Berlin Finale

One hundred and eleven musicians celebrating a large-scale symphony that sounds like Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, or Arnold Schoenberg. In fact, the composer of this symphony, Alfred Schnittke, had precisely these composers (and many others) in mind back in 1981. Whereas he initially mirrored certain styles from figures as Mahler, Mozart, Bach, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, he was soon also borrowing concepts from trivial music, folklore, jazz, tango, as well as many other styles. He himself described his compositional technique, but an aesthetic programme: a serious effort to break through the vicious circle of the self-satisfied and self-sufficient avant-garde music.

EMI Classics releases an exciting new recording of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances and The Bells. These two Rachmaninov masterpieces, performed by one of the world’s most renowned orchestras under their celebrated principal conductor Sir Simon Rattle. This is a rare chance to hear Sir Simon’s interpretations of these great works. Towards the end of his life, the composer himself said of The Bells “I worked on this composition with feverish ardour; and it remains of all my works the one I love the most”. Of the Symphonic Dances, written shortly before his death, he said “I don’t know how it happened, it must have been my last spark”.

The award-winning Academy for Old Music Berlin celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2022 with "Paul Wranitzky: Symphonies". The Süddeutsche Zeitung praises it as "one of the very great ensembles of its kind". Since its founding in 1982, the ensemble has been one of the world's leading chamber orchestras for historical music and proves its versatility again and again with exciting concert projects and musical exploration.

Karl Weigl’s music demonstrates once again that the great Austrian/German symphonic tradition did not die with Mahler, but continued to thrive well into the 20th century. Weigl (1881-1949) worked under Mahler in Vienna and enjoyed a fine reputation until, as we’ve heard often by now, the Nazi seizure of power, which forced his emigration to America where he died in comparative obscurity. He nevertheless composed a substantial body of orchestral and chamber music, including six symphonies. If this one is typical, it’s a legacy that urgently calls out for wider exposure. Composed in 1945 and dedicated to the memory of President Roosevelt, the “Apocalyptic Symphony” received its premiere in 1968 under Stokowski.

When Mozart took up the popular genre of the serenade, it was to transcend it and lend it new lustre. A festive masterpiece of simplicity and emotion, his Gran Partita quickly became a genuine ‘hit’! Thanks to the distinctive, spellbinding timbres of their period instruments, the members of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin give a unique flavour to these two extraordinary serenades, over which there blows – as it were – a tremendous wind of freedom.