Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Kalmar – Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 53, 64 & 96 (2017)
DSF Stereo DSD64, 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 01:01:51 minutes | 2,44 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: pentatonemusic.com | Booklet, Front Cover | © Pentatone Music B.V.
Whether it’s a confident swagger or a balletic grace, a beguiling folk-melody or a quicksilver rondo, there is always something new to discover in the endlessly inventive symphonies of Haydn, especially in these firm favourites played by the Oregon Symphony under Carlos Kalmar in this new release.
While Haydn wrote only one “Surprise” symphony, there are surprises to be enjoyed aplenty here. From the bewildering Largo in Symphony No. 64 with its unexpected turns and derailments, to the ceremonial elegance and ear-tickling melodies of Symphony No. 53 or the mock-heroics and propulsive rhythms of Symphony No. 96, Haydn’s irrepressible and dazzling ingenuity constantly delights and astonishes. “There is no one who can do it all,” wrote Mozart, “to joke and to terrify, to evoke laughter and profound sentiment – and all equally well, except Joseph Haydn.”
This is Carlos Kalmar’s fourth album for PENTATONE with the Oregon Symphony. Their album Music for a Time of War, earned two Grammy nominations (Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Album, Classical) and was widely praised by music critics.
Gramophone said of their album This England “Kalmar’s Oregon performance certainly pulls no punches … a total success, gripping in mood and hot on specific instrumental detail,” adding, “sound-wise, you couldn’t ask for more; nor could anyone expect finer recording from PENTATONE.” And in 2016, their critically acclaimed album of 20th century American orchestral works The Spirit of the American Range earned a Grammy nomination for Best Orchestral Performance.
Carlos Kalmar, a Uruguayan national, is in his fourteenth season as Music Director of the Oregon Symphony. He is also the artistic director and principal conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. His Carnegie Hall debut in May 2011 with the Oregon Symphony, was noted by New York critic Alex Ross as “one of the most gripping events of the current season”.
Oregon Symphony & Carlos Kalmar – Aspects of America: Pulitzer Edition (Live) (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:11:06 minutes | 1,21 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
Oregon Symphony and Carlos Kalmar continue their acclaimed “Aspects of America” series with this second instalment, featuring three symphonic works that were all awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Walter Piston’s Symphony No. 7 (Pulitzer Prize 1961) is a pastoral and jubilant glorification of nature, while Morton Gould’s Stringmusic (Pulitzer Prize 1995) was composed for star cellist Rostropovich, and showcases all possible sounds and colors of the string orchestra. In his Symphony No. 4 “Requiem” (Pulitzer Prize 1944), Howard Hanson explores the mysteries of life and death in an American musical idiom that simultaneously reveals the composer’s Nordic roots.
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Oregon Oregon Symphony & Carlos Kalmar, Carlos Kalmar – Aspects of America (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:15:24 minutes | 1,21 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
Aspects of America presents a fascinating collection of 20th- and 21st-century American orchestral music, ranging from good old Samuel Barbers Souvenirs to pieces by esteemed living composers such as Sean Shepherd (Magiya), Sebastian Currier (Microsymph) and Christopher Rouse (Supplica). The centerpiece of this album is Portland-based composer Kenji Bunchs Aspects of an Elephant, inspired by the timeless parable of six men who try to discern the traits of an elephant in a pitch-dark room, eventually discovering that only the sum of their perceptions encompasses the full truth. In a similar way, the pieces featured on this album constitute a rich panorama of the dynamism and diversity of contemporary American composition. Bunchs piece is dedicated to the members of the Oregon Symphony, who release their fifth album with Pentatone, after Music for a Time of War (2011), This England (2012), Spirit of the American Range (2015) and Haydn Symphonies 53, 64 & 96 (2017). On Aspects of America, they again play under the spirited leadership of music director Carlos Kalmar.
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