Korol Lir King Lear (1971)

Andris Nelsons is the Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and new Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. With both appointments, and in leading a pioneering alliance between these two esteemed institutions, he is firmly underlined as one of the most renowned, exciting and innovative conductors on the international scene today After the “scandalously successful” (Sunday Times) Symphony No. 10 in 2015, “the sheer expressive beauty” (Gramophone Magazine) of Symphonies Nos. 5, 8, 9 from 2016 and the “overbearing vividness” (The Guardian) of the most recent Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11 Nelsons and the BSO continue the acclaimed cycle with the Symphonies Nos. 6 & 7, complemented by two other works by Shostakovich, the Suite from the Incidental Music to “King Lear” op. 58a and the Festive Overture op. 96. The goal is a complete Shostakovich cycle on Deutsche Grammophon with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The TANA Quartet has joined forces with composer Philip Glass for the premiere of his String Quartet No. 9. This new work is based on his earlier score for the Broadway production of King Lear directed by Sam Gold. This recording also features Glass’s String Quartet No. 8, written in 2018. Almost Schubertian in nature, this quartet is marked by layers of sound and contrasting timbres and rhythms. Glass seems to have entered a third period in his wide-ranging career, characterized by a more classical, introspective approach.