Symphony 2

Alone among Frenchwomen of her era, Louise Farrenc (née Dupont) (1804-1875) achieved real fame as a composer during her lifetime. She was also a brilliant pianist and was the only woman teacher of any instrument at the Paris Conservatoire in the whole of the 19th century. She had come to this rare acclaim as the result of a liberal upbringing amongst a family of noted painters and sculptors living in an enclave of similarly artistic and intellectual families at the Sorbonne. She studied with Reicha from her teens, but her lessons had to be private because women were not allowed to study as regular pupils at the Conservatoire. She wrote three symphonies; Nos. 1 & 3 are contained on an earlier issue from cpo featuring the same artists, the NDR Radiophilharmonie (Hannover) conducted by Johannes Goritzki, also available (and favorably reviewed) here at Amazon. This CD contains the middle symphony and two much earlier overtures, simply called 'No. 1' and 'No. 2.'

Alone among Frenchwomen of her era, Louise Farrenc (née Dupont) (1804-1875) achieved real fame as a composer during her lifetime. She was also a brilliant pianist and was the only woman teacher of any instrument at the Paris Conservatoire in the whole of the 19th century. She had come to this rare acclaim as the result of a liberal upbringing amongst a family of noted painters and sculptors living in an enclave of similarly artistic and intellectual families at the Sorbonne. She studied with Reicha from her teens, but her lessons had to be private because women were not allowed to study as regular pupils at the Conservatoire. She wrote three symphonies; Nos. 1 & 3 are contained on an earlier issue from cpo featuring the same artists, the NDR Radiophilharmonie (Hannover) conducted by Johannes Goritzki, also available (and favorably reviewed) here at Amazon. This CD contains the middle symphony and two much earlier overtures, simply called 'No. 1' and 'No. 2.'

At a time when many of his contemporaries were exploring more fluid structures, Franz Schmidt while perhaps stretching tonal harmony to its limits, continued to embrace 19th-century form and achieved a highly personal synthesis of the diverse traditions of the Austro-German symphony. His language, rather than being wedded to a narrative of dissolution and tragedy is radiant and belligerently optimistic and reveals this scion of largely Hungarian forebears as the last great exponent of the style hongrois after Schubert, Liszt and Brahms.

Saint-Saëns’s Symphony No. 2 is, by any standards, an outright winner and deserves to be much better known. Here, it’s one of two substantial works flanking a rambunctious account of Danse macabre.

One of Rachmaninoff’s most popular pieces, the Second Symphony is an indulgently melancholic and sentimental work: a magic box of the late-Romantic orchestra. Dramatic sections played by the full orchestra contrast heart-breaking swells that only this composer could have written. The LSO has a long history with the Second Symphony, recording it many times with conductors such as André Previn, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Valery Gergiev. For this recording, which was captured during the opening of the London Symphony Orchestra's 2019/20 season at the Barbican Hall, the Orchestra's Music Director Sir Simon Rattle conducted from memory, performing the uncut version of this symphonic treasure.

Bringing his acclaimed Mendelssohn cycle to a rousing conclusion, Sir John Eliot Gardiner presents the composer s symphony-cantata, 'Lobgesang', in his first ever performance of the work. Three world-class soloists join the LSO and his own Monteverdi Choir for this recording for LSO Live. Mendelssohn wrote that the piece 'lies very near my heart', and with its stately grandeur and religiosity, plus its sheer magnitude, twice the length of any of his other symphonies, it stands amongst his most impressive works.

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 1 violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio…

Bringing his acclaimed Mendelssohn cycle to a rousing conclusion, Sir John Eliot Gardiner presents the composer s symphony-cantata, Lobgesang. Mendelssohn wrote that the piece lies very near my heart , and with its stately grandeur and religiosity, plus its sheer magnitude double the length of any of his other symphonies it stands amongst his most impressive works. Posthumously categorised by editors as the composer s second symphony, it is also known as a song of praise and three talented soloists join the LSO and the world-class Monteverdi Choir for this recording. While Gardiner is well-versed in the German s output, this release documents his first performance of the work. In an interview for The Arts Desk, he said: It s a piece I ve been looking at for years, and I ve never conducted it.