Leonard Slatkin – Ravel : Orchestral Works, Vol.3 – Orchestrations (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:52 minutes | 945 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
On this third volume in a series, Leonard Slatkin channels Maurice Ravel’s incomparable skill in orchestration and command of orchestral colour, evident both in his own works and in his orchestrations of music by other composers. His versions of both Chabrier’s vibrant Menuet pompeux and the colourful commedia dell’arte figures of Schumann’s Carnaval were commissions for ballet, while new life was given to his late friend Debussy’s Sarabande et Danse. The Orchestre National de Lyon brings out the best in Ravel’s iconic orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, vividly depicting scenes that range from the playful to the macabre.
Read more
Spirito, Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin – Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, M. 57 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:10 minutes | 968 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
Composed for Sergey Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Ravel’s ‘symphonie chorégraphique’ Daphnis et Chloé is based on a classical Greco-Roman love story set on the island of Lesbos. He described the work as ‘a vast musical fresco’, and with its extraordinarily passionate music, lush harmonies and orchestration, is considered both his masterpiece and the epitome of Impressionism in music. Orchestrated from the third of his Miroirs for piano, Ravel’s Une barque sur l’océan is an evocative portrayal of the ever-changing moods of the sea.
Read more
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin – Copland: Rodeo – Dance Panels – El salón México – Danzón cubano (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:10:05 minutes | 2,42 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 2xHD – Naxos
While Copland’s hugely successful celebration of the American West, Rodeo, has become an American classic, Dance Panels is barely known despite working beautifully as a concert work. Based on popular Mexican melodies, the glittering, even exotic El Salón Mexico is one of Copland’s most frequently performed works. Of his rhythmically complex Danzón Cubano, inspired by a visit to a dance hall in Cuba, in which there were two orchestras playing at both ends, the composer himself wrote: “I did not attempt to reproduce an authentic Cuban sound but felt free to add my own touches of displaced accents and unexpected silent beats.” GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor Leonard Slatkin’s recording of Copland’s Lincoln Portrait (8.559373–74) received “the kind of performance that brought tears to my eyes” (Audiophile Audition).
Read more
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin – Rachmaninov: The Isle of the Dead – Symphony No. 1 (2013/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:05:13 minutes | 2,24 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
After the disastrous failure of its première in 1897, Rachmaninov’s youthfully exuberant Symphony No. 1 had to wait until after his death before it was reconstructed from the surviving orchestral parts and performed again, in Moscow in 1945. Since then it has taken its rightful place as one of the great Russian symphonic works of the late nineteenth century. The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29 is a vivid and powerful symphonic poem based on a well-known nineteenth-century painting by the Swiss symbolist artist Arnold Bocklin.
Read more
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin – Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 3 in A minor Op. 44 – Symphonic Dances Op. 45 (2013/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:13:42 minutes | 2,54 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 2xHD – Naxos
This recording, one volume in an acclaimed series of Rachmaninov’s symphonies from Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, features the Symphony No. 3, considered by the composer to be one of his finest works. Both the symphony and the Symphonic Dances, his last work, offer a summation of his late style in blending intense rhythmic energy with rich romanticism.
Read more
Detroit Symphony Orchestra & Leonard Slatkin – McTee: Symphony No. 1 (2015 Remaster) (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:06:36 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 2xHD – Naxos
Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra present this album, recorded live in 2010 and 2012, showcasing works by contemporary American composer Cindy McTee that embody the musical and cultural energy of modern day America. Her Symphony No. 1 is smartly assembled with diverse ideas that unfold naturally within an orchestral fabric, taking full advantage of the ensemble’s colouristic range. The use of computer music in Einstein’s Dream lends sonic complexity to a piece that celebrates the scientist’s work on quantum theory. The final piece, Double Play, was commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Read more
Detroit Symphony Orchestra & Leonard Slatkin – Copland: Appalachian Spring (Complete Ballet) – Hear Ye! Hear Ye! (Remastered) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:12:18 minutes | 1,22 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 2xHD – Naxos
Aaron Copland wrote his rarely heard ballet Hear Ye! Hear Ye! for Ruth Page, the dancer and choreographer who was to become the Grande Dame of American ballet. Its scenario is a murder in a nightclub and the ensuing trial in a Chicago courtroom. Copland infused the score with the spirit of his jazz-influenced pieces, controversially distorting part of the National Anthem, and infiltrating music from some of his earlier works. In complete contrast, Appalachian Spring is his most famous work, a true American masterpiece founded on transfigured dance tunes and song melodies. This is volume two of the Complete Ballet series.
Read more
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin – Copland: Grohg & Billy the Kid (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 56:16 minutes | 997 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
Aaron Copland did as much as anyone in establishing American concert music on the world stage, and his ballet scores proved to be among his most important and influential works. Grohg is the most ambitious example of his Parisian years, a precociously brilliant one-act ballet scored for full orchestra, inspired by the silent expressionist film Nosferatu. The first example of Copland’s new ‘Americanized’ music of the 1930s was Billy the Kid, based on the life of the 19th century outlaw and heard here in its full version. This was the first fully fledged American ballet in style and content: brassy, syncopated, filmic and richly folk-flavoured.
Read more