Andrew Wan / Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal / Kent Nagano GINASTERA - BERNSTEIN - MOUSSA Works for Violin and Orchestra

WORKS FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA

 

Till Fellner / Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal / Kent Nagano LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5

Austrian pianist Till Fellner whose two Bach albums on ECM have won him unanimous international acclaim teams up with conductor Kent Nagano and his Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal for a sensitive and meticulous interpretation of Beethoven’s much-loved piano concertos Nos. 4 and 5. In a review to be published in the March issue of ‘Fanfare’ Jerry Dubins speaks of a “stunning achievement” and points out that “the recording has a fullness, depth, and solidity to it that are equal to the very best modern technology has to offer.” Fellner and Nagano, musical collaborators for more than a decade, share a delicate and sensitive approach to Beethoven’s middle period that, by eschewing all demonstrativeness, focusses on natural tempi, transparent sound and maximum clarity of articulation. While Fellner continues his much-lauded cycle of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas on major concert platforms in the US, Europe and Japan, Nagano and his Montreal orchestra have received much attention with their Beethoven project “Ideals of the French Revolution”. Fellner can also be heard in Thomas Larcher’s “Böse Zellen”, to be released in late March.

Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal / Kent Nagano LEONARD BERNSTEIN A Quiet Place

Decca Classics and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal are proud to present the world premiere recording of the chamber version of Leonard Bernstein’s ‘A Quiet Place’, adapted by Garth Edwin Sunderland. It is conducted by Kent Nagano and will be released on 22^nd June, ahead of the Bernstein centenary on 25^th August 2018.
Premiered in 1983, Bernstein’s opera ‘A Quiet Place’ was the composer’s last work written for the stage and remains one of his lesser known large-scale compositions. The concert-version presented on the new album features a chamber orchestra and was recorded live at the Maison symphonique de Montréal in May 2017. Garth Edwin Sunderland’s adaptation offers a compact presentation of the three-act opera which places equal focus on librettist Stephen Wadsworth’s dramatic narrative and Bernstein’s complex and highly developed late musical style.
Kent Nagano was introduced to Bernstein by Seiji Ozawa in 1984 and studied with him until his death in 1990. Nagano says, “For Bernstein music was life – the two were synonymous, inseparable. He never stopped exploring and pushing his own compositional language. The goal in this particular adaptation is to allow the spirited brilliance and poetic depth of the work to shine through – including dance rhythms and elements of American folklore. Our hope is that the timeless and universal quality of the piece and the genius of the composition are laid bare in this new recording.”
Joining Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal on this new album is an outstanding group of young singers featuring soprano Claudia Boyle as Dede and tenor Joseph Kaiser as François. The cast also includes: baritones Gordon Bintner, Lucas Meachem and Daniel Belcher; tenors Rupert Charlesworth and John Tessier; mezzo-sopranos Annie Rosen and Maija Skille; and bass Steven Humes; as well as the OSM Chorus led by chorus master Andrew Megill.
‘A Quiet Place’ is an audacious musical-dramatic exploration of the changing face of American society. As Garth Edwin Sunderland, Senior Music Editor at the Leonard Bernstein Office, said of the composer’s late opera, “It’s such a brilliant work, the culmination of what he accomplished and the culmination of his gifts as a composer. Creating this adaptation was a deeply powerful experience for me, and it is my hope that it will provide audiences with a similar experience of this great American opera.”