Full Orchestral Score

Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra present Vol. 2 in their series of the Symphonies of Atterberg. It is part of a larger recording project focussed on Scandinavian music, which has already seen Neeme Järvi give highly regarded performances of works by the Norwegian composers Halvorsen and Svendsen with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. During his lifetime, Kurt Atterberg was the most renowned Swedish composer both at home and abroad, as well as a successful conductor, critic, and administrator. He was a composer of clearly structured and brightly melodic music, whose large orchestral output includes nine symphonies, of which the Third and Sixth have already been released.

Paris certainly held great attraction for German composers of the late 18th century. One of them was Henri-Joseph Rigel, born as Riegel in Wertheim in Germany. Rigel was already active as a composer of orchestral music while still in Germany, where he studied with Niccolò Jommelli in Stuttgart. It is not exactly known when he went to Paris, but in 1768 he established his own residence in the French capital. In that same year he married, and in 1769 and 1772 his two sons were born.

Composer: Béla Bartók
Conductor: Iván Fischer
Orchestra/Ensemble: Budapest Festival Orchestra, Slovak Folk Ensemble Chorus, Hungarian Radio Chorus

London Symphony Orchestra - Bartók Bluebeard's Castle - Valery Gergiev (2018) {B&W Society of Sound LSO97 16-44.1}
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© 2018 LSO / B&W Society of Sound | LSO97
Classical / Early 20th Century

Bartók’s only opera is an intense drama, involving only two characters and underpinned by a rich orchestral score. Bluebeard’s young bride persuades him to open seven doors in his castle to let the light in. Behind each she finds increasingly disturbing sights, until the final door opens to reveal the castle’s secret and her fate.

The Swedish composer Ingvar Lidholm has a very strong CV, taking in periods of study in France, Switzerland and Italy, courses in Darmstadt, professor of composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and membership of the ISCM Presidium. He does not seem to have been a prolific composer and this CD is the first of a proposed series by BIS featuring Lidholm's orchestral works. He is evidently fond of single movements works and all the pieces on this record are in this form. The pieces span 35 years of Lidholm's working life and form a good introduction to his music.

A few years back Gonzo released the original soundtrack for Tony Palmer's "The Space Movie" 1979 documentary by Mike Oldfield. It consisted of consists of the un-edited sountrack (movie commentaries and all) which includes pieces from Oldfield's released "Tubular Bells", "Hergest Ridge", "Ommadawn" and "Portsmouth" and also excerpts from what was Oldfield's then-new album, "Incantations". The film also made use of the orchestral arrangements of Oldfield's first two albums, "The Orchestral Tubular Bells" and notably "The Orchestral Hergest Ridge" (with the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra), which has never been released before. And now… The demos.

Sir Andrew Davis is among the most distinguished interpreters of British music today and here turns to the works of Sir Arnold Bax. With the inclusion of the Phantasy for Viola and Orchestra, this album marks the completion of Chandos’s long project to record Bax’s complete orchestral music over time.