Images For Orchestra

The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder follow their previous highly acclaimed Debussy albums, with a stunning orchestral collection including a world premiere recording. Album includes the hugely popular Prélude a L’après-midi d’un faune, alongside the orchestral tour de force Images, a work which fully displays the composer’s mastery, and the world premiere recording of Colin Matthew’s orchestration of Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut, from the 2nd Book of Images for piano.

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony release an exhilarating album of young, American composer Mason Bates' large-scale works for orchestra and electronica. Hear the first-ever recordings of his colossal "Liquid Interface" and the SFS-commissioned The B-Sides alongside Bates' supercharged work, "Alternative Energy". One of the most creative and ingenuous synthesists of our time, these works show Bates reimagining the dimensions of symphonic music by integrating jazz, techno, drum-n-bass, field recordings of a FermiLab particle collider, and more.

‘The fantastic thing about art and music is that one can pose questions and conjure up visions at the same time.’ The words are those of the Swedish composer Jesper Nordin, who does exactly that in Emerging from Currents and Waves. A large-scale work for orchestra, clarinet soloist, conductor and live electronics, Emerging… is a collaboration between Nordin, Martin Fröst and Esa-Pekka Salonen. All three are interested in how new technology can – and will – influence art and artistic expression, and in exploring the intersection of mankind, music and technology.

Most classical devotees know that Espana! features legendary Spanish conductor Ataulfo Argenta leading the London Symphony Orchestra in a program of so-called "Spanish" blockbusters. But, ironically, only one piece is penned by a Spanish composer (Granados, "Danza Espanola") while the others are by a Russian (Rimsky Korsakov, "Capriccio Espagnol"), German (Moszkowski, "5 Spanish Dances"), and Frenchman (Chabrier, "España"). The original LP version was initially issued in the United States as one of the index recordings of London Records' vaunted "blueback" series, known for its demonstration-quality sound.

Released in the year of Claude Debussys death centenary, this album demonstrates the exceptional harmonic and coloristic richness of his music. The centerpiece of the album is La Mer (1903-1905), a musical realization of the composers sincere devotion to the sea that revolutionized orchestral composition in the early twentieth-century. Ibéria takes the listener on a trip to Spain, whereas the Six Épigraphes antiques (1914), here performed in the orchestration of Rudolf Escher, evoke ancient Greece and Egypt.

Unfortunately, the diversity of Swiss symphonic music from the late 18th to the early 20th century is hardly known to concertgoers today. Swiss classical and romantic composers still lead a shadowy existence, even in Switzerland. This is precisely where the Swiss Orchestra, founded in 2018, comes in: it aims to bring forgotten Swiss symphonists back onto the concert stage and onto recordings and thus into the consciousness of music lovers.

A meditation on the beauty of nature and the fate of the planet, “This Rock We’re On: Imaginary Letters” is a multi-movement work by the acclaimed composer Mike Holober. Written for jazz orchestra, voice, cello, and percussion, it features art songs set for chamber ensemble that take the form of imaginary letters to or from selected “protagonists” – naturalist authors, artists, and activists who dedicated their lives to appreciating and protecting the earth we inhabit. Each of the vocal works is followed by an instrumental jazz orchestra piece that reflects upon the text of the letter. Recorded and premiered by the GRAMMY® nominated Gotham Jazz Orchestra in June 2023, a double album is scheduled for release on 14th of June 2024.

A meditation on the beauty of nature and the fate of the planet, “This Rock We’re On: Imaginary Letters” is a multi-movement work by the acclaimed composer Mike Holober. Written for jazz orchestra, voice, cello, and percussion, it features art songs set for chamber ensemble that take the form of imaginary letters to or from selected “protagonists” – naturalist authors, artists, and activists who dedicated their lives to appreciating and protecting the earth we inhabit. Each of the vocal works is followed by an instrumental jazz orchestra piece that reflects upon the text of the letter. Recorded and premiered by the GRAMMY® nominated Gotham Jazz Orchestra in June 2023, a double album is scheduled for release on 14th of June 2024.

A meditation on the beauty of nature and the fate of the planet, “This Rock We’re On: Imaginary Letters” is a multi-movement work by the acclaimed composer Mike Holober. Written for jazz orchestra, voice, cello, and percussion, it features art songs set for chamber ensemble that take the form of imaginary letters to or from selected “protagonists” – naturalist authors, artists, and activists who dedicated their lives to appreciating and protecting the earth we inhabit. Each of the vocal works is followed by an instrumental jazz orchestra piece that reflects upon the text of the letter. Recorded and premiered by the GRAMMY® nominated Gotham Jazz Orchestra in June 2023, a double album is scheduled for release on 14th of June 2024.