Orchestra

Bach’s music has always attracted arrangers and orchestrators – such as Stokowski, Elgar and Busoni, to name just three. Regardless of its original version, Bach’s music has an expressive power, drama and architectural logic that lend themselves well to expanded orchestral sonorities. Bassoonist and conductor Robin O’Neill buried his head in the Goldberg Variations, which he had discovered through Glenn Gould’s recordings, during the first months of the Covid lockdown. Soon after that, the idea of making an arrangement for orchestra began to obsess him as he began hearing instrumental and orchestral sonorities in the keyboard work. Since the main challenge was to reclothe the music without damaging the subtle intricacy of the piece, and after much thought and experimentation, O’Neill chose instruments that Bach himself would have recognized for the solo parts. His reinterpretation of the Goldberg Variations offers a mixture of full orchestral variations interspersed with concertante ones involving two, three or four solo instruments, at times close to St Matthew Passion-style writing. Completed during a difficult period, this arrangement was made, in the words of O’Neill, in the hope that it expresses the joy and solace that Bach’s music gives both performer and listener.

Frank Bridge couldn't write a tacky note to save his life. It's instructive in this respect to compare this premiere recording of his early tone poem Mid of the Night to Hyperion's recent release of Granville Bantock's almost exactly contemporaneous Thalaba the Destroyer. Where Bantock stitches shameless cribs from Tchaikovsky into a ramshackle and repetitive musical structure, Bridge's thematic material covers large, well-sustained spans and consistently holds the listener's interest. The lovely central melody introduced by English horn against softly murmuring strings has real lyrical beauty, and Bridge times his climaxes with unerring precision. Isabella, dating from 1907 (three years later than Mid of the Night), features some splendidly passionate string writing and an even more tightly integrated structure.

icated to Bramwell Tovey, this album of world premiere recordings by celebrated composer Roderick Elms features soloists Carlos Bonell (guitar), Derek Hannigan (bass clarinet) and Joanna Smith (piano) and Roderick Elms himself, with the BBC Concert Orchestra under the baton of Barry Wordsworth.

This new Beethoven symphony cycle with Malmö Symphony Orchestra is conductor Robert Trevino’s debut release on Ondine. Trevino is one of the fastest rising young conductors and known for his fresh and vivid interpretations of both standard repertoire as well as contemporary works.

Canadian composer Brian Current’s The Seven Heavenly Halls is the result of his being declared winner of the inaugural Azrieli Commission in September 2015. The work premiered on October 19, 2016 at the Maison symphonique by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal with tenor Frederic Antoun as soloist and Kent Nagano conducting.

The 101 Strings Orchestra established a reputation as one of the finest ensembles in the easy listening genre. Yet the group actually never existed as a performing orchestra: it was a recording-only ensemble made up of musicians whose personnel often changed from one recording to the next. Moreover, many early albums released under the name 101 Strings were actually reissues of recordings made by such groups as the Rio Carnival Orchestra, New World Orchestra, and others. Under its now-familiar name, more than 100 recordings were issued by two labels – both of which owned the name, hired the players in the ensemble, and, most importantly, provided for the music arrangements that have been crucial to maintaining the orchestra's familiar sound – a dreamy, silken sound not dissimilar to that of Mantovani.

“The 3D Classical Collection goes one step further: each track completely submerges the listener in the orchestral sound experience. What could be more exciting than to step into the midst of the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road, with the young and talented Ben Gernon on the conductor’s podium? This new dimension in sound reproduction opens up creative perspectives that we look forward to exploring in the coming years”

Born in Shanghai in 1955, Xiaogang Ye is regarded as one of China’s leading contemporary composers. He has written music in a variety of genres, including symphonic and chamber works as well as scores for the stage. Ye has also composed music for films and the two works recorded here are both examples of this. Sichuan Image consists of 29 brief and atmospheric pieces composed to accompany a filmed travelogue of the scenic province in Western China.