in addition a dedication to the memory of the composer’s mother, Ellen. The work does not lack ambition, bringing in Scottish folk influences, a grimly Mahlerian Viennese slow movement, and, perhaps inexplicably, voices intoning the words “one, two, three, four” in German in the finale. Maybe it’s a Kraftwerk tribute. The work is certainly not dull, but more coherent is the Symphony No. 4, in a single 37-minute movement that encompasses aspects of music as “rituals of movement, exhortation, petition, and joy.” Although it contains a range of references to Scottish Renaissance composer Robert Carver and a large variety of orchestral sounds, the work succeeds as a single musical argument. The overall effect may bring to mind a Sibelius turned loose in the modern world. Sample the symphony, preferably at high volume on a good set of speakers. The symphony was recorded live at its Royal Albert Hall premiere, and everything is clear and indicative of real excitement. A fine introduction to MacMillan’s instrumental music.

Tracklist:
01. Vadim Repin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles – Violin Concerto: I. Dance (07:11)
02. Vadim Repin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles – Violin Concerto: II. Song (10:30)
03. Vadim Repin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles – Violin Concerto: III. Song and Dance (09:48)
04. Vadim Repin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles – Symphony No. 4 (37:55)

Personnel:
Vadim Repin, violin
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Donald Runnicles, conductor

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