LUTOSLAWSKI / SZYMANOWSKI / TCHAIKOVSKY (2011)

Rafa? Bartmi?ski (tenor), Andreas Röhn (solo violin), Nimrod Guez (viola) & Chor und Symhonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons

Three works that are very close to his heart were brought together by Mariss Jansons for this new CD release. Karol Szymanowski’s Third Symphony, which, in addition to gigantic orchestral forces, also calls for a chorus and a tenor soloist, depicts a fantastic sound painting of an idealized Near East, including the setting of a 13th century Persian text.

Witold Lutos?awski blends Slavic local color into his 1954 Concerto for Orchestra, has a reference to Béla Bartók in the title, but it is marked by a musical approach all his own, one that reaches all the way into the avant-garde period despite its immediate accessibility.

Alexander Tchaikovsky, born in 1946, may be the namesake of a giant of the Russian romantic era, although they are not related to one another in any way. His Symphony No. 4 is a musical appeal for peace. The work, written in 2005 on commission from Yuri Bashmet comprises sound-painting choral passages and a significant solo part for the viola.

Works personally selected by Mariss Jansons. Extraordinarily richly-coloured, heavily scored orchestral works.

Recordings made in 2008 and 2009.

Lutos?awski:
 Concerto for Orchestra - Live recording: Munich, Philharmonie 8./9.10.2009
 
Szymanowski:
 Symphony No. 3 'The Song of the Night', Op. 27 - Live recording: Munich, Philharmonie 18./19.12.2008
 Rafa? Bartmi?ski (tenor) & Andreas Röhn (solo violin)
 
Tchaikovsky, Alexander:
 Symphony No. 4 for choir, orchestra & solo viola, Op. 78 - Live recording: Munich, Herkulessaal, 14.-16.01.2009
 Nimrod Guez (viola)

"A cultivated orchestra and witty conductor bring fairy lightness to the central Scherzo, yet they also summon up power in the virtuosic finale."
BBC Music Magazine - October 2011 ****