New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Darrell Ang – Zhou Long / Chen Yi: Symphony, ‘Humen 1839’ (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 56:05 minutes | 1,98 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 2xHD – Naxos
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Darrell Ang turn their attention to one of China’s leading composers, Pulitzer Prize-winning Zhou Long, on this album of world premiere recordings. Long writes consistently compelling music, demonstrated here by The Rhyme of Taigu, which revives the spirit of Chinese court music from the Tang dynasty, drawing on traditional percussion instruments. Symphony “Humen 1839”, co-composed with Chen Yi, vividly commemorates the public burning of over 1000 tonnes of opium, an event that was to lead to the First Opium War between Great Britain and China.
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Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Darrell Ang – Kabalevsky: Works for Orchestra (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 51:29 minutes | 935 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
Dmitry Kabalevsky found his mature style and achieved international success with his first opera Colas Breugnon, the overture of which was soon picked up as an orchestral showpiece in the West. The Second Symphony was likewise championed by conductors such as Arturo Toscanini, its bittersweet sense of drama and lyricism comparable with Prokofiev. Dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, the First Symphony illustrates progress from oppression to liberation, while the later Pathetique Overture is a rousing and highly effective reminder of Kabalevsky’s skill in orchestration. Founded in 1925, the Malmo Symphony Orchestra is one of the leading major orchestras in Sweden. Performing the full breadth of the symphonic repertoire, the MSO collaborates with prominent international conductors and soloists, including its current chief conductor Marc Soustrot. Since 2015 the MSO has resided in Malmo Live Concert Hall, a state of the art facility known for its world class acoustics.
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Orchestre National de Lille, Darrell Ang – Dutilleux: Symphony No. 2 ‘Le double’; Timbres, espace, mouvement; Mystère de l’instant (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:34 minutes | 1,17 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
Henri Dutilleux’s perfectionism resulted in a distinctive and individual musical language of rare poetry and invention. The interplay of stereophonic and polyrhythmic effects and jazzy brass writing in Symphony No. 2 ‘Le Double’ forms, in the composer’s own words, ‘a musical play of mirrors and of contrasting colours’, while Timbres, espaces, mouvement is Dutilleux’s response to Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, a ‘longing for the infinity of nature’. The series of snapshots in Mystère de l’instant evokes fleeting and almost magical moments in time, its cumulative power indicative of a consummate composer at the height of his powers.
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Orchestre National de Lille & Darrell Ang – Pierné: Ramuntcho & Cydalise et le chèvre-pied Suites (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:36 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
Composer, conductor and organist Gabriel Pierné wrote in a wide variety of genres, from operas to pieces for solo piano. His orchestral music for the stage shows the utmost refinement and clarity as well as wit and charm in the finest French tradition. His colourful and evocative score for Ramuntcho is rich in Basque flavour with zortzico dance rhythms and village dances, all beautifully textured. Set in the 18th century, the ballet Cydalise et le Chèvre-pied reveals the full range of his inventive scoring, which remains chamber music-like in its finesse.
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